Commandments 67 



him : l " I know how birds fly, how fishes swim, how 

 animals run. The bird may be shot, the fish hooked, 

 and the beast snared. But there is the dragon. I 

 cannot tell how he mounts in the air, and soars to 

 heaven. To-day, I have seen the dragon." Con- 

 fucius took the world and its phenomena as he found 

 them, without endeavoring to know whence or how 

 came ideas of morality, of duty. The theological 

 idea of God does not yet seem to have entered his 

 mind in connection with religious duty, though the 

 moral idea does. It was sufficient for him that men 

 had a sense of right and wrong. The practical thing 

 was to induce them to follow the right. 



Commandments 



And what were the duties which he inculcated ? Let 

 him speak for himself. Says Confucius : 2 



"I teach you nothing but what you might learn 

 yourselves, viz., the observance of the three funda- 

 mental laws of relation between sovereign and subject, 

 father and child, husband and wife; and the five capital 

 virtues : 



1. Universal charity. 



2. Impartial justice. 



3. Conformity to ceremonies and established usages. 



4. Rectitude of heart and mind. 



5. Pure sincerity." 



Thus, the three questions which Confucius urged 

 upon his fellow-countrymen as all-important were: 

 i Ibid. p. 51. 2 Int. Cyc. vol. IV. p. 241. 



