It’s probably the silence, this almost unexpected, surprising tranquility that captures the visitor first. As it happens, only a few birds dare to pierce this acoustic void with their twittering. They seem well aware of their role, the term “birdsong” can be taken literally here. Because that’s exactly how it sounds: musical accompaniment to the silence.
When traveling on foot, coming from the nearby Lama Temple and turning into a small side street, you will already be prepared for this moment. Unconsciously maybe, yes. In any case, a short walk along a typical Chinese old town quarter lets you forget the noise of the big city. Nevertheless, when finally entering the Confucius Temple in Beijing, you can feel a pleasant relaxation, a restaurative, positive shock spreading in your limbs. It’s almost as if the ears are literally breathing in deeply. When reflecting on this, well, magical moment and again focusing on the eyes as the main sensory organ, you involuntarily explore the temple entrance, almost as if you want to find out the cause of this for Beijing unusual silence. And so the eye falls on a statue of the namesake of this temple, which, carved in marble, welcomes the visitor.
Confucius himself was no prophet, nor is Confucianism a religion. Rather, Confucius, born in Qufu in 551 BC in today’s Shandong Province, was one of the most influential thinkers in Chinese history. His teachings have shaped Chinese society for two and a half millennia and have even become a state doctrine during the feudal period in China. During his active life as teacher, he taught approximately 3.000 students, mainly in history, poetry and ethics. The scholar also developed a set of moral principles for which he is still worshiped today. Virtues like humanity, righteousness or loyalty, for example, play an important role in this. Due to his outstanding achievements, he became Minister of Construction, later Minister of Justice and finally deputy chancellor of his native country Lu. You can read all about this and the rest of the life of Confucius in this temple. Just like Jeff and Lynn from Sydney, who are currently doing a three-week tour of China, and who came to this facility for this exact reason:
“I did not know much about Confucius. I read a lot about him in my guidebook, from the famous proverbs “Confucius says …” and so on. About being a wise man from China a long time gone … “.
His teaching activities and its formative effect are represented also in the many stone steles in the temple complex, each of them about two and a half meters high and about 80 centimeters wide. Many of them are decorated with clouds or crowned by a dragon. In a veritable forest of 198 such stelae, the name, rank and home province of 51,624 graduates who performed best in the imperial examinations between 1416 and 1904 are carved. And these tests again based on the principles of the moral teachings of Confucius. Lynn from Sydney is therefore more than surprised:
“It’s really impressive to go through all those steles. And there are quite a few of them! ”
But the Confucius Temple, originally built in 1302, is not only impressive because of the various structures and buildings, such as the “Hall of Perfection”, the various pavilions, engraved stone drums or three mythical stone animals, of which it is said they have magical powers. There are also ten mighty cypresses in a large courtyard, some of them up to 700 years old. In Chinese symbolism, this tree species stands for longevity. And about one of these cypress trees, or more precisely the one on the right of the “Hall of Perfection”, it is said that it once swiped off the hat of a passing corrupt Ming Dynasty official. At that time, that was understood as a bad omen, and the official in question was promptly dismissed…
Once you have passed the above-mentioned cypress without damage – be it because of your moral integrity or for not wearing a hat – you can sit down on one of the numerous benches in the shade of the calmness and power radiating trees. There, perhaps a bit tired and exhausted from the exploration of the temple complex, but hopefully satisfied, you will certainly find time to relax a bit and listen to the silence again. Taking a deep breath, calming down and thinking just a little, not too much, that comes easy in such a place. Reflecting maybe on the very different culture and way of life in China, which is simply so very different from the way we do things in the West. Jeff from Australia describes it like this:
“We’ve been to Europe and America, and that was relatively easy. But if you come to China, everything is beyond your experience! It’s a totally different culture, a different lifestyle!”
And so you may linger on the bench in the shade of a cypress in the courtyard of the Confucius Temple in Beijing. Lazily observing other visitors, from the distance the steles and these three mythical stone creatures, and whether you like it or not, you somehow might start to speculate a bit, pondering about this and that, if yes or no… But none other than the master himself will save you from too much ruminating, as the saying goes: “One of his students always thought three times about things before doing anything. When Confucius heard about it, he said: “Thinking twice – that’s already enough.”
First published in German on german.cri.cn
