Important Note:
Most Western people
know 孔子KongZi as Confucius, which is one of my biggest
Chinese-culture-in-Western-world pet peeves; therefore, this is the only time I
would use this term when referring to one of the greatest
philosopher in Chinese history, so please get use to his proper name: 孔子KongZi,
or you can skip reading this post right now!! Same thing with Mencius, his
proper name is 孟子MengZi, in case I ever need
to mention him in my studies!!
Six Arts as Defined
by 孔子KongZi:
1.
禮Li -
proper, etiquette, proper manner
2.
樂Yue -
ability to appreciate music as both a performer and an audience
3.
射She
(pronounced as "shir" without the "r") - archery or
sportsmanship, particularly about how one treats his opponent - with 禮Li
4.
御Yu -
ability to charioteer a horse carriage, both as a sport and as a means of
transportation
5.
書Shu (flat
high pitch accent) - ability to read, write, and understand literature; have knowledge of
history and politics; and great skills in calligraphy
6.
數Shu
(downward accent) - good sense of mathematics (and you people wonder why Asians
are good with math...
孔子KongZi
emphasized a lot on music when he was teaching his disciples,
and a lot of these are referenced in the literature of 儒教RuJiao
(Confucianism):
- 四書SiShu (The Four
Books):
- 論語LunYu (Analects):
mainly notes from 孔子KongZi's pupils
- 孟子MengZi (Mencius):
autobiography of 孟子MengZi, and some notes from 孔子KongZi's
pupils
- 大學DaXue: thesis
and papers written by the students of 孔子KongZi's
grandson, about the teachings of 孔子KongZi in terms
of higher education
- 中庸ZhongYong (Doctrine
of the Mean): states that the best way to deal with all things in life is
to take a moderate path.
- 五經WuJing (The Five
Canonical Classics):
- 詩經ShiJing (Canon of
Poetry): about 305 poems of cultural heritage of 孔子KongZi.
- 書經ShuJing (Canon of
History): edited compilation of historical documents up to 孔子KongZi's
day.
- 禮Li (The Book
of Rites): deals with all forms of human relationships, 禮記LiJi, the one section
that extensively talks about the importance of music in interpersonal
rites
- 易經YiJing (Canon of
Changes): principle of life - 陰陽YinYang
("Yin" is shade, negative, female; and "Yang" is
light, positive, male).
- 春秋ChunQiu (Annals
of Spring and Autumn): devoted to a history of 孔子KongZi's
own time, supposedly written by himself.
All these
literatures shared the authors' views about music and how it relates to their
daily life. 孔子KongZi believes that music and universal harmony are complementary
to one another, and is hence essential to all humanities.
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The above
information is taken from The Music of China, by Bliss Wiant
P.S.: I LOVE this book!! All the interesting information in this post and the last one About Traditional Chinese Music are all from the just the Introduction chapter of this book, can't way to read more!!
P.S.: I LOVE this book!! All the interesting information in this post and the last one About Traditional Chinese Music are all from the just the Introduction chapter of this book, can't way to read more!!
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