MUZIChinese Matrix
Scholars › Philosopher / Thinker
Grandson of Confucius, credited by the Shiji with the Doctrine of the Mean, whose followers taught Mencius and who was honoured in the Yuan as the Transmitting Sage
Mural of the event “Hundred Schools Contention”, which this person took part in.
At the turn of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods the rites collapsed and the old patrilineal social order gradually fragmented. The rise of private academies offered commoner scholars an unprecedented public arena to debate politics and life.
Also known as Kong Ji
Zisi, personal name Kong Ji, was the son of Kong Li and grandson of Confucius. The Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) says he lived to sixty-two, was once in difficulty in Song, and wrote the Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong). The Mencius records Duke Mu of Lu calling on him repeatedly, and bamboo slips excavated in 1993 from a Chu tomb at Guodian in Jingmen include a text titled Duke Mu of Lu Asks Zisi. The Han bibliography lists a Zisi in twenty-three chapters, now lost; Shen Yue of the Southern dynasties held that the Zhongyong, Biaoji, Fangji and Ziyi chapters of the Book of Rites came from it. The Shiji says Mencius studied with Zisi's disciples, while a later tradition makes Zisi a pupil of Zengzi. The Xunzi attacks Zisi and Mencius together, saying Zisi led the tune and Mencius sang along. He was made Marquis of Yishui by Emperor Huizong of Song in 1102 and Duke of Yi, Transmitting Sage, by the Yuan in 1330.
Zhouearly Warring States
Took partConfucian, Mohist, Daoist, Legalist, and other thinkers debated ethics, human nature, and government across the rival states.
Literature · Prose35Literature · Sayings1
Zi SiThe Records of the Grand Historian records that Confucius had a son Li, courtesy name Bo Yu, and that Bo Yu had a son Ji, courtesy name Zisi, who lived to sixty-two, was once hard pressed in Song, and composed the Zhongyong. Zisi's son Bai, courtesy name Zishang, lived to forty-seven.
