Background of Confucianism Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kongzi

Confucius is a Latinized name, but in Chinese he is known as Kongzi, or Kongfuzi, which signifies that he is a teacher. He was born Kong Qiu, and also is known by the stylized literary name Kong Zhongni!

Answer: Mengzi

Mengzi was Confucius' most famous disciple, author of the "Mengzi," one of the four most important books of Confucianism.

Answer: Ren

Ren (sometimes known as ru), which is a difficult term to define, basically means a benevolence or a perfect sense of propriety, although many people will disagree with me on that definition. Confucius felt that ren was the key.

Answer: A government official

Confucius wrote about the principles that were required of a sage king, but he never aspired himself to have such power. In the end, he would have been happy with a permanent position in the government, but this is something he was only once, briefly, able to achieve. He was a teacher though, perhaps the greatest in Chinese history.

Answer: The Analects

When you read Confucius, there is a 90% chance you're reading the Analects, which contains little stories and snippets of Confucius' thoughts.

What Confucius has in common with Jesus Christ and Socrates is that they are three major thinkers from whom we do not have a sample of writing (the authors of the Gospels wrote Jesus' story, Plato wrote about Socrates, and Confucius' disciples wrote about him).