Yan Hui
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| Traditional Chinese | 顏回 | ||||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 颜回 | ||||||||
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Yan Hui (Chinese: 顏回; Wade–Giles: Yen Hui; 521? – 481 BC) was the favorite disciple of Confucius[1] and one of the most revered figures of Confucianism. He is venerated in Confucian temples as one of the Four Sages.
Names
Yan Hui is also known by his courtesy name Ziyuan (Chinese: 子淵; pinyin: Zǐyuān; Wade–Giles: Tzu-yüan), and as Yan Yuan (Chinese: 顏淵; Wade–Giles: Yen Yüan), a combination of his surname and courtesy name. He is also reverently referred to as Master Yan or Yanzi (Chinese: 顏子; Wade–Giles: Yen Tzu).
Life
Yan Hui was a native of State of Lu, and was the son of Yan Wuyou (Yan Lu), one of the earliest disciples of Confucius.[1] Yan Hui was about 30 years younger than Confucius, and became a student of the Master at a young age.[2]
Yan Hui was Confucius' favorite disciple.[3] "After I got Yan Hui," Confucius remarked, "the disciples came closer to me."[2] We are told that once, when he found himself on the Nang hill with Yan Hui, Zilu, and Zigong, Confucius asked them to tell him their different aims, and he would choose between them. Zilu began, and when he had done, the master said, "It marks your bravery." Zigong followed, on whose words the judgment was, "They show your discriminating eloquence." At last came Yan Hui, who said, "I should like to find an intelligent king and sage ruler whom I might assist. I would diffuse among the people instructions on the five great points, and lead them on by the rules of propriety and music, so that they should not care to fortify their cities by walls and moats, but would fuse their swords and spears into implements of agriculture. They should send forth their flocks without fear into the plains and forests. There should be no sunderings of families, no widows or widowers. For a thousand years there would be no calamity of war. Yu would have no opportunity to display his bravery, or Ts'ze to display his oratory." The master pronounced, "How admirable is this virtue!"[4]
Death
When Yan Hui was twenty-nine, his hair was all white. He died at an early age.[4]
After the death of Yan Hui, Confucius lamented, "Heaven has bereft me! Heaven has bereft me!". When told by other students that he was showing "excessive grief", the old philosopher replied: "Am I showing excessive grief? Well, for whom would I show excessive grief if not for this man?".[5] Even years later, Confucius would say that no other student could take Yan Hui's place, so gifted and dedicated Yan Hui had been.[6]
Veneration
Yan Hui, along with Confucius himself, was venerated by the first emperor of the Han dynasty. The title which he now has in the sacrificial Canon -- Continuator of the Sage (Chinese: 复圣; pinyin: Fù Shèng) -- was conferred in the ninth year of the Jiajing era, A.D. 1530. Almost all the present sacrificial titles of the worthies in the Temple of Confucius were fixed at that time. Yan Hui's place is the first of the Four Assessors, on the east of Confucius.[4]
Descendants
In Taiwan there is an office called the "Sacrificial Official to Yan Hui" which is held by a descendant of Yan Hui, like the post of "Sacrificial Official to Mencius" for a descendant of Mencius, "Sacrificial Official to Zengzi" for a descendant of Zengzi, and the post of "Sacrificial Official to Confucius, held by a descendant of Confucius.[7]
Shrines
Yan Hui is venerated at the Temple of Yan Hui, which is located in Qufu's walled city, a few blocks north of the Temple of Confucius.
Yan Hui's tomb is now surrounded by hundreds of tombs of his descendants, forming the Yan Family Cemetery ("Yan Forest"). A stele was installed at his tomb during the Jurchen Jin dynasty, and re-erected during the Ming Dynasty. The tomb is well preserved.[8]
Notes
- 1 2 Confucius 1997, p. 201.
- 1 2 Chin 2007, p. 75.
- ↑ Confucius & Slingerland 2003, p. 11
- 1 2 3 Confucius Legge, p. 113
- ↑ Confucius & Slingerland 2003, p. 114
- ↑ Chin 2007, p. 74
- ↑ 台湾拟减少儒家世袭奉祀官职位并取消俸禄
- ↑ A Regular Report on the Implementation of the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Part II: Preservation Status of the Specific World Heritage. Treaty signatory state: The People's Republic of China. Name of property: Confucius Temple, Confucius Forest and Confucius Mansion in Qufu, p. 63
References
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- Confucius; Legge, James (2009), The Confucian Analects, the Great Learning & the Doctrine of the Mean, Cosimo, Inc., p. 113, ISBN 1-60520-643-1
- Confucius; Slingerland, Edward Gilman (2003), Confucius analects: with selections from traditional commentaries, Hackett Publishing, ISBN 0-87220-635-1
- Confucius (1997). The Analects of Confucius. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-506157-4.
- Chin, Ann-ping (2007), The authentic Confucius: a life of thought and politics, Simon and Schuster, ISBN 0-7432-4618-7
- 孔繁银 (Kong Fanyin) (2002), 曲阜的历史名人与文物 (Famous people and cultural relics of Qufu's history), 齐鲁书社 (Jinlu Shushe), ISBN 7-5333-0981-2
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