East Asian Colloquium

EAST ASIAN COLLOQUIUM (Presented by the East Asian Studies Center)
PRESENTER: Robert Eno (East Asian Languages and Cultures, IU Bloomington)
TOPIC: "New Footprints on an Old Trail: Did Duanmu Si Turn Kong Qiu into Confucius?"
DATE: Friday, February 4
TIME: 12:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.
LOCATION: Ballantine Hall 004

(Light refreshments will be served.  You are also welcome to bring your own lunch.)

The earliest texts to provide information about Confucius (551-479 BCE) also convey portraits of his most prominent followers. A small group of these men came to play important roles in doctrinal tradition. Some, such as the ethical prodigy Yan Yuan and the valorous Ji You (Zilu), became famous because of their distinctive literary personalities; others, such as Bu Shang (Zixia) and Zeng Shen, were known for establishing major teaching lineages. However, there is one among Confucius’s inner circle whose personality and impact are only dimly glimpsed, overshadowed by more charismatic comrades: Duanmu Si (Zigong) emerges from the texts with no clear personality, seems to have taken no students, and is perhaps best known as the first Confucian sell-out, ending his life as a fabulously wealthy big city commercial speculator. But a closer look at the evidence, some of it newly come to light, seems to reveal a different picture, and in this talk I will suggest that Duanmu Si—a talented diplomat and linguist—may be more fairly characterized as a uniquely modest and subtle thinker, and as his Master’s first publicist: the man most responsible for turning Kong Qiu into Confucius.

Robert Eno is an associate professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Indiana University Bloomington, with adjunct appointments in History and Philosophy.

For more information about any upcoming event, please contact:East Asian Studies Center
Indiana University
Memorial Hall West 207
1021 East Third Street
Bloomington, IN 47405-7005
(812) 855-3765easc@indiana.edu