Confucius's ancestors were originally great nobles of the Song Kingdom, but the family road gradually declined, and they could not stay in the Song Kingdom and immigrated to the Lu Kingdom. After arriving in the State of Lu, Confucius's father worked as Yi Zai, that is, a county-level cadre. When Confucius was three years old, his father died, and orphans and widows struggled to survive. Therefore, Confucius said: "I am a little and a lowly person, so I can despise many things." When he was a child, he did a lot of farm work, saw warehouses, fed livestock, worked as an accountant, and served as a courtier of Dr. JiSun. Through their own diligent efforts, step by step to become a university inquirer. Confucius was called a "saint" by the people of the time before his death, but Confucius said: "But if I am holy and benevolent, how dare I."
Since Confucius did not dare to call himself a "saint", what kind of person was he?
"In the ten rooms, there must be those who are as faithful as Qiu, and they are not as good as Qiu Zhi to learn", that is to say, Confucius considered himself a "scholar", which is very pertinent. From "learning and practicing, not saying what you say", "sensitive and eager to learn, not ashamed to ask", etc., the idea of "learning" runs through the analects.
At that time, people were very skeptical, where did Confucius, who was so erudite, learn from? His disciple Zigong replied: "The way of literature and martial arts has not fallen to the ground", translating that the ideas of King Wen of Zhou and King Wu of Zhou have not declined, but have spread to the people, and our teachers can learn everywhere, without sticking to a certain family or a certain sect. Because Confucius did not have a fixed teacher, he was ridiculed by the people of the time, and the Da Xiang Party members said: "Confucius, erudite and not famous."
When Confucius heard this, he said to his disciples, "I hold on to it, I cling to it, I hold on to it, I hold on to it." The meaning of this sentence is that there are two kinds of learning, one is like an archer, aiming at a point, being an expert in a certain field; the other is to run around like a coachman, not limited to a certain range. Confucius said that I should still be a "learner" like a coachman!
It was Confucius's humble and studious spirit that made him grow from a poor "boy next door" to a "modern saint" praised by Mr. Lu Xun.