“The evil life of Confucius”

When Confucius arrived at Wei, he did everything in his power to curry favor with the authorities and met with Duke Ling of Wei, peddling his restoration message of “overcoming the self to return to ritual.” Duke Ling didn’t appreciate his message at all and instead wanted to talk about engaging in warfare. Confucius responded that one should not engage in warfare and should only carry out the rituals. Duke Ling didn’t pay him any attention, turned around and craned his neck to watch the large geese flying by overhead. Confucius was extremely angry.