Sacred images in Confucianism

IStatue or spirit tablet

Anyone who walks into a Buddhist pagoda will find statues. Anyone who walks into a temple of literature may find a statue, or may find only a wooden board bearing a name. That board is a spirit tablet, also called shenwei (神位). Why there are two ways of worship is the central story of Confucian sacred images, and it has a clear turning point: the year 1530.

According to the scholar Julia K. Murray, until 1530 the state-supported temples all over China worshipped statues of Confucius together with a number of his disciples and later Confucians, with sacrifices twice a year. The appearance of the statues was greatly influenced by the posthumous titles and ranks that emperors conferred, the same as for the deities of Taoism and Buddhism. That very likeness led Neo-Confucian ritualists to object.

The ritual reform of 1530, under the Jiajing emperor of the Ming dynasty, replaced the statues with inscribed tablets. Confucius's kingly title was also changed to the designation Supreme Sage and Foremost Teacher. Wikipedia adds that earlier the Hongwu emperor, founder of the Ming, had ordered newly built temples to hold only tablets, and that the worship of statues had been criticised as an imitation of Buddhist temples.

The ban on statues did not apply to the original temple in Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, cared for by his descendants of the Kong family. After 1530, local gazetteers went on printing a line drawing of the statue in Qufu, and according to Murray, these prints helped spread the worship of Confucius among ordinary people.

Today statues of Confucius have reappeared at many sites around the world. Murray notes that these new statues are based on the image of Confucius as a teacher, made first in Taiwan, then in Hong Kong and in Chinese communities abroad, and finally in mainland China.

IIPortraits of Confucius

No painting or statue made in Confucius's lifetime has come down to us. Images of Confucius only began to be made in the Han dynasty. The earliest known one was found in the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun, who died in 59 BCE. Every later portrait is therefore the imagination of later generations. Each type of portrait shows a way of seeing him: as a teacher, as an official, or as a king.

Confucius propagating his teachings

先師孔子行教像How to recognize: Standing, leaning slightly forward, hands clasped before the chest, a long robe with wide sleeves, a long beard

This is the most familiar image of Confucius, seen in books and in stone statues in school and temple courtyards. It has been handed down through rubbings of stone steles. The steles usually say the image follows a painting by Wu Daozi, a painter of the Tang dynasty. The Penn Museum writes that no original by Wu Daozi survives, so this cannot be confirmed. Asia Society suggests the stele was probably carved in the Ming dynasty, around the Zhengde or Jiajing era. The eulogy carved with it is by Chen Fengwu (1475 to 1541).

Source: Penn Museum, rubbing Portrait of the First Teacher, Confucius, Propagating his Teachings (29-25-21). Asia Society, Visible Traces, Portrait of Confucius (rubbing). University of Melbourne Library, Confucian Stone Rubbings.

Yuan dynasty half-length portrait

至聖先賢半身像How to recognize: Half-length, a cloth kerchief over the head, a long beard, a paper label with the title in the upper corner

The album has sixty leaves showing 120 Confucians from the Spring and Autumn period to the Yuan dynasty. The first leaf shows Confucius, with the label "Dacheng Zhisheng Wenxuan Wang" (大成至聖文宣王). Judging from the titles on the labels, the album is thought to have been made after 1330.

Source: Wikimedia Commons, file page of Half Portraits of the Great Sage and Virtuous Men of Old (citing the National Palace Museum, Taipei).

Confucius at leisure and Confucius as Minister of Justice

How to recognize: At leisure: a kerchief and everyday robe. Minister of Justice: an official's cap and robe, with a eulogy above

Murray writes that the image of Confucius as a teacher, without a godlike air, goes back to a painted portrait handed down through generations of the Kong family. The two paintings here belong to the group of portraits of the Kong family in Qufu. The official website of the Temple of Literature in Hanoi notes that Confucius once served as Grand Minister of Justice (Đại Tư khấu), the official in charge of law and punishment in the state of Lu.

Source: Julia K. Murray, "Idols" in the Temple: Icons and the Cult of Confucius, The Journal of Asian Studies 68, 2009 (abstract). Temple of Literature and Imperial Academy (official website), Notable figures: Confucius.

Confucius in Japanese painting and European books

How to recognize: Each place painted him in the cap and robe it imagined

The painting by Kanō Sansetsu dates from 1632 and is now in the Tokyo National Museum. The print of 1687 appears in the book Confucius Sinarum Philosophus and shows Confucius standing in front of a library. These two images show how far the image of Confucius travelled. They are not sacred images.

Source: Wikipedia, Confucius.

IIIThe Four Correlates and the earlier worthies

Confucius is not worshipped alone. The official website of the Temple of Literature and Imperial Academy writes that the Four Correlates are four sages worshipped together with Confucius, who share in the offerings at every sacrifice. The four form a line of transmission: two disciples of Confucius, his grandson, and then a student of that grandson.

Yan Hui, the Restored Sage

Nhan Hồi, courtesy name Ziyuan (Tử Uyên)How to recognize: First of the Four Correlates. In the Yuan dynasty album he wears a blue kerchief

A man of the state of Lu and the disciple Confucius praised most, known for being content in poverty and joyful in the Way: a handful of rice, a gourd of water, a narrow lane to live in. He died at only 32. He is called the Restored Sage because he knew how to discipline himself and restore the rites.

Source: Temple of Literature and Imperial Academy (official website), Notable figures: the Four Correlates.

Zengzi, the Ancestral Sage

Zeng Shen (Tăng Sâm)How to recognize: Paired with Mencius on the altar of the Temple of Literature in Hanoi

A disciple of Confucius, known for the saying that he examined himself three times a day. The Great Learning and the Classic of Filial Piety are regarded as his records of his teacher's words. He passed the teaching on to Zisi.

Source: Temple of Literature and Imperial Academy (official website), Notable figures: the Four Correlates. Vietnamese Wikipedia, Văn Miếu Quốc Tử Giám.

Zisi, the Transmitting Sage

Kong Ji (Khổng Cấp)How to recognize: Grandson of Confucius

Son of Kong Li, student of Zengzi, author of the Doctrine of the Mean. He is called the Transmitting Sage for his work in handing down his grandfather's thought.

Source: Temple of Literature and Imperial Academy (official website), Notable figures: the Four Correlates.

Mencius, the Second Sage

Meng Ke (Mạnh Kha)How to recognize: The second sage after Confucius, with his own temple in Zoucheng

A man of Zou in the Warring States period who studied at the school of Zisi. He held that human nature is good and taught that the people are the most precious. The book Mencius has seven chapters.

Source: Temple of Literature and Imperial Academy (official website), Notable figures: the Four Correlates. Wikipedia, Temple of Confucius, Qufu.

Each source gives different birth and death dates for the four, so this page does not give them.

Who comes after the Four Correlates

After the Four Correlates comes the group of philosophers. At the Temple of Literature in Hanoi, the official website says the Hall of Great Accomplishment honours Confucius, the Four Correlates and the Ten Philosophers. In China and at the Temple of Literature in Huế this group numbers twelve. Then come the earlier worthies and earlier Confucians, honoured in the two long buildings on either side of the courtyard. The list grew over time: by the Republican period, Wikipedia counts 162 figures in all.

The number of seventy-two worthies, the Seventy-two Worthies, is the number of disciples held to have mastered their teacher's Way out of the three thousand who studied with him. The old chronicle records that in 1070 the Temple of Literature in Thăng Long modelled statues of Confucius, the Duke of Zhou and the Four Correlates, while the seventy-two worthies were painted for worship.

IVHow the Hall of Great Accomplishment is arranged

Temples of literature in every country follow a common plan, running from the outside inwards along a straight axis. The outer gate is the Lingxing Gate. Through the Gate of Great Accomplishment (大成門) lie the main courtyard and the main hall, the Hall of Great Accomplishment (大成殿). On either side of the courtyard are two long buildings, called in Vietnamese the East and West Cloisters (Đông vu, Tây vu). Behind stands the shrine to Confucius's ancestors, the Shrine of Revering the Sage (崇聖祠). In Vietnam this shrine is called Khải Thánh and honours Confucius's parents.

The name Dacheng (Great Accomplishment) comes from Mencius's words about Confucius: Confucius brought everything together into a great accomplishment, meaning that he gathered the learning and virtue of all the earlier sages and worthies.

The diagram gathers what the sources have in common. Each temple has its own differences. In Qufu there is also the Apricot Platform (杏壇) in front of the hall, where Confucius is said to have taught under an apricot tree, and behind the hall a Resting Hall honouring his wife.

Thomas A. Wilson, who filmed the autumn sacrifice in Tainan in 1998 together with Brooks Jessup, sums it up: Confucius, the sages, the correlates and the savants received sacrifice in the main hall, while the worthies and scholars received it in the eastern and western cloisters. The offerings were prepared in the Spirit Kitchen, in a corner of the temple complex.

Where there is a statue, Confucius faces south. The official website of the Temple of Literature in Hanoi quotes the saying: the sage sits facing south so as to hear all the words of the world.

VThe Temple of Literature and Imperial Academy in Hanoi

The Temple of Literature was founded in 1070 under King Lý Thánh Tông as a place to honour Confucius and the earlier worthies and Confucians. The official website of the site quotes the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư (Complete Annals of Đại Việt): in autumn, in the 8th month, the Temple of Literature was built, statues of Confucius, the Duke of Zhou and the Four Correlates were modelled, the Seventy-two Worthies were painted, sacrifices were offered in all four seasons, and the crown prince came here to study. So from the very beginning the Temple of Literature in Thăng Long worshipped through statues. In 1076 King Lý Nhân Tông founded the Imperial Academy beside it.

The Great Accomplishment area

The fourth space of the site is the area of the Hall of Great Accomplishment. In the middle is the Great Ceremonies courtyard (sân Đại Bái), with the East and West buildings running along both sides. The front building is the House of Ceremonies (Bái Đường), where the sacrifice to Confucius was held in the past. In its central bay stand an incense table and ritual objects, flanked by a pair of bronze cranes standing on tortoises, and above hangs the board "Vạn thế sư biểu", meaning the exemplary teacher of ten thousand generations.

Behind the House of Ceremonies is the Hall of Great Accomplishment, nine bays wide, walled on three sides and joined to the House of Ceremonies by a small pavilion. The official website writes: the Hall of Great Accomplishment is where Confucius, the Four Correlates and the Ten Philosophers are worshipped. In the central bay is the statue of Confucius facing south, and behind it a shrine cabinet holding a tablet. The Temple of Literature in Hanoi thus has both a statue and a tablet.

The statue of Confucius

How to recognize: Seated on a throne, wearing a close-fitting phốc đầu cap, hands placed together before the chest

The official website describes it: a full, dignified face, bright eyes, large thick ears. The statue sits on a throne with the legs evenly lowered in front, wearing a long loose robe with very wide sleeves. The hands are placed together before the chest, the right hand palm down on the left hand palm up. It is carved from jackfruit wood, lacquered red and gilded.

Source: Temple of Literature and Imperial Academy (official website), Notable figures: Confucius.

The statues of the Four Correlates

How to recognize: Four seated figures in two pairs on either side of the central bay, lacquered red and gilded

Vietnamese Wikipedia notes that besides their tablets all four have lacquered and gilded wooden statues, Zengzi and Mencius on one side, Yan Hui and Zisi on the other. The two end bays hold two large shrine cabinets for the Ten Philosophers.

Source: Vietnamese Wikipedia, Văn Miếu Quốc Tử Giám. Wikipedia, Temple of Literature, Hanoi.

The Thái Học area: the teacher Chu Văn An and three kings

The rearmost area was originally the Imperial Academy. Under the Nguyễn dynasty it became the Khải Thánh shrine honouring Confucius's parents. The present Thái Học area was begun in 1999 and completed in 2000. The Hậu Đường building has two floors. The lower floor honours the teacher Chu Văn An, Director of Studies of the Imperial Academy. The upper floor honours three kings who served the Temple of Literature and Imperial Academy: Lý Thánh Tông, Lý Nhân Tông and Lê Thánh Tông.

The teacher Chu Văn An (1292 to 1370)

How to recognize: A seated bronze statue in an official's cap and robe, holding a book in one hand

A native of Quang Liệt village, he opened a school and was then invited by King Trần Minh Tông to become Director of Studies of the Imperial Academy. He submitted the Petition of Seven Beheadings asking for the execution of seven corrupt officials. The king did not listen, and he resigned and withdrew to Chí Linh. When he died, King Trần Nghệ Tông had him worshipped as an associate at the Temple of Literature. The present statue is bronze, cast in 2003, and weighs about 3 tonnes including the throne.

Source: Temple of Literature and Imperial Academy (official website), Director of Studies Chu Văn An.

The three kings

How to recognize: Seated bronze statues on thrones, wearing crowns

Lý Thánh Tông built the Temple of Literature in 1070. Lý Nhân Tông held the first examination in 1075 and founded the Imperial Academy in 1076. Lê Thánh Tông enlarged the Imperial Academy in 1483 and had the first doctoral steles set up in 1484. All three statues were cast in 2003 by craftsmen of Ngũ Xã village in Hanoi. Each is 1.4 metres tall and weighs about one tonne.

Source: Temple of Literature and Imperial Academy (official website), King Lý Thánh Tông. Temple of Literature and Imperial Academy (official website), King Lý Nhân Tông. Temple of Literature and Imperial Academy (official website), King Lê Thánh Tông.

The library has not yet found an openly licensed photo of clear origin showing the statue of King Lê Thánh Tông.

VIOther temples of literature in Vietnam

From the Temple of Literature in the capital, the worship of Confucius spread to the garrison towns and provinces, and then to villages with their own văn từ and văn chỉ (local shrines to learning). An article in the Vietnam Social Sciences journal (Khoa học xã hội Việt Nam) in 2013 traced this process from 1070 through the dynasties. Below are some surviving temples of literature, with the way each one worships, according to the sources read.

Temple of Literature, Huế (Văn Thánh)

Built in 1808 under Emperor Gia Long, on the bank of the Perfume River. Vietnamese Wikipedia notes that when the temple was built, Gia Long had new ritual vessels made and replaced the statues of the sages and worthies with tablets. The Nguyễn court also required every locality that worshipped Confucius through statues to change to wooden tablets, regarding worship through images as lacking in reverence for the dead. The library has found this in only one source. The Hall of Great Accomplishment honours Confucius, the Four Correlates and the Twelve Philosophers, and the two cloisters honour the earlier worthies and earlier Confucians. In front of the temple stand 32 steles bearing the names of 293 doctoral laureates of the Nguyễn dynasty, from the examination of 1822 to the last one in 1919. The site is undergoing a major restoration.

Source: Vietnamese Wikipedia, Văn miếu (Huế). Tiền Phong newspaper, Bên trong di tích Văn Miếu 200 năm tuổi vừa hạ giải đại trùng tu (Inside the 200-year-old Temple of Literature now dismantled for major restoration). Khám phá Huế (khamphahue.com.vn), Spiritual Encouragement of Education during the Nguyen Dynasty.

Xích Đằng Temple of Literature (Hưng Yên)

Built in the late Lê period and extensively restored in 1839. The inner sanctuary is laid out in the shape of the character 三 (three), with a front hall for sacrifices, a middle hall and a rear sanctuary. The temple honours Confucius and the worthies of the Confucian school, and alongside Confucius it honours the teacher Chu Văn An. Nine stone steles recording the names of examination laureates survive.

Source: Vietnamese Wikipedia, Văn miếu Xích Đằng.

Trấn Biên Temple of Literature (Đồng Nai)

The first temple of literature in Đàng Trong (the southern realm of the Nguyễn lords), built in 1715, destroyed in 1861 and rebuilt from 1998 to 2002. Trịnh Hoài Đức described the old temple as having a Hall of Great Accomplishment, a Gate of Great Accomplishment, the Kim Thanh and Ngọc Chấn gates and a Khuê Văn pavilion, with ritual objects including spirit tablets, a gilded shrine cabinet and fu, gui, bian and dou vessels. The new complex is arranged quite differently: the main hall honours Vietnamese cultural figures and notable figures of southern Vietnam. Confucius is honoured in a stele house in front.

Source: Vietnamese Wikipedia, Văn miếu Trấn Biên.

Vĩnh Long Temple of Literature

At the end of the spirit path stands the Hall of Great Accomplishment. The main hall honours Confucius, with the Four Correlates and the Ten Philosophers on either side. The two side buildings, the Left and Right Cloisters, honour the Seventy-two Worthies. The grounds also hold the Tụy Văn pavilion, whose lower floor has a shrine cabinet holding the tablets of Võ Trường Toản and Phan Thanh Giản.

Source: Vietnamese Wikipedia, Văn Thánh Miếu Vĩnh Long.

VIIImages of Confucius country by country

Temples of literature followed Confucian learning to Vietnam, Korea and Japan. Indonesia also has places of worship for Confucius, the largest and oldest being Boen Bio in Surabaya, built in 1883 and moved to a new site in 1907. The library does not yet have an openly licensed photo of Boen Bio.

China

The Temple of Confucius in Qufu dates back to 478 BCE. It was destroyed and rebuilt many times and now has more than 100 buildings and more than 1,000 steles. The Hall of Great Accomplishment is 54 metres long and 34 metres wide, supported by 28 stone columns, the ten on the front carved with coiled dragons. In 1724 a fire destroyed most of the hall and the statues inside it, and the rebuilding was completed in 1730. Many of the replacement statues were damaged and destroyed in 1966. The annual sacrifice on Confucius's birthday resumed in 1984. At the Temple of Confucius in Beijing, John Thomson described the tablet in the 19th century as a plain strip of wood inscribed in Manchu and Chinese, with the tablets of the four chief disciples on either side. Two of the Four Correlates have their own temples in Shandong: the Temple of Yan Hui in Qufu and the Temple of Mencius in Zoucheng, and both worship through statues.

Source: UNESCO, Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion in Qufu. Wikipedia, Temple of Confucius, Qufu. China Daily, Temple of Confucius: a temple to harmony and peace, 2019. Wikimedia Commons, file page of John Thomson's photo with his own description (citing the Beinecke Library).

Taiwan

The Confucian temple in Tainan was built in 1665, the earliest on the island. The Taipei Confucius Temple was built in 1879, torn down in 1907 and rebuilt between 1925 and 1939. The temples here worship through tablets. A page of the Taoyuan city government writes that a Confucian temple does not display many statues of deities as Buddhist or folk temples do, and holds only tablets bearing writing. Every year on 28 September a sacrifice is held with ancient music and dance.

Source: Wikipedia, Temple of Confucius. Department of Civil Affairs, Taoyuan City Government (Taiwan), Ritual objects and musical instruments of the Confucian temple. Wikipedia, Taipei Confucius Temple.

Korea

Munmyo, the temple of Confucius, stands within Sungkyunkwan in Seoul. Its Daeseongjeon was first built in 1398, burned during the invasion of 1592 and rebuilt early in the 17th century. Inside are the tablets of Confucius and the worthies: Confucius, the Four Correlates, ten disciples, six Song dynasty Confucians and eighteen Korean worthies, 39 in all. The Seokjeon rite is still held twice a year, in the 2nd and 8th lunar months.

Source: Sungkyunkwan University, A Tradition of Excellence. Wikipedia, Munmyo. Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea, Confucius ritual in spring. The Korea Times, Confucius to be honored in ancient ceremony, 2016.

Japan

Yushima Seidō in Tokyo goes back to the shrine and school of the Confucian scholar Hayashi Razan in Ueno, built around 1630 to 1632. The shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi moved it to its present site in 1690, though one source gives 1691. The Edo period buildings collapsed in the earthquake of 1923, and the present hall, designed by the architect Itō Chūta, was completed in 1935. Unlike Beijing and Seoul, it worships through statues: a statue of Confucius in a shrine cabinet and statues of the Four Correlates. In the grounds stands a large statue of Confucius given by the Lions Club of Taipei in 1975. The sacrifice to Confucius is held on the fourth Sunday of April every year. The Ashikaga School in Tochigi Prefecture also has a Confucian temple with a seated statue of Confucius.

Source: Wikipedia, Yushima Seidō. China Confucius Network (chinakongzi.org, citing Xinhua), Yushima Seido of Tokyo, Japan.

VIIIThe Shidian rite and its offerings

The sacrifice to Confucius is called Shidian (釋奠), read Seokjeon in Korean and sekiten in Japanese. The first sacrifice by an emperor is usually dated to 195 BCE, when Emperor Gaozu of Han offered sacrifice in the state of Lu. Its music and dance were first standardised in 485, under the Southern Qi. Because the hall holds a tablet rather than a statue, what is set out before the tablet on the day of the sacrifice, the vessels, the instruments and the dance, makes up the visual side of Confucianism.

Sacrificial vessels

John Thomson described the rite in 19th century Beijing: in front of the tablet stood a simple altar with a bronze censer, flanked by bronze candelabra. At the spring and autumn sacrifices, oxen and sheep were slain and placed on stands before the tablet. He added that it is the spirit of the sage, thought to reside in the tablet, that is honoured.

The table is based on the article by Lai Hui-min on the metal sacrificial vessels made under the Qianlong emperor. The uses of the deng, xing and zu are described in the part of her article on the Imperial Ancestral Temple. The Gia Định thành thông chí (Gazetteer of Gia Định) by Trịnh Hoài Đức also records fu, gui, bian and dou vessels at the old Trấn Biên Temple of Literature.

Music and dance

The sacrificial music is yayue, ritual court music, played on bells, stone chimes, zithers, flutes and drums. The Taoyuan government page explains: the bianzhong is a set of sixteen metal bells hung in tiers, and the bianqing a set of sixteen curved stone plates, struck to give different pitches. There are also the qin zither, the twenty-five-string se zither and the xun, a ceramic wind instrument. The dance is the bayi (八佾舞): eight rows of eight dancers. In Seoul the rite has 64 dancers. The number of musicians differs from source to source.

In Vietnam, the names of the two small gates beside the Gate of Great Accomplishment at the Temple of Literature in Hanoi also come from ritual music. Kim Thanh is the sound of the bell that opens a piece, and Ngọc Chấn the sound of the stone chime that closes it. Today the House of Ceremonies is where schools and family lineages come to offer incense in honour of learning and talent.

IXWhat the library is not sure of

XPhotos and licences

Every photo on this page comes from Wikimedia Commons, under Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA licences. Authors and licences are given exactly as on the original file pages, read on 07/10/2026. The photos have only been reduced in size, with no change to their content. Click the name of a photo to go to its original file page. If you are an author and see an incorrect credit, please let the library know so it can be corrected.

XISources

The pages above were read in October 2026. If a page has changed its address, please let the library know so it can be updated.

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