K'ung-tzu

The earliest leader of a school of thought was Confucius (K’ung-tzu).

The earliest fundamental understanding of the nature of health and disease, expounded by the Nei Ching, would have been forgotten were it not for an element peculiar to Chinese culture: the worship of their ancestors, a practice which runs far deeper than the respect shown for Western patriarchs. It was formalized by the teaching of K’ung-tzu, whose Latinized name is Confucius.

So, K’ung-tzu says: 'To master oneself and return to propriety is humanity' (Bk 12.1). We see, in this view, that humaneness was a quality which K’ung-tzu believed to be embodied in li, tradition and custom.