In this passage, who is the one called the Master? To whom is he
speaking?

Confucius is "The Master" & He is speaking to his students/followers.

my cultural heritage consists of irish, german, native american, and others.

the treaty of brest-litovsk was a peace treaty signed on 3 march 1918 between the new bolshevik government of russia and the central powers (german empire, austria-hungary, bulgaria, and the ottoman empire), that ended russia's participation in world war i.