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Textual
Sources
Scholarship
- the learning and application of ancient ways - influenced by Confucius, became the ideal and most respected life in Chinese society.
Master
Kung embraced the pre-Confucian "Five Classics":
-
I-Ching
(Book of Changes) - divination
-
The
Book of Poems
-
The
Book of Rituals
-
The
Book of History (8th century BCE and earlier)
-
The
Spring and Autumn Annals (history from the 8th - 5th century BCE ) - a diary
like record of events placed in chronological order ("spring
and autumn" is a Chinese reference for the entire year but I think
the phrase works well because this was a period of great change in ancient
China - just like the changes we see in nature during the spring and autumn
seasons)
(A
sixth "Classic" - The Book of Music - is lost)
Confucius
did not write these books, he merely embraced them as ideals from an earlier
time.
Confucian
texts dating from the 5th - 4th centuries BCE: The Four Books:
(the Lun Yu)- What Confucius said and taught ("Confucius say...")
"The Lun Yu is one of the most important books of Confucianism. It portrays the life and thought of Confucius through a discontinuous series of brief statements, short dialogues and anecdotes. The book consists of 20 chapters, grouped by individual themes that are not necessarily connected.
...Although the book is about Confucius and his thoughts, it was not written by the Sage, but by two successive generations of disciples. This may explain why the central themes recur repeatedly in different chapters, sometimes in exact or similar wording. The book was written over a period of between 30 to 50 years
...and is believed to have been completed around 400 BC, 75 years after Confucius’ death."
More
information at http://www.chineseonthego.com/confucius_says/analect.html
Here's an online
"full-text" English translation of the Lun-Yu
-
Doctrine
of the Mean - focus on maintaining balance through moderation (cf.
Aristotle)
-
The
Great Learning - focus on self-cultivation by means of study (the
"investigation of things")
-
The
Book of Mencius - teachings of Confucius’ later follower (4th cent.
BCE). Mencius taught...
-
Personal
"calling": taught a more mystical approach to self-cultivation
which sought to align oneself with one’s "calling". The "Mandate
of Heaven" applies to all people, each in a unique way. It might
be called the "will" of heaven.
-
Innate
goodness: Mencius taught that, although there is a tendency for human
beings to act in self serving ways, an innate potential for goodness (Jen)
lies within each of us and, through intention and effort, it can be
brought out.
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