The Analects

good/fair

因為論語記錄了不只孔子一個人說的話，還有很多他與弟子的對話、他弟子本身的語錄、以及孔子與同時代人的一些互動與互評，所以對於孔子的背景經歷事先有認識的話，會比較容易懂。總之孔子是一個很重視品德修養的人，所以他一直跟人聊「仁」、「德」應該是怎樣怎樣、「君子」應該是怎樣怎樣。（很多老生常談哈哈。）他對於西周以及更之前的堯、舜那些前朝君主非常推崇，覺得他們就是典範，可能因此也到處強力推薦周朝傳承下來的詩、禮、樂。這個部分我不太能理解。他有一個我很欣賞的地方就是他很願意去輔佐願意用他的君主，即使明知世道險惡、輔佐了也沒用，君主不會聽他的、沒有人明白他賞識他、他的理念無法推廣.....但因為這是應該做的事情，仍然盡心盡力。他的徒弟子路也說了類似的話：「君子之仕也，行其義也。道之不行，已知之矣」（君子做官是盡應當的義，至於天下不會太平，則是本來就知道的事了）。我很感動也很認同。 ( )

Considered by scholars to be the most reliable source of the doctrine of the ancient sage Confucius (551–479 bc) and is usually the first Confucian text studied in schools. It covers almost all the basic ethical concepts of Confucius—e.g., ren (“benevolence”), junzi (“the superior man”), tian (“heaven”), zhongyong (“doctrine of the mean”), li (“proper conduct”), and zhengming (“adjustment to names”). The last inculcates the notion that all phases of a person’s conduct should correspond to the true significance of “names”—e.g., marriage should be true marriage, not concubinage. ( )

One of the Four Books and Five Classics, this book is pretty enlightening regarding Chinese culture and history. The actual content gets a bit repetitive, but that's to be expected of these type of classics. It's also not quite as thought provoking as the Tao Te Ching. Still, it's a solid book and really has a lot to say.

I tried grabbing quotes from it via my Kindle as I was reading, but the Project Gutenberg version I was reading didn't support it. It's probably for the best, though. I would have had entirely too many quotes.

What is it really about? What's the central message, you might ask? It's a book about virtue and how to live. It's a book about propriety and "good".

"If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of the shame, and moreover will become good." ( )

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