What do you think?
Rate this book
The Complete Confucius: The Analects, The Doctrine Of The Mean, and The Great Learning
Confucius is one of our very best thinkers, a model for living a self-aware and virtuous life. "The Complete Confucius: The Analects, The Doctrine Of The Mean, and The Great Learning," brings together the most important.
160 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
416 people are currently reading
1225 people want to read
About the author
Confucius
747 books1,919 followersChinese philosopher Confucius, originally Kong Fuzi and born circa 551 BC, promoted a system of social and political ethics, emphasizing order, moderation, and reciprocity between superiors and subordinates; after his death in 479 BC, disciples compiled the
Analects
, which contains a collection of his sayings and dialogues.
Teachings of this social thinker deeply influenced Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese life.
孔子 - Kong Zi
孔夫子 - Kong Fuzi (Kung Fu-Tzu)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius
Teachings of this social thinker deeply influenced Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese life.
孔子 - Kong Zi
孔夫子 - Kong Fuzi (Kung Fu-Tzu)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
July 1, 2022
thoughtful assertions and questions ... worth thinking about ... so different from Mao's nonsense
... The Master said, “To rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men; and the employment of the people at the proper seasons.”
... Chi K’ang asked how to cause the people to reverence their ruler, to be faithful to him, and to go on to nerve themselves to virtue. The Master said, “Let him preside over them with gravity—then they will reverence him. Let him be final and kind to all—then they will be faithful to him. Let him advance the good and teach the incompetent—then they will eagerly seek to be virtuous.”
... the ruler will first take pains about his own virtue. Possessing virtue will give him the people. Possessing the people will give the territory. Possessing the territory will give him its wealth. Possessing the wealth, he will have resources for expenditure. Virtue is the root; wealth is the result.
... The Master said, “To rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men; and the employment of the people at the proper seasons.”
... Chi K’ang asked how to cause the people to reverence their ruler, to be faithful to him, and to go on to nerve themselves to virtue. The Master said, “Let him preside over them with gravity—then they will reverence him. Let him be final and kind to all—then they will be faithful to him. Let him advance the good and teach the incompetent—then they will eagerly seek to be virtuous.”
... the ruler will first take pains about his own virtue. Possessing virtue will give him the people. Possessing the people will give the territory. Possessing the territory will give him its wealth. Possessing the wealth, he will have resources for expenditure. Virtue is the root; wealth is the result.
January 9, 2008
Rereading these works. This version has material I haven't seen. Great stuff to live by - The Way of the Mean.
March 18, 2025
I have spent the last few weeks reading, thinking about, and contemplating James Legge's classic translation of Confucius, Confucian Analects, The Great Learning, and The Doctrine of the Mean. Confucius, who lived from 551 to 479 B.C., is the source of all works that have been condensed over centuries.
"The Analects of Confucius are the oldest complete intellectual and spiritual portrait of a man," Elias Canetti succinctly put it. It seems like a contemporary book. Additionally, this reader finds the book to be very un-Western and challenging to understand. Despite this, there are many similarities between western wisdom and Confucian thought. One of the most well-known theories is "reciprocity."
15.24 Zigong asked: "Is there any single word that could guide one's entire life?" The Master said, "Should it not be reciprocity? What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others." (Simon Leys trans., p 77)
The more well-known "Golden Rule," which states that one should "do unto others as one would have them do unto you," is complemented by that. One gains an appreciation for culture, family, and what appears to be a conservative view of man after reading the aphorisms. Additionally, it is a very humanistic and compassionate perspective on society.
Given the significant changes in Confucius's society during his lifetime, it appears that this was exactly what was required. He lived in a time of profound cultural upheaval. Like Western thinkers from Socrates to Gandhi, Confucius exuded confidence, which attracted people to him and his ideas. For what little we do have of Confucius' ideas, we can thank them. His ideas are condensed in these books and fragments, and I find them to be worth considering. This is a human treasure.
"The Analects of Confucius are the oldest complete intellectual and spiritual portrait of a man," Elias Canetti succinctly put it. It seems like a contemporary book. Additionally, this reader finds the book to be very un-Western and challenging to understand. Despite this, there are many similarities between western wisdom and Confucian thought. One of the most well-known theories is "reciprocity."
15.24 Zigong asked: "Is there any single word that could guide one's entire life?" The Master said, "Should it not be reciprocity? What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others." (Simon Leys trans., p 77)
The more well-known "Golden Rule," which states that one should "do unto others as one would have them do unto you," is complemented by that. One gains an appreciation for culture, family, and what appears to be a conservative view of man after reading the aphorisms. Additionally, it is a very humanistic and compassionate perspective on society.
Given the significant changes in Confucius's society during his lifetime, it appears that this was exactly what was required. He lived in a time of profound cultural upheaval. Like Western thinkers from Socrates to Gandhi, Confucius exuded confidence, which attracted people to him and his ideas. For what little we do have of Confucius' ideas, we can thank them. His ideas are condensed in these books and fragments, and I find them to be worth considering. This is a human treasure.
February 18, 2022
Confucius left me severely underwhelmed. I didn't have any concrete expectations when I picked this book up, but I can say that I did expect more.
My first problem is with Confucius' method. He has a few things to say on learning, at least, although his epistemics are frustratingly vague and with few practical precepts, but he doesn't seem to apply any logical method to his reasoning. Nor does he apply a dialectical method like Mencius did. Another method he could've used was that of Lao Tzu, who, while hardly arguing in the logically stringent manner of the hellenic tradition, presented cosmology, metaphysics and ethics in such a way that you could see how he drew his conclusions from the one field to the other. Indeed, Confucius did something similar when he grounded his politics in his ethics. In his view, social relations in the state should mirror those within the family, with the emperor loving his subjects like children and the subjects obeying the father like good sons. Confucius made a lot of filial piety, too much, I think. That brings me to how his argument from ethics isn't conclusive when he has no rational basis for his ethics.
Confucius offers moral edification, but without talking about the transcendental nature of morality. He tells you the rules and how to follow them, but I don't think he ever talks about the "why". Why are these precepts the way they are? Why should I strive for a moral life? Why according to his way, and not to those of Lao Tzu or Mozi, for example? I don't blame Confucius for not defending his philosophy against these later teachers, but I will say his lack of argumentation left the door wide open for disagreement. What I find worse, however, is that Confucius gives the impression that his morality is indeed unthinking, suited for mechanistic imitation, and ultimately headed for heartless and soulless Phariseeism.
On metaphysics or spirituality, Confucius is entirely silent. Nothing in these books relates to cosomology, and on the spiritual realm and the afterlife, we have one instance of Confucius evading the question of whether the ancestors are indeed alive, and we have one sentence to the effect that Confucius never talked about these things. Given how much Confucius makes of honoring and worshipping your ancestors, this silence confirms what I said above.
As this book will no doubt be judged as an anthology of sayings rather than as a comprehensive treatise (and for good reason, as it is an anthology) I've selected a few, good and bad:
This accords very well with an insight I gained thanks to Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn: To inferior men, being part of a mob is fulfilling. To a superior man, it is oppressing. The dynamics of the mass make up for a weakly developed conscience, but they have nothing to add to a strongly developed one.
Learning should not be about memorizing factlets, it's about anchoring what you learn to what you already know, in such a way that everything relates to everything else. Doing so means resolving contradictions, by correcting what you are learning, or what you have already learned. I don't know if this is what Confucius meant, but that is how I read these sentences and I fully agree.
It is popular these days (and not just these days) to complain about the rich. Confucius neatly describes when this may be appropriate and not just motivated by envy. I find John Rockefeller very respectable, but not some of today's crony capitalists.
And here are two disagreeable ones:
I believe the contradiction here to the teaching of our Lord is plain for everyone to see. You shouldn't hate others. Hate the sin, love the sinner. I hope the real meaning got lost in translation.
This is what I meant when I said that Confucius is silent on the transcendental. Also, I personally love hearing about "feats of strength".
Overall, this book left me cold. It is entirely worldly, without deeper truths to offer. While Confucius easily rivals and often surpasses the best philosophers, lawmakers and religious figures west of China in influence, I wouldn't rank him as playing in the same league as them as far as quality goes. He is no Plato, nor, I suppose, a Mohammad or Buddha, figures with whom he is often mentioned in the same breath. With Moses, who was divinely inspired, or Christ Himself, no comparison is adequate.
My first problem is with Confucius' method. He has a few things to say on learning, at least, although his epistemics are frustratingly vague and with few practical precepts, but he doesn't seem to apply any logical method to his reasoning. Nor does he apply a dialectical method like Mencius did. Another method he could've used was that of Lao Tzu, who, while hardly arguing in the logically stringent manner of the hellenic tradition, presented cosmology, metaphysics and ethics in such a way that you could see how he drew his conclusions from the one field to the other. Indeed, Confucius did something similar when he grounded his politics in his ethics. In his view, social relations in the state should mirror those within the family, with the emperor loving his subjects like children and the subjects obeying the father like good sons. Confucius made a lot of filial piety, too much, I think. That brings me to how his argument from ethics isn't conclusive when he has no rational basis for his ethics.
Confucius offers moral edification, but without talking about the transcendental nature of morality. He tells you the rules and how to follow them, but I don't think he ever talks about the "why". Why are these precepts the way they are? Why should I strive for a moral life? Why according to his way, and not to those of Lao Tzu or Mozi, for example? I don't blame Confucius for not defending his philosophy against these later teachers, but I will say his lack of argumentation left the door wide open for disagreement. What I find worse, however, is that Confucius gives the impression that his morality is indeed unthinking, suited for mechanistic imitation, and ultimately headed for heartless and soulless Phariseeism.
On metaphysics or spirituality, Confucius is entirely silent. Nothing in these books relates to cosomology, and on the spiritual realm and the afterlife, we have one instance of Confucius evading the question of whether the ancestors are indeed alive, and we have one sentence to the effect that Confucius never talked about these things. Given how much Confucius makes of honoring and worshipping your ancestors, this silence confirms what I said above.
As this book will no doubt be judged as an anthology of sayings rather than as a comprehensive treatise (and for good reason, as it is an anthology) I've selected a few, good and bad:
The Master said, “What the superior man seeks, is in himself. What the mean man seeks, is in others.”
This accords very well with an insight I gained thanks to Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn: To inferior men, being part of a mob is fulfilling. To a superior man, it is oppressing. The dynamics of the mass make up for a weakly developed conscience, but they have nothing to add to a strongly developed one.
1. The Master said, “Ts‘ze, you think, I suppose, that I am one who learns many things and keeps them in memory?”
2. Tsze-kung replied, “Yes,—but perhaps it is not so?”
3. “No,” was the answer; “I seek a unity all-pervading.”
Learning should not be about memorizing factlets, it's about anchoring what you learn to what you already know, in such a way that everything relates to everything else. Doing so means resolving contradictions, by correcting what you are learning, or what you have already learned. I don't know if this is what Confucius meant, but that is how I read these sentences and I fully agree.
When a country is well governed, poverty and a mean condition are things to be ashamed of. When a country is ill governed, riches and honour are things to be ashamed of.
It is popular these days (and not just these days) to complain about the rich. Confucius neatly describes when this may be appropriate and not just motivated by envy. I find John Rockefeller very respectable, but not some of today's crony capitalists.
And here are two disagreeable ones:
The Master said, “It is only the truly virtuous man who can love, or who can hate, others.”
I believe the contradiction here to the teaching of our Lord is plain for everyone to see. You shouldn't hate others. Hate the sin, love the sinner. I hope the real meaning got lost in translation.
The subjects on which the Master did not talk, were,—prodigious things, feats of strength, disorder, and spiritual beings.
This is what I meant when I said that Confucius is silent on the transcendental. Also, I personally love hearing about "feats of strength".
Overall, this book left me cold. It is entirely worldly, without deeper truths to offer. While Confucius easily rivals and often surpasses the best philosophers, lawmakers and religious figures west of China in influence, I wouldn't rank him as playing in the same league as them as far as quality goes. He is no Plato, nor, I suppose, a Mohammad or Buddha, figures with whom he is often mentioned in the same breath. With Moses, who was divinely inspired, or Christ Himself, no comparison is adequate.
May 9, 2023
A couple of my favorite nuggets from a trove of wisdom: “Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one’s life? Is not Reciprocity such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”
“If you can one day renovate yourself, do so from day to day. Yea, let there be daily renovation.”
“If you can one day renovate yourself, do so from day to day. Yea, let there be daily renovation.”
June 9, 2018
I found The Analects and the Doctrine of the Mean to be tedious, murky, and outright boring. I assume that each of these is better in the original Chinese and that other, better translations exist. The Great Learning, on the other hand, was excellent. To it, I would assign four stars. Unfortunately, the two other works contained herein pulled the whole book down considerably for me.
May 3, 2025
"The Master said, 'Yu, shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it--this is knowledge.'"
The book is divided into three sections, each offering a unique glimpse into the teachings of Confucius--The Analects, which contains numerous speeches and conversations between Confucius and his disciples; The Doctrine of the Mean, a chapter from The Book of Rites, dedicated to Zisi, Confucius' only grandson; and The Great Learning, another chapter from The Book of Rites, though short, it contains many words of wisdom regarding the self, proper leadership, and government.
"Learn as if you could not reach your object, and were always fearing also lest you should lose it."
My personal favorite section of this book was The Analects, and though I missed a lot information I otherwise could have grasped had I known more about this culture and time period, a lot of what Confucius and his disciples said are things I wholeheartedly agree with and things still practical today in the modern age. You seldom find people today who genuinely love to learn--not learning as a means to an end, but to learn for the sake of learning, and after reading I've learned that this scarcity of learning was just as prevalent thousands of years ago as it is today. What I've discovered after finishing this book, is that history does in fact repeat itself.
"When the mind is not present, we look and do not see; we hear and do not understand; we eat and do not know that taste of what we eat."
Living in the present moment is another thing ever more challenging to do in this age of technology, where seemingly everything is in a constant competition for our precious attention--which would make it seem as if it would have been different thousands of years ago, but in actuality, though of course their lives were fundamentally different, people were still the same, meandering about life with no plan and no thoughts, simply going through the everyday motions, with no attempt of consistent betterment.
Ultimately, this book echos the teachings of many great thinkers: felicity does not stem from external sources--its roots lie within. By cultivating a mind fixed in integrity, filial piety, consistency, and a genuine love for learning, one can attain a level of bliss that once seemed unthinkable.
The book is divided into three sections, each offering a unique glimpse into the teachings of Confucius--The Analects, which contains numerous speeches and conversations between Confucius and his disciples; The Doctrine of the Mean, a chapter from The Book of Rites, dedicated to Zisi, Confucius' only grandson; and The Great Learning, another chapter from The Book of Rites, though short, it contains many words of wisdom regarding the self, proper leadership, and government.
"Learn as if you could not reach your object, and were always fearing also lest you should lose it."
My personal favorite section of this book was The Analects, and though I missed a lot information I otherwise could have grasped had I known more about this culture and time period, a lot of what Confucius and his disciples said are things I wholeheartedly agree with and things still practical today in the modern age. You seldom find people today who genuinely love to learn--not learning as a means to an end, but to learn for the sake of learning, and after reading I've learned that this scarcity of learning was just as prevalent thousands of years ago as it is today. What I've discovered after finishing this book, is that history does in fact repeat itself.
"When the mind is not present, we look and do not see; we hear and do not understand; we eat and do not know that taste of what we eat."
Living in the present moment is another thing ever more challenging to do in this age of technology, where seemingly everything is in a constant competition for our precious attention--which would make it seem as if it would have been different thousands of years ago, but in actuality, though of course their lives were fundamentally different, people were still the same, meandering about life with no plan and no thoughts, simply going through the everyday motions, with no attempt of consistent betterment.
Ultimately, this book echos the teachings of many great thinkers: felicity does not stem from external sources--its roots lie within. By cultivating a mind fixed in integrity, filial piety, consistency, and a genuine love for learning, one can attain a level of bliss that once seemed unthinkable.
November 19, 2024
The Complete Confucius is divided between three books. The first is the Analects, a collection of speeches and conversations between Confucius and his disciples. The second is The Doctrine of the Mean was written by Confucius’ only grandson Zisi and the third is The Great Learning.
I found the Analects difficult to read as the conversations are not themed and appear to be randomly ordered meaning that there are many repeating phrases and themes. The Doctrine of the mean is written as more of a flowing piece and focusses on living life in a virtuous way and the Great Learning focusses on self learning.
There are many themes and guides in this book that are relevant to todays life trying to help people live in a way that is moral and learned to improve. The focus in the last book is that if you cannot manage your own heart in a virtuous way you cannot live a virtuous life, have a virtuous family or lead virtuously, something todays political leaders should think about.
The only “negative” with the book is that it should be read in context to China in about 500BC when Confucius lived. The book makes several references about keeping to your own status so the rich remain the rich and the poor remain the poor which goes against my own socialist views and also makes lots of reference to heaven which atheists like myself will struggle to agree with. However if read with that in mind the overall theme of trying to live a moral life of learning is one to strive for.
This is one of those books that you will need to go back to several time before you can really grasp its meaning. I will be doing that.
I found the Analects difficult to read as the conversations are not themed and appear to be randomly ordered meaning that there are many repeating phrases and themes. The Doctrine of the mean is written as more of a flowing piece and focusses on living life in a virtuous way and the Great Learning focusses on self learning.
There are many themes and guides in this book that are relevant to todays life trying to help people live in a way that is moral and learned to improve. The focus in the last book is that if you cannot manage your own heart in a virtuous way you cannot live a virtuous life, have a virtuous family or lead virtuously, something todays political leaders should think about.
The only “negative” with the book is that it should be read in context to China in about 500BC when Confucius lived. The book makes several references about keeping to your own status so the rich remain the rich and the poor remain the poor which goes against my own socialist views and also makes lots of reference to heaven which atheists like myself will struggle to agree with. However if read with that in mind the overall theme of trying to live a moral life of learning is one to strive for.
This is one of those books that you will need to go back to several time before you can really grasp its meaning. I will be doing that.
July 2, 2017
I first read these works in either the fall of 1998 or the spring of 1999, and few works of philosophy or theory have ever so profoundly affected me. The idealism of Confucian thought and the way of thought and living it imbues, it's emphasis on liberal education and service, self-cultivation and rectification, values that are genteel without knightly pretensions.... all of these amaze me with each reconsideration. But it is the simple understanding of Confucius as to what the ordering principal of government should of right be that truly compels my admiration. Nature, Heaven, Earth all in their vastness cannot be understood but their will can, and that will is that human beings fulfill their nature, their natural potential, and that good government does that through doing what is right for the people while limiting the burdens on the people... anything else is wrong because it is exploitation and nature demands harmony, balance, equilibrium and exploitation, profiting from others in a way that is intentionally taking more from them than one gives, is manifestly imbalancing and unjust. A lot to chew on, and I haven't scratched the surface. There are perhaps twenty must-read works of political philosophy in the world: the Analects, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean easily make that list.
January 12, 2018
I’m giving 2 stars to the edition and 4 to Confucius, so that rounds up in 3 stars.
Confucius has a coherent system of ideas that is mainly focused on the requisites, advantages and characteristics of a virtuous life. I think it is worthy of praise to be so self-aware and conscious of the importance and impacts of righteousness.
As much as the main ideas of the text are clearly explained, I found the book hard to read in some parts. This could be due to the lack of explanatory notes or to the excess of names, titles, people, events and other particularities that are constantly referred to with no background whatsoever. I do think that this style makes up for a hard and disorienting read. In any case, I am willing to grant it the 2,500 years of age and the cultural distance, but that’s where notes or a sound introduction should make their appearance. Without them it’s hard to get a well rounded approach to these works. Only the main ideas are easily accessible and although they are indeed noteworthy and remarkable, I am disappointed not to have been able to access the whole content. I will be looking for a better edition as I was impressed by Confucius’ great ideas and personality and certainly want to explore him further.
Confucius has a coherent system of ideas that is mainly focused on the requisites, advantages and characteristics of a virtuous life. I think it is worthy of praise to be so self-aware and conscious of the importance and impacts of righteousness.
As much as the main ideas of the text are clearly explained, I found the book hard to read in some parts. This could be due to the lack of explanatory notes or to the excess of names, titles, people, events and other particularities that are constantly referred to with no background whatsoever. I do think that this style makes up for a hard and disorienting read. In any case, I am willing to grant it the 2,500 years of age and the cultural distance, but that’s where notes or a sound introduction should make their appearance. Without them it’s hard to get a well rounded approach to these works. Only the main ideas are easily accessible and although they are indeed noteworthy and remarkable, I am disappointed not to have been able to access the whole content. I will be looking for a better edition as I was impressed by Confucius’ great ideas and personality and certainly want to explore him further.
May 23, 2015
Book #2 in 2012's survey of holy shit (#1 was Tao Te Ching).
Simply put, virtually everything about this book was not what i wanted.
The Dover edition of James Legge's translation provides same-page Chinese, English, and footnotes, which briefly allowed me to think i could learn some Chinese. Comprehension of some recurring nouns and verbs can be acquired through simple code/pattern recognition but live instruction would be better.
After that brief excitement faded, only Confucian tedium remained. I slogged through ~70 uninspiring, mind-numbing pages of the Analects before desperately skipping to the Great Learning (TGL) and the Doctrine of the Mean (Mean Doc). I knew they were shorter so i wished and hoped (i almost prayed!) that they would also be livelier, juicier, or at least relevant to my belief that i was supposedly reading texts with religious value.
My faulty anticipation of encountering spiritual insights lead directly to my dissatisfaction. How can millions allegedly belong to a Confucian religion? They ought to be proud of themselves for finding meaning in writings with so much vagueness. I conclude that Confucianism as a discipline or way of life depends more on what is conveyed within the guru-devotee relationship than on what can be gleaned as a private reader of a primary text or two. *sigh* Since that's probably true of every religion, how about we say it's more true of Confucianism than any others i can think of at the moment?
Though Legge's copious prolegomena epitomize everything of value within this book—the history of Chinese political thought—these prefatory essays yielded no additional insights relevant to my search for meaningfulness in Confucianism as a religion. It's not you, Confucius; it's me (this reader contains the fault, not the author or his book).
This Kung Fu-tzu guy was a very practical fellow. He believed in the here and now, not some mystical afterlife or metaphysical interaction with supernatural power(s). And i'm not the right guy for his book.
Example of what's in Analects: The Master said, "The governments of Lû and Wei are brothers." (bk XIII, ¶vii [p.266])
That's all. Nothing more. Discernible wisdom might be packed deep into that statement, but how many folks have knowledge capable of unpacking it? Even Legge's frustration comes through more than once, most notably to me in a footnote on p.418: "The whole chapter is eminently absurd, and gives a character of ridiculousness to all the magniloquent teaching about 'entire sincerity'."
I'm the proverbial bad student/athlete: When the teacher/coach asks, "Son, what's your problem? Is it ignorance or apathy?," the kid replies, "Sir, i don't know and i don't care." I'm not really sure anymore, but maybe TGL boils down to
I rarely agreed with anything written. I rarely cared to notate my quibbles marginally. Of the few quibbles that resulted in scribbles, i don't care to share even one.
But i'm trying to be positive. Seriously: what preceded this is me trying to be positive. Or less negative. More effort. Here's some marginally noteworthy wisdom from Master Kung.
Tsang said, "The doctrine of our master is to be true to the principles of our nature and the benevolent exercise of them to others,—this and nothing more."
{Legge's footnote: The one thing or unity intended by Confucius was the heart, man's nature, of which all the relations and duties of life are only the development and outgoings.... [There is the] "center heart" = I, the ego; and the "as heart" = the I in sympathy with others. [Character 1] is duty-doing, on a consideration, or from the impulse, of one's own self; [Char 2] is duty-doing, on the principle of reciprocity. Confucius only claimed to enforce duties indicated by man's mental constitution. He was simply a moral philosopher.}
(Analects, bk V, ¶ xv [pp. 169-170])
The Master said, "To be poor without murmuring is difficult. To be rich without being proud is easy."
(Analects, bk XIV, ¶ xi [p.279])
"Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know men."
(Analects, bk XX, ¶III.3 [p.354]. This is the ultimate sentence of the Analects.)
[To this attainment of sincerity] there are requisite the extensive study of what is good, accurate inquiry about it, careful reflection on it, the clear discrimination of it, and the earnest practice of it.
(Mean Doc, ch XX, ¶ 19 [p.413])
By the way, i did go back and read the last 150pp of the Analects after reading all of TGL and Mean Doc.
Next up in the survey of holy shit, Hinduism's Upanishads.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The following is comprehensible only to a couple of my friends, so feel free to skip it.
Dick Puzzle #3
Tsang Wan kept a large tortoise in a house, on the capitals of the pillar of which he had hills made, with representations of duckweed on the small pillars above the beams supporting the rafters.—Of what sort was his wisdom?
(Analects, bk V, ¶ xvii [p.179])
Simply put, virtually everything about this book was not what i wanted.
The Dover edition of James Legge's translation provides same-page Chinese, English, and footnotes, which briefly allowed me to think i could learn some Chinese. Comprehension of some recurring nouns and verbs can be acquired through simple code/pattern recognition but live instruction would be better.
After that brief excitement faded, only Confucian tedium remained. I slogged through ~70 uninspiring, mind-numbing pages of the Analects before desperately skipping to the Great Learning (TGL) and the Doctrine of the Mean (Mean Doc). I knew they were shorter so i wished and hoped (i almost prayed!) that they would also be livelier, juicier, or at least relevant to my belief that i was supposedly reading texts with religious value.
My faulty anticipation of encountering spiritual insights lead directly to my dissatisfaction. How can millions allegedly belong to a Confucian religion? They ought to be proud of themselves for finding meaning in writings with so much vagueness. I conclude that Confucianism as a discipline or way of life depends more on what is conveyed within the guru-devotee relationship than on what can be gleaned as a private reader of a primary text or two. *sigh* Since that's probably true of every religion, how about we say it's more true of Confucianism than any others i can think of at the moment?
Though Legge's copious prolegomena epitomize everything of value within this book—the history of Chinese political thought—these prefatory essays yielded no additional insights relevant to my search for meaningfulness in Confucianism as a religion. It's not you, Confucius; it's me (this reader contains the fault, not the author or his book).
This Kung Fu-tzu guy was a very practical fellow. He believed in the here and now, not some mystical afterlife or metaphysical interaction with supernatural power(s). And i'm not the right guy for his book.
Example of what's in Analects: The Master said, "The governments of Lû and Wei are brothers." (bk XIII, ¶vii [p.266])
That's all. Nothing more. Discernible wisdom might be packed deep into that statement, but how many folks have knowledge capable of unpacking it? Even Legge's frustration comes through more than once, most notably to me in a footnote on p.418: "The whole chapter is eminently absurd, and gives a character of ridiculousness to all the magniloquent teaching about 'entire sincerity'."
I'm the proverbial bad student/athlete: When the teacher/coach asks, "Son, what's your problem? Is it ignorance or apathy?," the kid replies, "Sir, i don't know and i don't care." I'm not really sure anymore, but maybe TGL boils down to
If you know the extremes, then you will know the everything in between.Mean Doc = i definitely don't remember the gist. I flipped through the pages and skimmed my notes; it might be slightly more philosophical and moral in nature than Analects or TGL.
I rarely agreed with anything written. I rarely cared to notate my quibbles marginally. Of the few quibbles that resulted in scribbles, i don't care to share even one.
But i'm trying to be positive. Seriously: what preceded this is me trying to be positive. Or less negative. More effort. Here's some marginally noteworthy wisdom from Master Kung.
Tsang said, "The doctrine of our master is to be true to the principles of our nature and the benevolent exercise of them to others,—this and nothing more."
{Legge's footnote: The one thing or unity intended by Confucius was the heart, man's nature, of which all the relations and duties of life are only the development and outgoings.... [There is the] "center heart" = I, the ego; and the "as heart" = the I in sympathy with others. [Character 1] is duty-doing, on a consideration, or from the impulse, of one's own self; [Char 2] is duty-doing, on the principle of reciprocity. Confucius only claimed to enforce duties indicated by man's mental constitution. He was simply a moral philosopher.}
(Analects, bk V, ¶ xv [pp. 169-170])
The Master said, "To be poor without murmuring is difficult. To be rich without being proud is easy."
(Analects, bk XIV, ¶ xi [p.279])
"Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know men."
(Analects, bk XX, ¶III.3 [p.354]. This is the ultimate sentence of the Analects.)
[To this attainment of sincerity] there are requisite the extensive study of what is good, accurate inquiry about it, careful reflection on it, the clear discrimination of it, and the earnest practice of it.
(Mean Doc, ch XX, ¶ 19 [p.413])
By the way, i did go back and read the last 150pp of the Analects after reading all of TGL and Mean Doc.
Next up in the survey of holy shit, Hinduism's Upanishads.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The following is comprehensible only to a couple of my friends, so feel free to skip it.
Dick Puzzle #3
Tsang Wan kept a large tortoise in a house, on the capitals of the pillar of which he had hills made, with representations of duckweed on the small pillars above the beams supporting the rafters.—Of what sort was his wisdom?
(Analects, bk V, ¶ xvii [p.179])
July 11, 2021
The best philosopher! You have simply got to read Confucius. He is essential. I loved this book and I love Confucius! Confucius is now one of my favourite philosophers. The book largely discusses virtue, righteousness and the qualities of the superior man etc. The book gets better towards the end in a crescendo as it describes how virtue and righteousness can be applied to the state and the masses of people as a whole by the ruler being righteous, respectful and virtuous etc. You definitely want to read this book!
February 20, 2023
Gives a great blueprint of how to be respectful or virtuous. With benevolence, righteousness, propriety, empathetic understanding with wisdom, & dutifulness like loyalty to ritual... Everything is laid out and connected.
The writings get very repetitious and what I believe is very specific to the Chinese government but helps to give the reader the understanding of the importance of the virtues.
After seeing all the great Confucius quotes around, I'm glad I sat down to read this and receive a better understanding of the context behind them.
The writings get very repetitious and what I believe is very specific to the Chinese government but helps to give the reader the understanding of the importance of the virtues.
After seeing all the great Confucius quotes around, I'm glad I sat down to read this and receive a better understanding of the context behind them.
October 2, 2023
Certainly interesting reading. The analects had wonderful little tidbits throughout, but the whole was disjointed, and sometimes lacked relevance or rhythm. 'The Doctrine of the Mean,' and more so 'The Great Learning,' however, were excellent reads, and well worth the time. A great reminder that if you want to change the world, you start with yourself (and to clean up your own house, if you want to be of benefit to those outside it).
December 11, 2024
A lot of it was confusing to my modern sensibilities, read the rest of my review accordingly. He was a wise man for sure. Taught the golden rule, principles of peace and unity, to live virtuously and lovingly. But there isn't much practical guidance on what following these rules should look like, and I think as a result it is chained to the customs of the times, leading to certain criticisms of the philosophy, that it is susceptible to authoritarian abuse, but what don't authoritarians abuse?
May 10, 2021
Assumes the harmony of nature, assumes nature is good, assumes harmony is good - just nonsense. I've read probably 9 Chinese philosophical works now and they all suffer from similar problems. They all start with assumptions that can seriously be debated. Don't waste your time with this. 0/5
April 22, 2025
Dipnot yok, açıklama yok, başında sonunda bağlam sunan bir yazı yok, tarihsel önemine dair bir yazı yok. Be var? Çevirinin çevirisi var. Yapay zeka çevirse bu kadar okunur zaten. Yakıştıramadım yayınevine
November 29, 2018
Bedre enn Bibelen!
January 28, 2021
I learned a lot studying these foundational books of traditional Chinese religion and morality.
February 2, 2021
Unimpressively boring
March 19, 2024
Great book, I listened to the audiobook version on YouTube. I will leave the link below so that everyone can enjoy it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuZKN...
May 12, 2025
Very enticing, I can see why these were so powerful and popular back then.
January 18, 2026
Timeless wisdom.
November 3, 2021
I had some sense of the teachings of Confucius, but I was curious to read the main text associated with him. Like Jesus and Socrates, he didn't actually write anything down, so we are left with the memories and tales recorded by his students.
The form of the Analects is a series of short vignettes where the Master (Confucius) instructs or interacts with his students. These scenes are seemingly haphazard in their arrangement, but I actually enjoyed that aspect of the book. It was like a mosaic of a thousand pieces. Each one reveals some small piece of the whole, but it is up to the reader to put everything into a whole. As such, it doesn't really present a coherent, consistent system of thought, but rather a way of looking at the world.
I really enjoyed reading the Analects and will try to read some of the other Chinese classics to get a sense of how they differ.
The form of the Analects is a series of short vignettes where the Master (Confucius) instructs or interacts with his students. These scenes are seemingly haphazard in their arrangement, but I actually enjoyed that aspect of the book. It was like a mosaic of a thousand pieces. Each one reveals some small piece of the whole, but it is up to the reader to put everything into a whole. As such, it doesn't really present a coherent, consistent system of thought, but rather a way of looking at the world.
I really enjoyed reading the Analects and will try to read some of the other Chinese classics to get a sense of how they differ.
April 17, 2025
This edition brings together The Analects, The Doctrine of the Mean, and The Great Learning in a way that’s accessible for modern readers. The teachings offer deep insights into virtue, harmony, and personal development. Nicholas Tamblyn’s introduction adds helpful context, though some may wish for more commentary throughout. Still, a valuable resource for anyone seeking to understand the heart of Confucian thought.
August 17, 2016
5 stars for the content, but a star has to be subtracted for the horrible Legge translation. Some leeway has to be granted for how old the translation is; I can forgive the nonsensical transliteration system that makes it near impossible for even those familiar with Chinese to read the names fluently. I am also aware of the fact that Legge was a very intelligent man who had first-hand access to the (then still living) Confucian scholarly tradition, making his notes often times very valuable. What I can't forgive is his complete inability to write beautifully, or sometimes even competently, in English. His prose is full of oddly phrased sentences.
A sentence chosen at random: "*Other* men all have their brothers, I only have not."
Legge's translation is full of sentences like this. Bizarre italics (this sentence is actually one of the few it makes some sense in), and just strangely worded sentences throughout the book. Early on I wondered if it was just a bad edition, with typos and words left out. But it's apparently just how he wrote.
Still, the book has the full Chinese text which is useful if you know any Chinese at all, and the translation is surprisingly accurate, compared to many Chinese to English translations of comparable age.
A sentence chosen at random: "*Other* men all have their brothers, I only have not."
Legge's translation is full of sentences like this. Bizarre italics (this sentence is actually one of the few it makes some sense in), and just strangely worded sentences throughout the book. Early on I wondered if it was just a bad edition, with typos and words left out. But it's apparently just how he wrote.
Still, the book has the full Chinese text which is useful if you know any Chinese at all, and the translation is surprisingly accurate, compared to many Chinese to English translations of comparable age.
April 9, 2010
This is actually the version i own, with the ancient seal script on the front. Very traditional values of leadership, virtue, etc.
July 24, 2024
to say hes one of the greatest eastern philosopher of all time i was expecting a lot more.
March 27, 2016
Not much I would argue with in here
January 11, 2018
Good read
Good book, it just that I feel the Author was too opinionated at the beginning of the book. Ok read
Good book, it just that I feel the Author was too opinionated at the beginning of the book. Ok read
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews