Confucian Analects Research Articles

The Impact of the Confucian Analects on the Concept of Filial Piety in Qutadgu Bilig through the Introduction to the Western Regions of China

Since ancient times, filial piety has been a traditional virtue of the Chinese people, highly regarded and praised by numerous scholars and sages. This paper intends to conduct an in-depth study of the influence of The Confucian Analects, which was introduced to the Western Regions of China during the Han Dynasty, on the concept of filial piety in Qutadgu Bilig, a work completed during the Song Dynasty, using literature review and textual analysis methods. The research findings reveal that these two works, written in different regions, by different authors, and in different eras, demonstrate significant commonalities in their views on filial piety). Specifically, both works assert that: (1) while parents are alive, one should support and show filial respect to them; after their death, one should bury and offer sacrifices to them with proper rites; (2) children should honor their parents with respect and offer sincere advice when necessary; (3) when away from home, one should show brotherly love, universal compassion, and treat others with kindness; (4) filial piety is used to promote loyalty, and the principle of filial piety is applied to govern society. Additionally, this paper explores the cultural background that explains the commonalities in filial piety found in both works, summarizing them as: Qutadgu Bilig’s recognition and assimilation of Central Plains culture, the deep-rooted acceptance of the concept of filial piety in the Western Regions, and the widespread dissemination of The Confucian Analects in the region.

Translator Habitus of Legge under Social Praxeology

Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of social practice as the analytical framework, this study focuses on the translator habitus exhibited by Legge, a renowned British sinologist and missionary. Taking his English translation of Confucian Analects as a case study, it investigates the habitual characteristics formed through Legge’s education, work, and social experiences. This paper aims to delve into how these translation tendencies influence his work and to uncover the fundamental drivers behind his successful translation of Chinese classics. It seeks to offer novel research perspectives and references for the English translation of Chinese scholarly works.

Between Literature and Philosophy: On Translating Confucius into English

The Confucian Analects or Lunyu has had many translations in the English-speaking world, yet Confucius still largely remains a vague, distant, unattractive, and at times confusing figure for the Western reader. It is both necessary and possible to change this situation. This article reviews the limited progress so far in translating Confucius, examines the remaining problems, and suggests some possible remedies. It concludes that translating the Analects is a sophisticated task that requires the translator to juggle demands from both philosophy and literature. To do this, the translator has to be equipped with literary sensibilities, philosophical insight, a thorough understanding of the Confucian text, a grasp of the syntactical differences between English and Classical Chinese, and a sensitivity to style and nuances of meaning.

TRACING VARIATION IN OLD CHINESE: WHAT, IF ANYTHING, WAS “YǍYÁN 雅言”?

Based on the single pre-Qin attestation of the compound yǎyán 雅言 in the Confucian Analects (Lúnyǔ 論語 7.18) the idea of a normative spoken standard language is often projected back by early modern and modern authors into remote pre-imperial antiquity. An overview of the conceptual history of the term and of the competing etymologies of yǎ in early Chinese texts is offered in order to problematize this “invented tradition” and its ideological baggage. Four types of evidence (uniformity of phonology and syntax in excavated texts, ode citation practices, phonophoric repair by double phonophoric characters, lexical variation) are then presented and their usefulness to support an early written standard of elite inter-communication is discussed. Straightforward creolization and mixed language accounting for the emergence of Old Chinese are rejected. Instead, a scenario of interrupted language transmission in a highly diverse linguistic Sprachbund area is sketched and argued to best account for the observed asymmetries between a high degree of early lexical and orthographical variation (including substrate influences) on the one hand, and phonological and syntactic uniformity of texts from geographically diverse areas on the other.

論語 ‘賢賢易色’ 原義 探究 - 충고와 조언의 기법으로서의 賢賢易色 -

본고는 『論語』 ｢學而｣편에 있는 子夏의 말인 ‘賢賢易色’을 주제로 하여, 이 말이 충고와 조언의 기법일 가능성을 제기한 논문이다. 본 논문에서는 이와 같은 주장을 펼치기에 앞서 ‘賢賢易色’에 대한 古注의 설과 ‘賢賢易色’을 부부 사이의 윤리로 보는 別解를 검토하였다. 먼저 古注의 경우 대체로 ‘여색을 좋아하는 마음을 바꾸어 賢人을 좋아한다.’는 말로 보고 있다. 그리고 후자의 경우는 ｢關雎｣에 대한 ｢毛詩大序｣설을 근거로 들어 ‘賢賢易色’을 부부 사이의 인륜을 밝히는 내용으로 보았다. 위의 두 설은 모두 ‘賢賢易色’을 하나의 항목 혹은 덕목으로 보고 있다. 이에 대해 필자는 “효도를 중시하는 유교사회에 있어 ‘好賢’이나 ‘夫婦 사이의 人倫’이 ‘事父母’ 및 ‘事君’ 위에 위치할 수 있는가?”라는 의문을 제기해 보았다. 그리고 이와 관련된 증거로서 『論語』 및 『禮記』 신라시대 원광법사의 ‘世俗五戒’의 관련 내용과 그 순서를 제시하였다. 한편 ‘賢賢易色’이 하나의 덕목이 아니라면, 자하의 말 속에서 어떠한 기능과 의미를 가지는지에 대한 문제가 제기된다. 이에 필자는 『論語』에 나오는 ‘事父母’ 및 ‘事君’과 관련된 문장들을 뽑아서, 그 내용 중 대부분이 ‘幾諫’ 즉 은미하게 간언하는 것과 관련이 있음을 밝혔다. 이러한 내용을 바탕으로 ‘賢賢易色’을 충고와 조언의 기법으로 본다면, 그 궁극적인 목적은 부모를 섬기고 임금을 섬기는 것임을 알 수 있다. 이제 남은 문제는 ‘賢賢易色’은 과연 어떠한 내용을 가진 기법인가 하는 것이다. 본고에서는 ｢孔子詩論｣에서의 ‘色’ => (改) => ‘禮’로의 전환과 ‘賢賢易色’에서의 ‘色’ => (易) => ‘賢賢’으로의 전환의 유사성을 발견하였다. 아울러 『說苑』에 등장하는 賢士를 대함에 있어 마치 연인을 대하듯이 행동하는 공자의 모습을 통해, ‘賢賢易色’은 말 그대로 ‘賢士 혹은 賢者를 대함에 있어 연인을 좋아하는 것처럼 한다.’는 말로 이해될 수 있음을 확인하였다. 이러한 일련의 내용을 바탕으로 『論語』 ｢學而｣편의 ‘賢賢易色’ 관련 구절을 ‘色을 바꾸어 禮로 돌아가듯이 절실하고도 간절하게, 부모를 섬김에 그 힘을 다하고 임금을 섬김에 그 몸을 바치며’로 해석하였다. 주지하다시피 先秦시대 儒家학단의 교육은 적절한 비유법과 완곡한 표현법을 익히는 것이었다. 이러한 점에서 윗사람에게 조언하고 간언하는 ‘幾諫’은 무엇보다 중요했으며, ‘賢賢易色’은 그러한 간언을 하는 데 있어 가져야 할 자세 및 마음가짐이 될 수 있음을 결론으로 논의하였다.

Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (EsP) and Confucian Moral Education

The Department of Education’s Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (EsP) differentiates itself from Edukasyon sa Pagpapahalaga in that the former grounds itself predominantly on philosophical and interdisciplinary theories. Although not explicit in the DepEd’s curriculum map for EsP, the paper aims to show how the project seems to coincide with Confucian moral education. As such, the paper juxtaposes the EsP Curriculum with Confucian Moral Education in three parts. The first part considers the outcome of the EsP program and argues that it coincides with the goal of Confucian education—the formation of junzi. The second part looks into three important doctrines in Confucian moral education, namely—doctrine of the mean, benevolence and the other virtues, and filial piety—and suggests them as an addendum to EsP’s decision-making, social and emotional learning, and career guidance. The third part considers the importance of rites and arts in Confucian moral education and suggests it for the EsP curriculum.
 
 References
 Calano, Mark Joseph. “Ang Pilosopiya at ang Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao,” In Suri: Journal of the Philosophical Association of the Philippines 4, no. 1 (2015): 29-38.
 Confucius, “Confucian Analects,” in The Four Books: The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, Confucian Analects, and the Work of Mencius, English Translation with Notes by James Legge (NP: Culture Book Co, N.D.), 123-428.
 Confucius, “Doctrine of the Mean,” in The Four Books: The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, Confucian Analects, and the Work of Mencius, 41-121.
 Department of Education, “K to12 Gabay Pangkurikulum sa EDUKASYON SA PAGPAPAKATAO (Baitang 1 –10),” in http://www.deped.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/ESP-CG.pdf (Accessed: October 20, 2019).
 Mencius, “The Works of Mencius,” in The Four Books: The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, Confucian Analects, and the Work of Mencius, 429-1014.
 Richey, Jeff. “Confucius,” In Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (https://www.iep.utm.edu/confuciu/) (Accessed: March 25, 2020).
 Van Norden, Bryan. “Mencius,” in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2019 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2019/entries/mencius (Accessed Date: March 20, 2020).

향유(鄕儒) 함인재(含忍齋) 정국채(鄭國采)의 사서경학(四書經學)

This study aimed at introducing the world of understanding of the four sacred books displayed by Haminjae Jeong Guk-chae who was born at Gyeongsangu-do (Right part of Kyongsang Province, 慶尙右道) around 19th century and was a nongovernment Confucian scholar belonging to the Old Doctrine (老論). For the foregoing, this study examined all the records of 『Lunyu(論語)』⋅『Mencius(孟子)』⋅『Daxue(大學)』⋅『Zhongyong(中庸)』 included in the collection of Jeong Guk-chae’s works『 Haminjae's Posthumous Work (含忍齋遺稿)』. Started with Jiaxue (家學), homeschooling) in his earliest days, Jeong Guk-chae went through the course of entering the world of original Confucianism (原始儒學) which is represented by four books. The understanding of the four books displayed by Jeong Guk-chae is maintaining a distance from the world of Jingxuelun (經學論) of rich contents which is concentration a series of discourses and exquisite. It is because that development of discussion in Jeong Guk-chae’s understanding is extremely simplified and ends in a one-off in many cases, falling short of full-scale hermeneutics(解釋學) of Jingzhuan(經傳, scriptures). Especially, Jeong Guk-chae placed much weight on 『Zhongyong (The Doctrine of the Mean』, confirming that an ideological footing point of discourses about 『Lunyu (Confucian Analects)』⋅『Mencius』⋅『Daxue』he landed was original Confucianism at first. To conclude, the world of understanding of the four books displayed by Jeong Guk-chae is considered to have its own historical significance in a sense that it confirms the reality of intellectual level achieved by the intellectual who was a noble countryman (鄕班) around 19th century.

The Image of Confucius as a Teacher in The Confucian Analects

The Confucian Analects is a classical literature of Confucianism, which embodies Confucius' teaching system, teaching philosophy and teaching content. The classic feature of The Confucian Analects is that it records the great image of Confucius as a teacher in a language full of life flavor and poetry. This paper analyzes the great image of Confucius teachers in The Confucian Analects from three angles: the way of education, the content of education and the essence of education. The author hopes to discover the theoretical essence that is beneficial to the current national education, and provide theoretical support for promoting the reform and innovation of education.

Creativity in the Analects: how to break the rules in the right way

The tension between creativity and conformity or innovation and tradition is evident in various passages of the Confucian Analects and has received significant scholarly attention. Among portrayals of Confucius as an outright conservative and traditionalist or as a social critic and reformer, a number of scholars have preferred to picture the Master as a moderate thinker who, above all, propounded becoming a “good person” (a ren ren 仁人), while balancing a commitment to tested social values and practices (li 禮) and creativity. The purpose of this paper is to explore the tension between the demands of abiding by and personalizing rules according to changing circumstances. This tension will be taken to be a core feature of the text, a valuable interpretative tool, and an indispensable element in the Confucian moral project. Focusing on the interpretations of two expressed demands in the Analects— “following one’s late father’s way for three years” and “bringing three corners for one”—offered by two Chinese commentators, I will attempt to see whether and how they recognize and address the tension between the requirements of conformity and the demand of creativity in the process of self-becoming.

The Politics of the Past in Early China by Vincent S. Leung

Reviewed by: The Politics of the Past in Early China by Vincent S. Leung Lothar von Falkenhausen The Politics of the Past in Early China. Vincent S. Leung. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. xii + 202 pp. Hardcover US $100, ISBN 9781108425728; Paperback US $30, ISBN 9781108443241; E-book US $80, ISBN 9781108619196. In his introductory chapter, Leung forcefully dismantles the essentializing notion, pervasive in older Sinological writings, that references to the past in early Chinese texts were overwhelmingly didactic in their motivation. He instead proposes to focus on the “deliberate mobilization of the field of the past as ideological capital toward the construction or deconstruction of various political arguments and ethical ideas” (p. 13). So far, so good, but can anyone come up with a new and truly superior understanding? As one reads on, such initial doubts are quickly dispelled. Chapter by chapter, Leung carefully builds a compelling and, as far as I am able to judge, quite original argument that does justice both to the diversity of the texts and the agency of their authors in their historical and sociopolitical circumstances. The textual loci adduced in support of this new narrative are judiciously chosen and conscientiously translated. Rather than attempting to cover every pertinent text, Leung deliberately restricts himself to a limited range. The result is a slim but intelligent volume that is eminently worth reading. Chapter 1, by far the longest in the book, ranges from the Western Zhou bronze inscriptions to the Confucian Analects and the Mozi. In contradistinction to the protagonists of the Bronze Inscriptions, who dwelled upon their genealogical links to illustrious ancestors in ritual settings, Confucius—in what strikes one as an astonishingly modern gesture—was the first to treat the past as a veritable smørgåsbord of precedents available to all comers, regardless of background, to help them determine their course of action as autonomous moral agents in the present age. The authors of the Mozi, while sharing a similar outlook on the past, flipped Confucius’s vision by treating the past as a series of negative examples illustrating the chaos that would ensue if individuals were to exert their autonomy instead of submitting under the discipline of an orderly régime imposed by a sage ruler. Chapter 2 juxtaposes the Laozi (as represented in the manuscript text excavated at Guodian, Jingmen [Hubei]) and the Mengzi. According to Leung, these two approximately contemporaneous texts both implicitly deny the relevance of any historical reference: the Laozi by initiating a “cosmogonic turn” and tracing the origins of the world way back to a patently mythical female figure; and the Mengzi by insisting that it is only one’s inborn moral nature, rather than any precedent from history, that will determine human action in concrete situations of the present. Chapter 3 treats the attitudes to the past espoused in the writings of the Warring States-period Legalist thinkers and the imperial Qin ideologues. While the former constantly referred to the past as a way of emphasizing that times had changed and historical precedent was useless in dealing with new circumstances, the latter proclaimed [End Page 485] the end of all history. The Qin world order was intended to work like mechanical clock-work, creating a never-varying pattern that accommodated all conceivable situations and events, and that, if successfully imposed, would have removed all need to account for individual cases; in other words, it would have assimilated human life to natural history. In chapter 4, Leung describes how the early Western Han thinkers Jia Yi and Lu Jia reacted to the failure of Qin by reviving, in Jia’s case, a Confucian vision of autonomous agency guided by historical precedents (which now included the failures of the Qin), or anchoring, in Lu’s case, a new view of the world in the study of the Confucian classics, which were now reinterpreted as revealed knowledge transmitted from the sages of the past. Chapter 5 zeroes in on two chapters in the Shi ji that deal with economic issues. Leung juxtaposes the anarchist model of a natural economy that works best without any institutional interference presented in the “Huozhi liezhuan [Biographies of the money-makers]” chapter against...

주자와 다산의 『논어』 禮개념 주석에 대한 일고찰

주자와 다산의 『논어』 禮개념 주석에 대한 일고찰

The Confucian Four Books for Women: A New Translation of the Nü Sishu and the Commentary of Wang Xiang transed. by Ann A. Pang-White

Reviewed by: The Confucian Four Books for Women: A New Translation of the Nü Sishu and the Commentary of Wang Xiang transed. by Ann A. Pang-White Guotong Li Ann A. Pang-White, ed. & trans., The Confucian Four Books for Women: A New Translation of the Nü Sishu and the Commentary of Wang Xiang. Oxford University Press, 2018. xii, 322. US $99.00 (hb); US $29.95 9780190460891 This volume is the first complete translation of the Four Books for Women 女四書 in English. With this impressive and valuable translation, Ann A. Pang-White successfully fills a gap in Western literature on traditional China. The original work, compiled and commentated on by a Ming (1368–1644) scholar named Wang Xiang 王相, includes the Lessons for Women (Nüjie 女誡) by Ban Zhao 班昭, the Analects for Women (Nü lunyu 女論語) by the Song 宋 sisters, the Teachings for the Inner Court (Neixun 女訓) by Empress Renxiaowen 仁孝文, and the Short Records of Models for Women (Nüfan jielu 女範捷錄) by Madame Liu 劉. Composed around 100 CE, Ban Zhao's Lessons for Women (also translated as Precepts for My Daughters) is known as the earliest Chinese moral tract written by a woman scholar and solely for women's education. In the Tang (618–907), the Song sisters emulated the Confucian Analects' style to compose a discourse between a female counterpart of Confucius (551–479 BCE) and the equivalents of Confucius' disciples, and named it the Analects for Women. In the Ming dynasty, the Empress of the Yongle 永樂 Emperor (r.1402–1424) felt the need of a didactic text for women equivalent to the Neo-Confucian scholar Zhu Xi's 朱熹 (1130–1200) Elementary Learning (Xiaoxue 小學) and composed her Teachings for the Inner Court. Nearly two centuries later, Madame Liu advocated the essential importance of education for both boys and girls [End Page 236] and further composed her moral tract for women, entitled the Short Records of Models for Women. Later, Wang Xiang, a filial son of Madame Liu, compiled these four books with his extensive commentaries on the well-known Four Books for Women, which was influential not only in late imperial China but also widely circulated in Japan and Korea. Largely consistent in their view of women's virtue, the four works show clear shifts in the varied categories of women's virtue across time. They had a profound legacy for the redefinition of gender roles in modern times and continue to shine light on women, gender, and sexuality in contemporary East Asia and overseas Asian communities. For instance, one may easily trace the origin of the trope of the mother as self-sacrificing educator to these texts. And thanks to important role they were expected to play in education, elite women obtained an opportunity for study themselves. Based on her thorough understanding of the original moral norms of women's roles, the translator enriches the larger picture of feminist thinking through reexamination of women's education from an insider perspective (p. 22). In her well-researched introduction, Pang-White argues that the Four Books for Women in the past might have had great potential to positively impact women's education rather than serving as an infamously oppressive tool to restrict women in Chinese society. Pang-White points out that Madame Liu advocated for women's education in her moral tract and clearly argued that "talent does not contradict virtue, nor would getting rid of one necessarily guarantee the other" (p. 215). Additionally, the translator also demonstrates some "feminist potential," pointing to Ban Zhao's argument against domestic violence and her declaration of the supremacy of a woman's virtue over her sexual appeal (p. 34). Besides her inspiring consideration of the ongoing discussion of gender dynamics, Pang-White also traces the long lineages of Four Books for Women back to Confucius's encounters with women, Dong Zhongshu's 董仲舒 (179–104 BCE) radical transformation of early Confucianism, and Neo-Confucian scholars' attitudes toward women. She notes that due to the importance of family in a Confucian society, "enculturation of obedience to authority often begins in the household" (p. 12), for instance in the form of a woman's three obediences to her father as a maiden at...

Some Argument on Inquiry into the Discern of Doubtful Problems Faced with Teaching and Learning of Subject Matter, “Reading of Chinese Writing”— Focused on Two Phrases in the Chapter 6 of Confucian Analects, He Has Any Surplus Energy and then He May Pursue His Learning to Compose or Sing Poetry.

Some Argument on Inquiry into the Discern of Doubtful Problems Faced with Teaching and Learning of Subject Matter, “Reading of Chinese Writing”— Focused on Two Phrases in the Chapter 6 of Confucian Analects, He Has Any Surplus Energy and then He May Pursue His Learning to Compose or Sing Poetry.

『논어』의 義ㆍ利와 그 註釋에 대한 일고찰 : 新ㆍ古注와 茶山 丁若鏞의 주석

『논어』의 義ㆍ利와 그 註釋에 대한 일고찰 : 新ㆍ古注와 茶山 丁若鏞의 주석

The Analects and Sense of Justice: The Spirit of Law and Historical Practice

Moralism generally does not constitute a major part of the content of modern Western legal scholarship, but it must occupy the very center of any meaningful discussion of Chinese law. In short, there can be no real understanding of Chinese law without grasping its moral anchor and content. This article focuses on the most important of classical Chinese moral texts, the Confucian Analects, to show how it in fact formed both the core content and the overarching framework for Chinese law since the establishment of Confucianism as the official state ideology in the early Han period. Our approach, unlike previous scholarship, focuses on the Analects as a legal text.

공자의 생애와 학문여정 — 「위정 2:4」의 주석을 중심으로

공자의 생애와 학문여정 — 「위정 2:4」의 주석을 중심으로

A Grace-Based Leadership Approach to Managing Gen A in the Digital Age

This paper discusses a grace-based approach in managing the Gen A workforce in the digital age. It is a philosophical approach that covers grace, compassion, ethics, empowerment, and trust. On the basis of the conducted research the author proposes three theoretical lenses, organizational management, religious, and philosophical hybridism to conceptualize the grace-based leadership model that addresses the deterioration in ethical business behavior which gives rise to fraud, corruption, and loss of integrity. Specifically, this paper highlights the humanism aspect of organizations from the perspective of established philosophies and religions such as I Ching, Confucianism, Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism. The methodological basis for this paper is found within the theological, philosophical, psychological, and managerial fields. This study uses both interpretative phenomenological and hermeneutics approaches to interpret and understand the divine and classical texts of I Ching, Confucian Analects, Sutras, Quran, and Bhagavad Gita. The main hypothesis of the research is the idea that qualitative inquiries in management and leadership contexts can be enriched through linkages to the study of interpretative phenomenology and hermeneutics. The practical significance of this paper lies in the potential for developing a theoretical framework in humanistic leadership. According to the findings, this paper concludes that the deciding factor for an organization’s success in the digital era will be its ability to evolve its corporate culture to not only take advantage of emerging technologies but also to embrace the principle of humanism in the workplace. Keywords: Gen A, grace-based leadership, I Ching, Islam, Confucian, Buddhism, Hinduism, phenomenology, hermeneutics, grace-based approach.

주희(朱熹) 철학에서 이순(耳順)의 형이상학적 의미 - 『논어(論語)』 ‘지우학(志于學)’장에 대한 주희의 해석을 중심으로

주희(朱熹) 철학에서 이순(耳順)의 형이상학적 의미 - 『논어(論語)』 ‘지우학(志于學)’장에 대한 주희의 해석을 중심으로

Consequences of the conflation of xiao and filial piety in English

Abstract This article examines the development over time of the English expression “filial piety” in order to document how, at least partly in response to pressure from an equivalence that is established with the Chinese term xiao (孝) in the seventeenth century, the term takes on new and increasingly negative connotations in English. As an important concept in Chinese philosophy, xiao occurs in many important early texts, including the Confucian Analects and, although the way the term is interpreted varies over time, remains central to many debates about Chinese culture right to this day. As the link between filial piety and xiao strengthens through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, “filial piety” thus unsurprisingly becomes identified as one of a small group of key terms that were increasingly thought to explain all differences between the British and the Chinese. This article examines how the term “filial piety” evolves from a natural and universal impulse due to its connection with Christianity, with China initially as a particularly good example of this universal from whom everyone can learn, through various increasingly negative shifts due to the perceived conflict between filial piety and romantic love, as well as its increasing association with the Chinese, who by the end of the nineteenth century were seen as held back by the extreme nature of their practices. Today, filial piety as a term is seen as mainly or entirely local and specific to China, and by extension, something potentially holding it back from modernity.

『논어』에서 몸과 마음 : 주자와 다산의 주석을 중심으로

『논어』에서 몸과 마음 : 주자와 다산의 주석을 중심으로