The Analects

The Analects - the Barnes & Noble review

If you are a big fan of situational ethics, you should probably skip this one.

The Analects is a collection of sayings compiled by Confucius' disciples after his death. I read the Penguin Classics version translated by D.C. Lau, which seems to be the standard. The book is a relatively thin paperback, but The Analects comprises only about one-third of the pages. The rest is taken up by the introduction and various appendices.

While many of the sayings seemed fairly obscure - greater familiarity with ancient Chinese culture and history would probably remedy that to some degree (as would actually reading the introduction and appendices, I'm sure) - I was pleasantly surprised to discover that much of what Confucius has to say is entirely applicable even today. I think what interested me the most was that so many of the teachings are familiar to me through my martial arts studies. We don't spend a lot of time talking about philosophy, and Confucius has never been mentioned, but I recognized a lot of what Confucius was talking about based on the practices we follow at the school.

The overriding theme of The Analects is the correct observance of "the rites", which I gather to mean the rules of proper conduct, as well as the rituals surrounding various life and community events such as weddings, funerals, state visits, religious duties, et cetera. My initial reaction upon reading his exhortations to follow the rites was that Confucius was not only teaching his disciples a way to improve themselves, but also how to improve their relationships and communication with others. As one of the disciples comments early on: "Of the things brought about by the rites, harmony is the most valuable." (I.12.)

All in all it was rather interesting, and I definitely identified with Confucius' disciple mentioned in V.14.: "Before he could put into practice something he had heard, the only thing Tzu-lu feared was that he should be told something further."

SET - 8/18/99

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