Unit 4 · What the Classics Are

The Chinese name of the book is Lunyu. It means something like collected or discussed sayings. In English, we call it the Analects. That word comes from Greek and means gathered pieces.

The Analects is not a story from beginning to end. It is a collection of hundreds of short passages. Some are one sentence long. Others are short talks between Confucius and his students.

The book is split into 20 parts, called books. Each book is short. Scholars number each passage by book and passage. For example, 15.23 means book 15, passage 23. Different editions sometimes number a few passages differently.

Many passages in the Analects begin the same way: ’The Master said.’ The Master is Confucius. His students used this title to show respect. Calling him the Master was a sign of honor.

Other passages are conversations. A student asks a question. Confucius answers. Often he gives different answers to different students, to fit what each one needed.

Some passages do not quote Confucius at all. Book 10 describes how he dressed, ate and greeted people. Some passages quote his students instead. These scenes help readers picture him as a real person.

Confucius did not write the Analects himself. Tradition says his students gathered his words after he died. That was in 479 BCE, by the traditional date.

Scholars think the book grew over a long time. Students of his students added passages too. Some parts may be older than others. Scholars debate which parts came first.

Confucius called himself a ’transmitter.’ He said he passed on the wisdom of the past. He did not claim to invent it. His students then passed on his words.

In Confucius’s time, there was no paper. Writers used a brush and ink. They wrote on thin, flat strips of bamboo. Each strip held one column of characters.

The strips were tied side by side with cord. Then the bundle could be rolled up. A long book needed many bundles. Books were heavy to carry. Carrying books took real effort.

Sometimes the cords broke. Then strips could get mixed up or lost. Scholars think this is one reason some old books have passages in a strange order. This is still studied today.

Every book had to be copied by hand. Copies made in different places were not always the same. Scholars call these different forms versions. A copier could skip or change a word by mistake.

In the Han dynasty, over 2,000 years ago, scholars knew more than one version of the Analects. Later scholars compared them and joined them. The text most people read today comes from that work.

Archaeologists have also found old copies in tombs. One was written on bamboo and buried in a tomb over 2,000 years ago. These finds help scholars see how the book was copied. Scholars study finds like this with great care.

The very first passage of the Analects is famous. It is Analects 1.1. Many Chinese students learned it by heart. It sets the tone for everything that follows.

In it, Confucius asks three questions. Isn’t it a joy to learn and keep practicing? Isn’t it a delight when friends come from far away? Isn’t a person good who stays calm when others do not notice them?

Readers see the whole book’s themes here: learning, friendship and good character. They note that Confucius links learning to practice, not only to reading.

In the 1100s, a scholar named Zhu Xi chose four short books. They were the Analects, the Mencius, the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean. They became known as the Four Books.

From 1313, China’s government exams were based on the Four Books with Zhu Xi’s notes. Students who wanted government jobs memorized them. The exams went on until 1905.

The exams were hard. Few people passed. Many families could not pay for years of study, and women could not take them. Still, the books shaped how many people thought and spoke.

James Legge came from Scotland. He lived in Hong Kong for many years as a missionary and teacher. He studied Chinese classics with Chinese scholars, including Wang Tao.

In 1861, Legge published the Analects in English. He added the Chinese text and long notes. He later became the first professor of Chinese at Oxford University in England.

A translation moves words from one language to another. Legge’s English is old-fashioned now. Many newer translations exist. His is still read, and it is free for anyone to use.

The Analects spread beyond China. Scholars in Korea, Japan and Vietnam read it for many centuries. Korea and Vietnam also held exams based on Confucian books.

Readers did not all agree about what it means. Some read it as a guide to government. Some read it as a guide to family life. Some debate whether Confucianism is a religion or a way of thinking.

Today people read the Analects in many languages. Some admire it. Some criticize parts of it. Many simply study it as one of the world’s great books. Readers keep talking with the book today.

The title has three parts. Dao means the Way, like a road or path. De means power or virtue, the good strength that comes from following the Way. Jing means a classic, an important book.

So Daodejing means the classic of the Way and its power. It is also spelled Tao Te Ching. That older spelling uses a system called Wade-Giles. James Legge wrote it as Tao Teh King.

The book is also called the Laozi. Tradition says Laozi, the Old Master, wrote it. So the book can go by the name of its traditional author, too. Readers use both names today.

The Daodejing is short. It has about 5,000 Chinese characters. An old history says Laozi wrote a book of about 5,000 words, so the number is famous. That is shorter than many picture books.

The book has 81 chapters. Many are only a few lines. The chapters are like short poems. Many lines have rhythm, and some rhyme in Chinese. Some chapters have fewer than 30 characters. Readers can read a chapter in a minute.

The book has two parts. Chapters 1 to 37 are often called the Dao part. Chapters 38 to 81 are the De part. Together they make the Dao and De of the title.

The first chapter is one of the most famous in the book. It says the Way that can be spoken of is not the lasting Way. The name that can be named is not the lasting name.

This is a paradox. A paradox seems to say two things that do not fit. A book full of words says the Way cannot be fully put in words. Readers have thought about this puzzle for centuries.

Readers explain this in different ways. Some say words can point to the Way but cannot hold all of it. Some say the line asks readers to be humble about what they know.

Chapter 64 has a line many people know. A journey of a thousand li begins with one step. A li is an old Chinese measure of distance, shorter than a mile.

The chapter gives other pictures too. A huge tree grows from a tiny sprout. A tall tower starts with a pile of dirt. Big things start small. Each picture shows a small start growing into something great.

The Daodejing often teaches this way. It uses a metaphor, a picture that stands for an idea. Readers remember the picture, then think about the idea.

Tradition says Laozi wrote the Daodejing. The historian Sima Qian told the story of Laozi writing it at a mountain pass. Many Daoists honor Laozi as the book’s author.

Many modern scholars think the book grew over time. They think it may hold sayings from several teachers. They often date it to about the 300s BCE, though dates vary.

Both views are held by thoughtful people. Readers can study the tradition and the scholarship side by side. You do not have to choose one to study the book.

Chinese artists often painted Laozi riding an ox or water buffalo. They painted mountains, mist and water. Many viewers see Daodejing ideas in these quiet scenes.

Calligraphy is the art of beautiful writing with a brush. Artists have copied chapters of the Daodejing by hand as works of art. Some hang on walls in homes and temples.

In Daoist temples, Laozi is honored as a deity, a holy being. Believers show him deep respect. Statues and paintings of him appear in many temples today.

In 1993, archaeologists opened an old tomb at Guodian, in Hubei province in China. Inside were hundreds of bamboo strips with writing. The strips had been buried for more than 2,000 years.

Some strips held parts of the Daodejing. Scholars date the tomb to about 300 BCE. That makes these the oldest known copies of the text. Before this find, the oldest copies known were the silk ones from Mawangdui.

The Guodian strips do not hold the whole book. They have only some of its chapters, in a different order. Scholars debate what this means about how the book was made.

In 1973, archaeologists opened tombs at Mawangdui, in Hunan province. One tomb was closed in 168 BCE. Inside were books written on silk cloth. Silk was costly, so these books were treasured.

Two of these were copies of the Daodejing. They are nearly complete. But they put the De part first and the Dao part second. Scholars call these two copies Text A and Text B.

Finds like these help scholars compare versions. They show that the book was read and copied long ago, and that its order could differ. Most editions today still follow the Dao-first order.

James Legge published an English Daodejing in 1891. He called it The Tao Teh King. It appeared in a series called the Sacred Books of the East. That series printed English translations of sacred books from Asia.

Since then, many more translations have been made. The Daodejing is one of the most translated books in the world. Translations often differ a lot, because the Chinese is short and open.

People read it in many ways. Daoist priests and believers treat it as a holy text. Philosophers study its ideas. Others read it for advice on leading or on living calmly.