Analects Notes

Author: Niu Zequn
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: The Analects is called a classic of China, not merely a general discussion of the past and present, or an average summary weighted by time. Today, whether overtly or subtly, it remains extremely important. On one hand, if we want to understand history (history is the rear window of the present; without observation, we cannot comprehend it. The ancients said, "By knowing the past, we can know the future," even viewing history as the window to the future), then the main causes of Chinese history, the main thread of ancient intellectual history, the tone and framework of political culture, the entire system of life and social concepts such as views on right and wrong, good and evil, beauty and ugliness, honor and disgrace, advancement and retreat, success and failure, life and death, etc., all originate from it or are closely related to it. No other book can fulfill such a function. Without reading it, we cannot truly understand and comprehend history, nor can we see the origins and roots of today's various phenomena. On the other hand, how many of the concepts in our minds today still trace their roots to it, directly or indirectly? We may not even be aware of it. Modern genetic and sociological studies have revealed the two fundamental factors that determine a culture: genes and environment. Human ways of thinking, inclinations, and characteristics, like personality, have a certain individual heredity; while social concepts also possess an independent group heredity. The Analects has accompanied and influenced our ancestors so deeply and for so long, enduring through centuries of order and chaos without change. It contains both elements of selection and suitability, as well as those that were chosen and imposed. After so many years of social change in history, how much of these factors has been passed down to our culture today in some way? How much of it is expressed incompletely, and how much lies hidden within us? It may be visible at a glance. This is also why our nation, with a long history, has accumulated such profound and invisible weight over time, to the point of being awe-inspiring: the things that change or revolutionize over several years are hundreds of times older than the things that remain firm. It is like the difference between rigidity and flexibility—greater force may remove something faster, but the rebound of partial displacement afterward will be greater. Some of this is what we have experienced and seen.