Lunyu · Mengzi: An Annotated Edition

Author: Liu Hongzhang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: The Analects is a book that records the words and thoughts of Confucius, as well as those of some of his disciples. Ban Gu, in the Book of Han's Treatise on the Arts and Literature, said: "The Analects refers to the words of Confucius responding to his disciples, contemporaries, and the questions posed by disciples to the Master. At that time, the disciples each kept records, and after Confucius' death, his followers compiled and edited these records, hence the name The Analects." The term "lun" in The Analects means "compile and edit," while "yu" means "words." Therefore, The Analects was compiled by Confucius' disciples, who organized and edited the notes they took during Confucius' lectures and his conversations with contemporaries and disciples. The composition of The Analects occurred around the Warring States period. During this time, social order was extremely chaotic, and people lived in extreme hardship. Under such circumstances, Mencius proposed his own political theory of benevolent governance and, together with his disciples, traveled to various states to advocate his ideas. However, as Sima Qian noted, at that time, the feudal lords all sought to enrich their states and strengthen their armies, engaging in and warfare, viewing aggression as virtuous. Mencius, in promoting the benevolent governance of the Yao, Shun, and Yu dynasties, was seen as "far-fetched and out of touch with reality," and his ideas were ultimately not adopted by the feudal lords. According to the records in Mencius, Mencius、, but achieved no results. After years of relentless travel, Mencius eventually gave up on intervening in politics and retired to his hometown, where he wrote and lectured with his disciples, such as Wan Zhang, eventually completing Mencius, which has been passed down to this day.