Four Books and Five Classics (Upper and Lower)

Author: Chen Shuguo (ed.)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-01-01
Features: What are the "Four Books and Five Classics"? They are the titles of the combined works of the Four Books and the Five Classics. What are the Four Books? They are the Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Analects, and Mencius. The Great Learning and Doctrine of the Mean originally belonged to the Book of Rites, and when combined with the Analects and Mencius, they formed the Four Books, as determined by Zhu Xi during the Southern Song Dynasty. The Five Classics are: the Book of Changes (first), the Book of Documents (second), the Book of Songs (third), the Book of Rites (fourth), and the Spring and Autumn Annals (fifth). The term "Five Classics" has been used since the Han Dynasty, but the actual contents of the Five Classics have not always been the same. For example, the Book of Rites originally referred to the seventeen chapters listed in the Han Dynasty's Bibliography; the Book of Rites (also known as the Records of the Followers of the Seventy Sage Scholars) was compiled by later scholars. The purpose of naming and recording these texts was to interpret the classics, which is the inherent meaning of this title. The Book of Rites became a classic earlier than the Five Classics Interpretations of the Tang Dynasty scholars; however, the use of the Book of Rites to replace the Book of Rites (as the Book of Rites) began in the Song Dynasty. "To abandon the classics and rely on commentaries, to neglect the root and pursue the branch," was what Zhu Xi criticized in the past. We continue to do so now, following the tradition and customs of the past. The Book of Rites is extremely difficult to read, so reading the Records of the Followers of the Seventy Sage Scholars first, to avoid difficulty and seek ease, may be considered for young scholars. Since the Records of the Followers of the Seventy Sage Scholars are used, the repetition of the Great Learning and Doctrine of the Mean cannot be avoided, nor should it be avoided. The Four Books have Zhu Xi's annotations and collected notes, while the Five Classics each use the annotations of Song and Yuan scholars. This was the custom from the Yuan, Ming, and mid-Qing dynasties. The current annotated edition does not include any annotations, making it a plain text edition. In Answers to Questions on Catalogs, there is an entry titled "The of the Ancient Fragrance Studio," which states: "Published by the imperial court during the Kangxi period. No annotations." This is also a plain text edition. Is it readable? The answer is: yes. The Han Dynasty's Bibliography says: "In ancient times, scholars farmed while studying, and after three years, they mastered one art, preserving its essence and playing with the classic texts. Therefore, they used less time but accumulated more virtue, and by the age of thirty, they had mastered the Five Classics." Plain text editions are "just playing with the classic texts." Annotations and commentaries are certainly not to be abandoned, but people really suffer from their complexity. To study classics until one is old and white-haired is not what society urgently needs, nor is it what most people willingly do. However, "preserving the essence" is acceptable. Moreover, annotations and commentaries are not without the danger of being restrictive. How can we rely entirely on them? In the past, Dong Yu said, "Read a book a hundred times, and its meaning will become clear," and there is good reason for this.