Plain Four Books and Five Classics -(Complete 3 Volumes)

Author: Gu Shuguang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: "The Four Books" refers to the four Confucian classics: "The Great Learning," "The Doctrine of the Mean," "The Analects," and "Mencius." "The Five Classics" refers to the five Confucian classics: "The Book of Changes," "The Book of Documents," "The Book of Songs," "The Book of Rites," and "The Zuo Zhuan Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals." The name "The Five Classics" originated during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and it is believed that this set of "classics" was compiled around that time. In the first year of the Shaoxi period of Emperor Guangzong of the Southern Song Dynasty (1190 AD), the master of Neo-Confucianism, Zhu Xi, edited "The Great Learning," "The Doctrine of the Mean," "The Analects," and "Mencius" together in Fujian, Zhangzhou, as a set of "classics" and published them, giving rise to the name "The Four Books." After the emergence of "The Four Books," they were listed alongside "The Five Classics" and collectively referred to as "The Four Books and Five Classics." "The Four Books" refers to the four Confucian classics: "The Great Learning," "The Doctrine of the Mean," "The Analects," and "Mencius." "The Five Classics" refers to the five Confucian classics: "The Book of Changes," "The Book of Documents," "The Book of Songs," "The Book of Rites," and "The Zuo Zhuan Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals." The name "The Five Classics" originated during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and it is believed that this set of "classics" was compiled around that time. In the first year of the Shaoxi period of Emperor Guangzong of the Southern Song Dynasty (1190 AD), the master of Neo-Confucianism, Zhu Xi, edited "The Great Learning," "The Doctrine of the Mean," "The Analects," and "Mencius" together in Fujian, Zhangzhou, as a set of "classics" and published them, giving rise to the name "The Four Books." After the emergence of "The Four Books," they were listed alongside "The Five Classics" and collectively referred to as "The Four Books and Five Classics." "The Four Books" and "The Five Classics" were both important textbooks for Confucianism to implement its teachings and practices in traditional Chinese society, serving as the main spiritual weapons for rulers to govern the people. They held a dominant position in the superstructure of traditional Chinese society for a long time and had a profound and extensive influence on the national way of life of the Chinese people—this included their modes of thinking, behavior, expression, productive labor, rest and recreation, and reproduction, as well as national psychological qualities, national values, national aesthetic concepts, and so on. This influence has not yet completely faded away.