Four Books and Five Classics (Set of 3 Volumes)

Author: China Bookstore
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2007-01-01
Features: The Four Books—It is said that anyone with a slight understanding of traditional Chinese culture knows the Four Books. They are the collective title for the four works: The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucius, and Mencius. They are believed to have been written by the four representative figures of early Confucianism—Zengzi, Zisi, Confucius, and Mencius—hence the name "The Four Books of the Four Masters" (also known as "The Four Masters"), abbreviated as "The Four Books." In the late years of the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song Dynasty (1190), the renowned Confucian philosopher Zhu Xi compiled The Great Learning, The Analects of Confucius, Mencius, and The Doctrine of the Mean in Fujian, Zhangzhou, and published them as a set of classics. This great Confucian scholar believed that "one should first read The Great Learning to establish its scope; then read The Analects of Confucius to determine its foundation; next read Mencius to observe its development; and finally read The Doctrine of the Mean to seek the subtleties of the ancients." He also said, "The Four Books are the stepping stones to the Six Classics" (The Collected Conversations of Zhu Xi). Zhu Xi's commentary on the Four Books, The Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Analects of Confucius, and Mencius with Explanatory Notes, holds epoch-making significance. The Han and Tang dynasties were the era of the Five Classics, while the Song Dynasty and later were the era of the Four Books.
The Great Learning: The Great Learning was originally an essay in the Book of Rites and was never published separately before the Southern Song Dynasty. It is traditionally attributed to Zengzi (505–434 BC), a disciple of Confucius. From the Tang Dynasty, when Han Yu and Li Ao upheld the Confucian tradition and promoted The Great Learning (along with The Doctrine of the Mean), to the Northern Song Dynasty when the Two Cheng brothers highly praised and spread it, even calling it "the of Confucius and the gateway for beginners to virtue," and then to the Southern Song Dynasty when Zhu Xi inherited the thought of the Two Cheng brothers, The Great Learning was extracted from the Book of Rites and placed alongside The Analects of Confucius, Mencius, and The Doctrine of the Mean. By the time Zhu Xi compiled The Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Analects of Confucius, and Mencius with Explanatory Notes, it had become one of the Four Books. According to Zhu Xi and another famous scholar of the Song Dynasty, Cheng Yi, The Great Learning was the left by Confucius and his disciples, serving as an introductory text for Confucianism. Therefore, Zhu Xi ranked it first among the Four Books.
The Doctrine of the Mean: The Doctrine of the Mean was also originally an essay in the Book of Rites and was never published separately before the Southern Song Dynasty. It is generally believed to have been written by Zisi (483–402 BC), the grandson of Confucius. The Records of the Grand Historian·Biography of Confucius states, "Zisi wrote The Doctrine of the Mean." From the Tang Dynasty, when Han Yu and Li Ao upheld the Confucian tradition and promoted The Doctrine of the Mean (along with The Great Learning), to the Northern Song Dynasty when the Two Cheng brothers highly praised and spread it, even considering it the "heart method of transmission within the Confucian school," and then to the Southern Song Dynasty when Zhu Xi inherited the thought of the Two Cheng brothers, The Doctrine of the Mean was extracted from the Book of Rites and placed alongside The Analects of Confucius, Mencius, and The Great Learning. By the time Zhu Xi compiled The Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Analects of Confucius, and Mencius with Explanatory Notes, it had become one of the Four Books. From the perspective of the basic viewpoints of The Doctrine of the Mean and Mencius, they are largely similar. However, the existing Doctrine of the Mean has been revised by Confucian scholars in the Qin Dynasty and was largely finalized shortly after the unification of China under the Qin. Therefore, each chapter no longer takes the first two characters of the Book of Rites as its title but instead summarizes the central content of the article.
The Analects of Confucius: The Analects of Confucius is a book recording the words and deeds of Confucius and his disciples. Confucius (551–479 BC), styled Zhongni, was a native of Zouyi (now Qufu, Shandong) in the state of Lu during the Spring and Autumn Period. He was the founder of the Confucian school, one of ancient China's most renowned thinkers, statesmen, and educators, and had an extremely profound influence on the development of Chinese thought and culture. The Analects of Confucius was compiled during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods by Confucius's disciples and their second-generation disciples. The Analects of Confucius is a book recording the words and deeds of Confucius and his disciples. It covers philosophy, politics, economy, education, literature, and many other aspects, making it a very rich text and one of the main classics of Confucianism. In terms of expression, the language of the Analects of Confucius is concise yet vivid, serving as a model of colloquial prose. In terms of arrangement, the Analects of Confucius does not follow a strict compilation system. Each entry is a chapter, chapters are collected into chapters, and there is no close connection between chapters, only a rough categorization, with some repeated chapters. By the Han Dynasty, there were three versions of the Analects of Confucius in circulation: the Lu Analects (20 chapters), the Qi Analects (22 chapters), and the Classical Analects (21 chapters). In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Zheng Xuan used the Lu Analects as the basis, referencing the Qi Analects and the Classical Analects to compile a new edition and add annotations. After Zheng Xuan's annotated edition was circulated, the Qi Analects and the Classical Analects gradually disappeared. Later versions of the Analects of Confucius with annotations include: He Yan's Collected Explanations of the Analects in the Wei Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period, Huang Kan's Explanatory Notes on the Analects in the Liang Dynasty during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Xing Yan's Annotations and Explanations of the Analects in the Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi's Collected Explanations of the Analects, and Liu Baonan's Corrective Explanations of the Analects in the Qing Dynasty.
Mencius: The Mencius is a book recording the words and deeds of Mencius and his disciples. Mencius (c. 372–289 BC), styled Ke, was a native of Zou (now southeastern Zoucheng, Shandong) in the Warring States period, not far from Confucius's hometown of Qufu. He was a renowned thinker, statesman, and educator, and a successor to Confucius's teachings. During the Xiaozong era of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi compiled the Four Books and included the Mencius, officially elevating it to a very high status. After the Yuan and Ming dynasties, it became part of the imperial examination curriculum and a must-read for scholars. The Mencius is a book recording the words and deeds of Mencius and his disciples. Like Confucius, Mencius also led his students on tours to the states of Wei, Qi, Song, Lu,, and , and once served as a guest scholar in the court of King Xuan of Qi. Since his political views, like those of Confucius, were not highly regarded, he returned to his hometown to teach his disciples and wrote books with them, "sequencing the Book of Songs and the Book of Documents, explaining the meaning of Zhongni, and writing the seven chapters of the Mencius" (Records of the Grand Historian·Biography of Mencius and Xun Qing). Zhao Ji in the Preface to the Mencius compared the Mencius to the Analects of Confucius, it was "imitating the sage." Therefore, although the Book of the Han Dynasty·Bibliography merely placed the Mencius in the section on the "Philosophers," viewing it as a philosophical work, in the minds of the Han Dynasty people, it was already considered a "transmission" book that supplemented the classics. Emperor Wen of Han established "transmission scholars" for the Analects of Confucius, the Classic of Filial Piety, the Mencius, and the Book of Rites. During the Later Shu Dynasty of the Five Dynasties, the ruler Meng Chang of Later Shu ordered the carving of eleven classics in regular script, which included the Mencius, marking the beginning of its inclusion in the classics. During the Xiaozong era of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi compiled the Four Books and included the Mencius, officially elevating it to a very high status.
II. The Five Classics—Confucianism originally had six classics: the Book of Songs, the Book of Documents, the Book of Rites, the Book of Music, the Book of Changes, and the Spring and Autumn Annals. According to legend, the Book of Music was lost after the "Burning of Books and Burying Scholars" by Qin Shi Huang. Based on this, the Analects of Confucius and the Classic of Filial Piety were added in the Eastern Han Dynasty, making a total of seven classics. During the Tang Dynasty, the Book of Rites, the Book of Rites, the Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals by Gongyang, the Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals by Guliang, and the Book of Rites were added, making a total of twelve classics. During the Song Dynasty, the Mencius was added, and the Thirteen Classics with Annotations and Explanations was passed down. The Thirteen Classics are the basic works of Confucian culture. From a traditional perspective, the Book of Changes, the Book of Songs, the Book of Documents, the Book of Rites, and the Spring and Autumn Annals are called "classics," while the Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals by Gongyang, the Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals by Guliang, and the Book of Rites belong to the "transmissions" of the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Book of Rites, the Classic of Filial Piety, the Analects of Confucius, and the Book of Rites are all "records," and the Book of Rites is the explanatory work of Han Dynasty Confucian scholars. The later Five Classics refer to the Book of Changes, the Book of Documents, the Book of Songs, the Book of Rites, and the Zuo Zhuan.
The Book of Changes (also known as the Yi Jing or Book of Changes): It is the first of the Confucian classics. The Book of Changes is a divination book with a mysterious outer layer but profound and vast philosophical. The author should be a divination officer, and it was completed by multiple people. It extensively records various aspects of Western Zhou society, including historical, philosophical, and literary value. People's understanding of the laws of nature and the transformation of the sage before them had never surpassed the framework of yin and yang and the eight trigrams. Legend has it that the "He Tu" (River Map) appeared on the Yellow River, and the ancient sage Fuxi created the eight trigrams. The Records of the Grand Historian also states, "King Wen of Zhou, while imprisoned, developed the Book of Changes" (another theory holds that Fuxi refined the trigrams, and yet another says Shennong). Later, during the Spring and Autumn Period, there was the theory that Confucius wrote the "Ten Wings," and the world called it "Three sages in succession, three ancient eras" (Records of the Han Dynasty·Bibliography). The Book of Changes consists of two parts: the Jing (text) and the Zhuan (commentaries). The Jing text is composed of sixty-four hexagrams, their corresponding names, hexagram terms, and line terms. The Zhuan consists of seven types and ten chapters: the Tuan (Upper and Lower), the Xiang (Upper and Lower), the Yanwen, the Xisi (Upper and Lower), the Shu Gua, the Za Gua, and the Xu Gua. Ancients combined these ten Zhuan into the "Ten Wings," meaning that the Zhuan were the feathers attached to the Jing, used to explain the content of the Jing.
The Book of Documents (also known as the Shu Jing or Book of Documents): In ancient times, it was called the Shu or Book of Documents. The character "Shang" means "upper" or "ancient," and this book is one of the earliest historical document collections. It records events from the legendary era of Yao and Shun to the Eastern Zhou (mid-Spring and Autumn Period), covering about 1,500 years. The basic content is records of the decrees of ancient emperors and conversations between rulers and ministers, indicating that the author should be a historian. The Records of the Grand Historian·Biography of Confucius states, "Confucius ordered the Shu and recorded events from the era of Yao and Shun to Qin Mu, arranging them in order." It is said that Confucius compiled it. The Book of Documents has two transmitted versions: the Jinwen Shu (Imperial Script Shu) and the Guwen Shu (Classical Script Shu). The currently circulated Thirteen Classics with Annotations and Explanations is a compilation of the Jinwen Shu and the Pseudo-Guwen Shu. In ancient times, people praised someone who had read extensively as "well-read in the Shu and Po," with "Shu" referring to the Book of Documents and "Po" referring to the Book of Songs.
The Book of Songs (also known as the Shi Jing or Book of Songs): In the pre-Qin period, it was called the Shi or the Book of 300 Poems, and it is China's earliest poetry anthology. It collects 305 poems (originally 311) from the early Western Zhou to the mid-Spring and Autumn Period, covering over 500 years. "In ancient times, the Shi had over 3,000 poems, and when it reached Confucius, he removed the duplicates" (Records of the Grand Historian·Biography of Confucius). It is said that Confucius compiled it. The Shi is divided into three parts: "Feng" (local folk songs), "Ya" (court music of the Western Zhou royal domain), and "Song" (dance songs for sacrificial rituals in the upper class). This book extensively reflects various aspects of social life at the time and is hailed as the "encyclopedia of ancient society," with a profound and far-reaching influence on later generations. Friends who enjoy poetry are sure to have read it.
The Book of Rites (also known as the Li Jing or Book of Rites): It is a selected collection of essays by Confucian scholars from the Warring States to the Han and Tang dynasties, explaining and clarifying the Book of Rites. "The Book of Rites is just an explanation of the Book of Rites" (Collected Conversations of Zhu Xi·Volume 87), and it is a compilation of Confucian thought materials. Although the Book of Rites is merely an explanatory work of the Book of Rites, due to its broad scope, its influence went beyond the Book of Rites and the Book of Rites. The Book of Rites has two transmitted versions: one compiled by Dai De, with 85 chapters, of which 40 remain, called the Da Dai Liji; the other, which is what we see today, is a selection of 49 chapters by Dai De's nephew, Dai Sheng, called the Xiao Dai Liji.
The Zuo Zhuan (also known as the Zuo Shi Chunqiu, Classical Spring and Autumn, or Spring and Autumn Zuo Commentary): It is an ancient chronological history. The Records of the Grand Historian attributes its authorship to Zuo Qiuming of the Spring and Autumn Period. Qing Dynasty Confucian scholars who believed in the Imperial Script thought it was revised by Liu Xin, and modern scholars believe it was compiled from historical records of various states in the early Warring States period (some say it was written by successive generations of historians in the state of Lu). Its sources include royal archives, Lu historical records, and historical records of other states. The events are generally arranged in the order of the twelve rulers of Lu in the Spring and Autumn Annals, including visits, alliances, wars, marriages, and coups, having a significant impact on later historiography and literature. The Zuo Zhuan was not originally a Confucian classic, but after it was established as a subject in schools and later attached to the Spring and Autumn Annals, it gradually came to be regarded as a classic by Confucian scholars.