Book I, The Book Of (about) Study.

Analects, another very well-known and influential work existed in the history of China. Compare to the previous reading about the Classic of Poetry’s romance and reflection of the norms of the ancient society, the Analects is intended to teach people the thought of Confucianism, which also educate people the rules or the ideas of how to be wiser, thoughtful, and living in a more meaningful life.   Analects have twenty chapters, and each chapter has its own subtitle; the book I focus on is Book I, the Book of (about) Study. The reason why the English version uses the Roman numerals follow after each book instead of using a proper subtitle is because the Analects’ subtitle was named in a very strange way, which makes the translation version impossible or irrational to follow its naming rule.  So, the Chinese version Analects’ naming rule was that each chapter got its name after the first two or three words of the master Confucius’ lecture within the first section of that chapter.  It is very strange and unique so that is very hard for the translated version to keep up and also make sense.

The Book of Study, which is the Book I, has total of sixteen sections, and there are only two of them has been selected in our text book. The reason why Analects are so important and popular in Chinese society is because it already becomes part of our language.  It seems deservedly so, but the Analects was written in old style of Chinese, and most of the words and characters is very different compare to the modern Chinese that we spoke; in other words, if I meet with Confucius right now, even we both considered to be Chinese and speak Chinese, we still cannot understand each other. We need translation between old Chinese and new Chinese, just like translation needed between Chinese and English.  However, because of the great influences of the Analects, in modern Chinese, we actually are using some original sentences or phrases that come from the Analects directly, and they can be understand and make perfect sense (it is like we use the figure of speech in English).  Therefore, not only for the behavior and thought education, but also for the language, Analects are becoming parts of our modern Chinese.  

In China, we studied the Book of Study from the Analects, and I very much liked the first section, and luckily, it has been selected in our book. In the first section, it seems to have three questions, but it is actually giving us three ideas. The first one is telling that when we studying and learning something, we feel happy because we know better and more than before; however, it is also a great pleasure when we reviewing or practicing what we have learned because that is how we know if the knowledge has or has not became our own stuff. The second one is telling us when we meet a friend comes from far away, it is a great pleasure to do so.  Well, the friend not only means the people we know, but also means that person can be anyone or stranger we do not know, but he must have the same interest, same goal, or similar personality as us, so we can get along nicely and it will eventually becomes a pleasure. And for the third one, Confucius is very likely telling a story about himself. He had travelled many places and tried to teach his ideas, but no one had ever understood him or appreciated his works, they have treated him terribly instead.  However, Confucius did not ever blame them, because a gentleman should not be mad or hate someone who does not understand his idea.

In the section 11, Confucius is telling an idea of being filial piety.  To determine whether a man is or is not a good son, is to initially look at what his perspective in his mind and his goals are when his father is alive, and then after his father passed away, we look at whether he changes or maintains his thoughts and actions in a few years (the “three” in the text is also means “a few” here).  In other words, in Confucius’ perspective, a good son should have his mind settled and act(behave) consistently even after his father is dead because it is a respect of what the father has told the son in his life about what he should think and what he should do.

Here is a picture of Confucius (Kong Zi in Chinese), by the way, Confucius is from the same province in China as me(Shan Don Province).