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The Analects ("Lúnyǔ", or "Edited Conversations")

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or "collected sayings" or "categorized sayings"

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a record of Confucius' teachings as put together by disciples after his death

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we don't have written texts directly from the pen of Confucius

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we have an account of his teachings from people who know him and interacted with him

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tradition view is that the whole text was recorded during Confucius' lifetime or shortly thereafter

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probably not true

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20 books

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books 1-10, the early core

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recorded by first generation disciples

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books 11-15: next generation of disciples

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using different concepts

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books 16-20: anyone's guess

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uncommon and long, narrative forms

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more like later Warring States writings

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late concepts

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book 20 is a hodge podge

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clearly just random passages that look like the Book of Documents

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Confucius

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the name Confucius

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a Latinization of the Chinese "Kong Fu Zi"

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Zi = master

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Kong was his surname, or "Master Kong" or Kongzi

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almost all master writers of this time have "zi" as a suffix in their name, e.g. Laozi, Chongzhi and Xunzi.

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especially in the Han Dynasty, there is this idea that they want to single out Confucius as special so they added another honorific "fu" which means "supper" in the middle of his name so "Kongzi" became "Kongfuzi" or, Latinized, "Confucius".

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the person Confucius

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most probably a real person

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probably not as is commonly thought now is that he was a massively revered person in his lifetime

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member of the minor nobility in State of Lu

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formerly a knight class

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a class of scholar-officials

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were literate and worked in the bureaucracy in some capacity

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kind of an "out of luck" nobility, not wealthy

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professionally he wasn't terribly successful

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traveled around China

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one way to look at the Analects is that it was a record of Confucius trying to get a job

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going from state to state trying to get kings to accept the Confucian way

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while he was not very successful in his own lifetime, it is almost impossible to overstate the importance of his later on in history

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Confucian thought, especially as formulated in the Analects became foundational throughout East Asia and still has a profound affect on modern East-Asian civilization

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the State of Lu

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one of the warring states

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ruled by a Duke, the Duke of Lu

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could trace his ancestry back to the Duke of Zhou

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in practice during Confucius' lifetime, the state of Lu was ruled by three powerful clans

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ministerial families who should have been subordinate to the Duke

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but in face had usurped his power

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also usurping certain ritual prerogatives

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this upset Confucius

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Confucius is concerned about the state of ritual decay

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believes he's on a mission from heaven

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the Analects is a record of a guy who thought it was his job to save the world

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it's a religious mission from tian to revive the culture of the Zhou

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his job is to get a ruler to readopt the way of the Zhou

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he feels if this can happen, then by the power of "de", the entire kingdom will be ruled by one king again

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Analects 3.24

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Confucius going from one state to another

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gets interviewed by a border official

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Confucius failed to get a job in the state he was in

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disciples are discouraged

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border official says to them

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don't worry that your master is unemployed, heaven has plans for him

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"The world has been without the Way for a long time now, and Heaven intends to use your Master like the wooden clapper for a bell."

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officials would use the clapper and the bell to get people's attention

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so heaven wants to use Confucius as a clapper to "wake up China"

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Confucius and the Dao

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a way or a path

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also "the way to do something"

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an ontological framework that gives normative guidance

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something that was revealed by heaven to the ancient Zhou kings

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preserved in the state of Zhou

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embodied in cultural forms of classics and rituals

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passed down in the state of Lu

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Confucius happens to be an expert in these cultural forms

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Confucius sees his job as returning people to these practices

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Confucius was a "ru"

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(not only a "shir")

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not translated as "Confucian"

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"ru-jah" is a Confucian school

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this is obviously anachronistic

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some scholars don't use Confucian anymore, instead use "Ru-ist" or "erudite"

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trained in rituals and classics

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could recite the classics

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masters in Zhou cultural arts

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singing, dancing, music

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they made their living by being hired by the aristocracy to perform ceremonies

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Analects 6.13

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"Be a gentlemanly ru, not a petty ru."

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let's reclaim this concept of ru

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we're not just technical specialists, someone you can hire for a party

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we are keepers of the sacred tradition that was passed down from heaven

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Confucius' Views on Culture

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wen

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culture

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ordered patterns

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everything that has been passed down from our ancestors

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writings

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practices

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the way you walk into a room

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the way you are supposed to think

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the way you dance and sing

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for Confucius this culture that was inherited from the Western Zhou is the key to being a proper human being

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culture in modern West today

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culture is more of an add-on

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we're human beings, we walk around, and then we get culture afterwards

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for Confucius culture is what makes us who we are

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until you get shaped by culture, you are a raw human being

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culture is not exclusively humans

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song birds

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primates

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human beings are unique in the extent to which we use culture to think and act

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humans are uniquely dependent on culture

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reliant on culture input to be who we are

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we are born incomplete and are designed for receiving cultural input

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we are born to acquire the bit that we still need, the culture that will form us

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we are learning creatures

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one culture fits all

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the dark underbelly to this idea

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people who are not properly acculturated are not proper human beings

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can lead to narrow views of who is a proper human being and who is not

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in the West we celebrate cultural diversity

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Confucius was not very into diversity in that regard

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thought there was one, true culture

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when we are born, we need a culture, and there is one true culture to fill that need, and that is the culture of the Western Zhou

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Analects 6.17

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"Who is able to leave a room without going out through the door? How is it, then, that no one follows this Way?"

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most students read the Analects and are appalled by this kind of rigidity

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seen historical, culture diversity is a freakishly anomalous view

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but most religious communities are traditional conservative

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there is one proper way to be a human

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there is one proper way to believe about the world

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Confucius in context

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political chaos of the warring states

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was a direct result of a neglect of Zhou cultural forms

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Analects 3.1

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Confucius said of the Ji Family, "They have eight rows of dancers performing in their courtyard. If they can condone this, what are they not capable of?"

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eight rows of dancers is what the Zhou king is allowed to have in his courtyard

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a mere official has put on an event in which he has eight rows of dancers in his courtyard

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he might as well be putting a crown on his head and parading around with a scepter

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for Confucius, this is a symptom of the broader degeneration of his age

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the solution is: re-learn the rituals the proper way

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Analects 17.5

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"If I found someone to employ me, could I not establish a new Zhou in the East?"

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so Confucius' main aim is to restore the Dao, or the way, which is both

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a concrete cultural way

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a metaphysical, normative order

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corrected:

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ancestery

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ancestry

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aculturated

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acculturated