The Chinese Classics
Confucius (James Legge translation)
783 passages indexed from The Chinese Classics (Confucius (James Legge translation)) — Page 10 of 16
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The Chinese Classics, passage 630
His practical lessons were better than if they had been left, which but for him they probably would have been, to fall a prey to the influences of Taoism and Buddhism, but they could only subsist while they were left alone. Of the earth earthy, China was sure to go to pieces when it came into collision with a Christianly-civilized power. Its sage had left it no preservative or restorative elements against such a case.
The Chinese Classics, passage 672
He was a native of P'ien (卞) in Lu and only nine years younger than Confucius. At their first interview, the master asked him what he was fond of, and he replied, 'My long sword.' Confucius said, 'If to your present ability there were added the results of learning, you would be a very superior man.' 'Of what advantage would learning be to me?' asked Tsze-lu. 'There is a bamboo on the southern hill, which is straight itself without being bent.
The Chinese Classics, passage 24
tions, from thirteen different individuals; of the Books on Music, 165 collections, from six different editors; 948 collections of History, under the heading of the Ch'un Ch'iu, from twenty-three different individuals; 229 collections of the Lun Yu, including the Analects and kindred fragments, from twelve different individuals; of the Hsiao-ching, embracing also the R Ya, and some other portions of the ancient literature, 59 collections, from eleven different individuals; and finally of the lesser Learning, being works on the form of the characters, 45 collections, from eleven different individuals.
The Chinese Classics, passage 247
If that development were satisfactory, we should be able to bring our own minds en rapport with that of the author. Unfortunately it is not so. As a writer he belongs to the intuitional school more than to the logical. This is well put in the 'Continuation of the General Examination of Literary Monuments and Learned Men,'-- 'The philosopher Tsang reached his conclusions by following in the train of things, watch- 1 See the 四書拓餘說, art. 中庸. 2 See the Introductory note of Chu Hsi.
The Chinese Classics, passage 778
Serampore, 1809. This is only a fragment of 'The Works of Confucius.' THE FOUR BOOKS; Translated into English, by Rev. David Collie, of the London Missionary Society. Malacca, 1828. L'INVARIABLE MILIEU; Ouvrage Moral de Tseu-sse, en Chinois et en Mandchou, avec une Version littérale Latine, une Traduction Françoise, &c. &c. Par M. Abel-Rémusat. A Paris, 1817. LE TA HIO, OU LA GRANDE ÉTUDE; Traduit en Françoise, avec une Version Latine, &c. Par G. Pauthier. Paris, 1837.
The Chinese Classics, passage 454
On the way he was laid hold of at a place called P'u [5], which was held by a rebellious officer against Wei, and before he could get away, he was obliged to engage that he would not proceed thither. Thither, notwithstanding, he continued his route, and when Tsze-kung asked him whether it was right to violate the oath he had taken, he replied, 'It was a forced oath.
The Chinese Classics, passage 512
Edkins and myself enjoyed the services of two of those descendants, who acted as 'wheelers' in the wheelbarrows which conveyed us from Ch'u-fau to a town on the Grand Canal more than 250 miles off. They were strong, capable men, both physically and mentally superior to their companions. 1 四十九表. 2 Chinese and English Dictionary, char. 孔. Sir John Davis also mentions seeing a figure of Confucius, in a temple near the Po-yang lake, of which the complexion was 'quite black' (The Chinese, vol. ii. p.
The Chinese Classics, passage 752
Of 經集, or Writings on the Classics, there are 236 sections, while his 文集, or other literary compositions, amount to 257 sections. His treatises on the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean have been especially helpful to me.
The Chinese Classics, passage 40
Ch'ing is now showing himself to be a flatterer, who increases the errors of Your Majesty, and not a loyal minister." 'The emperor requested the opinions of others on this representation, and the premier, Li Sze [5], said, "The five emperors were not one the double of the other, nor did the three dynasties accept one another's ways. Each had a peculiar system of government, not for the sake of the contrariety, but as being required by the changed times.
The Chinese Classics, passage 518
When the duke Ai heard of his death, he pronounced his eulogy in the words, 'Heaven has not left to me the aged man. There is none now to assist me on the throne. Woe is me! Alas! O venerable Ni [1]!' Tsze-kung complained of the inconsistency of this lamentation from one who could not use the master when he was alive, but the prince was probably sincere in his grief. He caused a temple to be erected, and ordered that sacrifice should be offered to the sage, at the four seasons of the year [2].
The Chinese Classics, passage 440
The reigning duke, known to us by the epithet of Ling [2], was a worthless, dissipated man, but he could not neglect a visitor of such eminence, and soon assigned to Confucius a revenue of 60,000 measures of grain [3]. Here he remained for ten months, and then for some reason left it to go to Ch'an [4]. On the way he had to pass by K'wang [5], a place probably in the present department of K'ai-fung in Ho-nan, which had formerly suffered from Yang-hu.
The Chinese Classics, passage 92
If one hand or one mind had digested the materials provided by many, the arrangement and the style of the work would have been different. We should not have had the same remark appearing in several Books, with little variation, and sometimes with none at all. Nor can we account on this supposition for such fragments as the last chapters of the ninth, tenth, and sixteenth Books, and many others. No definite plan has been kept in view throughout.
The Chinese Classics, passage 474
After a time, he proposed endowing the philosopher with a considerable territory, but was dissuaded by his prime minister, who said to him, 'Has your majesty any officer who could discharge the duties of an ambassador like Tsze-kung? or any one so qualified for a premier as Yen Hui? or any one to compare as a general with Tsze-lu? The kings Wan and Wu, from their hereditary dominions of a hundred li, rose to the sovereignty of the kingdom.
The Chinese Classics, passage 577
I incline to think that he doubted more than he believed.
The Chinese Classics, passage 463
490, accompanied, as usual, by several of his disciples, he went from Ch'an to Ts'ai, a small dependency of the great fief of Ch'u, which occupied a large part of the present provinces of Hu-nan and Hu-pei. On the way, between Ch'an and Ts'ai, their provisions became exhausted, and they were cut off somehow from obtaining a fresh supply.
The Chinese Classics, passage 249
The cultivation or regulation of that path is what is called Instruction.' It is with these axioms that the Treatise commences, and from such an introduction we might expect that the writer would go on to unfold the various principles of duty, derived from an analysis of man's moral constitution.
The Chinese Classics, passage 45
And now, when Your Majesty has consolidated the empire, and, distinguishing black from white, has constituted it a stable unity, they still honour their peculiar learning, and combine together; they teach men what is contrary to your laws. When they hear that an ordinance has been issued, every one sets to discussing it with his learning. In the court, they are dissatisfied in heart; out of it, they keep talking in the streets.
The Chinese Classics, passage 241
But that is not the original Treatise here mentioned, but only a branch from it [3]' Wang Wei, a writer of the Ming dynasty, says:-- 'Anciently, the Chung Yung consisted of two p'ien, as appears from the History of Literature of the Han dynasty, but in the Li Chi we have only one p'ien, which Chu Hsi, when he made his "Chapters and Sentences," divided into thirty-three chapters.
The Chinese Classics, passage 175
And doubtless it is a truth, most important in education and government, that the influence of example is very great. I believe, and will insist upon it hereafter in these prolegomena, that we have come to overlook this element in our conduct of administration. It will be well if the study of the Chinese Classics should call attention to it. Yet in them the subject is pushed to an extreme, and represented in an extravagant manner.
The Chinese Classics, passage 755
It is devoted to the illustration of the above portion of the Analects, and is divided into ten sections, the first of which consists of woodcuts and tables. The second contains the Life of Confucius, of which I have largely availed myself in the preceding chapter. The whole is a remarkable specimen of the minute care with which Chinese scholars have illustrated the Classical Books 四書釋地; 四書釋地續; 四書釋地又續; 四書釋地三續.
The Chinese Classics, passage 82
clxxxiv. p. 3. 3 鄭玄, 字康成. 4 孝獻皇帝. of Liu Hsin. According to that, the Analects were compiled by the disciples if Confucius coming together after his death, and digesting the memorials of his discourses and conversations which they had severally preserved. But this cannot be true.
The Chinese Classics, passage 346
I must have something by which I can remember the place.' Accordingly he raised a mound, four feet high, over the grave, and returned home, leaving a party of his disciples to see everything properly completed. In the meantime there came on a heavy storm of rain, and it was a considerable time before the disciples joined him. 'What makes you so late?' he asked. 'The grave in Fang fell down,' they said. He made no reply, and they repeated their 1 Mencius, V. Pt. II. v. 4. 2 Ana. VII. vii. 3 Ana.
The Chinese Classics, passage 95
211, distant from the date which I have assigned to the compilation, not much more than a century and a half. That copy, written in the most ancient characters, was, possibly, the autograph of the compilers. We have the Writings, or portions of the Writings, of several authors of the third and fourth centuries before Christ.
The Chinese Classics, passage 519
The sovereigns of the tottering dynasty of Chau had not the intelligence, nor were they in a position, to do honour to the departed philosopher, but the facts detailed in the first chapter of these prolegomena, in connexion with the attempt of the founder of the Ch'in dynasty to destroy the literary monuments of antiquity, show how the authority of Confucius had come by that time to prevail through the nation. The founder of the Han dynasty, in passing through Lu, B.C.
The Chinese Classics, passage 332
On the night when the child was born, two dragons came and kept watch on the left and right of the hill, and two spirit-ladies appeared in the air, pouring out fragrant odors, as if to bathe Chang-tsai; and as soon as the birth took place, a spring of clear warm water bubbled up from the floor of the cave, which dried up again when the child had been washed in it. The child was of an extraordinary appearance; with a mouth like the sea, ox lips, a dragon's back, &c. &c.
The Chinese Classics, passage 330
This creature knelt before Chang-tsai, and cast forth from its mouth a slip of jade, on which was the inscription,-- 'The son of the essence of water shall succeed to the decaying Chau, and be a throneless king.' Chang-tsai tied a piece of embroidered ribbon about its horn, and the vision disappeared.
The Chinese Classics, passage 623
In one place he contrasts their condition favourably with the prevailing anarchy of the kingdom, saying 'The rude tribes of the east and north have their princes, and are not like the States of our great land which are without them [4].' Another time, disgusted with the want of appreciation which he experienced, he was expressing his intention to go and live among the nine wild tribes of the east. Some one said, 'They are rude.
The Chinese Classics, passage 250
Confining himself, however, to the second axiom, he proceeds to say that 'the path may not for an instant be left, and that the superior man is cautious and careful in reference to what he does not see, and fearful and apprehensive in reference to what he does not hear. There is nothing more visible than what is secret, and nothing more manifest than what is minute, and therefore the superior man is watchful over his aloneness.' This is not all very plain.
The Chinese Classics, passage 601
Woman's business is simply the preparation and supplying of drink and food. Beyond the threshold of her apartments she should not be known for evil or for good. She may not cross the boundaries of the State to attend a funeral. She may take no step on her own motion, and may come to no conclusion on her own deliberation.
The Chinese Classics, passage 39
But now Your Majesty is in possession of all within the seas, and your sons and younger brothers are nothing but private individuals. The issue will be that some one will arise to play the part of T'ien Ch'ang [4], or of the six nobles of Tsin. Without the support of your own family, where will you find the aid which you may require? That a state of things not modelled from the lessons of antiquity can long continue;-- that is what I have not heard.
The Chinese Classics, passage 93
A degree of unity appears to belong to some books more than others, and in general to the first ten more than to those which follow, but there is no progress of thought or illustration of subject from Book to Book. And even in those where the chapters have 1 榕村語錄,-- 榕村, 'the village of Yung,' is, I conceive, the writer's nom de plume. 2 論語想是門弟子, 如語錄一般, 記在那裡, 後來有一高手, 鍊成文理這樣少, 下字無一不 渾. a common subject, they are thrown together at random more than on any plan. 4.
The Chinese Classics, passage 722
丕茲 and 不茲]), a native of Lu, or, according to Chang Hsuan, of Ch'u. He was forty years younger than Confucius. One authority, however, says he was only four years younger, and that his father and Confucius's father were both celebrated for their strength. His tablet is the 12th, east. 57. Shin Tang, styled Chau (申黨字周). In the 'Narratives of the School' there is a Shin Chi, styled Tsze-chau (申續, 字子周). The name is given by others as T'ang (堂 and 儻) and Tsu (續), with the designation Tsze-tsu (子續 ).
The Chinese Classics, passage 66
ii. 2. CHAPTER II. OF THE CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. SECTION I. FORMATION OF THE TEXT OF THE ANALECTS BY THE SCHOLARS OF THE HAN DYNASTY. 1. When the work of collecting and editing the remains of the Classical Books was undertaken by the scholars of Han, there appeared two different copies of the Analects, one from Lu, the native State of Confucius, and the other from Ch'i, the State adjoining. Between these there were considerable differences.
The Chinese Classics, passage 13
comprehended under the same common name; and Mencius, the Lun Yu, the Ta Hsio, the Chung Yung, and the Hsiao Ching were spoken of as the Hsiao Ching, or 'Smaller Classics.' It thus appears, contrary to the ordinary opinion on the subject, that the Ta Hsio and Chung Yung had been published as separate treatises before the Sung dynasty, and that Four Books, as distinguished from the greater Ching, had also previously found a place in the literature of China [1]. SECTION II.
The Chinese Classics, passage 694
He asked Pu-ch'i how he managed so easily for himself, and was answered, 'I employ men; you employ men's strength.' People pronounced Fu to be a superior man. He was also a writer, and his works are mentioned in Liu Hsin's Catalogue. 15. Next to that of Mieh-ming is the tablet of Yuan Hsien, styled Tsze- sze (原憲, 字子思) a native of Sung or according to Chang Hsuan, of Lu, and younger than Confucius by thirty-six years.
The Chinese Classics, passage 491
He at once knew it to be a lin, and the legend-writers say that it bore on one of its horns the piece of ribbon, which his mother had attached to the one that appeared to her before his birth. According to the chronicle of Kung-yang, he was profoundly affected. He cried out, 'For whom have you come?
The Chinese Classics, passage 173
The objection to it is, that, as the last step of the climax, it does not rise upon all the others with the accumulated force of their conclusions, but introduces us to new principles of action, and a new line of argument. Cut off the commencement of the first paragraph which connects it with the preceding chapters, and it would form a brief but admirable treatise by itself on the art of government.
The Chinese Classics, passage 495
According to Kung-yang, however, the lin was found by some wood-gatherers. 4 Mencius III. Pt. II. ix. 8. 5 Mencius III. Pt. II. ix. 11. of Ch'i had been murdered by one of his officers. Confucius was moved with indignation. Such an outrage he felt, called for his solemn interference.
The Chinese Classics, passage 494
Confucius said himself, 'It is the Spring and Autumn which will make men know me, and it is the Spring and Autumn which will make men condemn me [4].' Mencius makes the composition of it to have been an achievement as great as Yu's regulation of the waters of the deluge:-- 'Confucius completed the Spring and Autumn, and rebellious ministers and villainous sons were struck with terror [5].' Towards the end of this year, word came to Lu that the duke 1 Ana. XI. xvi. 2 兗州府嘉祥縣. 3 公羊傳, 哀公十四年.
The Chinese Classics, passage 148
In a notice published, at the time of their preparation, about the stone slabs of Wei, the following statement by Chia K'wei, a noted scholar of the first century, is found:-- 'When K'ung Chi was living, and in straits, in Sung, being afraid lest the lessons of the former sages should become obscure, and the principles of the ancient sovereigns and kings fall to the ground, he therefore made the Great Learning as the warp of them, and the Doctrine of the Mean as the woof [1].' This would seem, therefore, to have been the opinion of that early time, and I may say the only difficulty in admitting it is that no mention is made of it by Chang Hsuan.
The Chinese Classics, passage 143
He most vehemently impugns nearly every judgment of Chu Hsi; but in his own exhibitions of the meaning he blends many ideas of the Supreme Being and of the condition of human nature, which he had learned from the Christian Scriptures. SECTION II. OF THE AUTHORSHIP, AND DISTINCTION OF THE TEXT INTO CLASSICAL TEXT AND COMMENTARY. 1. The authorship of the Great Learning is a very doubtful point, and one on which it does not appear possible to come to a decided conclusion.
The Chinese Classics, passage 620
The founder of the Ch'in dynasty conceived the grand idea of abolishing all its feudal kingdoms, and centralizing their administration in himself. He effected the revo- l 2 See the Shu-ching, V. i. Sect. I. 2, 7. lution, and succeeding dynasties adopted his system, and gradually molded it into the forms and proportions which are now existing. There has been a tendency to advance, and Confucius has all along been trying to carry the nation back.
The Chinese Classics, passage 674
He died finally in Wei, as has been related above, pp. 86, 87. His tablet is now the fourth, east, from those of the Assessors. 7. Tsai Yu styled Tsze-wo (宰予, 字子我). He was a native of Lu, but nothing is mentioned of his age. He had 'a sharp mouth,' according to Sze- ma Ch'ien. Once, when he was at the court of Ch'u on some commission, the king Chao offered him an easy carriage adorned with ivory for his master.
The Chinese Classics, passage 322
The soldier had married in early life, but his wife brought him only [Sidebar] From his birth to his first public employments. B.C. 551-531. daughters,-- to the number of nine, and no son. By a concubine he had a son, named Mang-p'i, and also Po-ni [5], who proved a cripple, so that, when he was over seventy years, Heh sought a second wife in the Yen family [6], from which came subsequently Yen Hui, the favourite disciple of his son.
The Chinese Classics, passage 779
Y-KING; Antiquissimus Sinarum Liber, quem ex Latina Interpretatione P. Regis, aliorumque ex Soc. JESU PP. edidit Julius Mohl. Stuttgartiæ et Tubingæ, 1839. MÉMOIRES concernant L'Histoire, Les Sciences, Les Arts, Les Mœurs, Les Usages, &c., des Chinois. Par les Missionaires de Pêkin. A Paris, 1776- 1814. HISTOIRE GÉNÉRALE DE LA CHINE; ou Annales de cet Empire. Traduites du Tong-Kien-Kang-Mou. Par le feu Père Joseph-Annie-Marie de Moyriac de Mailla, Jesuite Françoise, Missionaire à Pekin.
The Chinese Classics, passage 586
Unfortunately the Chinese have not had these, and the example of him to whom they bow down as the best and wisest of men, does not set them against dissimulation. 7. I go on to a brief discussion of Confucius's views on government, or what we may call his principles of political science. It [Sidebar] His views on government.
The Chinese Classics, passage 133
The eulogies heaped on him by Chu Hsi and others are extravagant, and he is placed immediately after Mencious in the list of great scholars. Doubtless he was a man of vast literary acquirements. The greatest change which he introduced into the Great Learning, was to read sin [3] for ch'in [4], at the commencement, making the second object proposed in the treatise to be the renovation of the people, instead of loving them.
The Chinese Classics, passage 335
3 Tsau is written 郰, 鄹, 陬, and 鄒. sacrificial vessels, and at postures of ceremony. Of his schooling we have no reliable account. There is a legend, indeed, that at seven he went to school to Yen P'ing-chung [1], but it must be rejected as P'ing-chung belonged to the State of Ch'i. He tells us himself that at fifteen he bent his mind to learning [2]; but the condition of the family was one of poverty.
The Chinese Classics, passage 446
She sought an interview with the sage, which he was obliged unwillingly to accord [2]. No doubt he was innocent of thought or act of evil, but it gave great dissatisfaction to Tsze- lu that his master should have been in company with such a woman, and Confucius, to assure him, swore an oath, saying, 'Wherein I have done improperly, may Heaven reject me! May Heaven reject me [3]!' He could not well abide, however, about such a court.
The Chinese Classics, passage 18
suffering great damage, he was moved to sorrow and said, "I am very sad for this." He therefore formed the plan of Repositories, in which the Books might be stored, and appointed officers to transcribe Books on an extensive scale, embracing the works of the various scholars, that they might all be placed in the Repositories. The emperor Ch'ang (B.C.