The Chinese Classics
Confucius (James Legge translation)
783 passages indexed from The Chinese Classics (Confucius (James Legge translation)) — Page 12 of 16
License: Public Domain
The Chinese Classics, passage 774
This is the most common and complete of all Chinese dictionaries for common use. The I Wan Pi Lan (蓺文備覽), 'A Complete Exhibition of all the Authorized Characters,' published in 1787; 'furnishing,' says Dr.
The Chinese Classics, passage 407
In the [Sidebar] He holds office. B.C. 500-496. year B.C. 501, things had come to a head between the chiefs of the three Families and their ministers, and had resulted in the defeat of the latter. In that year the resources of Yang Hu were exhausted, and he fled into Ch'i, so that the State was delivered from its greatest troubler, and the way was made more clear for Confucius to go into office, should an opportunity occur. It soon presented itself.
The Chinese Classics, passage 633
I have little more to add on the opinions of Confucius. Many of his sayings are pithy, and display much knowledge of character; but as they are contained in the body of the Work, I will not occupy the space here with a selection of those which have struck myself as most worthy of notice. The fourth Book of the Analects, which is on the subject of zan, or perfect virtue, has several utterances which are remarkable.
The Chinese Classics, passage 130
The text of the Great Learning, as it appears in the Record of Rites with the commentary of Chang Hsuan, and was thrice engraved on stone, in three different dynasties, is, no doubt, that which was edited in the Han dynasty by Ma Yung. 3. I have said, that it is possible that the tablets containing the 1 陜碑.
The Chinese Classics, passage 64
Mencius tells us how the princes had made away with many of the records of antiquity, from which their own usurpations and innovations might have been condemned [3]. Still the times were not unfruitful, either in scholars or statesmen, to whom the ways and monuments of antiquity were dear, and the space from the rise of the Ch'in dynasty to the death of Confucius was not very great. It only amounted to 258 years. Between these two periods Mencius stands as a connecting link.
The Chinese Classics, passage 181
I am less concerned for the loss and injury which this part of the Work has suffered, because the subject of the connexion between intelligence and virtue is very fully exhibited in the Doctrine of the Mean, and will come under our notice in the review of that Treatise. The manner in which Chu Hsi has endeavoured to supply the blank about the perfecting of knowledge by the investigation of things is too extravagant.
The Chinese Classics, passage 211
Another friend was emboldened by this to send him a bottle of spirits, but he declined to receive it.' You receive your corn from other people,' urged the donor, 'and why should you decline my gift, which is of less value?
The Chinese Classics, passage 317
Unfortunately for himself, he had a wife of surpassing beauty, of whom the chief minister of the State, by name Hwa Tu [9], happened on one occasion to get a glimpse. Determined to possess her, he commenced a series of intrigues, which ended, B.C. 710, in the murder of Chia and of the ruling duke Shang [10]. At the same time, Tu secured the person of the lady, and hastened to his palace with the prize, but on the way she had strangled herself with her girdle.
The Chinese Classics, passage 420
The business proceeded, notwithstanding, and when the words of the alliance were being read on the part of Ch'i,-- ' So be it to Lu, if it contribute not 300 chariots of war to the help of Ch'i, when its army goes across its borders,' a messenger from Confucius added, 'And so be it to us, if we obey your orders, unless you return to us the fields on the south of the Wan.' At the conclusion of the ceremonies, the prince of Ch'i wanted to give a grand entertainment, but Confucius demonstrated that such a thing would be 1 左傳, 定公元年.
The Chinese Classics, passage 19
32-5), finding that a portion of the Books still continued dispersed or missing, commissioned Ch'an Nang, the Superintendent of Guests [2], to search for undiscovered Books throughout the empire, and by special edict ordered the chief of the Banqueting House, Liu Hsiang [3], to examine the Classical Works, along with the commentaries on them, the writings of the scholars, and all poetical productions; the Master-controller of Infantry, Zan Hwang [4], to examine the Books on the art of war; the Grand Historiographer, Yin Hsien [5], to examine the Books treating of the art of numbers (i.e.
The Chinese Classics, passage 521
In the year of our Lord 1, began the practice of conferring honourary designations on Confucius by imperial authority. The emperor Ping [3] then styled him-- 'The duke Ni, all-complete and l Li Chi, II. Sect. I. iii. 43. This eulogy is found at greater length in the 左傳, immediately after the notice of the sage's death. 2 See the 聖廟祀典圖考, 卷一, art. on Confucius. I am indebted to this for most of the notices in this paragraph. 3 平帝. illustrious [1].' This was changed, in A.D.
The Chinese Classics, passage 3
CONFUCIAN ANALECTS THE GREAT LEARNING THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN PROLEGOMENA.
The Chinese Classics, passage 235
Tsze-sze replied to him, 'Of old, princes advanced their ministers to office according to propriety, and dismissed them in the same way, and hence there was that rule. But now-a-days, princes bring their ministers forward as if they were going to take them on their knees, and send them away as if they would cast them into an abyss.
The Chinese Classics, passage 102
They leave the presumption, however, in favour of those conclusions, which arises from the facts stated in the first section, undisturbed. They confirm it rather. They show that there was abundance of materials at hand to the scholars of Han, to compile a much larger Work with the same title, if they had felt it their duty to do the business of compilation, and not that of editing. SECTION III. OF COMMENTARIES UPON THE ANALECTS. 1.
The Chinese Classics, passage 79
That may have been sufficient for Chang Yu to condemn them as he did, but we can hardly supposed that he did not have before him the old Lun, which had come to light about a century before he published his work. 7. In the course of the second century, a new edition of the Analects, with a commentary, was published by one of the greatest scholars which China has ever produced, Chang Hsuan, known also as Chang K'ang-ch'ang [3]. He died in the reign of the emperor Hsien (A.D.
The Chinese Classics, passage 62
The inquiry pursued in the above paragraphs conducts us to the conclusion that the materials from which the classics, as they have come down to us, were compiled and edited in the two centuries preceding our Christian era, were genuine remains, going back to a still more remote period.
The Chinese Classics, passage 189
The insisting on personal excellence in all who have authority in the family, the state, and the kingdom, is a great moral and social principle. The influence of such personal excellence may be overstated, but by the requirement of its cultivation the writer deserved well of his country. Third. Still more important than the requirement of such excellence, is the principle that it must be rooted in the state of 1 Comm. x. 11. the heart, and be the natural outgrowth of internal sincerity.
The Chinese Classics, passage 240
It is on the entry in Liu Hsin's Catalogue, quoted section i,-- 'Two p'ien of Observations on the Chung Yung,' that the integrity of the present Work is called in question. Yen Sze-ku, of the Tang dynasty, has a note on that entry to the effect:-- 'There is now the Chung Yung in the Li Chi in one p'ien.
The Chinese Classics, passage 384
children, remember this. Oppressive government is fiercer than a tiger [1].' As soon as he crossed the border from Lu, we are told he discovered from the gait and manners of a boy, whom he saw carrying a pitcher, the influence of the sages' music, and told the driver of his carriage to hurry on to the capital [2]. Arrived there, he heard the strain, and was so ravished with it, that for three months he did not know the taste of flesh.
The Chinese Classics, passage 697
On occasion of a fire breaking out in the palace of duke Ai, while others were intent on securing the contents of the Treasury, Nan-kung directed his efforts to save the Library, and to him was owing the preservation of the copy of the Chau Li which was in Lu, and other ancient monuments. 18. Kung-hsi Ai, styled Chi-ts'ze [al. Chi-ch'an] (公皙哀, 字季次 [al. 季沉]). His tablet follows that of Kung-ye. He was a native of Lu, or of Ch'i.
The Chinese Classics, passage 660
Yu would have no opportunity to display his bravery, or Ts'ze to display his oratory.' The master pronounced, 'How admirable is this virtue!' When Hui was twenty-nine, his hair was all white, and in three years more he died. He was sacrificed to, along with Confucius, by the first emperor of the Han dynasty. The title which he now has in the sacrificial Canon,-- 'Continuator of the Sage,' was conferred in the ninth year of the emperor, or, to speak more correctly, of the period, Chia-ching, A.
The Chinese Classics, passage 139
He first divided the whole into one chapter of Classical text, which he assigned to Confucius, and then chapters of Commentary, which he assigned to the disciple Tsang. Previous to him, the whole had been published, indeed, without any specification of chapters and paragraphs. He undertook, moreover, to supply one whole chapter, which he supposed, after his master Ch'ang, to be missing. Since the time of Chu Hsi, many scholars have exercised their wit on the Great Learning.
The Chinese Classics, passage 585
There are certain virtues which demand a true piety in order to their flourishing in the heart of man. Natural affection, the feeling of loyalty, and enlightened policy, may do much to build up and preserve a family and a state, but it requires more to maintain the love of truth, and make a lie, spoken or acted, to be shrunk from with shame. It requires in fact the living recognition of a God of truth, and all the sanctions of revealed religion.
The Chinese Classics, passage 232
When I cultivate what is good, I wish men to know it, for when they know it and praise me, I feel encouraged to be more zealous in the cultivation. This is what I desire, and am not able to obtain. If I cultivate what is good, and men do not know it, it is likely that in their ignorance they will speak evil of me. So by my good-doing I only come to be evil spoken of. This is what I do not desire, but am not able to avoid.
The Chinese Classics, passage 145
The fourth chapter of commentary commences with 'The Master said.' Surely, if there were anything more, directly from Confucius, there would be an intimation of it in the same way. Or, if we may allow that short sayings of Confucius might be interwoven with the Work, as in the fifteenth paragraph of the tenth chapter, without referring them expressly to him, it is too much to ask us to receive the long chapter at the beginning as being from him.
The Chinese Classics, passage 243
The Great Learning carries on its front the evidence of being incomplete, but the student will not easily believe that the Doctrine of the Mean is so. I see no reason for calling its integrity in question, and no necessity therefore to recur to the ingenious device employed in the edition of the five ching published by the imperial authority of K'ang Hsi, to get over the difficulty which Wang Wei supposes.
The Chinese Classics, passage 552
Chung-ni is the sun or moon, which it is not possible to step over. Although a man may wish to cut himself off from the sage, what harm can he do to the sun and moon? He only shows that he does not know his own capacity [2].' In conversation with a fellow-disciple, Tsze-kung took a still higher flight.
The Chinese Classics, passage 488
'If some years were added to my life,' he said, 'I would give fifty to the study of the Yi, and then I might come to be without great faults [6].' During this time also, we may suppose that he supplied Tsang Shan with the materials of the classic of Filial Piety. The same year that he returned, Chi Kang sent Yen Yu to ask his opinion about an 1 孔文子, the same who is mentioned in the Analects, V. xiv. 2 See the 左傳, 哀公十一年. 3 Ana. II. iv. 6. 4 See the 史記, 孔子世家, p. 12. 5 Ana. IX. xiv. 6 Ana. VII.
The Chinese Classics, passage 661
D. 1530. Almost all the present sacrificial titles of the worthies in the temple were fixed at that time. Hui's place is the first of the four Assessors, on the east of the sage [1]. 2. Min Sun, styled Tsze-ch'ien (閔損，字子騫).
The Chinese Classics, passage 424
A father having brought some charge against his son, Confucius kept them both in prison for three months, without making any difference in favour of the father, and then wished to dismiss them both. The head of the Chi was dissatisfied, and said, 'You are playing with me, Sir minister of Crime. Formerly you told me that in a State or a family filial duty was the first thing to be insisted on.
The Chinese Classics, passage 544
Emphatically he was 'a transmitter and not a maker.' It is not to be understood that he was not fully satisfied of the truth of the principles which he had learned. He held them with the full approval and consent of his own understanding. He believed that if they were acted on, they would remedy the evils of his time. 1 All these passages are taken from the seventh Book of the Analects. See chapters xxxiii, xxxii, iii, xix, and i.
The Chinese Classics, passage 573
Secondly, Along with the worship of God there existed in China, from the earliest historical times, the worship of other spiritual beings,-- especially, and to every individual, the worship of departed ancestors. Confucius recognised this as an institution to be devoutly observed. 'He sacrificed to the dead as if they were present; he sacrificed to the spirits as if the spirits were present. He said.
The Chinese Classics, passage 218
But I cannot attain to this. While she was my wife, she was Pai's mother; when she ceased to be my wife, she ceased to be Pai's mother.' The custom of the K'ung family not to mourn for a mother who had been divorced, took its rise from Tsze-sze [5]. These few notices of K'ung Chi in his more private relations bring him before us as a man of strong feeling and strong will, independent, and with a tendency to asceticism in his habits. 1 See the 四書集證, as above. 2 See the Li Chi, II. Sect. II. iii.
The Chinese Classics, passage 717
Some take Shih-tso (石作) as a double surname. His tablet follows that of No. 42. 45. Zan Pu-ch'i, styled Hsuan (任不齊, 字選), a native of Ch'u, whose tablet is next to that of No. 28. 46. Kung-liang Zu, styled Tsze-chang (公良孺 [al. 儒], 字子正), a native of Ch'in, follows the preceding in the temples. The 'Sacrificial Canon' says:-- 'Tsze-chang was a man of worth and bravery.
The Chinese Classics, passage 149
There certainly is that agreement between the two treatises, which makes their common authorship not at all unlikely. 3. Though we cannot positively assign the authorship of the Great Learning, there can be no hesitation in receiving it as a genuine monument of the Confucian school. There are not many words in it from the sage himself, but it is a faithful reflection of his teachings, written by some of his followers, not far removed from him by lapse of time.
The Chinese Classics, passage 111
In the Liang, which occupied the throne a good part of the sixth century, there appeared the 'Comments of Hwang K'an [1],' who to the seven authorities cited by Ho Yen added other thirteen, being scholars who had deserved well of the Classic during the intermediate time. Passing over other dynasties, we come to the Sung, A.D. 960-1279.
The Chinese Classics, passage 766
It is an exhaustive work on the literature of the Classics, in 300 chapters or Books.' 續文獻通考, 'A Continuation of the General Examination of Records and Scholars.' This Work, which is in 254 Books, and nearly as extensive as the former, was the production of Wang Ch'i (王圻), who dates his preface in 1586, the fourteenth year of Wan-li, the style of the reign of the fourteenth emperor of the Ming dynasty. Wang Ch'i brings down the Work of his predecessor to his own times.
The Chinese Classics, passage 415
One incident, related in the annotations of Tso-shih on the Ch'un-Ch'iu [1], commends itself at once to our belief, as in harmony with Confucius's character. The chief of the Chi, pursuing with his enmity the duke Chao, even after his death, had placed his grave apart from the graves of his predecessors; and Confucius surrounded the ducal cemetery with a ditch so as to include the solitary resting-place, boldly telling the chief that he did it to hide his disloyalty [2].
The Chinese Classics, passage 479
During all that time there is a blank in his history. In the very year of his return, according to the 'Annals of the Empire,' his most beloved disciple, Yen Hui, died, on which occasion he exclaimed, 'Alas! Heaven is destroying me! Heaven is destroying me [3]!' The death of his wife is assigned to B.C. 484, but nothing else is related which we can connect with this long period. 9.
The Chinese Classics, passage 269
Most of it consists of sayings of Confucius, but the sentiments of Tsze-sze himself in his own language are interspersed with them. The sage of China has no higher utterances than those which are given in the thirteenth chapter.-- 'The path is not far from man. When men try to pursue a course which is far from the common indications of consciousness, this course cannot be considered the path.
The Chinese Classics, passage 632
Disorganization will go on to destroy it more and more, and yet there is hope for the people, with their veneration for the relations of society, with their devotion to learning, and with their habits of industry and sobriety; there is hope for them, if they will look away from all their ancient sages, and turn to Him, who sends them, along with the dissolution of their ancient state, the knowledge of Himself, the only living and true God, and of Jesus Christ whom He hath sent. 8.
The Chinese Classics, passage 256
This is acknowledged by all;-- by the critics who disown Chu Hsi's interpretations of it, as freely as by him [1].
The Chinese Classics, passage 558
From the birth of mankind till now, there has never been another like our master.' Yu Zo said, 'Is it only among men that it is so? There is the ch'i-lin among quadrupeds; the fung-hwang among birds; the T'ai mountain among mounds and ant-hills; and rivers and seas among rainpools. Though different in degree, they are the same in kind. So the sages among mankind are also the same in kind.
The Chinese Classics, passage 686
Chwan-sun Shih, styled Tsze-chang (顓孫師, 字子張), has his tablet, corresponding to that of the preceding, on the west. He was a native of Ch'an (陳), and forty-eight years younger than Confucius.
The Chinese Classics, passage 101
Those in the latter are mostly burlesques, but those by the orthodox writers have more or less of classical authority. Some of them may be found in the Chia Yu [3], or 'Narratives of the School,' and in parts of the Li Chi, while others are only known to us by their occurrence in these Writings. Altogether, they do not supply the evidence, for which I am in quest, of the existence of the Analects as a distinct Work, bearing the name of the Lun Yu, prior to the Ch'in dynasty.
The Chinese Classics, passage 651
When he meets him in the marketplace or the court, he must have his weapon ready to strike him.' 'And what is the course on the murder of a brother?' 'The surviving brother must not take office in the same State with the slayer; yet if he go on his prince's service to the State where the slayer is, though he meet him, he must not fight with him.' 'And what is the course on the murder of an uncle or a cousin?' 'In this case the nephew or cousin is not the principal.
The Chinese Classics, passage 701
Afterwards that same man saved his life, when he was flying from the State. Confucius praised Ch'ai for being able to administer stern justice with such a spirit of benevolence as to disarm resentment. 23. Shang Chu is followed by Ch'i-tiao K'ai [prop. Ch'i], styled Tsze-k'ai, Tsze-zo, and Tsze-hsiu (漆雕開 [pr. 啟], 字子開, 子若, and 子修脩), a native of Ts'ai (蔡), or according to Chang Hsuan, of Lu. We only know him as a reader of the Shu-ching, and refusing to go into office. 24.
The Chinese Classics, passage 758
The Work, however, was not published, as I have there supposed, by imperial authority, but under the superintendence, and at the expense (aided by other officers), of Yuan Yuan (阮元), Governor-general of Kwang-tung and Kwang-hsi, in the ninth year of the last reign, 1829. The publication of so extensive a Work shows a public spirit and zeal for literature among the high officers of China, which should keep foreigners from thinking meanly of them.
The Chinese Classics, passage 89
It is best to rest in the general conclusion, that it was compiled by the disciples of the disciples of the sage, making free use of the written memorials concerning him which they had received, and the oral statements which they had heard, from their several masters. And we shall not be far wrong, if we determine its date as about the end of the fourth, or the beginning of the fifth century before Christ. 3.
The Chinese Classics, passage 507
I flatter myself that the preceding paragraphs contain a more correct narrative of the principal incidents in the life of Confucius than has yet been given in any European language. They might easily have been expanded into a volume, but I did not wish to exhaust the subject, but only to furnish a sketch, which, while it might satisfy the general reader, would be of special assistance to the careful student of the classical Books.