Confucius, the Great Teacher, a Study

Digitized by tine Internet Arcinive in 2007 witin funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.arcliive.org/details/confuciusgreatteOOalexricli CONFUCIUS THE GREAT TEACHER -CONFUCIUS THE GREAT TEACHER A STUDY Major-General G. G. ALEXANDER, C.B. Unless the Past be known the Present cannot be understood. LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Lt2. 1890 ^r^u ^ 3^ ^K^-7 (Tlte rights of translation and of 7-eproduction are reserried.) (TAe rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved.) ; DEDICATION. To those able and patriotic Statesmen, who are endeavouring to give new strength to the mighty Empire, founded and pre- served by the wisdom of their forefathers, by infusing into it all that is most applicable belonging to the progress of the West this attempt to draw more closely together two great peoples, who possess so many interests in common, is inscribed with every sentiment of sympathy and respect, by THE AUTHOR. 247833 PREFACE. In the following pages I have endeavoured to bring together, in the compass of a single volume, and in the form which would be most likely to interest the general reader, a rhtim^ of all that concerns the life, times, and teaching of the great Chinese philosopher, Confucius. I have occasionally included in the details of his life incidents which are legendary, rather than historical, for the reason that, had I discarded them, I should have deprived the reader of many striking illustrations of his character, and of the manners, and of the mode of thought, belonging to the time in which he lived ; and in doing this I have only followed the example of many preceding writers, amongst whom are to be enumerated such high authorities as M. Pauthier and the Jesuit Father P. Amiot. In the various extracts from Chinese sources I Vlll PREFACE. have sometimes found it necessary to alter the terms in which they had been translated, in order to incor- porate within them the explanations given in notes, ' and the better to bring them into harmony with the object of this work, as well as to make them more capable of being understood when produced as isolated passages ; but I have for this reason, more frequently preferred an adaptation from some purely literal translation, whilst in not a few instances I have gone at once to the original Chinese text. My great object in every case, in addition to that which has been already stated, having been to place the subject before the reader in language which, whilst preserving a correct idea of the meaning of the original, would be most appropriate to the period of the composition, and to the circumstances under which it was written. I am supported in my idea of the necessity of sub- stituting a free rendering, approaching in many cases to a paraphrase, for a close literal translation of the ancient literature of China, by no less an authority than that of the Professor of Chinese in the Univer- sity of Oxford, Dr. Legge, whose translations of the sacred books, written for scholars rather than for the general public, have put him at the head of our PREFACE. ix English translators. Dr. Legge says, in the preface to his translation of the "Yih-King," published in " 1 882, The written characters of the Chinese are not representations of words, but symbols of ideas, and the combination of them in composition is not a representation of what the author would say, but of what he thinks. It is in vain, therefore, for a trans- lator to attempt a literal version. When the symbolic characters have brought his mind en rapport with that of the author, he is free to render the ideas in his own or any other speech, in the best manner he can attain to." And this is put forward still more forcibly by Reinhold von Plaenckner, in the introduction to Laou- tsze's " Taou-ti-King," translated into German by him under the title of " der Weg zur Tugend," who writes— I cannot resist the temptation of quoting it at length—" Ich meine, es ist ein grosser Unterschied zwischen einer sklavisch-treuen und einer iiberlegt- treuen Uebersetzung. Die erste (nicht beste) lexikale Bedeutung der Worte einer Sprache wiederzugeben, und diese Worte hier wie dort aneinanderzureihen, muss zur Unverstandlichkeit utid Hasslichkeit fuhren. Die Uebertragung eines alten classischen chinesischen X PREFACE. Werkes Wort fur Wort wiirde, wegen der oft gren- zenlos erweiterten Bedeutung eines Wortes (zuweilen freilich sind die Bedeutungsgrenzen auch viel enger gestellt als im Deutschen), mehr noch wegen der kernigen, oft auch poetischen Kiirze der Ausdrucks- weise, geradehin unmoglich. Ich habe mich daher oft in der Lage gesehen, die mehrfache Bedeutung eines Wortes auch mehrfach wiederzugeben, vor allem aber gesucht, den Sinn von dem, was Lao-tse gedacht und in seiner Sprache classisch schon nieder geschrieben hat, wenigstens verstandh'ch und im Zusammenhang wiederzugeben." The foregoing remarks have a special reference to the classical and severer types of Chinese literature. Speaking of compositions of a lighter and more ornamental kind, Sir John Davis, in his admirable work on the poetry of the Chinese, observes, " There are two causes to which Chinese literature of the lighter or ornamental kind has owed its in- different reception in the West—first, a want of choice and selection in the subjects ; and secondly, a con- siderable absence of taste and judgment in the mode of treating them. It is really too much to expect that people will trouble themselves to look at what PREFACE. Xi is either stupid or good for nothing in itself, or so marred in the intermediate process as to have lost all the attraction it had possessed in the original state." And again, " The interests and reputation of Chinese literature in Europe seem to demand that its pro- fessors take some pains to render its introduction as attractive as possible, by a careful selection of the best subjects, and by treating these in such a manner as shall interest the greatest number of tasteful and cultivated readers. To weary the attention with a bare list of barbariphonous and uncouth names, to produce some bald and miserably verbal translation, to present the mere caput morUium of something that in its original shape possessed spirit and beauty, is, in fact, scaring away attention from a new subject, which, with a little discretion, might be rendered sufficiently attractive even to ge7ieral readers. Whenever a work of taste meets with general approval in its own country, we may be assured that its success is in great measure owing to the merits of its style and language, and therefore it seems singularly injudicious to think of transferring the spirit and effect of such a Chinese composition into bad Eng- lish, which it must inevitably become by a servile Xll PREFACE, adherence to the letter of the original. Between the greater number of European languages there is a certain connection, which allows literalness of rendering to be carried to a great extent—but a verbal translation from the one concerning which we now treat, must of necessity degenerate into a horrible jargon which few persons would undergo the disgust of perusing." With regard to poetry Sir John Davis observes, " We may adopt the happy illustration used on a ' similar occasion : Celui qui pretendrait juger de quelque Poeme que ce fut, dans une traduction litterale, pourrait aussi raisonablement esperer de trouver, sur le revers d'une tapisserie, les figures qu'elle represente dans toute leur delicatesse et toute leur splendeur.' Verse, then, ought to be the shape into which Chinese, as well as all other poetry, ought to be converted in order to do it mere justice." When it has to be considered that the ideas belonging to the Oriental mind, have to be clothed in such a form of words as will best adapt them to the European intellect, and awaken a sympathetic interest in the general reader, I think it will be con- ceded that the principles set forth in the foregoing PREFACE, XUl extracts, cannot be too closely adhered to. Should I, however, whilst attempting to act up to them, have failed to make my subject sufficiently attractive, I feel convinced that it will have proceeded from no other cause than my incapacity to set forth the thoughts, words, and actions, belonging to the remote period of which it treats, in a manner or in a language that would commend them to the attention of a public whose taste for all that concerns Chinese classical literature has, with a few exceptions, been very scantily cultivated. It will be seen that this work has no pretension to being a book written by a scholar for scholars. But it has not been lightly undertaken, nor have any efforts been spared, to overcome the many difficulties by which its execution has been surrounded. The greatest of these difficulties proceeded from the cir- cumstance that amongst the most advanced students of Chinese, a great diversity of opinion exists as to the correct rendering of many passages — often amongst the most important—in the classical writings. Of course in such cases I have had to choose between conflicting authorities, and to select the rendering, which, after a careful comparison and a reference to — XIV PREFACE. the Chinese text, was, to my mind, the one, in closest accord with the context, and with the general process of the line of thought of which it formed a portion. The inception of the work dates from the time now more than forty years ago—when the Confucian writings became part of my course of study when endeavouring to gain a knowledge of the Chinese language and literature during a period of service in China.

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