THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF CON F U C IUS. WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES. BY J.AMES LEG-G., E, D.D • LONDON: N. TRUBNER & CO.,60, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1869. un 1l1llhts reseroe<! J ", THE CHINESE CLASSICS: '.rRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH, .... .1 • WITU PRELIMINARY ESSAYS AND EXPLANATORY NOTES. (REPRODUCED FOR GENERAL READERS FROM THE AUTBOR'~ ,..OR][ CONTA.INING THE ORIGINAL TEXT, 11;('.) BY JAMES ~EGGE, D.D. VOL. 1. THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF CONFUCIUS. LONDON: N. TIrUBNER & CO.,60, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1869. [All Riglct•..... """'] fL ;..,~! 1;"'/ 1 Jorr~ CIlJLD8 AND SO~, PRINTEllS. PREFACE. WHEN the author, in 1861, commenced the publication of the Chinese Classics, with an English translation and such a critical apparatus as was necessary to the proper appreciation of the ongmal Works, he did not contemplate an edition without the Chinese text and simply adapted for popular reading. It was Boon pressed upon him, however, from various quarters ; and he had formed the purpose to revise the separate volumes, when he should have completed the whole of his undertaking, and to publish the English text, with historical introductions and brief explanatory notes, which might render it acceptable for general perusal. He is sorry that circumstances have arisen to call for such an issue of his volumes, without waiting for the completion of'the last of the Classics;-principally because it adds another to the many unavoidable hindrances which have impeded the onward prosecution of his important task. A Mr Baker, of Massachusetts, in the United States, having sent forth the prospectus of a republication of the author's translation, his publisher in London strongly represented to him the desira- bleness of his issuing at once a popular edition in his own name, as a counter-movement to Mr Baker's, and to prevent other similar acts of piracy :-and the result is the appearance of the present volume. It will be followed by a second, containing the Works of Mencms, as soon as the publisher shall feel himself authorized by public encouragement to go forward with the undertakmg. The author has seen tbe first part of Mr Baker's repub- Iication, containing the English text of his first volume, and the indexes of Subjects and Proper Names, without alteration. The only other matter III It is an introduction of between seven and eight pages. Four of these are occupied with an account of Confucius, taken from Chambers' Bncyclopedia, IV P.REFACE. which Mr Baker says he chooses to COp!! :-so naturally does It come to him to avail himself of the labours of other men. "Con- vey the wise it call. Steal? Foh ! A fico for the phrase! " In the remainder of his Introduction, Mr Baker assumes a controversial tone, and calls in question some of the judgments which the author has passed on the Chinese sage and his doc- trmes, lie would make it out that Confucius was a most religious man, and abundantly recognized the truth of a future life ; that the worship of God was more nearly universal in China than in the Theocracy of Israel; that the Chinese in general are not more regardless of truth than Dr Legge's own country- men; and that Confucius' making no mention of heaven and hell is the reason why missionaries object to his system of practising virtue for virtue's sake! Mr Baker has made some proficiency in the art of c, adding insult to injury." It is easy to see to what school of religion he belongs; but the author would be sorry to regard his publication as a specimen of the manner in which the members of it" practise virtue for virtue's sake." In preparing the present volume for the press, the author has retained a considerable part of the prolegomena in the larger work, to prepare the minds of his readers for proceeding with advantage to the translation, and forming an intelligent judg- ment on the authority which is to be allowed to the original 'V arks. lie has made a few additions and corrections which his increased acquaintance With the field of Chinese hterature en- abled him to do. lie was pleased to find, in revising the translation, that the alterations which it was worth while to make were very few and unimportant. He has retained the headings to the notes on the several chapters. as they give, for the most part, an adequate summary of the subjects treated in them. All critical matter, interesting and useful only to students of the Chinese language, he has thrown out. In a few instances he has remodelled the notes, or made such additions to them as were appropriate to the popular design of the edition. JIo/lg-Kong, 26th October, 1866. CONTENTS. 1. PRELIMINARY ESSAYS. CHAPTER 1. OF THE CHINESE CLASSICS GENERALLY. 6ECTION PAGll I. nOOKS DICLUDED UNDER THE NAME OF THE CIllNESE CLASSICS. • 1 II. TIlE AUTIIORITY OF THE CHINESE CLASSICS 3 CHAPTER II. OF THE CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 1. FORMATION OF THE TEXT OF THE ANALECTS BY THE SCHOLARS OF THE HAN DYNASTY 12 n. AT WHAT TIME, AND BY WHOM, THE ANALECTS WERE WRITTEN; THEIR PLAN; AND AUTHENTICITY 15 HI. OF cOMMENTARIES UPON THE ANALECTS.. 19 CHAPTER III. OF THE GREAT LEARNING. I. HISTORY OF THE TEXT; AND THE DIFFERENT ARRANGE- MENTS OF IT WHICH HAVE BEEN PROPOSED 22 II. OF THE AUTHORSHIP, AND DISTINCTION OF THE TEXT INTO CLASSICAL TEXT AND COMMENTARY 26 Ill. ITS SCOPE AND VALUE 27 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN. SECTION PA(lB I. ITS PLACE I~ THE LE KE, AXD ITS PUBLICATION SE- I'AUATEI.T 35 II. ITS AUTHOR; AND SOME ACCOUlIT OF HIM 36 III. ITS SCOPE AXD VALUE 43 CHAPTER V. CONFUCIUS; HIS INFLUENCE AND DOCTRIKES. I. LIFE OF CONFUCIUS 55 II. HIS INFLUENCE AND OPINIONS 91 II. THE CLASSICS. I. CONFUCIAN ANALECTS 116 II. THE GREAT LEARNING 264 Ill. THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN 282 III. DWEXES. 1. SUBJECTS IN THE COKFUCIAN ANALECTS 321 II. PROPER NAMES IN THE CONFUCIAN ANALECTS 330 III. SUIlJECTS IN THE GREAT LEARNING 334 IY. PROPER NAMES IN THE GREAT LEARNING 335 Y. SUBJECTS IN THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN 336 VI. PROPER NAMr:S IN THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN 338 PRELIMIN ARY ESSAYS. CHAPTER 1. OF THE CHIKESE CLASSICS GEKERALLY. SECTION 1. BO,)KS IXCLUDEDU::-WERTIlEKAMEOFTIlECIlIKESECLASSICS. l. TIlE Books now recognized as of highest authorrty in Clnna are comprehended under the denominations of " The iive Kinq," and "The four Shoo." The term king is of L xtile origin, and sigmfies the warp threads of a web, and L~:ciradjustment. An easy application of it is to denote what is regular and insures regularity. As used with refer- ence to books, it mdicates t.hon- authority on the subjects of which they treat. cc The five King" are the five canonical Works, contammg the truth upon the highest subjects from the sages of China, and which should be received as law by all generations. The term shoo simply means Wl'itillys or books. 2. The five King are :-the Yih, or, as it has been styled, " The Book of Changes;" the Shoo, or " The Book of His- torical Documents j" the She, Or "The Book of Poetry j " the Le Ke, or " Record of Rites j " and the Cli'un Ts'ew, or " Spring and Autumn," a chronicle of events, extending from B.C.i2l to 480. The auchorslnp, Or compilation rather, of all these works is loosely attributed to Confucius. But much of the Le Ke is from later hands. Of the Yih, the Shoo, and the She, it is only in the first that we find additions said to be from the philosopher himself, in the shape of appendixes. The Ch'un Ts'ew is the only one of the VOL I. 1 2 THE CHINESE CLASSICS GENERALLY. five King which can, with an approximation to correctness, be described as of his own "making." "The four Books" is an abbreviation for" The Books of the four Philosophers." The first is the Lun Yu, or "DIgested Conversations," being occupied chiefly with the sayingI' of Confucius. He IS the philosopher to whom it belongs'. It appears in this VVorkunder the title of" Confucian Analects." The second is the Ta Heo, or "Great Learning," now com- monly attributed to Tsang Sin, a disciple of the sage. He is the philosopher of it. The third is the Chung Yung, or "Doctrine of the Mean," ascribed to K'ung Keih, the grand- son of Confucius. He is the plnlosopher- of It. The fourth contains the works of Mencius. 3. This arrangement of the Classical Books, which is commonly supposed to have origmated with the scholars of the Sung dynasty, is defective. The Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean are both found in the Record of RItes, being t'he forty-second and thirty-first Books respect- ively of that compilation, accordmg to the usual arrange- ment of it. 4. The oldest enumerations of the Classical Books specify only the fire Eiu«. The Yo Ke, or " Record of Music," the remains of which now form one of the Books in the Le Ke, was sometimes added to those, makmg with them the six Kin!!. A division was also made into 'nine King, consisting of the Yih, the She, the Shoo, the Chow Le, or " Ritual of Chow," the E Le, or" Ceremomal Usages," the Le Ke, and the three annotated editions of the Ch'un 'I's'ew, by 'I'so- k'ew Ming, Kung-yang Kaou, and Kuh-leang Ch'ih, In the famous compilation of the classical Books, undertaken by order of T'ae-tsung, the second emperor of the T'ang dynasty (B.C.