Verified Document

Analects Of Confucius Revolves Around The Thoughts Term Paper

Analects of Confucius revolves around the thoughts and teachings of Chinese philosopher Confucius and it is the foundation for Confucianism that is followed by millions of people in East Asia today. This important text was written around 500 BC by the pupils of Confucius and a good part of it was written within a period of 30 to 50 years after his death. Confucius was born in the province of Lu at a time when the Chinese culture and way of life was at its nascent stages. He wanted to impact the Chinese way of life politically and intellectually through his philosophy and teachings. He tried to pass on to his students the guiding principles of ancient sage kings who worked to maintain harmony in the community and by emphasizing on spiritual well-being over material wealth (Confucius, Ames and Rosemont, 1998).

The Analects do not contain any prose, poem or argument. It is rather a set of statements said by Confucius to his disciples and it is upto the readers to tune into the voice of Confucius to understand his strong and complex style of teaching.

Contents and Teachings

This book is a compilation of speeches given by Confucius and the conversation he had with his disciples. It talks about different aspects of living like understanding one's responsibility, living a peaceful and meaningful life, forming and running a Government and living a life of self-cultivation so that the disciple can be a moral role-leader for others to follow in his path.

The book is divided into 20 chapters and they are: Xue Er, Wei Zheng, Ba Yi, Li Ren, Gong Ye Chang, Yong Ye, Shu Er, Tai Bo, Zi Han, Xiang Dang, Xian Jin, Yan Yuan, Zi Lu, Xian Wen, Wei Ling Gong, Ji Shi, Yang Huo, Wei Zi, Zi Zhang and Yao Yue (Confucius.org, no date).

Self-learning

This is why many of the teachings were open-ended because he wanted his students to do their own research and apply their thoughts to complete it. He gave them only one corner and wanted them to come back with the other three before he moved on to the next lesson (Analects 7:8).
Love and Brotherhood

He also wanted his students to live and behave in a moral and virtuous manner so that they can become a humane person or a prince of virtue. This idea of humanity is the crux of the entire book and it is mentioned at least a hundred times throughout the chapters. Another central idea is love and universal brotherhood and it was considered to be one of the best forms of moral behavior. The steps that one should take to achieve this end is mentioned in chapter 12: Yan Yuan (Analects 12). Also, Confucius believed that it should taught from childhood so that as one grows up, love and brotherhood comes naturally.

About Confucius

The book describes the personality and appearance of Confucius in a subtle way. As against the popular convention that Confucius was a fat and boring preacher, this book shows him in a different light. "Analects reveals a living Confucius that constantly surprises. In one passage, for instance, the Master provides an intriguing self-portrait: the governor of a certain town had asked one of the disciples what sort of man Confucius was and the disciple did not know how to reply, which provoked Confucius' reaction: 'Why did you not tell him that Confucius is a man driven by so much passion that, in his enthusiasm, he often forgets to eat and remains unaware of the onset of old age?'" (Confucius, Simon Leys, 1997, p.xvii). This goes…

Sources used in this document:
References

Confucius; Ames, Roger; Rosemont, Henry. The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. New York: Random House, 1998.

Brooke, Bruce; Brooks, Taeko. The Original Analects. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998.

Confucius; Leys, Simon. The Analects of Confucius. New York W.W. Norton and Company, 1997.

Lau, D.C. The Analects (Lun Yu). London:Penguin Books, 1979.
Confucius.org. No Date. 6 October 2011. <http://confucius.org/lunyu/lange.htm>
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Asian Philosophy As a Concept, "Wu-Wei' Literally
Words: 1383 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Asian Philosophy As a concept, "Wu-wei' literally means 'in the absence of/without doing exertion,' and is often translated as 'doing nothing' or 'non-action'." (Slingerland, 2003) But this definition refers to the mind of the person involved, not the actual action taking place. The actor's mental state, or spiritual state, is the focus of "Wu-wei," and since it does not limit itself to the actual action taking place, anyone can strive to

Asian Bioethics and Towards Reconciliation
Words: 1742 Length: 7 Document Type: Essay

Bioethics has been dominated by a European model, with European worldviews and philosophies dominating the discourse. This is true in academia as well as in public policy. The need for global bioethics discourse is pressing, because the life sciences are no longer regional or provincial in scope. For example, there has been a lot of speculation as to the progress made in East Asian cloning laboratories, particularly in China and South Korea. Claims

Philosophy Plato Lived a Century
Words: 1010 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

This idea was accepted by most of the philosophical schools of the time, including the Atomists. Plato took quite a different approach and found that ideas, as noted, and saw idas as existing outside of human consciousness. Plato's doctrine of recollection holds that learning is the remembering of a wisdom that the soul enjoyed prior to its incarnation, another aspect of the idea that there are ideal forms "remembered" by

Philosophy of Suicide Involves Two
Words: 1752 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

On the other hand, Schopenchauer argues that because happiness is fundamentally unobtainable, humans are faced with a life of disappointment, which thus leads to the disconnect that causes suicide. However, if both of these philosophers' theories on the cause of suicide were taken at face value, it would be surmised that every human would commit suicide and thus the extinction of the human race would be inevitable. Yet, this is

Asian Phil Almost All Asian
Words: 603 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

The Taoist concept of wu wei refers to "non-action." Misunderstood as a proposal for inertia or inaction, wu wei means letting go. Instead of interfering or trying to control external situations or people, I can use the principle of wu wei to allow genuinely wise action take place. A combination of Beginner's Mind and wu wei permit me to take my ego out of my interpersonal relationships. I greet

Asian Youth Although Most Adults
Words: 2507 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Gayatri Gopinath, associate professor of women and gender studies at the University of California at Davis, says that many of these young Asian-Americans who join artistic subcultures are individuals who cross over from one country to another in addition to not fitting into the norm of gender, sexuality or psychology. A first-world homosexual transnational has difficulty finding rights of citizenship or dual citizenship in any geographical locations of a diaspora

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now