Welcome to the traditional Confucian curriculum. Below are links to the “Four Books” with Wing-tsit Chan’s public domain translation alongside the Classical Chinese for bilingual study.

1. Great Learning《大學》

2. The Discourses《論語》

3. The Book of Mengzi《孟子》

4. Doctrine of the Mean《中庸》

When encountering Confucian terminology, you can consult our handbook Learning of the Way: An Explanation of Terms.

Additional Resources:

See the Q&A for basic background information useful in understanding the Four Books, and Chinese philosophy in general: “What are the Four Books; What are the Collected Commentaries; Who is Zhu Xi; What is the Confucian Dao?” Most native English speakers will have learned none of this in their formal education. Therefore much information is condensed into this “get up to speed fast” page.

For a first reading of the Four Books the best starting point is Wing-tsit Chan’s partial translation in one hundred pages: Source Book pg. 14 – 114. As a public domain work, it is also hosted on this site, converted to modern pinyin. There is also Legge’s full translation with notes in over a thousand pages: The Four Books. Unfortunately, neither of these include Zhu Xi’s Collected Commentaries, which are necessary to properly interpret and inspire practice.

In following the Four Books curriculum, you can use our handy guide Learning of the Way: An Explanation of Terms for studying the fundamental concepts and their corresponding characters. The explanations of terms adhere to the orthodox interpretation established by the Cheng-Zhu School, which authored the curriculum itself. See also Flashcards for Confucian Concepts.

For learning Classical Chinese (古文), which is not the same as modern Chinese, I recommend Stanford’s Classical Chinese Self-study Course. It is not difficult to learn some characters and basic grammar. As you delve deeper into classical, strongly consider using A Student’s Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese by Paul Kroll, available as an add-on in the Pleco app for iPhone.

For an overview of Chinese philosophy as a whole, in the words of the sages themselves, there is none better than Professor Wing-tsit Chan’s textbook A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, which is freely available as a PDF. This collection of translations is both scholarly and readable, and covers the full lineage of Chinese thought (Confucius to Mao) in chronological order. See other book recommendations in the Q&A.

For an essay on how the Lunyu was branded in English as “Analects” by translator James Legge over 150 years ago, and why it is more properly titled “Discourses,” see The Analects of Confucius, a Rectification of Names. Ironically, even Legge himself gave “Discourses and Dialogues” as the literal translation in his introduction to the book. In this curriculum we follow Legge and Chan in their more literal translation: Discourses.

Take a deep dive into this central concept, li 理 (“the organizing pattern or principle of Nature”), which runs through the entirety of Chinese philosophy. The Evolution of Li, a companion to Wing-tsit Chan’s essay by the same name, brings together li-quotes across thousands of years. Really, li is more central than dao!

There is a new page of Sino-Philosophy Diagrams which presents fundamental concepts in Chinese philosophy. Feel free to share them around the internet, try them out in your classes, and contact me with ideas for improvements and new builds.

For daily Confucian quotes you can follow “Solzi” on Twitter or Facebook. Online discussion in the Sino-corners of Twitter is actually quite good, with numerous scholars and enthusiasts taking part. Given the shifting geopolitical landscape, understanding [real] East Asian thought is increasingly important, yet remains essentially nonexistent in the English-speaking world.