Welcome to the traditional Confucian curriculum. Below are selections from the Four Books, presented with translations conforming to Zhu Xi’s orthodox interpretation 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》

This site mirrors the six-year translation project by Daoxue Academy to translate Zhu Xi’s “Four Books with Collected Commentaries.” Book One is complete and Book Two is in progress. In the meantime, Wing-tsit Chan’s translations act as placeholders. This web version will remain verse only. For the full content see the Four Books App.

Additional Resources:

See the Q&A for basic background information useful in understanding the Four Books. 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, a good starting point is Wing-tsit Chan’s partial translation in one hundred pages: Source Book pgs. 14 – 114.

There is also Legge’s full translation with notes in over a thousand pages: The Four Books. Unfortunately, neither of these includes Zhu Xi’s Collected Commentaries, which is the proven method of study.

In studying texts, we must first understand the words being used, hence our handy guide “Learning of the Way: An Explanation of Terms” in the Four Books App. These explanations adhere to the orthodox interpretation.

For learning Classical Chinese (古文), which is not the same as modern Chinese, we 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 Chinese, 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.

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.

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 East Asian thought is increasingly important, yet such understanding remains essentially nonexistent in the English-speaking world.