Four Books

The Discourses (Lunyu 論語¹) of the state of Lu 魯 has twenty volumes. The Discourses of Qi 齊 adds “Wen Wang” and “Zhi Dao,” totaling twenty-two volumes, and of their twenty volumes in common, there are considerably more passages in the Discourses of Lu. The ancient Discourses 古, found within the Kong family’s wall, divided the “Yao Yue” volume by making the “Zi Zhang asked” passage into its own, thereby having two “Zi Zhang” volumes, totaling twenty-one volumes in all, and their order differs from the Discourses of Lu and Qi.²

– He Yan 何晏³

魯論語二十篇。齊論語別有問王、知道，凡二十二篇，其二十篇中章句，頗多於魯論。古論出孔氏壁中，分堯曰下章子張問以為一篇，有兩子張，凡二十一篇，篇次不與齊魯論同。

° ° °

People today do not know how to read books. For example when reading the Discourses, if after study one is still the same person they were before, they have not really read it.

– Cheng Yi 程颐

今人不會讀書。如讀論語，未讀時是此等人，讀了後又只是此等人，便是不曾讀。

° ° °

When reading the Discourses, there are those who read and finish completely without incident. There are those who read and finish, afterward gaining one or two phrases that delight them. There are those who read and finish, afterward coming to recognize its value. And there are those who read and finish, afterward becoming unaware of their hands waving and feet dancing.

– Cheng Yi 程颐

讀論語：有讀了全然無事者；有讀了後其中得一兩句喜者；有讀了後知好之者；有讀了後直有不知手之舞之足之蹈之者。

° ° °

I myself have been reading the Discourses since the age of seventeen or eighteen. At that time I already understood the meaning of the text. However, the longer I read it, the more I discover the profound and far-reaching significance of its concepts.

– Cheng Yi 程颐

頤自十七八讀論語，當時已曉文義。讀之愈久，但覺意味深長。

° ° °

The book of Discourses was compiled by the pupils of Youzi and Zengzi. For this reason it solely designates these two as “Master.” ⁴

– Chengzi 程子⁵

論語之書，成於有子曾子之門人，故其書獨二子以子稱。

¹ A more literal and descriptive translation of Lunyu 論語 than “Analects” would be “Discourses Spoken [by Ru School],” which is the literal translation given by Wing-tsit Chan (Sourcebook, pg. 14), William Soothill (Analects, pg. 118), and ironically even James Legge himself (Four Books, pg. 1) who ultimately popularized it as “Confucian Analects.” This not only reflects the use of the character lun 論 within the text itself, and the very substance of the text as philosophical discourses and discussions, but also corresponds to its definition in the Shuowen 說文 dictionary of the Han Dynasty. As for the character yu 語, it can be understood as “spoken” (as in ‘orally transmitted’ or ‘by Ru school’), or as simply part of this binome which conveys a single meaning.

² Of the three versions of the Analects (the Lu, Qi, and Old), the Lu was recognized as authoritative early on. It selectively incorporated parts of the Qi and Old versions, and reached its final form by the end of the Han Dynasty. The text presented here by Zhu Xi is that final, largely Lu-based, text.

³ He Yan 何晏, 195-249, was a Confucian-Daoist philosopher (“Neo-daoism”) during the late Han dynasty, whose commentary on the Discourses was the standard interpretation for a thousand years before being replaced by Zhu Xi.

⁴ This refers to placing the zi 子 honorific after the names of Zengzi and Youzi, first-generation pupils of Kongzi, yet not his other pupils.

⁵ The Cheng Brothers were influential scholars and philosophers during the Song Dynasty, who revived and developed the “study of the way” (daoxue 道學) which included Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. Their insights set an intellectual foundation upon which Zhu Xi built his systematic framework. This movement became known as the Cheng-Zhu school of Rationalistic Confucianism.

Note that throughout this text Zhu Xi generally refers to “Chengzi” (Master Cheng), which could mean either of the brothers, as he considered their teachings to be in common (see Chu Hsi: New Studies, p295). When a passage is known to be authored by one or the other, it is attributed in this translation, otherwise “Cheng Brothers.”