Reference textbook for the Analects

In the Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism, or in the Thirteen Classics, most of the Confucian classics can use popular teaching materials in the market at the introductory stage. The Analects happen to be in this majority. So, which classic, in the introductory stage, uses the popular general textbooks on the market, which is not good? Personal point of view, there is only one copy, that is, "Zhou Yi".

There are many popular textbooks on the Analects to choose from. For example, you can use the Analects textbooks of the Book World series, and you can use the Analects textbooks published by the Zhonghua Bookstore, which is very good.

Then, I have to say, it is limited to the entry stage. In the stage of in-depth learning, many interpretations of these textbooks are not very appropriate.

In general, Confucian classics, many things, it contains very profound connotations. We study the scriptures, we study the chapters and verses in them, and this is not the goal. What is more important is to understand the connotation of the classics, learn the wisdom of dealing with the world, and learn the way of a gentleman. After studying, you must apply the classic principles to your daily life. If you just like the chapters and sentences in the book, after you study it, you don't have the idea of practicing, then this can only be the Confucianism of the villain, not the Confucianism of the gentleman.

To study the classics, the important thing is to practice the principles of the classics and cultivate yourself as a gentleman. If you want to practice the classics, you must be able to understand the connotations of the classics. Then, the sentences in the classics, what exactly they mean, what exactly they mean, and popular textbooks are often not able to present them to you. Popular textbooks, the interpretations given, many things, can be used to decipher literal meanings. However, these literal meanings are not necessarily correct. Popular textbooks, in general, explain only the literal meaning, but not the connotation. If you can't explain the connotation well, then it will be difficult for you to use many truths in the Confucian classics for practice, and it will be difficult to practice them yourself.

If we only pay attention to the literal meaning of confucian classics, this can only make you a villain, and the study of Confucian classics will not have so much significance. If we want to learn the Confucian classics well, we need to understand the connotations. However, in your initial stage of learning, your main task is not to taste the connotation, but to accumulate knowledge, accumulate words and words, and accumulate the feeling and experience of reading. The connotation of it, you do not have to study it in detail for the time being.

When you are new to learning, since the main task is to accumulate the experience of reading the literary language, accumulate the knowledge of the literary language, and accumulate the experience of Confucianism, then, at this time, you go to learn the popular teaching materials, learn and master the literal meaning of the classics, this is meaningful and valuable.

In the beginner stage, learning popular teaching materials can also be done. So, in advanced learning, if you want to continue to learn, what kind of teaching materials are you going to study?

I recommend these books.

First of all, it is the "Royal Reader of Zhang Ju's Punctual Commentary". The author of this book is Zhang Juzheng, the chancellor of the Ming Dynasty. When I read it myself, I felt very good. After reading it, my feeling is that the things written by a generation of famous prime ministers are just different.

Zhang Juzheng's Analects, in which the explanations are given, are in the vernacular common language of the Ming Dynasty. This kind of vernacular language, from today's point of view, belongs to the style of half text and half white. I think that the level of language is similar to that of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, probably slightly more difficult than the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but the gap is not very large. If you can read the entire Analects, then you can read Zhang Juzheng's Analects, which can be understood.

Personally, I think that in the stage of advanced learning, it is very good to have Zhang Juzheng's Analects in hand. After I read it, I felt that I liked Zhang Juzheng very much.

The second advanced textbook is the Four Books chapters and sentences. The author of this book is Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty, and it contains explanations of the Analects. The language used is a proficient language.

Next, I will talk about the third advanced textbook. This book, which is called the Analects of the Analects, is written by Cheng Shude. Cheng Shude, he was a person in the Republic of China, and can also be said to be a person in the late Qing era. This analects are written in a skillful script.

Zhu Xi's four books are set with notes, which are relatively concise. In terms of quality, it is actually not as good as Zhang Juzheng's Analects. However, most of Zhang Juzheng's Analects are still from Zhu Xi, which is consistent with Zhu Xi's interpretation.

Cheng Shude's analects are characterized by a large number of contents. The chapters and sentences of the same Analects are interpreted by many people. The reason why it is called a collective interpretation is because there are many, many people's interpretations that have been collected by Cheng Shude in this book.

There are many contents of the Cheng edition of the Analects, if you want to engage in research, academic type research, pedantic research, this book is very suitable. Personally, I think that the Cheng version of the Analects is very suitable for careful study.

When reading Zhu Xi's Analects and Cheng Shude's Analects, everyone needs to have a sufficient foundation in literature and language. So, how to cultivate this literary foundation?

Here, I give my advice.

You can go to the bookstore to buy the Comparative Editions of the "Records of History", "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". These are three canonical histories, belonging to the first four histories. The so-called contrast between the text and the white refers to the fact that in the book, there are both the full text of the text and the translation of the vernacular. When you go to study these canonical histories, you can study them one by one. When you are studying, at the beginning, you can read a little bit of chinese and go to the vernacular translation. Every time you read a biography of the canonical history, you will have an extra experience of reading the text. As your reading items increase, your reading experience will gradually increase. When you have read a sufficient number of articles in the text, you should be able to read the twenty-four histories fluently. In general, in the few history books I recommend, as long as you read one or two books or so, you have the ability to get rid of the vernacular explanation and go directly to the twenty-four histories. When you have the ability to directly read the Twenty-Four Histories, then, like Zhu Xi's Four Books and Chapters and Sentences, and Cheng Shude's Analects, you have the ability to read.

These books are the advanced textbooks I recommend. In these textbooks, I personally feel that the most refined understanding of Confucian righteousness is actually Zhang Juzheng's interpretation of the Analects. That is to say, Zhu Xi's "Notes on the Collection of Four Books and Chapters and Sentences" and Cheng Shude's "Commentary on the Analects of the Analects", if you can't read the text in it, you don't have to worry. Because, Zhang Juzheng Analects, you can look at it for a long time. It is really Zhang Juzheng's interpretation, too good, too wonderful.

Here, when I interpret the Analects, the main reference is Zhang Ju's genuine version of the Analects.

In my explanation, in some places, Zhang Juzheng's statement is used, and in some places, what I use will be my own thinking.

Generally speaking, when explaining the Analects and explaining the Confucian classics, it will be my pursuit to go deep and simple, easy and simple.

The language I use will be modern vernacular. When interpreting, the literal meaning, of course, will be interpreted. And the connotation of the Analects, the deep meaning, I will try to interpret it as much as possible.

The reason why it is interpreted as much as possible is because the Confucian classics, their study, is actually based on self-cultivation as the core purpose. The essential purpose of studying Confucianism is to cultivate the Confucian principles into oneself, so that one can practice righteousness and cultivate into gentlemen and sages.

Since the essential purpose of studying Confucian classics is to cultivate oneself and become a gentleman, and to use the way of a gentleman as a guide for behavior, when you interpret the classics, whether your interpretation, understanding, and understanding of righteousness are correct and whether they conform to the human nature of the human heart, it is of great significance.

If your interpretation of the Analects itself is not in accordance with human nature and does not conform to the laws of human psychology, then such an interpretation can only become a literal meaning, a kind of literature, but cannot become the way of a gentleman.

If a person interprets a certain passage of the Analects to the level of the gentleman's way, then it must be used to guide the action. If you want your interpretation to be used to guide your personal behavior, you need to argue and practice it yourself. Only after sufficient demonstration and practice can that be done.

Unfortunately, many of the chapters and verses of the Analects I have not been able to do it myself, and therefore I cannot give an interpretation of the gentleman's way.

For example, in the Analects, a gentleman is not heavy, but he is not powerful. That is to say, if one wants to have majesty, one must have heavy qualities. At present, in terms of heavy aspects, my cultivation is not enough, in my daily words and deeds, I have a lot of reckless, presumptuous, and abrupt places. And a gentleman, he will be heavy, then, he is basically not guilty of reckless, presumptuous, abrupt faults.

In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there is a person whose personality is reckless, and he is Zhang Fei. In terms of character, Zhang Fei is a good person, but he is not a gentleman. Because, when he speaks and acts, his steadiness is insufficient. For example, when Liu Bei wanted to invite Zhuge Liang out of the mountain, Zhang Fei said that he would simply take one and tie Zhuge Liang up. This recklessness, then not heavy.

Reckless, presumptuous, abrupt, it's not heavy. In ordinary words and deeds, people who often have such shortcomings are not gentlemen.

So, how do you do it heavy? How do you make your words and deeds conform to the heavy qualities of a gentleman? I myself am currently unable to do so. If I can't do it, then, it will be a little difficult for my interpretation to reach the level of the gentleman's way.

When studying the Analects and studying the Four Books and Five Classics, many times, I felt that the cultivation of a gentleman was not so easy. It is not so easy to attain the state of benevolence.

Although it is said that if you want to cultivate to become a gentleman, this goal is difficult. However, I think that taking Zhongni as a teacher, learning the way of a gentleman, and cultivating morality is definitely an interesting, valuable, and fun thing.

The noble, the great, the fun of the gentleman's way is a very powerful thing.

I think that my choice to interpret the Analects is a kind of sharing, a kind of summarizing what I have learned at any time, and it is a kind of communication and learning with everyone.

I think that in addition to my personal study, thinking and practice, a lot of understanding of the Analects is probably an important way to communicate, discuss, and ponder with others.