Confucius was a great believer in the ancient writings. “For their writings are so far-reaching and comprehensive that I am never weary of studying them. They afford, indeed, and inexhaustible mind of intellectual wealth, and so it is that, when I write, I do not seek to set forth or originate new ideas, but confine myself as much as possible to compiling and elaborating all that was taught by the holy sages of antiquity.”
The concepts in those ancient writings are indeed timeless, and Confucius considered that just the act of producing such works those who had written them were worthy of being called sages.
- Source: Freebase
These writings were collected and selected after great examination and deliberation. This collect is known as the “Five Classics”.
The Five Classics consists of:
The “Yih-King”, The book of Changes. It contains the trigrams, or enigmatical lines of Fuk Hi, claimed to be the founder of the Chinese monarchy, 2750 years before the Christian era.
“Shoo-King”, The book of Records. This contains a plain historical narrative of events during the first dynasties of the Chinese kings. It contains moral reflection and instruction in the pursuit and practice of virtue.
“She-King” is the Book of Odes. There are 311 odes, some selected by and some composed by Confucius.
“Le-King” or Lai Ki is the Book of Ceremonies. It is a collection of customs inculcated by sages and compiled by Confucius.
Lastly, the “Chun-tsieu” or Chun Tz’au, the spring and autumn annals. This was the work of Confucius’ extreme old age.
The word “king” can be translated as “classic”. The first four titles, in translation, would be the “Records”, “Odes and Lyrics”, “Rites and Ceremonies”, and “Spring and Autumn”.
The books available to us today are not in the same form as were left us by Confucius. In the third century B.C. ruler Tche-wang-te ordered destruction of all the archives, and all books connected with the sage’s teaching. It was more than 50 years before any attempt was made to find any stray copies, and what was found had been damaged due to poor storage conditions. The only book of the Five Classics that escaped this fate was the Transmutations.
The four books consist of the Lun Yu, a collection of Confucuis’ sayings; the Tai Hok, a treatise that shows many teachings of harmony; the Chung Yung, the doctrine of the Mean; and the Mencius, the doctrines of the sage for government and morals.
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