Chapter 2 Why should I read "The Analects of Confucius"

Finally, I would like to say why I read it and how I read it. In recent years, there have been three stimuli that forced me to re-read. The first is Bamboo Jane Fever. In the 1990s, Guodian Chu Bamboo Slips and Shanghai Bo Chu Bamboo Slips were mainly based on Confucian books. The content involved Confucius and his main disciples. Lots of new leads.In the past, when studying Confucianism, we mainly read Confucius, Mencius, Xun, and the seventy disciples between Confucius and Mencius.Although I disagree with using Confucianism as a synonym for Chinese culture, Confucianism appeared early, has a high status, and has great influence, so there is no doubt about it.We have to thoroughly understand these new materials and go back to read them.This class is not supplemented and has no right to speak.For example, Confucianism in the Song Dynasty talked about orthodoxy. Some people said that the unearthed discoveries proved this orthodoxy. Isn’t this nonsense?Between Confucius and Mencius, there are obviously many people, not only Zi Si and Zeng Zi, how can they prove that the Taoism of the Song and Ming Dynasties is true?As long as we read the ancient books carefully, we will find that there is no contradiction between the ancient books and these discoveries, and the real contradiction is a distortion of "sanctification".

The second is Confucius fever.Now, it's not like it was in the 1980s.What is the 80s?I still remember it very clearly, unexpectedly, now the old lady sat down to talk about the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years. In the 1980s, the main atmosphere was to criticize the traditions, to criticize the ancestors.Now, the atmosphere has changed drastically, and tradition has become a favorite again.Turn left, turn right, everyone talks about Confucius (even prisons are reading it).Confucius really had both ways.From scolding ancestors to selling ancestors, how did this big turn around?The cause and effect are worth pondering.American scholar David Schaberg wrote a book review, which is an introduction to the Western translation.It is also suitable for us.Tradition and Confucius are both hot sellers.In today's world, the revolutionary revolution is hurting, and the revolutionary revolution is afraid. They all align to the right, and the wave of conservatism and retro style is sweeping the world.As a cultural phenomenon, if we want to find out what the meaning of Confucianism is, we must re-read it (it itself is a retro classic).

The third is reading the Bible.Now advocating "children's reading the classics" is not reading the "Five Classics", but reading elementary school textbooks. It is also very popular. I don't think so, but how to read ancient books is indeed a problem.Now, I am teaching the "Four Classics" at Peking University, which is one of them.I want to seriously think about the canonization of ancient books, and how to choose and read classics now. To be honest, I read it mainly as a history of thought.There are many controversies in the history of ancient thought. I just sit in the audience and watch it like watching a play, and I don’t plan to join any group.

The Young Hegelians, Marx said, were "German ideology".It is also the ideology of China. There are three ways to praise Confucius in history. One is to focus on politics (government), which is Han Confucianism; the second is to focus on morality (orthodoxy), which is Song Confucianism; It is the theory of salvation stimulated by foreign religions in modern times.All three are ideologies.I read it to challenge this set of spells. My reading is: (1) Look up the words and read the whole book.In the order of the original book, read word by word, chapter by section, article by article.First refer to the old annotations (mainly Cheng Shude's "The Analects of Confucius"), sort out the meaning of the text, and then verify the difficulties, and go through all the details.

(2) Using the characters as clues, disrupt the order of the original book and read it longitudinally.The first is Confucius, the second is the disciples of Confucianism, and the third is other characters in the book.With this kind of investigation, we can determine the year of each chapter, and if we can determine the date, we can read it as the biography of Confucius. (3) Using concepts as clues, disrupt the order of the original book and read it horizontally.I have summarized the whole book into a number of topics, each topic is divided into several subsections, and excerpts are made according to the topic to see what Confucius' thought is like in this book, and how it differs from "Mozi" and "Laozi".

(4) Finally, it is my conclusion.What I want to think about is the fate of intellectuals. Use the heart of an intellectual to understand the heart of another intellectual, and read the internal history of the Confucian scholars from the external history of the Confucian scholars. In the book of Confucius, there are quite a few moral maxims, some of which are quite wonderful and some of which are so-so.Mencius said, "Believe it all, it is better to have nothing. In "Wu Cheng", I just took two or three strategies" ("Dedicated to the Heart"). I am, too. Read it with peace of mind—depoliticize it, demoralize it, and dereligiousize it.

There is no other purpose, what we need is a real Confucius, especially in this world where rituals are broken and music is broken. October 15, 2006, written in Beijing Lanqiying apartment