Most religious traditions have scripture. Even if you disagree that Confucianism is a religion, it’s hard to deny that it has scripture, in the form of the Five Classics and the Four Books.
The Five Classics, which were probably written well before Confucius’s time, are nonetheless considered Confucian texts because Confucius edited and compiled them to reflect his own teachings.
The Five Classics include the Book of Changes (I Ching), the Book of History (Shuh Ching), the Book of Poetry (Shih Ching), the Book of Rites (Li Chi), and the Spring and Autumn Annals (Ch’un Chi).
I think I may have said the other day that the Analects of Confucius were one of the Five Classics. If so, I misspoke (give me a break—all this religion stuff is a lot of information to process when you’re also writing two books and trying to hold down a normal job). The Analects are actually one of the Four Books, which also include The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, and the Book of Mencius.
For today, let’s just focus on the one book of Confucian literature I’ve read completely so far: The Analects of Confucius.
Now, back in December, when I read the entire Bible, I couldn’t imagine a more painful book to read. Well, now there’s a challenger in the mix, because I’ve got to tell you that the Analects are pretty damn dull.
Like the Bible, the Analects are full of random names the make little sense to outsiders. Unlike the Bible, however, the Analects don’t bother to try to tell you who the hell all these people are.
I mean, I never thought I’d be defending the Bible, but at least it tells you (ad nauseam) who begat whom. The Analects just talk about people, without identifying them in any way, and assume that you’ll get it. Suffice it to say, I did not get it.
The Analects are a lot like the Bible in another way. They’re full of pithy little statements about the “right” way to live. But man, are they vague! Here’s just one example:
The Master [Confucius] said, “A cornered vessel without corners—a strange cornered vessel! A strange cornered vessel!”
Okay—is it me? What the hell does that mean? Maybe you think you’d be able to glean some meaning from the surrounding text, but trust me—that ain’t happening. The sentence before the “strange cornered vessel” remark is about true principles in government, and the one after it is about a benevolent man and a well. None of it makes any sense, at least not to me.
Also like the Bible, the Analects give us some rather bizarre rules for behavior. In Section 2, Part 7, it says:
When the Master was eating by the side of a mourner, he never ate to the full.
He did not sing on the same day in which he had been weeping.
Well, so much for the idea of singing away your troubles. If you’re not supposed to sing and cry on the same day, then musical theater is effectively dead (not that I imagine all that many people would miss it).
Still, there are a few worthwhile passages in the Analects. For example:
The Master said, “Respectfulness, without the rules of propriety, becomes laborious bustle; carefulness, without the rules of propriety, becomes timidity; boldness, without the rules of propriety, becomes insubordination; straightforwardness, without the rules of propriety, becomes rudeness.”
I kind of like that, although I couldn’t really tell you why.
The Analects even contain some of the same ideals for moral behavior that we all know from other sources, including the Bible—things like this variation on the Golden Rule. The Analects say that perfect virtue is:
To behave to everyone as if you were receiving a great guest . . . not to do to others as you would not wish done to yourself. . . .
I think part of the reason the Analects bother me a little bit is that one passage suggests that Confucius himself would not be on board with this project I’m doing. It says:
The Master said, “The study of strange doctrines is injurious indeed!”
Oh, well. If I’m going to be injured by studying all these “strange doctrines,” I guess I’ll have to make the most of it. Maybe Confucius wouldn’t approve of what I’m doing, but I’m having fun (sometimes, anyway), so he can mind his own damn business.
No comments:
Post a Comment