Review of The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius

The first thing I need to remember when thinking about Confucius is the context that he lived in. It’s easy to blame him for an East Asian culture where originality and disagreement have been so taboo for so long. In the Warring States era, a feudal society with a high turnover rate of kings and lords, it’s not surprising that harmony was valued (perhaps overvalued) because it was so rare. Maybe one of the most important myths to debunk about Confucianism is that loyalty does not equal submissiveness. Confucius emphasizes loyalty, and teaches disciples to advise kings to do what is right and to correct them when they are wrong, and he himself stood up to many monarchs in his time. To him, loyalty is to stand by your king and advise him and protect him. It doesn’t mean to obey orders when those orders are immoral. If the foolish king refuses to listen, then it’s time to bounce. Another notable concept absent from The Sayings is the concept of punishment. When we today learn about the cruel traditional punishments inflicted by Chinese regimes, or the perverse measures that civil service scholars went to in the name of studiousness, little do we realize Confucius would cringe at such extremities. This punitive culture developed as a result of Legalism, which enforced harsh discipline and helped the state of Qin ascend to empire a couple hundred years after Confucius died. I am in favor of the note that we can’t rate The discourses and sayings of Confucius but we can rate the edition that we have used and read. And this one translated by Ku Hung-Ming can be defined as a classic one, though it still has some downsides. But I highly recommend this edition to my non Chinese friends to read.