Confucius and Confucianism

Authored by Wilhelm, Richard

Chapter 1 1.Translators’ Note. The Shih Chi of Sse-Ma Ch'ien has been translated into French as Les mémoires historiques de Se-Ma Ts'ien traduits et annotés par Edouard Chavannes, Paris, 1905. The life of Confucius is found in Chapter XLVII, pp. 282 ff. Both Wilhelm and Chavannes follow the general tendency among Sinologues in referring to Confucius as K'ung Tze. As will be seen from the text, K'ung is his family name; the Tze is a usual designation among the Chinese for master, philosopher, etc. Thus also Lao Tze, where Lao means old. The style or appellation (Chinese hao) is the literary designation; as his cognomen, Ch'iu, has become a sacred word and is therefore tabu, Confucius is referred to by his literary designation, Chung Ni. The word Chung means: the second born of brothers; Confucius was regarded as the second born, the hill Ni being held as the elder; Chapter 2 CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE DATA OF SSE-MA CH'IEN. THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF CONFUCIUS; Chapter 3 THE DOCUMENTS CONTAINING THE CONFUCIAN TEACHINGS; Chapter 4 THE TEACHINGS OF CONFUCIUS; Chapter 5 SPECIMENS OF THE TEXT;