Confucius never expressed any desire to become one of the world’s most famous philosophers. His great dream was to reach high office so that he could restore the Zhou dynasty to the glory days that followed its founding in 1046 BCE. To achieve this goal, Confucius positioned himself as the…

Despite his disdain for the profit motive, Confucius had a strong entrepreneurial streak in him, especially during his twenties and thirties when he was scrambling to establish a foothold in the bureaucracy of his home state of Lu in order to build a successful official career. Consciously or not, he…

Happy New Year! More by accident than design I finished my second round of translating the Analects of Confucius just before the end of last year. Before I give the translation a final polish, I thought I would share some of my thoughts on why I have become such a…

It would be remiss of me not to mention that there are alternative accounts of the transitions from Yao to Shun and then Shun to Yu that suggest the transfer of power in deepest antiquity was nothing like as peaceful as suggested in the popular mythology. In their telling, Yao…

The second fragment in 20.1 features the oath taken by Tang, the first emperor of the Shang dynasty (1675 BC — 1646 BCE), in front of his troops before the decisive battle of Mingtiao that resulted in the overthrow of Jie, the evil last emperor of the Xia dynasty (2070–1600…

The opening lines of 20.1 takes us back to the beginning of the formation of the Chinese state during the third millennium BCE under its legendary sage kings Yao, Shun, and Yu. According to the most popular version of the mythology surrounding them, both Yao and Shun selected their successor…

Zizhang asked Confucius: “What qualities must you have in order to be fit to govern?” Confucius said: “If you cultivate the five virtues and cast out the four vices you are fit to govern.” Zizhang asked: “What are the five virtues?” Confucius said: “An exemplary person is generous without having…

Confucius said: “If you do not understand fate, you have no way of becoming an exemplary person. If you do not understand ritual, you have no way of knowing where to stand. If you do not understand the meaning of words, you have no way of understanding other people.” 子曰：「不知命，無以為君子也。不知禮，無以立也。不知言，無以知人也。」 …