the analects of confucius

BOOK REVIEW : THE ANALECTS OF CONFUCIUS

Confucius lived between 551 to 479 BC . He has been a teacher almost all his life and had many followers . It was his pupils and successors who preserved his sayings . He lived in a time of political uncertainty and civil violence . It is this picture that the Analects of Confucius portrays where Confucius finds his people de moralized and in disarray He believes that Chinese people are leaving their old way of living due to which they have become victim of chaos and anarchy . According to him

br For him the decline in Chinese culture was due to giving up the older ways of peace and harmony which in ancient times kept harmony in society . For example he mentions that it is the duty of a son to carry his father 's way of life even after death which was not happening in his time . About reverence he mentions that it 's the quality that counts in a relation . Being submissive and respectful to parents out of fear doesn 't mean reverence and is not following the old way , because even cats and dogs respect their master due to fear . He mentions the unnecessary Chinese ritual , such as ringing bells in funeral had a meaning in the past , but in later stages of in Chinese culture it rather became a ritual without meaning . He emphasizes the inner meaning of things the sincere approach towards life through discipline which can only be attained by going to great system of the past where law rule and discipline was of the day

Reference

Confucius , The Analects of Confucius . Lighting Source Inc , 2005...