The Analects of Confucius were considered to be the definitive Confucian text, being a record of Confucius' activities and conversations. It was not written by Confucius but was compiled by later Confucian scholars.

Together these anecdotes form a sort of handbook outlining the proper behavior for a gentleman who is an actual or potential ruler of society. The Confucian system of values includes jen (benevolence), shu (reciprocity), yi (righteousness), and li (enactment of rituals).

Among the virtues stressed by Confucius are filial piety, loyalty, responsiveness to others, truthfulness, sincerity, and discipline. The importance of these virtues is made clear by Confucius' hierarchical structure of relations between individuals. From the highest to the least priority, Confucius ranked the relationships between a father and his son, ruler and prime minister, older and younger brother, friend and friend, husband and wife.

A work in progress. This work is divided into 20 parts, but I will node it in 4 different sections.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

The version of the Analects noded by DMan is the 19th century translation by James Legge. It is quite accurate, but the language may seem a little stilted to modern readers. If so, I would recommend the translation by Chichung Huang and published by Oxford University Press as a more modern and highly literal version.

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