Publisher's Synopsis
CONFUCIUS: Discussions/Conversations, or the Analects (Lun-yu), Volume II: translation, commentary, interpretation, historical and biographical material, chronologies, bibliography, concordance of key Chinese characters. No single philosopher has had a more profound impact on Eastern civilization than Confucius, whose eco-psycho-socio-political program is neither a people's democracy nor an authoritarian theocracy, but rather one of surprise and delight, available to anyone who will cultivate himself or herself, create caring relationships among both family and friends, and carry out the Master's program by taking appropriate courses of action [dao162] and behaving responsibly [ren9b] so as to realize dynamic harmony [he30b] in his or her given circumstances. In its critical importance to us as living, engaged human beings, Discussions/Conversations can only be compared in its depth and power to the influence Plato's Republic has had on the civilization of the West. This translation is not only not filled with the usual Latin-derived jargon and allusions to the 'isms' of Western philosophy, but is instead an entirely non-metaphysical and coherent read in modern English prose. An educated reader is fully supported throughout the vast historical background and technical terms of early Confucian and later Song-Ming thought by means of extensive references to the ancient Chinese commentators, original interpretations from the translator, a summary of ancient Chinese history, a brief biography of Confucius, a short bibliography, and a concordance of transliterations of those key Chinese characters which occur in the original text. The translation is thus ideal for classroom and book club use, as the commentary following each analect supplies all the discussion material which any teacher or student could ever need. Volume I contains Books 1-11; Volume II contains Books 12-20.
