in almost contemporary fashion, of King Yao, who ascended the throne about 2400 B.C. This narrative of King Yao's deeds is thus the oldest piece of Chinese literature that has survived; and with it and the rest of the Shu we begin our present volume. THE SHIH KING Third of the Chinese classics comes the SHIH KING (pronounced as "ship" without the "p"), or collection of ancient poetry. The compilation of the Shih is by tradition ascribed directly to Confucius. We are told that in his day over three thousand pieces of the ancient poetry existed, and that he collected the worthiest of these to form the Shih, which contains about three hundred. Whether it be true that Confucius thus rejected the mass of the old poetry, there can be no question of his devotion to the Shih. In his own writings and teachings he referred to it constantly, and often quoted the old poems. "If you do not learn the Shih," he said, "you will not be fit to converse with." This attitude of the Master has led later Chinamen to approach the Shih with profound reverence. They insist on finding in its every poem some wise religious teaching. Perhaps they have thus been blinded a little as to its real character. To an outsider it seems a much simpler affair, a natural collection of old poems such as our own poets might write to-day- praises of scenery, quaint ballad narratives, outbursts of human passion, intermingled with hymns to gods and flatteries to kings. Some of its pieces seem as old as the seventeenth century B.C.; and so it presents, next to the Shu, the oldest relics of Chinese literature. THE LI KI Fourth of the Five King comes the LI KI (pronounced "lee kee"), the collection of rites or ceremonies. This has for a modern reader much less of interest than the other classics; for it is made up, like the book of Leviticus in our Bible, of a mass of royal and priestly rituals. These were constantly added to, even after the time of Confucius, until they came to embody an enormous mass of utterly unreadable literature. Moreover, no sharp distinction was kept between earlier and later rituals. Hence the Li of our day is very different from that known to Confucius. That the Master should have placed the Li on an equality with the other King, strongly emphasizes one portion of his teaching his respect for ceremonial. He desired that all things should have dignity, and hence should be done in order and by rule, not left to the hazard of the moment. It was by this teaching, more than anything else, that Confucius barred progress. His countrymen, studying old rituals, learned to do everything perfectly in order, but assumed, unfortunately, that when so done everything must be right. The living spirit, which can alone make ceremony of value, faded from their formulas; and its loss was hardly noted. SPRING AND AUTUMN With these four ancient books is classed the fifth King, one of the works of Confucius himself. It is called the Chun Chiu, or the Spring and Autumn. This typically poetical Chinese title conceals a history by which the Master tried, as it were, to complete the Shu. Spring and Autumn tells the history of some two hundred years, ending with the days of Confucius himself. To the modern reader the book seems a mere monotonous record of kings, and is of far less interest than Confucius's other works. THE FOUR BOOKS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS The Five King, though not nearly so spiritual as the Old Testament of our Christian Bible, bear a considerable resemblance to it both in theme and in the reverence given them. Confucianism has also its newer scriptures. These are called the Four Great Books, or the Books of the Philosophers, and were written either by the Master himself or by his immediate disciples. The King had dealt with history, with the venerated past. The Philosophers' Books deal with doctrine, with the actual teachings of the Master. Hence we must look among these, rather than among the King, for the really "Sacred Book" of Confucianism. We find it in the LUN YU, commonly called the Analects of Confucius. THE ANALECTS This is a book of the sayings of the Master. It is written by we know not whom, but apparently by a disciple who listened to the Master and set down his words upon the spot. The book, if the comparison may be suggested without irreverence, holds for Chinamen much the same position and importance as the Four Gospels hold for Christians. From the Analects we see and know with striking clearness both the man Confucius and his doctrines. Second of importance among the Four Philosophers' Books we may perhaps rank the Sayings of Mencius. Some such position as the Apostle Paul held to Jesus did Mencius hold to Confucius. The Chinese world was slow in taking up the teachings of the Master. It might even have forgotten them. But then, more than a century after the Master's death, came Mencius, preaching the word, spreading it by his own enthusiasm, adding to it his own interpretation. So that Confucianism is to-day what Mencius made it. As, however, he wrote so many years later than Confucius we shall hold his book for a later volume. We have yet to glance briefly at the two remaining Philosophers' Books. These, with the seeming inconsequence not unusual in Chinese systems, are grouped in the classic Li Ki, or Collection of Rites, but they are also regarded as having a separate existence of their own among the Four Books. They are the TA HSIO, or Great Learning, which consists of a brief summary of ideas by Confucius, expanded into many pages by the explanations of a disciple, and the CHUNG YUNG, or doctrine of the Equilibrium, a work preaching temperance or harmony in all things, and written by a grandson of the Master. Yet another sacred book is the HSIAO KING, or Classic of Filial Piety. Its position is not quite definite. As its name implies, it is sometimes ranked among the King and regarded as the work of Confucius himself. But it was more probably written in later years, and embodies only a tradition of the Master's teaching. In either case it has become perhaps the most popular of all the great books of Confucianism, and so finds a place in our present volume. It seeks to found a whole religion on the basis of "ancestor worship," or of children loving and honoring their parents. The reader may find a special interest in the Hsiao King from the fact that it has been the favorite study of Chinese emperors. Several of them have written commentaries upon it. They too, like lesser folk, have wanted their children to honor them. One further matter about all these Ancient Classics may be worth pointing out to the careful reader. That is, the untrustworthy character of our present Chinese texts. The old books have been copied and recopied during many centuries. The copyists were never precise workmen, and a very slight change in a Chinese written character may alter its significance. A careful modern scholar has estimated that probably twenty-five per cent. of the words of the classics have thus been changed. For example, in the Shu King, the oldest work of all, there are traces of metrical structure which suggest that some of its pieces, and perhaps all, were originally in verse, though they are now in prose. In brief, we possess a fascinating treasure in the Chinese classics, but it is not the treasure of accurate scientific registration and preservation of the past. The vision of ancient days and ancient wisdom comes down to us through the hands of many generations of reverent, eager students; and these, unconsciously, have somewhat molded the Master's thought to their desires. Only recently has Western scholarship delved beneath Chinese interpretations to rediscover the real Confucius. |