Despite his immense importance in the Chinese tradition, remarkably little is known for certain about Confucius. Only the Analects, a collection of his sayings compiled by his pupils shortly after his death, gives a reliable account of his philosophy.
As a thinker, Confucius held up an ideal for all men
- to perfect one's own moral character. For this he held out no hope of reward either in this life or the next: the benefit lies in doing what is good and thus experiencing the joy of following the Way. Reasonable, unfanatical and humanistic, Confucianism is one of the most workable patterns of social convention that the world has ever known.
This volume contains an introduction, bibliography and glossary, and there are appendices on events in the life of Confucius, on the Disciples as they appear in the Analects, and on the Lun yü: that is, the Analects themselves.