The Spring and Autumn (Chunqiu) is a chronicle kept by the dukes of the state of Lu from 722 to 481 B.C.E. Luxuriant Gems of the "Spring and Autumn" (Chunqiu fanlu) follows the interpretations of the Gongyang Commentary, whose transmitters sought to explicate the special language of the Spring and Autumn. The work is often ascribed to the Han scholar and court official Dong Zhongshu, but, as this study reveals, the text is in fact a compendium of writings by a variety of authors spanning several generations. It depicts a utopian vision of a flourishing humanity that they believed to be Confucius's legacy to the world. The Gongyang masters thought that Confucius had written the Spring and Autumn, employing subtle phrasing to indicate approval or disapproval of important events and personages. Luxuriant Gems therefore augments Confucian ethical and philosophical teachings with chapters on cosmology, statecraft, and other topics drawn from contemporary non-Confucian traditions. A major resource, this book features the first complete English-language translation of Luxuriant Gems, divided into eight thematic sections with introductions that address dating, authorship, authenticity, and the relationship between the Spring and Autumn and the Gongyang approach. Critically illuminating early Chinese philosophy, religion, literature, and politics, this book conveys the brilliance of intellectual life in the Han dynasty during the formative decades of the Chinese imperial state.

Solidly grounded in Chinese primary sources, Neo Confucianism: Metaphysics, Mind, and Morality engages the latest global scholarship to provide an innovative, rigorous, and clear articulation of neo-Confucianism and its application to Western philosophy. * Contextualizes neo-Confucianism for contemporary analytic philosophy by engaging with today s philosophical questions and debates * Based on the most recent and influential scholarship on neo-Confucianism, and supported by primary texts in Chinese and cross-cultural secondary literature * Presents a cohesive analysis of neo-Confucianism by investigating the metaphysical foundations of neo-Confucian perspectives on the relationship between human nature, human mind, and morality * Offers innovative interpretations of neo-Confucian terminology and examines the ideas of eight major philosophers, from Zhou Dunyi and Cheng-Zhu to Zhang Zai and Wang Fuzhi * Approaches neo-Confucian concepts in an penetrating yet accessible way

Under the Ancestors' Eyes presents a new approach to Korean social history by focusing on the origin and development of the indigenous descent group. Martina Deuchler maintains that the surprising continuity of the descent-group model gave the ruling elite cohesion and stability and enabled it to retain power from the early Silla (fifth century) to the late nineteenth century. This argument, underpinned by a fresh interpretation of the late-fourteenth-century Koryo-Choson transition, illuminates the role of Neo-Confucianism as an ideological and political device through which the elite regained and maintained dominance during the Choson period. Neo-Confucianism as espoused in Korea did not level the social hierarchy but instead tended to sustain the status system. In the late Choson, it also provided ritual models for the lineage-building with which local elites sustained their preeminence vis-a-vis an intrusive state. Though Neo-Confucianism has often been blamed for the rigidity of late Choson society, it was actually the enduring native kinship ideology that preserved the strict social-status system. By utilizing historical and social anthropological methodology and analyzing a wealth of diverse materials, Deuchler highlights Korea's distinctive elevation of the social over the political.

This volume presents the first English translation of the Confucian classics, Four Books for Women, with extensive commentary by the compiler, Wang Xiang, and introductions and annotations by translator Ann A. Pang-White. Written by women for women's education, the Confucian Four Books for Women spanned the 1st to the 16th centuries, and encompass Ban Zhao's Lessons for Women, Song Ruoxin's and Song Ruozhao's Analects for Women, Empress Renxiaowen's Teachings for the Inner Court, and Madame Liu's (Chaste Widow Wang's) Short Records of Models for Women. A female counterpart to the famous Sishu (Four Books) compiled by Zhu Xi, Wang Xiang's Nu sishu provides an invaluable look at the long-standing history and evolution of Chinese women's writing, education, identity, and philosophical discourse, along with their struggles and triumphs, across the millennia and numerous Chinese dynasties. Pang-Whites new translation brings the authors of the Four Books for Women to life as real, living people, and illustrates why they wrote and how their work empowered women.

In this rare firsthand account of an individual's pursuit of sagehood, the early Ming dynasty scholar and teacher Wu Yubi chronicles his progress and his setbacks, as he strives to integrate the Neo-Confucian practices of self-examination and self-cultivation into everyday life. In more than three hundred entries, spanning much of his adult life, Wu paints a vivid picture, not only of the life of the mind, but also of the life of a teacher of modest means, struggling to make ends meet in a rural community. This volume features M. Theresa Kelleher's superb translation of Wu's journal, along with translations of more than a dozen letters from his personal correspondence. A general Introduction discusses Neo-Confucianism and the Ming dynasty, and includes biographical information that puts the main work in context. A substantial commentary on the journal discusses the obstacles and supports Wu encounters in pursuit of his goal, the conflict between discipline and restraint of the self and the nurturing and expanding of the self, Wu's successes and failures, and Wu's role as a teacher. Also included are a map of the Ming dynasty, a pronunciation guide, a chronology of Chinese dynasties, a glossary of names, a glossary of book titles, and suggestions for further reading.

Since the very beginning, Confucianism has been troubled by a serious gap between its political ideals and the reality of societal circumstances. Contemporary Confucians must develop a viable method of governance that can retain the spirit of the Confucian ideal while tackling problems arising from nonideal modern situations. The best way to meet this challenge, Joseph Chan argues, is to adopt liberal democratic institutions that are shaped by the Confucian conception of the good rather than the liberal conception of the right. Confucian Perfectionism examines and reconstructs both Confucian political thought and liberal democratic institutions, blending them to form a new Confucian political philosophy. Chan decouples liberal democratic institutions from their popular liberal philosophical foundations in fundamental moral rights, such as popular sovereignty, political equality, and individual sovereignty. Instead, he grounds them on Confucian principles and redefines their roles and functions, thus mixing Confucianism with liberal democratic institutions in a way that strengthens both. Then he explores the implications of this new yet traditional political philosophy for fundamental issues in modern politics, including authority, democracy, human rights, civil liberties, and social justice. Confucian Perfectionism critically reconfigures the Confucian political philosophy of the classical period for the contemporary era.

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.;Perhaps the most widely read thinker of all time, Confucius transformed Chinese philosophy with his belief that the greatest goal in life was pursuit of The Way': a search for virtue not as a means to rewards in this world or the next, but as the pinnacle of human existence.

In analyzing evidence indicating that K'ung-ts'ung-tzu was a forgery, Yoav Ariel questions current views of the Confucian school in the time between the Sage's death in the fifth century B.C. and the emergence in the eleventh century of Neo-Confucianism. The text, traditionally ascribed to a descendant of Confucius, K'ung Fu (264-208 B.C.), provides a setting for a series of philosophical debates between K'ung family members and representatives of such non-Confucian schools as Legalism, Mohism, and the School of Names. However, finding that this text was probably fabricated by the controversial Confucian master, Wang Su (A.D. 195-256), Ariel explains how it sheds light on the third-century philosophical milieu: Confucianism then is seen to have been not only Taoistically metaphysical, individualistic, and escapist, but also aggressive in advocating early Confucian values. The first part of Ariel's book deals with the general characteristics, history, dating, authenticity, and authorship of the text. The second part is a fully annotated and analyzed translation of the first of the two traditional volumes that constitute the K'ung-ts'ung-tzu. Originally published in 1989. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Although scholars have long assumed that early Chinese political authority was rooted in Confucianism, rulership in the medieval period was not bound by a single dominant tradition. To acquire power, emperors deployed objects and figures derived from a range of traditions imbued with religious and political significance. Author April D. Hughes demonstrates how dynastic founders like Wu Zhao (Wu Zetian, r. 690-705), the only woman to rule China under her own name, and Yang Jian (Emperor Wen, r. 581-604), the first ruler of the Sui dynasty, closely identified with Buddhist worldly saviors and Wheel-Turning Kings to legitimate their rule. During periods of upheaval caused by the decline of the Dharma, worldly saviors arrived on earth to quell chaos and to rule and liberate their subjects simultaneously. By incorporating these figures into the imperial system, sovereigns were able to depict themselves both as monarchs and as Buddhas or Bodhisattvas in uncertain times. In this inventive and original work, Hughes traces worldly saviors-in particular Maitreya Buddha and Prince Moonlight-as they appeared in apocalyptic scriptures from Dunhuang, claims to the throne made by various rebel leaders, and textual interpretations and assertions by Yang Jian and Wu Zhao. Yang Jian associated himself with Prince Moonlight and took on the persona of a Wheel-Turning King whose offerings to the Buddha were not flowers and incense but weapons of war to reunite a long-fragmented empire and revitalize the Dharma. Wu Zhao was associated with several different worldly savior figures. In addition, she saw herself as the incarnation of a Wheel-Turning King for whom it was said the Seven Treasures manifested as material representations of his right to rule. Wu Zhao duly had the Seven Treasures created and put on display whenever she held audiences at court. The worldly savior figure allowed rulers to inhabit the highest role in the religious realm along with the supreme role in the political sphere. This incorporation transformed notions of Chinese imperial sovereignty, and associating rulers with a Buddha or Bodhisattva continued long after the close of the medieval period.

This study examines how political and legal disputes regarding the performance of death rituals contributed to an 11th-century revival of Confucianism in Northern Song China. Under Emperor Renzong (r. 1022-1063), court officials came to a consensus that the Confucian tradition was the sole legitimate source for imperial rituals, and thus put an end to the controversial civil program of honoring the royal ancestors with the Daoist liturgy. New legislation on the legal obligation of civil officers to observe the three-year period of mourning gave rise to frequent allegations of ritual violation, which in turn necessitated further studies of the classical ritual texts, the passing of additional laws, and the writing of new ritual manuals. Amid fierce factional divisions, a group of scholar-officials led by Sima Guang envisioned a statecraft that would lend more power to the bureaucracy, and provoked a series of political disputes with their criticism of the emperor's ritual violations. This group advocated the moral reformation of society. They believed in the canonical rituals' capacity to bring hierarchical social order, and waged campaigns against Buddhist and Daoist rituals, challenging their alleged capacity to ensure the well-being of the deceased in the world -beyond. Despite their efforts, funerary and burial practices would continue to be sites of contestation between ritual agents and their differing notions about life after death as well as for ritual preferences linked to their social status, political visions, and religious belief.

The Vulnerability of Integrity in Early Confucian Thought is about the necessity, and even value, of vulnerability in human experience. In this book, Michael Ing brings early Chinese texts into dialogue with questions about the ways in which meaningful things are vulnerable to powers beyond our control; and more specifically, how relationships with meaningful others might compel tragic actions. Vulnerability is often understood as an undesirable state; and as such, invulnerability is preferred over vulnerability. While recognizing the need for adopting strategies of reducing vulnerability in various situations, The Vulnerability of Integrity demonstrates that vulnerability is far more enduring in human experience, and that it enables values such as morality, trust, and maturity. Vulnerability also highlights the need for care (care for oneself and for others). The possibility of tragic loss stresses the difficulty of offering and receiving care; and thereby fosters compassion for others as we strive to care for each other. This book is structured to explore the plurality of Confucian thought as it relates to the vulnerability of integrity. The first two chapters describe traditional and contemporary views that argue for the invulnerability of integrity in early Confucian thought. The remaining five chapters investigate alternative views. In particular these later chapters give attention to neglected voices in the tradition, which argue that our concern for others can, and even should, lead to us compromise our integrity. In these cases we are compelled to do something transgressive for the sake of others; and in these situations our integrity is jeopardized in the transgressive act.

Mount Putuo, also known as the "Island of Guanyin," is a small island in the East China Sea known as the single most important pilgrimage site for the worship of the Bodhisattva Guanyin. The Bodhisattva of compassion is one of Asia's most popular deities and is worshipped from Sri Lanka to Japan. Established in the tenth century, Mount Putuo continues to attract thousands of visitors every year, and is counted among the "Four Great and Famous Buddhist Mountains" of China. Over the centuries, poems, biographies, maps, and legends about Mount Putuo, as well as descriptions of its landscape and temples, have been collected in a series of local histories called "gazetteers." Following the structure of a gazetteer, with each chapter dedicated to a particular genre, this book discusses the function of each in the depiction of Mount Putuo and illustrates them with a number of examples, none of which have been translated before. Written for all who are interested in the history of Asian Buddhism and the sacred sites of China, this book demonstrates the textual construction of this Buddhist sacred site across a variety of genres.

In this major contribution to the study of the Chinese classics and comparative religion, John Henderson uses the history of exegesis to illuminate mental patterns that have universal and perennial significance for intellectual history. Henderson relates the Confucian commentarial tradition to other primary exegetical traditions, particularly the Homeric tradition, Vedanta, rabbinic Judaism, ancient and medieval Christian biblical exegesis, and Qur'anic exegesis. In making such comparisons, he discusses some basic assumptions common to all these traditions--such as that the classics or scriptures are comprehensive or that they contain all significant knowledge or truth and analyzes the strategies deployed to support these presuppositions. As shown here, primary differences among commentarial or exegetical traditions arose from variations in their emphasis on one or another of these assumptions and strategies. Henderson demonstrates that exegetical modes of thought were far from arcane: they dominated the post-classical/premodern intellectual world. Some have persisted or re-emerged in modern times, particularly in ideologies such as Marxism. Written in an engaging and accessible style, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary is not only a challenging interpretation of comparative scriptural traditions but also an excellent introduction to the study of the Confucian classics. Originally published in 1991. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The contributors to this volume range over 2,000 years of history as they show how Confucian values spread throughout the region in premodern times and how these values were transformed in an age of modernization. The introduction by Gilbert Rozman discusses the special character of East Asia. In Part I Patricia Ebrey analyzes the Confucianization of China; JaHyun Kim Haboush, that of Korea; and Martin Collcutt, the much later diffusion of Confucianism in Japan. In Part II Rozman compares types of Confucianism in nineteenth-century China and Japan and their adaptability in the twentieth century, while Michael Robinson adds an overview of modern Korean perceptions of Confucianism.

Originally published in 1993.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

This work is a comprehensive study of Han Yu (768-824), a principal figure in the history of the Chinese Confucian tradition.

Originally published in 1986.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The contributors to this volume range over 2,000 years of history as they show how Confucian values spread throughout the region in premodern times and how these values were transformed in an age of modernization. The introduction by Gilbert Rozman discusses the special character of East Asia. In Part I Patricia Ebrey analyzes the Confucianization of China; JaHyun Kim Haboush, that of Korea; and Martin Collcutt, the much later diffusion of Confucianism in Japan. In Part II Rozman compares types of Confucianism in nineteenth-century China and Japan and their adaptability in the twentieth century, while Michael Robinson adds an overview of modern Korean perceptions of Confucianism. Originally published in 1990. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The "I Ching," or Book of Changes, has been one of the two or three most influential books in the Chinese canon. It has been used by people on all levels of society, both as a method of divination and as a source of essential ideas about the nature of heaven, earth, and humankind. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Sung dynasty literati turned to it for guidance in their fundamental reworking of the classical traditions. This book explores how four leading thinkers--Su Shih, Shao Yung, Ch'eng I, and Chu Hsi--applied the "I Ching" to these projects. These four men used the Book of Changes in strikingly different ways. Yet each claimed to find in it a sure foundation for human values. Their work established not only new meanings for the text but also new models for governance and moral philosophy that would be debated throughout the next thousand years of Chinese intellectual history. By focusing on their uses of the "I Ching," this study casts a unique light on the complex continuity-within-change and rich diversity of Sung culture.

Originally published in 1990.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Used in China as a book of divination and source of wisdom for more than three thousand years, the "I Ching" has been taken up by millions of English-language speakers in the nineteenth century. The first translation ever to appear in English that includes one of the major Chinese philosophical commentaries, the Columbia "I Ching" presents the classic book of changes for the world today.

Richard Lynn's introduction to this new translation explains the organization of "The Classic of Changes" through the history of its various parts, and describes how the text was and still is used as a manual of divination with both the stalk and coin methods. For the fortune-telling novice, he provides a chart of trigrams and hexagrams; an index of terms, names, and concepts; and a glossary and bibliography.

Lynn presents for the first time in English the fascinating commentary on the "I Ching" written by Wang Bi (226-249), who was the main interpreter of the work for some seven hundred years. Wang Bi interpreted the "I Ching" as a book of moral and political wisdom, arguing that the text should not be read literally, but rather as an expression of abstract ideas. Lynn places Wang Bi's commentary in historical context.

For beginners and devotees alike, Columbia's "I Ching" is the clearest and most authoritative translation of this ancient classic.

Confucianism demonstrates a remarkable wealth of resources for rethinking human-earth relations. This second volume in the series on religions of the world and the environment includes sixteen essays that address the ecological crisis and the question of Confucianism from three perspectives: the historical describes this East Asian tradition's views of nature, social ethics, and cosmology, which may shed light on contemporary problems; a dialogical approach links Confucianism to other philosophic and religious traditions; an examination of engaged Confucianism looks at its involvement in concrete ecological issues.

Confucianism and the Succession Crisis of the Wanli Emperor, 1587 is set in the Hanlin Academy in Ming dynasty China. Most students are members of the Grand Secretariat of the Hanlin Academy, the body of top-ranking graduates of the civil service examination who serve as advisers to the Wanli emperor. Some Grand Secretaries are Confucian "purists," who hold that tradition obliges the emperor to name his first-born son as successor; others, in support of the most senior of the Grand Secretaries, maintain that it is within the emperor's right to choose his successor; and still others, as they decide this matter among many issues confronting the empire, continue to scrutinize the teachings of Confucianism for guidance. The game unfolds amid the secrecy and intrigue within the walls of the Forbidden City as scholars struggle to apply Confucian precepts to a dynasty in peril.