Most of the sayings of Confucius consist of three parts:
* The Saying
* The Person
* The Time/Location
If you just read The Analects, you get all of the sayings and if you’re very diligent (or use a commentary), you can get to know the people Confucius addresses in his responses. What’s difficult to gather from The Analects is the historical context (time/location) in which each statement was made.
That’s where Annping Chin’s book comes in, The Authentic Confucius. Organized along the path of Confucius’ life, Annping takes us through the various political situations, locations, and career points that align with many of the sayings of Confucius. This book provides a very helpful analysis of that third part of each saying, while also being an interesting look at the life of this great teacher.
I was surprised to learn that Confucius was not a religious teacher (he was a philosopher), that he would deeply ponder a question before answering instead of spouting off an answer based upon a set worldview, and that he was very politically minded.
In this podcast episode, I talk about these things that surprised me, some things I learned about Confucius, and cover The One Thing, my key takeaway from The Authentic Confucius.
Here’s my episode about The Analects:
As well as an article about something Confucius said that I’m thinking about a lot: