Cryptocurrency Exchange - Analogy of the Analects: To all those who misinterpret Confucius - "Learn and practice it diligently, is it not a pleasure? Friends coming from afar, is it not a joy? When people do not understand and do not get angry, is it not a gentleman?"

Just returned from a business trip and found that the trend of pretentious elegance in the business world is flourishing, with the rise of Confucian studies and the chaos of cloud and rain, everyone seems eager to become a “Confucian merchant.” Turning from “milk” to “Confucian merchant” because of Confucian studies is probably not a blessing for Confucianism. Imagine, once it becomes popular, genuine milk will be hard to find, let alone true Confucianism. Besides the lively hype around breasts for augmentation and enlargement, what else can there be? As for the popular Confucianism, its fate won’t be better than any other breast, whether real or fake. The same applies to Confucian studies; if the whole country truly studied it, then Confucianism would really be in trouble.

But the prosperity of Confucian studies is inevitable. China’s economic development will naturally require Chinese voices in academia, and besides Confucianism, what else can Chinese scholars produce that is truly impressive? Those who oppose this, besides fools, are just self-deceivers. Why can’t the academic standards of Confucianism become one of the world’s academic standards someday? As China’s national strength grows, this is an inevitable development. However, it must be clarified that, apart from a large amount of so-called Chinese Buddhist literature that has been heavily Confucianized and Taoized, Buddhist studies cannot be classified as part of Confucianism. Traditional Chinese medicine can be considered Confucian, and even the art of sexual cultivation can be, but Buddhist studies are not. Buddhist studies, after all, cannot be encompassed by mere Confucian or Western scholarship.

But if you can’t even understand Confucian or Western studies, then don’t talk about Buddhist studies. Only those proficient in Confucian and Western knowledge are qualified to discuss Buddhism. When talking about Confucianism and the study of Confucianism, of course, we start with Confucius. Speaking of Confucius, we must first mention the Analects. Confucius and the Analects are the foundation of Chinese civilization—how could they be shaken by the May Fourth radicals or the little children of the 66s? Throughout history, there have been as many misinterpretations of the Analects as there have been distortions. And this book is precisely for those who distort Confucius.

Learning

The Master said: “Is it not a pleasure, friends, to learn and to practice what is learned day after day?” “Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar?” “Is it not a gentleman who, when he is not understood, does not become resentful?”

Detailed explanation: The so-called “half of the Analects governs the world” at the beginning is certainly not as superficial and ridiculous as most interpret it. However, taking two characters from the original text as the chapter title “Learning” has only helped later poets like Li Shangyin find a good way to formulate themes, and has added a bad method to the traditional eight-legged essay. There is no greater significance. Chapter titles are added by later generations, but the entire Analects is a continuous flow; it doesn’t really need to be divided into chapters.

After the title, the main text begins. These three “not” phrases are probably the most commonly swallowed by people’s saliva in the history of Chinese language. But perhaps no one truly understands their meaning. These three straightforward sentences seem to have no reason or logic—why do they open the greatest book in Chinese? If that were true, the Analects would be the greatest counterfeit product in history, or just the ramblings of madmen in an asylum.

In fact, these three sentences are just one sentence, a whole, summarizing all Confucian thought. The vast array of Confucian classics is just an elaboration of these three sentences. Once you understand these three sentences, the entire Analects becomes clear, and you realize that the statement “the entire Analects is a continuous flow” is not just casual talk.

“Learning and practicing it regularly”—what is learning? Who is learning? What are they learning? What can they achieve? First of all, the subject before “learning” is missing. Even a duck learning is still learning; if you treat a duck as the subject, it becomes: “The Master said: Duck learns and practices it regularly, isn’t that a pleasure? Ducks have friends coming from afar, isn’t that a joy? People don’t understand, and the ducks are not resentful, isn’t that the king of ducks?” This could probably be the signboard of a duck shop. Therefore, without resolving the missing subject before “learning,” it is impossible to understand the Analects.

Actually, the subject is within this sentence itself—it’s “gentleman.” Those who study the Analects are “gentlemen.” This statement ultimately applies to “gentlemen.” The entire Confucian doctrine boils down to “gentlemen learn.” What is a “gentleman”? A “gentleman” is someone who aims to become a “ruler.” The ultimate goal of “gentleman learning” is to become a “ruler.” What is a “ruler”? A “ruler” is a “sage.”

So, why is it “gentleman learning” instead of “sage learning”? A “sage” is beyond learning; the entire Analects and Confucianism describe how one transforms from a “gentleman” who “learns” into a “ruler,” and then into a “sage.” Only this process involves the concept of “learning.” “Gentleman learning” is not about learning to be a “gentleman,” but only “gentlemen” can “learn.” Only “gentlemen” who are on the path to becoming “rulers” can keep “learning,” and only then can “gentleman learning” lead to becoming a “ruler.” Ducks “learning” can only be ducks, at most “king ducks,” so a duck shop cannot and does not need to have a version of the Analects.

But this “ruler” is not formed overnight. When you open the Analects and want to learn from it, the first thing you must understand is that your ultimate goal is to become a “ruler,” a “sage,” through studying the Analects. If you don’t have this aspiration, there’s no need to read the Analects; you might as well read “Duck Speech.” With this aspiration, it becomes meaningful to read the Analects, and only then do the words below in the Analects make sense. Reading cannot be separated from the reader, and a reader who cannot undertake this reading is not truly reading—it’s just looking at some characters.