Moral and Ethical Rules of Analects of Confucius - Book Report/Review Example

There is no evidence to substantiate this belief. The manuscript containing the collection of Confucius's sayings was found in his house in the year 150 B.C. and is believed to be hidden there between the years 213 and 211 B.C. to protect it from being destroyed by the then reigning emperor. The language used in the book however was observed to be drastically different than the one used in recent texts. After several deliberations and discussions the collection was proved to be the words of Confucius put together by his disciples sometime around the year 400 B.C. (Iaconis, 2014).

The English title "The Analects of Confucius" was popularised in the West due to James Legge who translated the work of Confucius. The Chinese title Lunyu 論語, however, is subject to various interpretations. One of them refers to it as reasoned speech. According to other interpretations, the word Lun is described to mean discussion and yu is defined as text, thus Lunyu here refers to discussing the meaning of the text. Yang Bojun describes the word Lun as compiling in an orderly way and ‘yu’ as a language (Yan, 2011).

These anecdotes, conversations and analects of Confucius bear some resemblance to the Biblical Gospels (Kirkland, 2004: p. 57) whereby a well-respected, noble, and wise leader has laid down certain moral and ethical rules and guidelines for his disciples and other readers to follow. These analects reflect his ideologies from diverse perspectives and on various topics from the several branches of schools of thought that he founded and led (Cua, 2002). This section includes a summary of the key features of Confucianism including a brief overview of the social context in which it was written.

Almost all the ancient Chinese religious and philosophical texts start with an introductory passage that introduces the reader to the preaching that is to follow. The quintessential teachings of these ancient Chinese philosophers and religious leaders are beautifully communicated to the readers by way of text whose beauty and lucidity can only be described as "The way that can be spoken of is not eternal Way; the name that can be named is not the eternal name".