The Four Books and Four Classics of Confucianism [EPUB]

The Four Books and Four Classics of Confucianism [EPUB]

source : The Internet Sacred Text Archive DVD-ROM 7.0
rights : Public Domain
subject : Confucius,Mencius,Confucianism,Religion,Chinese,Philosophy,Canon,EPUB,Ebook,James Legge,English,The Four Books,Great Learning,Doctrine Of The Mean,Analects,classic,The Book of Changes,The Book of Historical Records,The Book of Odes,The Book of Rites,Five Classics,sacred texts,Sacred Books of the East,Sacred Books of China


The Four Books
• Great Learning
• Doctrine Of The Mean
• Analects
• Mencius

The Four Books are Chinese classic texts illustrating the core value and belief systems in Confucianism. They were selected by Zhu Xi in the Song dynasty to serve as general introduction to Confucian thought, and they were, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, made the core of the official curriculum for the civil service examinations.


Four Classics
• The Book of Changes
• The Book of Historical Records
• The Book of Odes
• The Book of Rites

These are four of the 'Five Classics' of Chinese literature. The Book of Changes dates to approximately 3000 B.C.E. This famous oracular book is one of the oldest sacred texts in the world. The Book of Historical Records describes events dating back to the third millenium B.C.E., and was written down during the Han dynasty (23-220 C.E.). The Book of Odes contains poems dating back to 1000-500 B.C.E. The Book of Filial Piety is a fragmentary text, recommended by Confucius, one of the few that survived the book burning. The Book of Rites describes Chinese religious practice from the eighth to the fifth century B.C.E. The fifth classic is the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Ch'un Ch'iu. There was also a sixth classic, the Classic of Music (the Yüeh Ching), which was lost.