Thursday, 10 January 2008

The Teaching of Confucius - My Brief Interpretation of Analects, Part 1

The objective of learning the Analects is first to become a noble man, by personal influence, it then extends to benefit his family, country and finally, the world.

However, you must have the following expectations before deciding to learn the Analects:

i) It would be great to have the opportunity to apply all that you have learned to help the nation; -- however, if there is no such opportunity,
ii) it would still be great to have some friends who appreciate you for your virtues, knowledge and abilities; -- however, if there is no such person who can understand you,
iii) it would be still great because you know deep down in your heart, you have all the qualities of a noble man.
It is who you have become as a person that matters.
If you can accept the above-mentioned conditions, i.e. to apply all that you have learned to benefit the world by your effort to create whatever opportunities to do so, but worse comes to worst, you will be at ease with yourself and still feel great even if there is not a single person in the whole world can understand you and you do not have a chance to contribute to the world despite all your efforts, you are then qualified to learn the teaching of Confucius.

In order to become a noble man, a person must be true to his heart, the words and deeds must be congruent with his honest heart, he must always inspect his own conscience, to do what is right and ethical, to give respect to people and treat everyone with equality.

The monetary wealth has nothing to do with nobleness, you are who you are whether you are poor or rich, so you should act the same regardless of how poor or how wealthy you are.

Take whatever opportunities you have to learn from those who are wise, knowledgeable and ethical, correct your mistakes accordingly and improve yourself whenever possible.

You should not be worried if other people cannot understand you, but rather, be worried whether you have understood others.


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