The Analects (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Confucius (Author), D. C. Lau (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 3, 1998

The Analects express a philosophy, or a moral code, by which Confucius, one of the most humane thinkers of all time, believed everyone should live. Upholding the ideals of wisdom, self-knowledge, courage and love of one's fellow man, he argued that the pursuit of virtue should be every individual's supreme goal. And, while following the Way, or the truth, might not result in immediate or material gain, Confucius showed that it could nevertheless bring its own powerful and lasting spiritual rewards.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Chinese (translation)

About the Author

Confucius [551-479 BC], though of noble descent, was born in humble circumstances. He believed that politics is only an extension of morals, and spent ten years travelling through the various states of China spreading his ideas. When he realised that there was no way of converting the feudal rulers to his way of thinking he returned to Lu and spent the rest of his life there teaching his pupils. D.C Lau has held a number of professorships in the field of Chinese language and literature.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics; 1st edition (September 3, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140443487
• ISBN-13: 978-0140443486
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > History > Ancient > China
  • #6 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Other Eastern Religions > Confucianism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Strange, strange choices, May 6, 2002

By 

Keith Ammann (Freeport, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Analects (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

This is not the translation by Arthur Waley (which is very good) but the one by D.C. Lau. Since Lau's translation was first published, a number of advances have been made in the field of Warring States Period scholarship which render a fair amount of the supporting material obsolete (see "The Original Analects" by Brooks and Brooks for the latest). As for the translation itself, it's rife with awkward and mystifying word choices -- for instance, in a passage in chapter 11 in which the disciple Zilu (Tzu-lu, in Wade-Giles romanization, which Lau uses) gets the better of Confucius in an argument, Waley translates the Master's retort, "It is remarks of that kind that make me hate glib people," and the Brookses and Huang Chichung make similar choices; but Lau renders it, "It is for this reason that I dislike men who are plausible." Similar mishandlings of connotation appear throughout the book. For an old-fashioned translation, Waley's is a hundred times better.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Needs Repeated Readings, January 24, 2006

By 

P. Todd Decker "P. Todd" (Overland Park, KS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Analects (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Filled with totally obfuscated phrases like, "The Kuan-chu Ode is lively but not licentious, plaintive but not harrowing," are gems like, "Po I and Shu Ch'i never remembered old injuries, and therefore their enemies were few." The thing about it, is that I read it cover to cover. Clearly, this deep and old wisdom is best taken in small bits for not many words are wasted. Also, the Lionel Giles translation I read was weak on supplemental commentary so I really felt like I needed a more knowledgeable guide as I was reading. Perhaps the Norton version would have better annotations then the beautiful Easton Press version from my library. It is clearly a five star book, but I think I only got about three stars out of it. Most certainly a book to read again, and again and again.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I, for one, liked the introductory comments, March 9, 2006

By 

Tomas Cvrcek "old_chig" (Central, SC, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Analects (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

I guess, there is not much point in buying this book for the text of Lunyu itself: it is available in full on the Internet (for example at Wengu: http://afpc.asso.fr/wengu/wg/wengu.php?l=intro - in the Chinese original, two English - including Lau's - and one French translation) but it is the introduction and adjoining commentaries that are of value. In this respect, I found D.C.Lau's work quite pleasing. He explains the main terms and how they hang together, illustrates his arguments with quotations from the actual Analects and tries his best to relate Confucius' philosophy to suitable analogues in the Western tradition. I am no China-expert, so this helped a lot. The book also has a post-script outlining Kong-zi's life and a short piece on the individual disciples and friends that Confucius converses with in the book. I think there is $9 of value (or whatever the price) in this book.