The Analects of Confucius is one of the Confucian classics and a collection of recorded essays, which mainly records the words and deeds of Confucius and his disciples in the form of quotations and dialogues, and embodies Confucius' political, aesthetic, moral and utilitarian values.
The Analects of Confucius covers politics, education, literature, philosophy and ways of living. As early as the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, when Confucius set up an altar to give lectures, its main contents were initially established; After the death of Confucius, his disciples and re-disciples passed on his remarks from generation to generation, and gradually recorded the words and deeds of these oral quotations, so it was called "On"; The Analects of Confucius mainly records the words and deeds of Confucius and his disciples, so it is called "language". In the Qing Dynasty, Zhao Yi explained: "The speaker, the sage's language, the commentator, and the Confucian discussion." In fact, "Shang" means compiling. The Analects of Confucius refers to recording the words and deeds of Confucius and his disciples and compiling them into books. The Analects of Confucius consists of 20 articles and 492 chapters, of which 444 chapters record what Confucius and his disciples talked about in time, and 48 chapters record what Confucius and his disciples talked about each other.
As a Confucian classic, The Analects is profound and all-encompassing, and its thoughts mainly include three independent and closely dependent categories: ethics-benevolence, social and political category-courtesy, and cognitive methodology category-the mean. Benevolence, first of all, is the true state in people's hearts. The final compromise must be kindness, and this true and kind state is "benevolence". Confucius established the category of benevolence, and then expounded etiquette as a reasonable social relationship and a norm for dealing with others, and then expounded the methodological principle of the "golden mean" system. "Benevolence" is the ideological core of The Analects.
The Analects of Confucius has been regarded as "the rule of the Five Classics, the throat of the Six Arts" since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "ousted a hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone", and it is the first-hand material for studying Confucius and Confucianism, especially primitive Confucianism. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu combined Daxue, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucius and Mencius into four books, which made his position in Confucian classics improve day by day. During the life extension period of the Yuan Dynasty, the imperial examination began to select scholars with the "four books". From then on, until the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty, the imperial examination was abolished, and The Analects of Confucius has always been the golden rule pursued by scholars.
The Analects of Confucius entered the classic bibliography in the Tang Dynasty. "There were Zhou Li, Yi Li and Li Ji in the Tang Dynasty, Zuo Zhuan, Ram and Gu Liang in the Spring and Autumn Period, plus The Analects of Confucius, Er Ya and Xiao Jing, which are the thirteen classics." Zhao Pu, a politician in the Northern Song Dynasty, once said that "the Analects of Confucius governs the world". This reflects the great role and influence of this book in ancient China society.
The Analects of Confucius retains some people's criticisms and satires on Confucius' mentoring, some of which have been refuted and some have not answered. Its refutation and debate have a great influence on later generations, such as answering a guest's question and answering questions, all inspired by the Analects of Confucius. Its self-deprecating part shows the Confucian affirmation of self-worth and praises the positive spirit of "knowing what it is but not doing it".