1. Read the "Four Books" first, and then the "Five Classics".
Er Cheng (Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi), a Neo-Confucian scholar of the Song Dynasty, once said: "If you want to ask the purpose of "The Classics", what should be done first? In the two books of "Yu" and "Mencius", I know its gist. If so, you can read the Five Classics. "
They think that you should first read the Analects and Mencius, and after mastering the essentials of the Analects and Mencius, you can further read the Five Classics. Yes, and "The Analects" and "Mencius" are two of the "Four Books".
Zhu Xi also said: "When Master Cheng of Henan Province teaches people, he must first make use of the words of "Great Learning", "The Analects of Confucius", "The Doctrine of the Mean" and "Mencius", and then the "Six Classics" ". The order of difficulty, distance, and size should not be messed with."
Zhu Xi compared the "Four Books" to the ladder of the "Five Classics". You must first climb the ladder before you can ascend to the hall. , a glimpse into the mysteries of Confucianism.
2. The order of the "Four Books" is "The Great Learning", "The Analects", "Mencius" and "The Doctrine of the Mean".
"Great Learning" is the "gate to virtue" for beginners to Confucianism. To read the "Four Books", you must first read "The Great Learning", then read "The Analects", "Mencius", and finally read "The Doctrine of the Mean".
Zhu Xi praised "The Great Learning" because he believed that "The Great Learning" is an outline of the entire Confucian system, a very concise outline, an outline of "study for learning", and a scale of "cultivating oneself and governing people" , a great avenue of "inner saint and outer king".
So, he said, we must first establish this program based on the "University". If one does not have a program and a purpose in reading the Bible, then it will be a waste of effort.
3. The order of the "Five Classics" is "Book of Changes", "Shangshu", "Book of Songs", "Spring and Autumn", and "Book of Rites".
This is arranged according to the history of the book's achievement. The "Book of Changes" is the oldest book in Chinese history, and it is said to begin with Fuxi's Bagua.
The first chapter of "Shangshu" is called "Yao Canon", starting from Yao and Shun.
"The Book of Songs", the oldest one in the Book of Songs is the so-called "Song of Shang". Shang is the Shang Dynasty, so it is later than Shangshu.
"Spring and Autumn" is the work of Confucius in the Spring and Autumn Period. When Confucius went to read history, he took some notes. His historical notes, from the first year of Lu Yin's reign, are generally from the time when King Ping of Zhou moved eastward, that is, from the early Eastern Zhou Dynasty. What he started to write has been written down to his generation.
4. It is recommended to buy the version from Zhonghua Book Company or Shanghai Ancient Books.
Extended information:
The Four Books and the Five Classics are the collective name of the Four Books and the Five Classics, and generally refer to the Confucian classics.
The "Four Books" refer to "The Great Learning", "The Doctrine of the Mean", "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius".
The "Five Classics" refers to the five books of "The Book of Songs", "Book of Records", "Book of Rites", "Book of Changes" and "Spring and Autumn".
"Book of Rites" usually includes three rites, namely "Book of Rites", "Book of Rites of Zhou", and "Book of Rites"; because the text of "Chun Qiu" is too simple, it is usually compared with "Zuo Zhuan" which explains "Chun Qiu" ", "Gongyang Zhuan" and "Gu Liang Zhuan" were jointly published.
The name of the Four Books began in the Song Dynasty, and the name of the Five Classics began in Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
Reference materials: Baidu Encyclopedia-Four Books and Five Classics