Transmitters and Creators: Chinese Commentators and Commentaries on the Analects (Harvard East Asian Monographs)

'The Analects (Lunyu) is one of the most influential texts in human history. As a putative record of Confucius's (551–479 B.C.E.) teachings and a foundational text in scriptural Confucianism, this classic was instrumental in shaping intellectual traditions in China and East Asia until the early twentieth century. But no premodern reader read only the text of the Analects itself. Rather, the Analects was embedded in a web of interpretation that mediated its meaning. Modern interpreters of the Analects only rarely acknowledge this legacy of two thousand years of commentaries. How well do we understand prominent or key commentaries from this tradition? How often do we read such commentaries as we might read the text on which they comment? Many commentaries do more than simply comment on a text. Not only do they shape the reading of the text, but passages of text serve as pretexts for the commentator to develop and expound his own body of thought. This book attempts to redress our neglect of commentaries by analyzing four key works dating from the late second century to the mid-nineteenth century (a period substantially contemporaneous with the rise and decline of scriptural Confucianism): the commentaries of He Yan (ca. 190–249); Huang Kan (488–545); Zhu Xi (1130–1200); and Liu Baonan (1791–1855) and Liu Gongmian (1821–1880).' Frontmatter (page i) Conventions (page xiii) Introduction (page 1) Part I Commentary as Authority: He Yan et al., Lunyu jijie (Collected Explanations of the Analects) (page 21) 1 He Yan, Authorship, and Xuanxue Thought (page 23) 2 Innovation As/Through Form (page 48) Part II Commentary as Philosophy: Huang Kan's Lunyu yishu (Elucidation of the Meaning of the Analects) (page 77) 3 Huang Kan and the Shu Genre (page 79) 4 The Philosophical Character of Elucidation of the Meaning (page 96) 5 Buddhist and Institutional Influences on Huang's Thought (page 148) Part III Beyond Method: Zhu Xi's Lunyu jizhu (Collected Annotations on the Analects) (page 169) 6 Zhu Xi, Commentary, and the Analects (page 171) 7 Zhu Xi on Learning (page 196) 8 The Rhetoric and Reality of Learning to Be a Sage (page 221) Part IV Method and Truth: Liu Baonan and Liu Gongmian's Lunyu zhengyi (Correct Meaning of the Analects) (page 251) 9 Liu Baonan and Liu Gongmian (page 253) 10 Liu Baonan and Han Learning (page 268) 11 Confucius as Cultural Custodian (page 301) Epilogue (page 349) Appendixes (page 361) A Developments in the Early Commentarial Tradition of the Analects (page 363) B The Eight Commentators Selected by the Collected Explanations Editors (page 378) C Early History of Collected Explanations and Main Editions (page 386) D Format and Early History of Elucidation of the Meaning (page 391) E Zhu Xi's Analects Commentaries (page 397) F Liu Baonan's Writings (page 407) Reference Matter (page 411) Works Cited (page 413) Index to Analects Passages (page 445) General Index (page 449) "The Analects (Lunyu) is one of the most influential texts in human history. As a putative record of Confucius' (551-479 B.C.E.) teachings and a foundational text in scriptural Confucianism, this classic was instrumental in shaping intellectual traditions in China and East Asia until the early twentieth century. But no premodern reader read only the text of the Analects itself. Rather, the Analects was embedded in a web of interpretation that mediated its meaning. Modern interpreters of the Analects only rarely acknowledge this legacy of two thousand years of commentaries. How well do we understand prominent or key commentaries from this tradition? How often do we read such commentaries as we might read the text on which they comment? Many commentaries do more than simply comment on a text. Not only do they shape the reading of the text, but passages of text serve as pretexts for the commentator to develop and expound his own body of thought. This book attempts to redress our neglect of commentaries by analyzing four key works dating from the late second century to the mid-nineteenth century (a period substantially contemporaneous with the rise and decline of scriptural Confucianism): the commentaries of He Yan (ca. 190-249); Huang Kan (488-545); Zhu Xi (1130-1200); and Liu Baonan (1791-1855) and Liu Gongmian (1821-1880)." -- Publisher's description.