First published in 1931. This re-issues the edition of 1972.
This translation and Wilhelm's invaluable commentaries provide a concise and readable survey of Confucius, the man and his teachings. This volume translatesThe Life of Confucius from an ancient Chinese text, the Shih Chi, orThe Historical Records by Sse-Ma Ch'ien, dating from the turn of the second century B.C.
Chapter 1 1.Translators Note. The Shih Chi of Sse-Ma Ch'ien has been
translated into French as Les mémoires historiques de Se-Ma Ts'ien traduits
et annotés par Edouard Chavannes, Paris,
1905. The life of Confucius is found
in
Chapter XLVII, pp. 282 ff. Both Wilhelm and Chavannes follow the general
tendency among Sinologues in referring to Confucius as K'ung Tze. As will be
seen from the text, K'ung is his family name; the Tze is a usual designation
among the Chinese for master, philosopher, etc. Thus also Lao Tze, where Lao
means old. The style or appellation (Chinese hao) is the literary
designation; as his cognomen, Ch'iu, has become a sacred word and is
therefore tabu, Confucius is referred to by his literary designation, Chung
Ni. The word Chung means: the second born of brothers; Confucius was regarded
as the second born, the hill Ni being held as the elder;
Chapter 2 CRITICAL
EXAMINATION OF THE DATA OF SSE-MA CH'IEN. THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF
CONFUCIUS;
Chapter 3 THE DOCUMENTS CONTAINING THE CONFUCIAN TEACHINGS;
Chapter 4 THE TEACHINGS OF CONFUCIUS;
Chapter 5 SPECIMENS OF THE TEXT;
Authored by Wilhelm, Richard
