Twenty books · ongoingThe Analects

Arranged by book and chapter. Base edition: Zhu Xi, Lunyu jizhu (Sibu beiyao printing).

Xue er (Book 1)

1. 1.1Learning and practising it in seasonWhat you learned, keep taking out to practise and to do
2. 1.2Filial and fraternal duty as the root of renFilial and fraternal duty is where practising ren begins
3. 1.3Clever words and a pleasing faceWatch whether he does it to get the thing done, or only to be liked.
4. 1.4Three things I examine myself on dailyWhen you act for someone, did you hold anything back? Today: a colleague asks you to look over a plan; you can't be bothered to point out the flaw and say “looks good”.
5. 1.5Governing a state of a thousand chariotsCheng Yi: “此言至浅……若推其极，尧舜之治亦不过此” — the words are plain, but pushed to the limit, even Yao and Shun governed no differently
6. 1.6A young man at home is filialThis is about order, not about choosing one and dropping the other
7. 1.7Honouring the worthy over good looksSomeone who never studied but does all this — Zixia says he has studied
8. 1.8A gentleman without weight has no dignityZhu Xi takes the words as they stand and does not talk his way around them
9. 1.9Care at the end, remembrance of the distantPut your heart into the places that are easy to neglect and easy to forget
10. 1.10Whenever the Master arrives in a stateComing to ask is not the same as handing you the job.
11. 1.11While the father lives, observe the son's intentWhat is wrong, change now; what can wait, let wait — that is time given to what one cannot bear to let go
12. 1.12In the use of ritual, harmony is prizedHarmony alone, with nothing to regulate it, does not work either
13. 1.13Trust that comes close to what is rightThe work happens before you say yes
14. 1.14A gentleman does not seek to eat his fillNot going hungry on purpose; simply too occupied to mind.
15. 1.15Poor without flatteryAcknowledge what has been done, then push one step further
16. 1.16Not troubled that others do not know meThe book opens with “unrecognised and yet not resentful” and closes here; the two ends meet.

Wei zheng (Book 2)

1. 2.1Governing by virtueNot that decrees are unnecessary, but that the one who governs must first have gained something himself
2. 2.2Thoughts without crookednessThe “without crookedness” lies in the reader, not entirely in the poems
3. 2.3Guiding them by decreesPunishment and decree keep people from crime; virtue and ritual move them toward good
4. 2.4At fifteen I set my heart on learningNot a certificate issued automatically at a certain age, but a road of learning.