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"When the ruler excels as a father a son and a brother then
the people imitate him." "There are three principles of conduct
which the man of high rank should consider specially important,
that in his department and manner he keep from violence, that in
regulating his countenance, he keep near to sincerity, that in
his words and tones he keep far from lowness and impropriety."
"When a man's finger is deformed he knows enough to be dissatis-
fied. When his mind is deformed he does not know that he should
That is called ignorance of the relative
be dissatisfied.
importance of things."
"That whereby a man differs from the
lower animels is little. Most people thrown it away. The superior
man preserves it." "The Superior man thinks of virtue. The
ordinary man thinks of comfort."
Such extracts are sufficient to prove that the Chinese
classics serve a far wider and nobler purpose than the literary
classics of Europe. Sophocles, Aeschylus, Aristophanes and such
writers are read primarily for intellectual and aesthetic reasons,
Plato and Aristotle provide intellectual food for the elite, but
the study is not undertaken primarily with a view to influencing
conduct. Shakespeare and Milton are subjects of study in schools,
but no one would suggest that they are read and learned chiefly
for the guidance they give in daily life. In none of these cases
have temples been reared and dedicated or a ritual evolved for the
It is purpose of rendering homage to the authors of these works.
clear then that the object of studying the writings of Confucius
wes of supreme national importance and was based on the assumption
that a moral foundation was essential to the cohesion and permanence
of the Empire.
What began as a simple and model course however, developed
into a complicated cult and was smothered by abstruse commentaries
which required specialists for their understanding. Though the
original purpose was no ver entirely lost, the complex development
tended to draw the study of the principles further and further
P.T.0.