Detailed Analysis of "The Analects": For All Those Who Misinterpret Confucius (22)
2006/11/5 12:05:07
The Master said: Making people good, educating the people for seven years, can also assimilate the uncivilized.
Detailed Analysis: What this ID interprets is all based on the text of The Analects. Text (文本, wénběn) means that which writing is rooted in. Departing from the text, writing has no root, and one cannot speak of any interpretation whatsoever. This chapter has been riddled with errors throughout history, but more importantly, all interpreters have unconsciously and secretly turned Confucius into a madman who constantly speaks incoherently, suddenly blurting out a few words without any context that then become so-called "sayings." Yet the most ironic thing is that these very people who unconsciously turned Confucius into a madman then devoted their entire lives to excavating his profound meaning. The only rational explanation is that the interpreters themselves went mad, which is why Confucius has been butchered so incoherently for over two thousand years. There have already been many such examples above. Regarding this chapter, the most egregious is that in all interpretations, "善人" is once again taken to mean "good people." This is strange — does it mean that if "evil people educated the people for seven years," they could not "go to war"? What about Hitler and Tojo Hideki? Didn't they also "educate the people"? Though they used the trappings of Nazism and Bushido, didn't they still "go to war"? In truth, the conventional punctuation of "善人教民七年，亦可以即戎矣" is wrong. It should be "善人、教民七年，亦可以即戎矣." "善人" and "教民" are parallel constructions, both in the "verb + noun" structure.
In all conventional interpretations, "即" is explained as "immediately, to march toward," and "戎" as "war." "即戎" is thus interpreted as "immediately march toward war" and the like. If this interpretation were correct, then there would be a major problem with what Confucius said. Consider: "Evil people educating the people for three years can also march to war" — far more formidable than "good people"! Why? Learning good takes three years, learning bad takes one day. Historical experience has always shown that "evil people educating the people" is far more efficient than "good people." Do not think the Germans were duped by Hitler or the Japanese by Tojo — that was the achievement of "evil people educating the people." Virtually every German and Japanese soldier who went to the battlefield did so with burning enthusiasm and willingly. Did they not have their own so-called ideals? Especially during victorious advances, the latent evil tendencies in every person's nature had sufficient conditions to rapidly inflate. Everyone became a killing machine in the frenzy. Has such frenzy been rare in history? Those who experienced such frenzy, unless they engaged in sufficient reflection and underwent thorough rehabilitation, could never be free of it their entire lives, ready to relapse at the first opportunity. Why have Japanese militarists remained so rampant? Why have European anti-Semites been able to flourish even under such intense suppression? Any underestimation of the evil in human nature is a historical naivety.
As already explained in the chapter on "善人为邦百年，亦可以胜残去杀矣," the grammatical structure of "善人" is "adjective verbalized + noun." From the previous chapter we know that "善人" (making people good) means "making them prosperous" and "enriching them," ultimately "educating them." "教之" (educating them) means "教民" (educating the people), where "之" refers to "民" (the people). Since "教" is the ultimate realization and embodiment of "making them prosperous" and "enriching them," after "善人" it must be separately emphasized to highlight the importance of "educating the people." The ultimate purpose of "making people good" is precisely "educating the people." "教" does not refer to top-down education imposed by some sage or group of sages, but rather the stable social structure formed by all people — including what modern terminology calls the superstructure and economic base. Using a more encompassing term: "civilization." A society's "civilization" refers to the holistic expression of its social structure. Any single aspect alone does not qualify as "civilization," and the totality of a society's "civilization" is contained within "教."
"即戎" does not mean immediately going to war. Do not turn Confucius into a warmonger — was the purpose of "making people good and educating the people" to go to war? To send the people as cannon fodder? Obviously not. Confucius's view of war operates from a higher plane than even Sun Tzu's, which will be explained in detail in later chapters on Confucius's philosophy of war. But Confucius was absolutely not a war fanatic and had not the slightest thought of training "the people" into cannon fodder. "即" is the opposite of "离" (separation), as in the expression "若即若离" (now close, now distant). In modern terminology, "即" means "integration, assimilation." "戎" referred to ancient ethnic minorities, standing for uncivilized peoples, nationalities, and states with relatively lower levels of civilization. "即戎" means to integrate and assimilate uncivilized peoples, nationalities, and states with relatively lower levels of civilization. The meaning of "善人、教民七年，亦可以即戎矣" is now clear: the powerful civilizational force ultimately formed through the "making people good" path of "庶 (prosperous), 富 (enriched), 教 (educated)" as described in the previous chapter can integrate and assimilate those uncivilized peoples, nationalities, and states with relatively lower levels of civilization. "Seven years" is an idiomatic usage of the ancient period, when odd numbers were commonly used to represent approximate figures. But regardless of the exact duration, the end result is "can also assimilate the uncivilized."
This chapter proclaims the power of the way of "making people good," the power of "education," the power of civilization. The way of "making people good" is a concrete form manifested in a specific process of the "Way of the Sage." The "Way of the Sage" ultimately aims to transform the world of "people not knowing" into a world of "people not being resentful," which naturally requires integrating and assimilating those uncivilized peoples, nationalities, and states with relatively lower levels of civilization — these constitute a large portion of the world of "people not knowing." If the previous chapter focused more on the application of the "making people good" approach within a single nation, this chapter points out the inevitability of "making people good" being realized across the entire world. Only realization on a global scale constitutes the true way of "making people good." Just as Marx held that socialism, as the lower stage of communism, could only be realized as a global event, Confucius likewise held that the way of "making people good," as the lower stage of the "Way of the Sage," could only be realized as a global event. Great Harmony can only be Great Harmony under Heaven — it cannot be Great Harmony in a single country. It must "assimilate the uncivilized" to achieve Great Harmony under Heaven. Confucius and Marx meet once again here.
Similarly, Confucius did not fear war, but he believed even more firmly that war alone could never bring Great Harmony under Heaven — only civilization is the ultimate force. Likewise, Marx did not oppose violence, but Marx made it even clearer that violence is merely a fuse lit by the coincidence of circumstances. Without violence, capitalism would still be destined to perish. But capitalism will never perish because of anyone's violence — the only thing that can bury capitalism is capitalism itself. Violence for the sake of violence will ultimately only lead to impotent collapse. On this point, Marx and Confucius are again not in conflict. In fact, in terms of theoretical structure, the "Way of the Sage" in Confucius and The Analects is entirely isomorphic with the "communist movement" in Marx and The Communist Manifesto. Like the "communist movement," this "Way of the Sage" is absolutely not an a priori salvation like Christianity, but a "Way" that humans practice. Apart from humans, apart from each and every person, there is no "Way of the Sage," just as there is no "communist movement." And The Analects is Confucius's Communist Manifesto.
(To be continued)
Strictly prohibited to plagiarize, violators will be prosecuted
Replies
缠中说禅 2006/11/5 12:23:05
Also, I've seen people using interpretations by the likes of Nan Huaijin to counter this ID. Please, Nan's interpretations are all cobbled together from ancient texts. The ancient interpretations aren't even worthy of this ID's attention, and Nan and his ilk don't even qualify to match up against this ID. Don't waste your time.
缠中说禅 2006/11/5 12:28:11
Statement
One more miscellaneous matter: nowadays even Yu Hua's Brothers has been called out for plagiarism. The plagiarism epidemic is so rampant that even someone like Yu Hua is implicated, so copyright must be emphasized once again. Apart from the previously agreed-upon reposting by Old Mahua on the "Confucian Studies United Forum" (please note the author and source when reposting), all other reposting is strictly prohibited. This is hereby declared.
缠中说禅 2006/11/5 12:47:16
[Anonymous] 漠漠
2006-11-05 12:44:45
For reposts, a quick search brings them up~~~
But if it's plagiarism, with changed words, sentence structures, paragraphs... where would you even look???
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Occasional plagiarism of individual chapters is hard to prevent, but plagiarizing constantly would be impossible. Especially once publication is involved — this ID has so many friends in this field, you think we can't deal with these people?
缠中说禅 2006/11/5 12:48:55
[Anonymous] 山在那
2006-11-05 12:44:33
Writing such a terrible book as Brothers, and Yu Hua still needs to plagiarize? Truly shameless.
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The case isn't settled yet. Someone has already listed a substantial number of plagiarized passages in detail. Let's see how things develop.
缠中说禅 2006/11/5 12:53:29
Everyone take your time reading. I'm logging off. Goodbye.
缠中说禅 2006/11/5 21:35:05
Author: 炼铁设备 Reply date: 2006-11-5 15:58:25
The host's approach to interpreting The Analects is about making the ancient serve the present.
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It cannot be explained through the utilitarian lens of "making the ancient serve the present." Starting from the text, things should be interpreted as they are. Great thought always transcends time and space, and naturally has contemporary relevance.
缠中说禅 2006/11/5 21:41:31
[Anonymous] tryrtytry
2006-11-05 21:24:18
"Their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions" is a key thought in The Communist Manifesto and could even be called its thesis.
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Don't view violence mechanically. The forms through which violence manifests are related to real-world conditions — Marx discussed this extensively. Moreover, violence is only effective at the tipping point — Marx also discussed this extensively.
缠中说禅 2006/11/5 21:44:51
Announcement
There are too many posts, and I cannot reply to each one. Many questions will be addressed in future interpretations, so I won't go into detail here. The interpretation of The Analects has really only just begun. Please continue reading patiently. Thank you.
缠中说禅 2006/11/5 12:16:46
Preview
Previously this ID has been lenient, not publicly displaying and ridiculing the interpretations of those so-called great scholars — at most just taking the occasional jab at Zhu Xi. Tomorrow, for the next chapter, this ID will do just that: place the interpretations of four illustrious and renowned great scholars side by side with this ID's interpretation. Without this, how can one demonstrate that this ID's interpretation is truly unprecedented? What this ID writes sweeps away two thousand years — how could those so-called scholars who achieved fame by default ever compare?