Confucius, dit-on, vit le jour en 551 avant notre ère, non loin de la ville de Qufu, dans la province de Shandong. Après la mort de sa mère en -527, il enseigna sa connaissance des textes anciens au petit groupe de disciples qui le suivait. Bien qu'il n'ait jamais développé sa pensée de façon théorique, on peut dessiner à grand traits ce qu'étaient ses principales préoccupations et les solutions qu'il préconisait, en lisant les Entretiens.

Entretiens du maître avec ses disciples

The strangest figure that meets us in the annals of Oriental thought is that of Confucius. To the popular mind he is the founder of a religion, and yet he has nothing in common with the great religious teachers of the East. We think of Siddartha, the founder of Buddhism, as the very impersonation of romantic asceticism, enthusiastic self-sacrifice, and faith in the things that are invisible. Zoroaster is the friend of God, talking face to face with the Almighty, and drinking wisdom and knowledge from the lips of Omniscience. Mohammed is represented as snatched up into heaven, where he receives the Divine communication which he is bidden to propagate with fire and sword throughout the world. These great teachers lived in an atmosphere of the supernatural. They spoke with the authority of inspired prophets. They brought the unseen world close to the minds of their disciples. They spoke positively of immortality, of reward or punishment beyond the grave. The present life they despised, the future was to them everything in its promised satisfaction. The teachings of Confucius were of a very different sort. Throughout his whole writings he has not even mentioned the name of God. He declined to discuss the question of immortality. When he was asked about spiritual beings, he remarked, "If we cannot even know men, how can we know spirits?"

Yet this was the man the impress of whose teaching has formed the national character of five hundred millions of people.

Chinese Literature

L'abbé Arnaud publia ses oeuvres complètes au début du XIXe siècle, ainsi que de remarquables articles sur la musique ancienne comme sur les mours et les coutumes des Chinois, et plus particulièrement les danses chinoises.

Nous avons choisi d'en publier deux articles remarquables, Mémoire sur les danses chinoises, d'après une traduction manuscrite de quelques ouvrages de Confucius suivi d'une Traduction manuscrite d'un livre sur l'anciennemusique chinoise, composé par Ly-Koang-ty. Ces deux textes traduits par François Arnaud rendent compte à eux seuls de l'étendue, l'importance et l'énergie qu'avaient les arts chinois autrefois.

Format professionnel électronique © Ink Book édition

Mémoire sur les Danses Chinoises d'après Confucius, suivi de L’ancienne Musique Chinoise par Ly-Koang-Ty. [Nouv. éd. revue et mise à jour].

Tsze-hsia said, 'If a man withdraws his mind from the love of beauty, and applies it as sincerely to the love of the virtuous; if, in serving his parents, he can exert his utmost strength;

if, in serving his prince, he can devote his life; if, in his intercourse with his friends, his words are sincere:-although men say that he has not learned, I will certainly say that he has.'

The Analects of Confucius

The strangest figure that meets us in the annals of Oriental thought is that of Confucius. To the popular mind he is the founder of a religion, and yet he has nothing in common with the great religious teachers of the East. We think of Siddartha, the founder of Buddhism, as the very impersonation of romantic asceticism, enthusiastic self-sacrifice, and faith in the things that are invisible. Zoroaster is the friend of God, talking face to face with the Almighty, and drinking wisdom and knowledge from the lips of Omniscience. Mohammed is represented as snatched up into heaven, where he receives the Divine communication which he is bidden to propagate with fire and sword throughout the world. These great teachers lived in an atmosphere of the supernatural. They spoke with the authority of inspired prophets. They brought the unseen world close to the minds of their disciples. They spoke positively of immortality, of reward or punishment beyond the grave. The present life they despised, the future was to them everything in its promised satisfaction. The teachings of Confucius were of a very different sort. Throughout his whole writings he has not even mentioned the name of God. He declined to discuss the question of immortality. When he was asked about spiritual beings, he remarked, "If we cannot even know men, how can we know spirits?"

Yet this was the man the impress of whose teaching has formed the national character of five hundred millions of people. A temple to Confucius stands to this day in every town and village of China. His precepts are committed to memory by every child from the tenderest age, and each year at the royal university at Pekin the Emperor holds a festival in honor of the illustrious teacher.

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