It's quite a common punch line in a Western film that someone quotes a mysterious oriental-ish saying, and ends it by saying "Confucius said it."
And most of the time, it actually was not. So you can imagine how people were really lost -- especially in the Chinese speaking countries.
Most of these legendary saying were said to have been quoted from the Analects论lún语yŭ-- a book of collective teaching and conversations between Confucius and his disciples during his 'teaching tour'.
So for the sake of setting the record straight, let's take a look at the very beginning of this great book to conclude the introduction concerning the Confucius Day.
The name of the first chapter is 学xué而ér, which means "learning", and the very first verse is:
子zǐ曰yuē
“Confucius said”
学xué而ér时shí习xí之zhï
“To learn and to practice/review from time to time”
不bú亦yì悦yuè乎hü
“Isn't it a pleasure?”
有yŏ朋péng自zì远yŭan方fäng来lái
“To have friend(s) coming from afar”
不bú亦yì乐lè乎hü
“Isn't it happy?”
人rén不bù知zhï而ér不bú愠yùng
“To not be upset when other don't know (about) you”
不bú亦yì君jün子zĭ乎hü
“Isn't that what a gentleman is?”
The word 亦yì means 'also', 'too', so the phrases for "Isn't it a pleasure" and "Isn't it happy" when translated more in a word for word manner, would be "Isn't it also is a pleasure?" and "Isn't it happy, too?". But for Chinese speakers, this word here actually is to emphasize the situation rather than as an agreement to the prior situation. 乎hü works as a question mark. And 之zhï here functions as a pronoun "it", referring to the things learned.
The most commonly quoted phrases of this verse are the first four sentences; or to be precise, the first two pairs of sentences. The first pair can be perceived as the best suck up lines for teachers and anyone who loves to enlighten others with his/her 'wisdom' -- showing how much you enjoy learning from him/her and that you simply have to keep practicing and learning it to keep enjoying it. The next pair is very useful in welcoming friends (from afar, of course). If your friends are of Chinese background, it shows how well learned you are with their culture; if your friends are not, it shows you are very well learned. It never hurts to drop a little bit of Confucius on the dinning table, so learn it, memorize it, and use it properly.
It never ceases to amaze me how different Classical and Modern Chinese are. I've been learning Chinese for the past 8 or 9 years but I still have trouble understanding Classical Chinese.
ReplyDeleteDo you know of any good books or online courses for learning Classical Chinese?
to Kelly; Yes they are quite different. Honestly speaking, if you want to learn Chinese origin, Chinese ancient literature or calligraphy, traditional Chinese is the only choice. After all, Modern Chinese is simply for convenience.
ReplyDeleteNot knowing what to recommend, but I will find some for you.