Is there anything he could still hide?’Īnalects are gleanings, crumbs under the table, fragments of old text that, in the case of Confucius, have coalesced into a classic. The Master said: ‘Find out why a man acts, observe how he acts, and examine where he finds his peace. He is that sort of uncompromising teacher. If you do not grasp his concentrated distinctions, you will find nothing else there. He is entertaining, attractive, terrifying. It lets us appreciate him as a person of facets, concerns and moods, open-minded to the point of contradiction, sharpening his thought on what the world presents, strengthening his core concepts as each wave passes. The Analects, put together by others, is the book in which Confucius appears. Each time he speaks is like a wave’s cresting. Each time he speaks, he defines himself, as a man in the world, drawing on a lifetime’s thought and experience. Each time he speaks is an action arising from a moment. He is responsive and penetrating, discerning and intuitive. He sings and he weeps, but never on the same day.

As a tribute to his remarkable literary life and contribution to Australian culture, Sydney Review of Books is pleased to republish this appreciation of his edition of The Analects of Confucius, which appeared in HEAT 9, first series (Giramondo, 1998).Ĭonfucius is a character. Ryckmans was an eminent sinologist, novelist, critic, historian and translator. Pierre Ryckmans, who wrote under the nom de plume Simon Leys, died on 11 August 2014.

The analects of confucius meaning