Confucianism: Core Texts

• Confucius is recognized as an educator, philosopher, and political thinker.
• Confucius' teachings are mostly documented in The Analects (Lunyu).
• Confucius stressed the importance of moral character and education.
• Confucius' teachings had a significant impact on China and other East Asian nations.
• There are 58 chapters in the Book of Documents.
• The Book of Documents primarily focuses on the actions of Yao and Shun.
• There are 305 poems in the Book of Odes.
• The Book of Odes includes poems about love, marriage, agriculture, daily life, and warfare.
• The Book of Documents is an essential text in Confucianism.
• The Book of Rites describes the social norms, governmental organization, and rituals of the Zhou dynasty.
• The main focus of the Book of Changes is a system of divination based on Yin and Yang.

Spring and Autumn Annals

• The Spring and Autumn Annals is best known as a record of historical events in the State of Lu.

The Great Learning

• The main purpose of The Great Learning is to serve as a resource for personal moral development.

The Analects

• The Analects is primarily composed of a compilation of Kongzi's lessons and conversations with his students (Kongzi is another name for Confucius).

Mencius

• Mencius primarily consists of a collection of Mencius' dialogues and teachings with Kangzi.

The Doctrine of the Mean

• Translations of The Doctrine of the Mean include The Constant Mean (Legge) and Maintaining Perfect Balance (Gardener).

Day on the Farm

• The speaker in Day on the Farm describes their daily tasks on the farm.
• In Day on the Farm, the speaker attempts to console the person they are speaking to by giving them wildflowers, fruits, and sharing the secret of love.
• The person the speaker addresses in Day on the Farm expresses grief and indifference.
• The line "The church bells ring and I hear drops of rain" conveys a feeling of calm and tranquility.
• The tone of the poem is sad and reflective.
• The line "Your smiles have died and there is no replying / To all endearment and my gifts are vain" implies that the gestures symbolize the narrator's love, but they don't receive any positive response.

Death of March

• In Death of March, the church bells and rain symbolize the narrator's acknowledgment of the inevitable passage of time and emotional closure.

Magnificence

• In the story of Magnificence, Vicente's purpose when he arrived at the house was to provide a tutorial for the children.
• Jose Rizal wrote "To the Flowers of Heidelberg".
• "Soledad" means solitude or loneliness.
• Estrella Alfon wrote "Magnificence".
• In the story of March of Death, the march was over 100 kilometers (referring to the Bataan Death March).