Interpreting the Slips of Analects of Confucius:Knowing the Dao Unearthed from the Mausoleum of Liu He,Marquis of Haihun
There has been much scholarly controversy surrounding the slips of Knowing the Dao(知道)unearthed from the Mausoleum of Liu He,the Marquis of Haihun,which is commonly interpreted as"Confucius knows that it is easy to[practice]the way of[the king].What is meant by saying'easy',is that one[examines himself critically]for three days.Confucius said,'The way of[the king]is beautiful,why isn't it practiced?"([孔]子智道之昜也昜昜云者三日子曰此道之美也莫之御也).To interpret the slips of Knowing the Dao,one needs to consider the literal meaning of the characters and examine the text from the perspectives of the Analects of Confucius(论语)and Confucius'life.As indicated by unearthed bamboo and wood slips,the characters"yang"(昜)and"yi"(易)were often used interchangeably in the Han dynasty.The character"yang"(昜)is found both in slips of Knowing the Dao unearthed from the Mausoleum of the Marquis of Haihun and the Han slips from the Jianshui Jinguan located in Jinta County,Gansu Province.Here,"yang"(昜)is the ancient form of the character"yang"(阳).Since the latter means"wise",the former also carries the meaning of"wise"."Three days"(三日)is a general term denoting a period of time."Yu"(御)is a polysemic character,which may mean"application"from the perspective of the relationship between Confucius and Dao.Hence,the slips of Knowing the Dao may be translated as follows:Confucius knew the essence of the Dao.He was delighted to lecture it[to the kings of different states].Confucius said:The"Dao"that I lecture is good and useful,but regrettably no one tries to apply and practice it.
the Marquis of Haihunslips of Knowing the DaoYangYuConfucius
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