Yao Yue () is one of the 20 books of the

Analects The ''Analects'', also known as the ''Sayings of Confucius'', is an ancient Chinese philosophical text composed of sayings and ideas attributed to Confucius and his contemporaries, traditionally believed to have been compiled by his followers. ...

Confucius Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...

. Notably, it is the last book of the Analects. As the concluding book, Yaoyue is one of the hotly debated book of the Analects due to its distinct writing style and inconsistency with previous books.

Name

The name "Yao Yue" refers to the mythological Chinese king Yao. "Yue", in

Classical Chinese Classical Chinese is the language in which the classics of Chinese literature were written, from . For millennia thereafter, the written Chinese used in these works was imitated and iterated upon by scholars in a form now called Literary ...

, means "to say". Therefore, the phrase "Yao Yue" can be expounded as "Yao said".

Content

The book Yao Yue starts with a conversation initiated by Yao with his successor Shun. The conversation's subject was Yao's willing abdication and the appointment of Shun as his successor. The conversation constitutes half of the book Yao Yue while in the second half of the book, Confucius explained to his disciple Zizhang the ideal way of ruling a country. The Analects come to a conclusion with Confucius' teaching on

destiny Destiny, sometimes also called fate (), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often used interchangeably, the words ''fate'' and ''destiny'' ...

(),

rites RITES Ltd, formerly known as Rail India Technical and Economic Service Limited, is an Indian public sector undertaking and engineering consultancy corporation, specializing in the field of transport infrastructure. Established in 1974 by the In ...

(), and the insight into words ().

Interpretation

The singularity of the book Yaoyue did not go unnoticed throughout the history. For many Confucian scholars, the book seemed alien and out of place, according to Chin Annping. Chin Annping explains in her notes on the Analects that, the 19th book of the Analects Zizhang achieved the conclusion of Confucius' teaching, so much so that the existence of Yaoyue is almost inexplicable. However, both Chin Annping, a lecturer at Yale and Cheng Gang, a professor of Qinghua University agree that Yaoyue has its significance. The last paragraph of Yaoyue, according to Chin and Cheng, is a fit conclusion for the Analects. In the last paragraph of Yaoyue, Confucius saith "A person will have no way to become a gentleman if he does not understand destiny". The word destiny () in this context refers to the insights into one's life acquired through the objective understanding of the universe's nature. With such understanding and insights people are allowed to avoid insisting on things that are not a part of their destiny, to escape from one's

wishful thinking Wishful thinking is the formation of beliefs based on what might be pleasing to imagine, rather than on evidence, rationality, or reality. It is a product of resolving conflicts between belief and desire. Methodologies to examine wishful thin ...

and risky behaviors according to Kong Anguo; a

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

Confucian scholar, and Zhang Shi, a Song dynasty scholar. Xing Bing in his commentaries on the Analects also interpreted the paragraph similarly. Anguo and Bing both hold that the character indicates "the limits of one's prosperity and destitution" (). Xing Bing went on to suggest that "destiny" is conferred from the heaven hence is not in the control of human will. What one should do, according to Bing, is to find the point of suitability in their actions. In

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

, yet another attempt of interpreting the Analects was done by Liu Baonan in his work Lunyu Zhengyi. Liu Baonan cited the sayings of

Dong Zhongshu Dong Zhongshu (; 179–104 BC) was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer of the Han dynasty. He is traditionally associated with the promotion of Confucianism as the official ideology of the Chinese imperial state, favoring heaven worsh ...

who urged the distinction between humanity and animality. According to Dong Zhongshu, human beings possess the special and precious qualities that made them superior to animals, to realize our humanity, argued Liu Baonan, is to understand our destiny. For Cheng Yi, the comprehension of destiny involves an unfaltering belief on one's own destiny. He criticizes purely speculative behaviors and attribute them to the ignorance of destiny. Other key concepts in this book include: the five beautiful traits and four abhorrent ones (), and "ruler is the one to blame" ().

Sources

Analects {{Confucianism-stub