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One of the excerpts we didn’t mention in class was 4:5. “Confucius  said, ‘Riches and honors are what all men desire. But if they cannot be attained in accordance with the Way they should not be kept. Poverty and low status are what all men hate. But if they cannot be avoided while staying in… Continue reading Analects of Confucius

I found the excerpts to be very interesting, mostly because I had never even heard of Confucius until this class. My high school did not have a world history course and Confucius wasn’t taught anywhere else; therefore, I am just now learning about him and his influence. The one choice of words that I wanted… Continue reading Confucius Excerpt Thoughts

I thought this documentary about Confucius was so interesting, and learning more about his life gave me a much greater insight into his ideas. One thing that stuck out to me was that the documentary emphasized the power of young people. In his fifties, Confucius was having a heard time reaching his goals and spreading… Continue reading Genius of the Ancient World – Confucius

I thought that this collection of guidelines from the Confucian Canon was important to understanding Chinese culture, as well as Confucius’ ideas. One thing I noticed about this text is that each of the ideas build off of each other. For example, #9 states, “things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their… Continue reading The Great Learning

My favorite poem from the ones we had to read for class was #29. I think I was drawn to it because out of all of the ones we read, it was the most relatable to my life. I have trouble with controlling things around me and always wanting to have a plan for everything.… Continue reading Tao Te Ching – Part 1

One of the most interesting themes in this short story was the cost different people were willing to pay just to get a perfect tiger fighting scene. The “Prince” ended up becoming mentally ill because he was so convinced that he was truly a tiger killer and wanted to keep killing tigers again and again.… Continue reading Tiger Fighter

One on the most interesting concepts I came across while watching the BBC documentary was the concept of Ren. Ren has a few ways to be translated such as goodness, justice and courage but all in all it means humanity. It was said to be the  most essential thing to cultivate but the most difficult… Continue reading The concept of ren

The poems of the Tao Te Ching were very interesting and extremely fun to read. The poems were, by definition, different in theme but when you look at them as a collective, you see the basis of the moral code of the religion itself. The poems are filled with these ideas that all flow together… Continue reading Tao Te Ching

In English, there are words that sound exactly the same but are spelled differently. In Mandarin, there are words that are spelled the same in pinyin but have a slight difference in pronunciation due to the tones. There are also situations where the pinyin is spelled the same and has the same tones, but have… Continue reading Excerpts from the Analects of Confucius

In previous world history courses we had touched upon The Great Learning and of Confucianism, but I enjoyed learning more about this concept and going more in-depth. I found it interesting to note that The Great Learning, although they closely represent the views and ideas of Confucius and attributed to him, they were not actually… Continue reading The Great Learning Reflection