No other book in the entire history of the world has exerted a greater influence
on a larger number of people over a longer period of time than this slim volume
. The spiritual cornerstone of the most populous and oldest living civilization
on Earth, the "Analects" has inspired the Chinese and all the peoples of East As
ia with its affirmation of a humanist ethics. As the Gospels are to Jesus, the "
Analects" is the only place where we can encounter the real, living Confucius. I
n this gem-like translation by Simon Leys, Confucius speaks with clarity and bri
lliance. He emerges as a man of great passion and many enthusiasms, a man of bol
d action whose true vocation is politics. Confucius (551-479 B.C.) lived in an a
ge of acute cultural and political crisis. Many of his observations mark a world
sinking into violence and barbarity. Unable to obtain the leading political rol
e he sought, he endeavored to reform society and salvage civilization through et
hical debate, defining for ages to come the public mission of the intellectual.
