Doctrine of the Mean

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Doctrine of the Mean (Chinese: 中庸; pinyin: Zhōngyōng) composed c450 BCE is one of the Four Books, part of the Confucian canonical scriptures.

Like the Great Learning, it is now part of the Records of Rites. It is said to be a composition by Confucius' grandson Kong Ji (孔伋), called Zisi (子思).

The purpose of this small, 33-chapter book is to demonstrate the usefulness of a golden way to gain perfect virtue. It focuses on the "way" (dào, 道) that is prescribed by a heavenly mandate not only to the ruler but to everyone. To follow these heavenly instructions by learning and teaching will automatically result in a Confucian virtue. Because Heaven has laid down what is the way to perfect virtue, it is not that difficult to follow the steps of the holy rulers of old if one only knows what is the right way.

Chan (1963: unpaginated) in an English translation of the Doctrine, renders "Mean" as an "Equilibrium" identified as "Harmony":

While there are no stirrings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, or joy, the mind may be said to be in the state of Equilibrium. When those feelings have been stirred, and they act in their due degree, there ensues what may be called the state of Harmony. This Equilibrium is the great root from which grow all the human actings in the world, and this Harmony is the universal path which they all should pursue.^[1]

中庸, Zhong yong (literally "middle" and "mediocrity/moderation", as opposed to being extreme), is also translated as:

• the Mean (D.C. Lau)
• the Constant Mean (Huang, James Legge)
• the Middle Way (Simon Leys)
• the Middle Use (Arthur Waley)
• the Common Centrality (Tu Wei ming)
• the Unwobbling Pivot, or the Pivot (Ezra Pound).

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Chan, Wing-Tsit (translator)(1963). The Doctrine of the Mean [Zhong Yong Chung Yung], attrib. to Confucius, published in A Sourcebook in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press. 1963. pp.95-115. Source: [1] (accessed: January 28, 2008)

[edit] External links

• English translation, by Charles Muller
• excerpts of the Doctrine of the Mean at Chinaknowledge
• English translation (by James Legge) at Nothingistic.
• Original text in Chinese
• English rendering (by Wing-Tsit Chan)

v • d • e The Four Books and Five Classics (四書五經) The Four Books The Great Learning (大學) • The Doctrine of the Mean (中庸) • The Analects (論語) • The Mencius (孟子) The Five Classics Classic of Changes (易經) • Classic of Poetry (詩經) • Classic of Rites (禮記) • Classic of History (書經) • Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋)