The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Confucianism. Part I: The Shû King, The Religious Portions of the Shih King, The Hsiâo King

The Preface frames the religious landscape of China through Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Legge gives priority to Confucianism as the principal religious and moral tradition of China and explains that the ancient Chinese classics do not claim divine revelation in the same sense as some other sacred literatures. Instead, their religious value lies in historical memory, moral teaching, ritual practice, reverence for Heaven, ancestral worship, and the formation of social order. The first major section, The Shû King, introduces the nature, history, recovery, and credibility of the Book of Historical Documents. Legge discusses the transmission of the text before and after Confucius, the destruction of classical literature under the Qin, the later recovery of the text under the Han, and the distinction between “modern text” and “old text” traditions. The translated documents focus on ancient rulers such as Yao, Shun, and Yu; dynastic legitimacy; royal virtue; flood control; the organization of territory; moral government; ministerial counsel; punishment; Heaven’s mandate; and the responsibility of rulers to secure social harmony. The second major section, The Shih, presents the religious portions of the Book of Poetry. Legge explains the name, contents, formation, textual transmission, and Confucian handling of the poetic collection. Rather than translating all 305 poems, this volume selects those that are especially relevant to ancient Chinese religion. The selected odes include sacrificial hymns, temple and altar songs, royal praise poems, major and minor odes of the kingdom, and state poems that reflect reverence for ancestors, Heaven, royal virtue, agricultural blessing, ritual music, and communal memory. The third major section, The Hsiao, introduces and translates the Classic of Filial Piety. Legge examines its title, authorship, Han recovery, textual preservation, and later criticism. The text presents filial piety not only as a family virtue, but as a comprehensive moral-political principle extending from the common people to officers, ministers, princes, and the Son of Heaven. It links personal conduct, family reverence, social responsibility, remonstrance, mourning, and governance into one integrated Confucian ethic. The volume concludes with a transliteration appendix, reflecting the editorial standards of the Sacred Books of the East series and supporting the representation of Chinese and other Oriental terms in Roman script.