The Confucian Analects

...ancient books laid down by Mencius himself, and the rule for us of later generations when reading what are claimed to be his lost books. The seven Books we possess "encompass the teachings of heaven and earth, examine and explain ten thousand topics, discuss the subjects of benevolence and righteousness, reason and virtue, the nature of man and the decrees of Heaven, and misery and happiness." original: This is the language of Zhao Qi. These subjects are treated brilliantly, in a way far beyond what any disciple of Gongsun Chou or Wan Zhang could have achieved. What is the use of disputing other matters? He She has his "Expurgated Mencius," original: "Expurgated" refers to a version of a text with parts removed, usually those deemed offensive or unnecessary. but Mencius cannot be expurgated. Lin Jinsi has his "Continuation of Mencius," but Mencius needs no continuation. I venture to say—Besides the Seven Books, there were no other Works of Mencius.

3. I have mentioned in the note at the end of this volume that Zhao Qi original: Chaou K'e gives the total number of characters in Mencius as 34,685, while they are now actually found to amount to 35,226. This difference has been cleverly explained by suggesting that the continually recurring phrases "Mencius" and "Mencius said" were not in his original copies. There would be no use for them according to his view that the whole work was composed by Mencius himself. If they were added later, they would account for the actual extra number of characters beyond his calculation. This point is not of great importance, and I have touched on it simply because it leads us to the question of the authorship of the Works.

4. On this point Sima Qian original: Sze-ma Ts'een and Zhao Qi agree. They say that Mencius composed the seven Books himself, yet he did so alongside certain of his disciples. The words of the latter are:

"He withdrew from public life, collected and organized the conversations which he had had with his distinguished disciples, Gongsun Chou, Wan Zhang, and others, regarding the difficulties and doubts which they had expressed, and also compiled his own formal teachings given with authority original: "ex cathedra," a Latin phrase meaning "from the chair," referring to official or authoritative pronouncements—and so published the Seven Books of his writings."

This view of authorship seems to have been first questioned by Han Yu, Han Yu (768–824 AD) was a pivotal Tang dynasty essayist who promoted Confucianism and influenced the development of Neo-Confucianism. commonly referred to as "Han, the Duke of..."

⁴ This is the language of Zhao Qi original: Chaou K'e.
⁵ Ma Duanlin original: Ma Twan-lin mentions two authors who had attempted to expurgate Mencius, but neither of them is called He She original: 何涉. He mentions Lin Jinsi, calling him Lin Shensi original: 林慎思, and his work.
⁶ Han Yu, courtesy name Tuizhi original: 韓愈, 字退之.