China the Beautiful

[shbobdb]

Does anyone here have any light they can shed on XI.2 of the Analects?

The Master said, "None of those who were with me in Ch'en and Ts'ai ever got as far as my door." From D.C. Lau

I think that door (guan) might be related to guan from Guan Sui in the Odes of the Zhou and the South, since Confucius used homophones quite a great deal . . . But I still can't make heads nor tails of it. Anyone have any ideas? Here is a link to the poem if anyone wants it:
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/chinese/shijing/AnoShih.html

Yes, it's Legge, so it's a not the best, but it'll do for now. Sorry about the Wade-Giles.

[chinapage]

shbobdb:

Before you run wide with imaginations and speculations, try
a bit of straight-forward readings.

Look at this!
http://www.confucius.org/english/ed1102.htm

This is a highly respected web site.

Ming

[shbobdb]

Thank you! That is far more elegant and far less nebulous than anything I had pondered.

I was merely confused by the passage and (perhaps it is a weakness) when I am confused, I look to the Odes for answers (though they may not be there). Wonderful!

So, why did they not make it as far as his door? Because they departed before Confucius himself knew what he taught? What is the timeline? I know that II.4 is too polished and is most likely an addition by student far removed from Kongzi himself, but within the paradigm established by II.4, where does his time teaching these students fit in?

[chinapage]

Confucius was a teacher with many students. There was no
buildings with donor's name on it. There was no scholarships.
There were no endowments to pay for expenses.
Every student paid for his own expenses.

In this section 11.2, Confucius laments that some of students
have left him (due to financial hardships). And he gave
'A' grade for certain subject matters to the named students.

Just a rather mundane records written by his student on a
particular day.

Confucius' Analect was not a polished manuscript written for
posterity.

Sorry about that.