FIVE CLASSICS

The 'Five Classics' () is a corpus of five ancient Chinese books used by Confucianism as the basis of studies. According to tradition, they were compiled or edited by Confucius himself.

Contents

Classic of Changes

Classic of Poetry

Classic of Rites

Classic of History

Spring and Autumn Annals

Classic of Music

See also

External links

Classic of Changes

Main articles: I Ching

The ''Classic of Changes'' or ''I Ching'' (易經 Yì Jīng), a manual of divination based on the eight trigrams attributed to the mythical emperor Fu Xi. (By Confucius' time these eight trigrams had been multiplied to sixty-four hexagrams.) The ''I Ching'' is still used by adherents of folk religion.

Classic of Poetry

Main articles: Classic of Poetry

The ''Classic of Poetry'' or The Book of Odes (詩經, Shī Jīng), made up of 305 poems divided into 160 folk songs; 74 minor festal songs, traditionally sung at court festivities; 31 major festal songs, sung at more solemn court ceremonies; and 40 hymns and eulogies, sung at sacrifices to gods and ancestral spirits of the royal house. This book is traditionally credited as a compilation from Confucius.

Classic of Rites

Main articles: Classic of Rites

The ''Classic of Rites'' (禮記 Lǐ Jì), social forms and ceremonies (also spelled ''Liki''), a restoration of the original Lijing, lost in the third century B.C., describes ancient rites and court ceremonies.

Classic of History

Main articles: Classic of History

The ''Classic of History'' (書經 Shū Jīng) is a collection of documents and speeches alleged to have been written by rulers and officials of the early Zhou period and before. It contains examples of early Chinese prose.

Spring and Autumn Annals

Main articles: Spring and Autumn Annals

The ''Spring and Autumn Annals'' (春秋 Chūn Qiū, also known as 麟經 Lín Jīng), a historical record of the state of Lu, Confucius' native state, from 722 B.C. to 479 B.C. written (or edited) by Confucius, with implied condemnation of usurpations, murder, incest, etc.

Classic of Music

Main articles: Classic of Music

The ''Classic of Music'' (樂經, Yuè Jīng) is sometime referred to as the sixth classic, but was lost by the time of the Han Dynasty.

See also

★ Four Books

External links

★ http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/literature_alphabet.html