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A Dedication to Classics Scholarship 31

the former being instructions on learning, and the latter being guidance for behavior.
The Book of Songs and The Book of History constitute one end of classics scholarship,
while The Book of Rites balances it at the other. These are recorded in Confucius’
instructions to his pupils, thus they are convincingly credited to Confucius.
In addition, in Jishi of The Analects (《论语 · 季氏》), it is written:

Chen Kang (陈亢 511 B.C.E.–430 B.C.E.) asked Boyu (伯鱼 532 B.C.E.–483 B.C.E.), saying,
“Have you heard any lessons from your father from what we have all heard.” Boyu replied,
“No. He was standing alone when I passed below the hall with hasty steps, and he said to me,
‘Have you learned The Book of Songs?’ On my replying ‘Not yet,’ he added, ‘If you do not learn
The Book of Songs, you will not be fit to converse with.’ I retired and studied The Book of Songs.
Another day, he was in the same way standing alone, when I hastily passed below, and said to
me, ‘Have you learned The Book of Rites?’ On my replying ‘Not yet,’ he added, ‘If you do not
learn the rules of propriety, your character cannot be established.’ I then retired and learned
The Book of Rites. I have heard only these two things from him.” Chen Kang retired, and, quite
delightedly, said, “I asked one question, and I have got three answers. I have understood
about The Book of Songs and The Book of Rites. I have also understood that the superior man
maintains a distant reserve towards his son.” (Legge, 2009, pp. 250–251)

These are the very words cited from Confucius’ conversation with his son. It was by
The Book of Songs and The Book of Rites that Confucius personally instructed his
son, for he had found out, through his practical experience, that knowledge of The
Book of Songs and The Book of History and observance of rules from The Book of
Rites brought one close to the core of the Six Classics. The Book of Songs and The
Book of History were the canons bequeathed by former kings, The Book of Rites was
an ancient book left by the Duke of Zhou. The Book of Songs and The Book of History
carry in them the earliest wisdom of the world and The Book of Rites provides the
practical application of what is taught in the former two Classics, and that is why
they constitute the foundation of classics scholarship.
The teaching of Confucius was deeply appreciated by Xunzi (荀子) (ca. 335
B.C.E.–ca. 235 B.C.E.). In the chapter “Exhortation to Learning” of Xunzi (《荀子 ·
劝学》), Xunzi declared:

Where does learning begin? Where does learning end? I say: It begins with reciting the
Classics and ends with studying the rituals. Its purpose begins with becoming a man of virtue
and ends with becoming a sage. (Wang, 2013, p. 13)

It is particularly noteworthy to see that “reciting the Classics” (诵经) and “reading
rituals” (读礼) do not mean actual reading aloud the written words.
As Xu Shen’s Explanation of Script and Elucidation of Characters (《说文解
字》) explains, “Reciting (诵) here means to read out a text without looking at the
words, while du (读, to peruse) means to read line by line.” Duan Yucai noted on
the word du: