Analects
Chungyung(Zhongyong) Most often rendered as The Doctrine of the Mean the Chungyung
is really a treatise on the path of the Chun-tzu(junzi) or “exemplary person” (The
“superior man” is a common rendering, but has negative connotations, see Chun-tzu
in the Glossary for a discussion) it is very short, but one of the most profound
works in world literature, see Reading List One on the Recommended Reading page for
the preferred translation, which also includes a translation of the Ta Hsüeh.
Chuang-Tzu
Kuan-tzu(Guanzi)
Li Ching
Mencius
Nei-yeh The nei yeh has only recently drawn attention in the West though it is part
of a collection of short works the Kuan-tzu(Guanzi) which contains material of great
antiquity. The Nei-yeh itself is one of four texts called the hsin shu(xinshu) or
‘Art of Mind’ texts which deal with mental cultivation. Translations of the Nei-yeh
are available in Harold Roth’s Original Tao; Inward Training and in Allyn Ricketts
translations of the the Kuan-tzu 1965 and his complete Guanzi 1985 and 1998, which
also include the other ‘Art of Mind’ texts. While Roth is at great pains to minimize
any Confucian connection with the Nei-yeh even a superficial reading of the Mencius
will reveal several more than the one which he mentions and marginalizes. Arthur
Waley in the introduction to his translation of the Tao Te Ching, The Way and Its
Power lists several more connections and the position of Inner Sage Tao is that the
work is a composite of several schools which either in its present form, or in the
form of some of its components, had a significant influence on Taoism and at least
on the Mencian branch of Confucianism, and as Graham maintains, it may go back to
a period before any major split between Confucianism and Taoism (see Graham, Disputers
of the Tao, p. 100).
Ta Hsüeh(Da xue) Usually referred to as The Great Learning the Ta Hsüeh is a guide
to self-cultivation as it spreads out from the self into the farthest reaches of
society. The Ta Hsüeh teaches one to become a conscious agent of Harmony and complements
the Chungyung which sets out the cosmological background, by providing it application
to human society. Its plan of extended self cultivation echoes Chapter 54 of the
Tao Te Ching and is the inspiration for the ending of the Bright Virtue Affirmation
(see The Reading Room, ‘Introduction to the Principle Affirmations of Inner Sage
Tao’) of Inner Sage Tao
Tao Te Ching
Humanity and Self-cultivation
On the Mysteries
Original Tao: Inward Training Harold Roth’s Translation of the Hsin Shu text Nei
Yeh from the Kuan-Tzu
Guanzi
Disputers of the Tao
Five Lost Classics
