An annotated translation of Zhong lun [Chung lun] or Discourse on the mean by Xu Gan [Kan Hsü] (170-217 A.D.)

Abstract

With the establishment of the five Confucian classics as the orthodox state teachings in the reign of Emperor Wu (r.l4l-87 B.C.) of Han ) (206 B.C.-220 A.D.), classical studies became the major focus of Han scholarship until the end of the dynasty. As a result of the establishment of Han classical studies, two schools of scholarship - the New Text School and the Old Text School - came into being and influenced the specific directions intellectual activity was to take in this period. The New Text School ,as exemplified by the work of Dong Zhongshu (c.l79-c.l04 B.C.), became increasingly typified by its use of calendrical calculations, numerological correlations and ideas associated with yin-yang interpretations. In conjunction with these developments, individual schools under particular masters devoted to the study of a specific classical text were established, and more often than not, their legacy was a proliferation of ungainly 'chapter-and-verse' commentaries. By the time of Wang Mang (r.9-23 A.D.) and Guangwu (r.25-57 A.D.), the growth of this commentary tradition gave rise to apocryphal and prognostic texts which housed a huge corpus of omenistic lore and yin-yang theories. The beginning of the Ancient •Text Schooi can 'be traced to K1 ung An-kuo, a descendent of Confucius, in the time of the realm of Emperor Ching. This school was much more scholastic, humanistic and critical in outlook, and its exponents scorned the needlessly long-winded and pedantic 'chapter-and-verse' commentaries, 2 as well as the superstitious aspects of the New Text School's numerology, yin-yang associations and… Show more