Description
 
Foreword
 
Because of my great affection for Confucius and his works, I have traveled several times around Qufu, Shandong, the region of China where Confucius and his disciples were active. Each time, I would appreciate and discuss such Confucian classics as the Analects and the Doctrine of the Mean. Returning home, I would continue to savor studying and talking about those works and putting the principles they present into practice, as I have done for decades now.
 
The Analects is an unfiltered record of the daily life of the great sage Confucius. It is a collection of depictions of his conversations with his disciples, his teachings, his opinions and disappointments about politics, his views and attitudes about life, and his inner feelings. It seems that when the contents of the Analects were collected in the first place, they were not recorded with some systematized version of Confucius’ thought or with a purposeful standard in mind, providing modern readers with stories like unadorned, unprocessed gems of the sage’s everyday life.
 
In contrast, the Doctrine of the Mean is a thoroughly polished record of Confucian thought. It appears to include information that is not found in the Analects but was passed down orally or in written records that have since been lost.
 
I have always felt that the Doctrine of the Mean was a bright guiding light that served me greatly in improving my character, so rather than merely reading it, I have studied it as a textbook on building character, translating it literally and writing down any explanatory comments that came to mind. It has fertilized and energized my spiritual growth.
 
The sages said that before the appearance of holy persons, the Way of Heaven and Earth existed; when a holy person comes forth, the Way is within him or her, and after the holy person is gone, the Way remains in the scriptures.
 
The Doctrine of the Mean is like a sculpture that contains the soul of the Way that the holy sages taught. Since ancient times, the Doctrine of the Mean has served as a breeder of sages and other wise men.
 
These days there are many, many commentaries on the Doctrine of the Mean available, but I do not see many people who have actually put its teachings into practice; perhaps my eyes are failing me. Explaining the Way and principles of the Doctrine of the Mean is important, but I long to see more devoted seekers after the Way who put it into practice, more cultivators who accumulate the merits, and more masters who are well-versed in the Way and principles. However, striving to become a sage through one’s own efforts is more important than seeking someone who has already mastered the Way of the Mean in daily life.
 
The Doctrine of the Mean focuses on Confucius’ character and life through putting the Way into practice on filial piety and politics, and on sincerity required to accomplish the Way. In addition, because the Doctrine of the Mean also reveals the details of the transformation of one’s character into that of a sage through such sincerity, it helps the destination of the seeker of the Way to become obvious, to motivate one’s practice and to gain an eye to distinguish the true sages.
 
For this reason, I have written this book out of an earnest desire to help our dharma friends who are striving to cultivate the Way. Now, as its publication approaches, I cannot help feeling a bit like someone singing a song he or she has not yet practiced enough. I welcome any advice that might help me improve the text so that the next edition would come closer to the perfection I had hoped for, a text that could serve as a great signpost that argues for the edification to deliver sentient beings and cure the world to transform the Saha world into paradise.
 
Finally, I wish to express my boundless gratitude and respect for Founding Master Sotaesan, whose great teaching led me to a better understanding of the Doctrine of the Mean, and I pray that the world of ten directions may become a site of Sŏn that resides under the Buddha’s grace.
 
Kyongsan Jang Eung-cheol
Summer, 1985
 
 
Contents
 
Foreword  7
 
Chapter  1     Our Original, Heavenly Nature   11
Chapter  2     The Mean of the Superior Man   19
Chapter  3     The Perfection of the Morality of the Mean   21
Chapter  4     Why the Mean Is Not Put into Practice   23
Chapter  5     Confucius' Lament   25
Chapter  6     Emperor Shun’s Mean   27
 Chapter 7     The Foolishness of Ordinary People   29
 Chapter  8    Yan Hui’s Mean   31
Chapter  9     The Difficulty of Putting the Mean into Practice   33
Chapter 10    The True Strength of the Mean   35
Chapter 11    The Superior Man’s Standards   39
Chapter 12    The Great Way and Principle that the Superior Man Must Put into Practice   41
Chapter 13    Morality Teaches Humanness   45
Chapter 14    The Superior Man’s Attitude in Life   50
Chapter 15    The Way Must Be Practiced Close to Home   55
Chapter 16    The Greatness of the Way of Heaven   57
Chapter 17    Emperor Shun’s Filial Piety   60
Chapter 18    The Great Virtue of King Wen   65
Chapter 19    The Filial Piety of King Wu and the Duke of Zhou   68
Chapter 20    About Governing a Nation   73
Chapter 21    Sincerity Grants Illumination   90
Chapter 22    Union with the Way of Heaven through Complete Sincerity   92
Chapter 23    Perfecting One Specific Aspect through Sincerity   94
Chapter 24    The Spirituality of Great Sincerity   97
Chapter 25    Sincerity Is the Beginning and End of Everything   99
Chapter 26    Sincerity Never Rests   102
Chapter 27    The Great Capabilities of the Sages   108
Chapter 28    Only He Can Do That Job   114
Chapter 29    The Qualifications of a Sage   119
Chapter 30    Confucius Emulated Yao and Shun   123
Chapter 31    The Great Merits of a Holy Sage   127
Chapter 32    The Sage’s Great Virtue   130
Chapter 33    The Sage’s Virtue Is in Union with Heaven   132