Abstract

It is recorded in the Analects that Yao, a "sage-king" of ancient times, on learning that he was dying, passed the imperial seat to Hsün. He not only passed him the power to rule the people but also passed him the four-word key [to ruling]: "justly hold fast to the Mean" [yun chih ch'i chung]. Later, when Hsün passed the imperial seat to Yü, he gave him this "key" too. In this passage from the Analects, there do not appear the words "the master said." It is therefore possible that Confucius did not say this himself. In any event, it was an early legend of the Confucianists. Since the T'ang and Sung dynasties, the Confucian school has had the expression "orthodoxy of the teachings" [tao-t'ung]. They claimed that there was a "tao" that had passed from Yao and Hsün to Confucius. And the principal content of this "orthodoxy of the teachings" was the word "mean" [or "center," chung,]. This passage from the Analects was the beginning of the saying "orthodoxy of the teachings."