For the past eight hundred years, the study of Confucian doctrine has been largely dominated by the crucial works known as the "Four Books": the Analects, the Mencius, the Daxue, and the Zhongyong. In
Mencius is without doubt second only to Confucius in importance in the Confucian tradition. The Analects of Confucius which forms a unique and reliable source for our knowledge of the thought of Confu