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PART V. THE BOOKS OF KÅU.
Book I. THE GREAT DECLARATION.
KÂu is the dynastic designation under which king Wd and his
descendants possessed the throne from B. C. 1122 to 256, a period of 867 years. They traced their lineage up to Khi, who was Minister of Agriculture under Shun. He was invested with the principality of Thai, the present district of FQ-făng, department of Făng-hsiang, Shen-hsf. Long afterwards Than-fa, claiming to be one of his descendants, appears in B.C. 1326, founding the state of Kâu, near mount Khî, in the same department of Făng-hsiang. This Than-fû was the great-grandfather of king wa. The family surname was Ki. When the collection of the Shû was complete, it contained
thirty-eight different documents of the Kâu dynasty, of which twenty-eight remain, twenty of them being of undisputed
genuineness. This first Book, the Great Declaration,' is one of the contested
portions; and there is another form of it, that takes the place of this in some editions. It has appeared in the Introduction that the received text of the Sha was formed with care, and that everything of importance in the challenged Books is to be found in quotations from them, while the collection was complete, that
have been gathered up by the industry of scholars. King WQ, having at last taken the field against Kau-hsin, the
tyrant of Shang, made three speeches to ķis officers and men, setting forth the reasons for his enterprise, and urging them to exert themselves with him in the cause of humanity and Heaven. They are brought together, and constitute 'the Great
Declaration.' . In the first Part,' says a Chinese critic, 'king Wd addresses him
self to the princes and nobles of inferior rank; in the second, to their hosts; and in the third, to his officers. The ruling idea in the first is the duty of the sovereign,—what he ought to be
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| SR No. | 007675 |
| Book Title | Text of Confucianism Part 01 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | James Legge |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1879 |
| Total Pages | 2829 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 50 MB |