LÜ Benzhong’s A Book for Teaching Children Established the System of the Four Books

Abstract

In LÜ Benzhong’s A Book for Teaching Children, he had already regarded the “Four Books” which include The Analects of Confucius, The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean and The Mencius as a complete system and the teaching material for children. This was before Zhu Xi’s Collected Comments on the Four Confucian Books. Obviously, Zhu Xi was familiar with LÜ Benzhong’s book, A Book for Teaching Children, and his edit of the Four Books was influenced by A Book for Teaching Children. Although Cheng Yi et al had vigorously promoted the Great Learning and The Doctrine of the Mean, it was LÜ Benzhong’s A Book for Teaching Children that first regarded the Four Books as an independent and comprehensive system and applied them to teaching practice. Therefore, LÜ Benzhong basically finalized the system of the Four Books.