Abstract :
This article includes a line-by-line translation and textual analysis of the
Warring States period Chu script bamboo slip manuscript, Zigao 子羔.
It argues that the manuscript differs from the transmitted Confucian tradition,
but would have been considered a ru 儒(“Confucian”) text.
Unusual features include: (1) The disciple is Zigao, who is described negatively
in the Lun yu. (2) The term tian zi天子, “son-of-sky/heaven” is used
literally, to refer to the divinely conceived progenitors of the three royal
lineages. (3) The term san wang, “three kings”, refers to these progenitors
rather than the founding rulers. (4) Confucius advocates abdication. (5)
The progenitors of the dynastic lineages, rather than the founding rulers,
are juxtaposed to Shun 舜, who received the rule from Yao because of
his merit. A Chinese edition, with direct transcriptions and alternative
readings of the Chu script graphs, is appended.
