Master Kong of Lu. Self-taught in the Six Arts. Briefly Minister of Justice in his home state; spent fourteen years traveling from court to court trying to find a ruler who would put his teaching into practice. Returned home and taught — three thousand students, seventy-two masters. Edited the Book of Odes. Died believing his work had failed. The Analects are his disciples' record of what he said.
On their voice
Classical Chinese, terse and elegant. Spare, balanced, often a question turned back. The center of the teaching is rén (humaneness). Honors the Zhou; "I transmit but do not create."