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that has at its basis the works which are regarded as the "Confucian classics." |
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that has at its basis the works which are regarded as the "Confucian classics," but even this definition runs into problems as it is not clear what are the "Confucian classics." The Script ControversyThe origin of this problem lies with the attempt of Qin Shi-Huang to burn all of the books. After the Qin dynasty was overthrown by the Han, there was the monumental task of recreating all of the knowledge that was destroyed. The method that was undertaken was to find all of the remaining scholars and have them reconstruct from memory, the texts that were lost. This produced the "New Script" texts. Afterwards, people began finding fragments of books that had escaped the burning. Piecing those together produced the "Old Script" texts. One problem that has plagued Confucianism through the ages was what set of texts is the more authentic, and the answer has generally been that the "Old Script" texts were. |
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