The Analects are not your typical book. They are more like teachings than actual stories. Actually there are stories but they are five lines long and are just a way to show a teaching. Some verses actually got really interesting but if I had to choose one it would be this one: "Those who are Good feel at home in Goodness, whereas those who are clever follow Goodness because they feel that they will profit from it."(4.2) After reading this I took some time to think about it and it is true. A lot of people only do good because they either don't want punishment or expect that person to do something good to them later on. Which got me into thinking: is there such a thing as a good person in this world? According to this book, a good person is someone who takes care of his family and are free of troubles. They use "good" people as a role model and a person who is not "good" as a comparison to find the bad within them.
And the big goal in all of this is to become a gentleman and to follow the Way. But the gentleman in this book is probably different from the one you normally think of. The gentlemen here are the people that follow Confucius's teachings and aspire to learn. Apparently being wise doesn't necessarily make you good and aspiring to learn is one of the biggest things needed to follow Confucius's teachings.
Something I noticed is that in these chapters they never say the word evil. They say not good instead. I think this is because one can not do good but not do bad at the same time. What Confucius is trying to say is to not just sit there doing nothing but to go and do good. This might in some way relate to the Bagavad-Gita's theory of action and inaction. There, inaction is bad and here, not doing good will keep you away from the Way. And what is the Way anyways? If I had to guess, I would say it is the point where the person is free of any conflict. They are calm in both body and spirit. Who knew that old Chinese teachings could be so philosophical.
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