<P>The <i>Analects</i> is a compendium of the sayings of Confucius (551--479 b.c.e.), transcribed and passed down by his disciples. How it came to be transformed by Zhu Xi (1130--1200) into one of the most philosophically significant texts in the Confucian tradition is the subject of this book.</P><P>Scholarly attention in China had long been devoted to the <i>Analects.</i> By the time of Zhu Xi, a rich history of commentary had grown up around it. But Zhu, claiming that the <i>Analects</i> was one of the authoritative texts in the canon and should be read before all others, gave it a still more privileged status in the tradition. He spent decades preparing an extended interlinear commentary on it. Sustained by a newer, more elaborate language of metaphysics, Zhu's commentary on the <i>Analects</i> marked a significant shift in the philosophical orientation of Confucianism -- a shift that redefined the Confucian tradition for the next eight centuries, not only in China, but in Japan and Korea well.</P><P>Gardner's translations and analysis of Zhu Xi's commentary on the <i>Analects</i> show one of China's great thinkers in an interesting and complex act of philosophical negotiation. Through an interlinear, line-by-line "dialogue" with Confucius, Zhu effected a reconciliation of the teachings of the Master, commentary by later exegetes, and contemporary philosophical concerns of Song-dynasty scholars. By comparing Zhu's reading of the <i>Analects</i> with the earlier standard reading by He Yan (190--249), Gardner illuminates what is dramatically new in Zhu Xi's interpretation of the <i>Analects.</i></P><P>A pioneering study of Zhu Xi's reading of the <i>Analects,</i> this book demonstrates how commentary is both informed by a text and informs future readings, and highlights the importance of interlinear commentary as a genre in Chinese philosophy.</P>