本文討論東亞儒家經典詮釋與中、日、韓各國政治權力的複雜關係。本文除運用東亞儒者註解《諭語》與《孟子》等經典的資料之外，也使用明代科舉考試試題，與德川時代日本宮廷講官進講《孟子》時所批註之「御讀禁忌」資料，以及中國漢代與唐代君臣對話中所引用的經典資料。
本文指出:東亞儒家經典詮釋者身兼儒者與官員之雙重身分，所以他們的經典詮釋事業與政治權力開係密切。約言之，兩者之關係有三:第一，經典解釋與政治權力有其不可分割性;第二，兩者之間有其競爭性;第三，詮釋者致力在兩者之間維持平衡性。
總而言之，東亞儒家經典詮釋者實透過他們所處的「存在結構」 ( existential structure)而理解經典，也賦于經典以「實存的 J (existential)內涵。

This article focuses on the complex relationship existing between interpretation of Confucian classics and political power in China, Japan, and Korea. A wide range of materials is contained for discussion, namely, East Asian scholars' commentaries on the Analects (<論語> )and Mencius (<孟子> ), questions extracted from the Book of Mencius in the civil-service examinations in the Ming (1368-1644) China, reminders which a Tokugawa Japanese scholar marked on Mencius against imperial reading, and quotations from Confucian classics appearing in the dialogues between emperors and courtiers in the Han (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) and Tang (618-907) dynasty.
It is pointed out that the dual role played by the East Asian interpreters-as Confucians and as administrators-had closely connected the inter-pretation of classics to political power. Briefly speaking, three forms of relationship are observed: inseparability, competition, and the balance to be struck between the interpretation of classics and political power.
To sum up, the East Asian Confucians read and understood the classics through their own “existential structures," at the same time endowing the classics with new “existential" content; they were not just playing “intellectual games."