Confucian Analects, Confucius, 500 B.C., Part 12
Yen Yuan asked about perfect virtue. The
Master said, "To subdue one's self and
return to propriety, is perfect virtue.
If a man can for one day subdue himself
and return to propriety, an under heaven
will ascribe perfect virtue to him. Is
the practice of perfect virtue from a
man himself, or is it from others?"
Yen Yuan said, "I beg to ask the steps
of that process." The Master replied,
"Look not at what is contrary to
propriety; listen not to what is
contrary to propriety; speak not what is
contrary to propriety; make no movement
which is contrary to propriety." Yen
Yuan then said, "Though I am deficient
in intelligence and vigor, I will make
it my business to practice this lesson."
Chung-kung asked about perfect virtue.
The Master said, "It is, when you go
abroad, to behave to every one as if you
were receiving a great guest; to employ
the people as if you were assisting at a
great sacrifice; not to do to others as
you would not wish done to yourself; to
have no murmuring against you in the
country, and none in the family."
Chung-kung said, "Though I am deficient
in intelligence and vigor, I will make
it my business to practice this lesson."
Sze-ma Niu asked about perfect virtue.
The Master said, "The man of perfect
virtue is cautious and slow in his
speech."
"Cautious and slow in his speech!" said
Niu;-"is this what is meant by perfect
virtue?" The Master said, "When a man
feels the difficulty of doing, can he be
other than cautious and slow in
speaking?"
Sze-ma Niu asked about the superior man.
The Master said, "The superior man has
neither anxiety nor fear."
"Being without anxiety or fear!" said
Nui;"does this constitute what we call
the superior man?"
The Master said, "When internal
examination discovers nothing wrong,
what is there to be anxious about, what
is there to fear?"
Sze-ma Niu, full of anxiety, said,
"Other men all have their brothers, I
only have not."
Tsze-hsia said to him, "There is the
following saying which I have
heard-'Death and life have their
determined appointment; riches and
honors depend upon Heaven.'
"Let the superior man never fail
reverentially to order his own conduct,
and let him be respectful to others and
observant of propriety:-then all within
the four seas will be his brothers. What
has the superior man to do with being
distressed because he has no brothers?"
Tsze-chang asked what constituted
intelligence. The Master said, "He with
whom neither slander that gradually
soaks into the mind, nor statements that
startle like a wound in the flesh, are
successful may be called intelligent
indeed. Yea, he with whom neither
soaking slander, nor startling
statements, are successful, may be
called farseeing."
Tsze-kung asked about government. The
Master said, "The requisites of
government are that there be sufficiency
of food, sufficiency of military
equipment, and the confidence of the
people in their ruler."
Tsze-kung said, "If it cannot be helped,
and one of these must be dispensed with,
which of the three should be foregone
first?" "The military equipment," said
the Master.
Tsze-kung again asked, "If it cannot be
helped, and one of the remaining two
must be dispensed with, which of them
should be foregone?" The Master
answered, "Part with the food. From of
old, death has been the lot of an men;
but if the people have no faith in their
rulers, there is no standing for the
state."
Chi Tsze-ch'ang said, "In a superior man
it is only the substantial qualities
which are wanted;-why should we seek for
ornamental accomplishments?"
Tsze-kung said, "Alas! Your words, sir,
show you to be a superior man, but four
horses cannot overtake the tongue.
Ornament is as substance; substance is
as ornament. The hide of a tiger or a
leopard stripped of its hair, is like
the hide of a dog or a goat stripped of
its hair."
The Duke Ai inquired of Yu Zo, saying,
"The year is one of scarcity, and the
returns for expenditure are not
sufficient;-what is to be done?"
Yu Zo replied to him, "Why not simply
tithe the people?"
"With two tenths, said the duke, "I find
it not enough;-how could I do with that
system of one tenth?"
Yu Zo answered, "If the people have
plenty, their prince will not be left to
want alone. If the people are in want,
their prince cannot enjoy plenty alone."
Tsze-chang having asked how virtue was
to be exalted, and delusions to be
discovered, the Master said, "Hold
faithfulness and sincerity as first
principles, and be moving continually to
what is right,-this is the way to exalt
one's virtue.
"You love a man and wish him to live;
you hate him and wish him to die. Having
wished him to live, you also wish him to
die. This is a case of delusion. 'It may
not be on account of her being rich, yet
you come to make a difference.'"
The Duke Ching, of Ch'i, asked Confucius
about government. Confucius replied,
"There is government, when the prince is
prince, and the minister is minister;
when the father is father, and the son
is son."
"Good!" said the duke; "if, indeed, the
prince be not prince, the not minister,
the father not father, and the son not
son, although I have my revenue, can I
enjoy it?"
The Master said, "Ah! it is Yu, who
could with half a word settle
litigations!"
Tsze-lu never slept over a promise.
The Master said, "In hearing
litigations, I am like any other body.
What is necessary, however, is to cause
the people to have no litigations."
Tsze-chang asked about government. The
Master said, "The art of governing is to
keep its affairs before the mind without
weariness, and to practice them with
undeviating consistency."
The Master said, "By extensively
studying all learning, and keeping
himself under the restraint of the rules
of propriety, one may thus likewise not
err from what is right."
The Master said, "The superior man seeks
to perfect the admirable qualities of
men, and does not seek to perfect their
bad qualities. The mean man does the
opposite of this."
Chi K'ang asked Confucius about
government. Confucius replied, "To
govern means to rectify. If you lead on
the people with correctness, who will
dare not to be correct?"
Chi K'ang, distressed about the number
of thieves in the state, inquired of
Confucius how to do away with them.
Confucius said, "If you, sir, were not
covetous, although you should reward
them to do it, they would not steal."
Chi K'ang asked Confucius about
government, saying, "What do you say to
killing the unprincipled for the good of
the principled?" Confucius replied,
"Sir, in carrying on your government,
why should you use killing at all? Let
your evinced desires be for what is
good, and the people will be good. The
relation between superiors and inferiors
is like that between the wind and the
grass. The grass must bend, when the
wind blows across it."
Tsze-chang asked, "What must the officer
be, who may be said to be
distinguished?"
The Master said, "What is it you call
being distinguished?"
Tsze-chang replied, "It is to be heard
of through the state, to be heard of
throughout his clan."
The Master said, "That is notoriety, not
distinction.
"Now the man of distinction is solid and
straightforward, and loves
righteousness. He examines people's
words, and looks at their countenances.
He is anxious to humble himself to
others. Such a man will be distinguished
in the country; he will be distinguished
in his clan.
"As to the man of notoriety, he assumes
the appearance of virtue, but his
actions are opposed to it, and he rests
in this character without any doubts
about himself. Such a man will be heard
of in the country; he will be heard of
in the clan."
Fan Ch'ih rambling with the Master under
the trees about the rain altars, said,
"I venture to ask how to exalt virtue,
to correct cherished evil, and to
discover delusions."
The Master said, "Truly a good question!
"If doing what is to be done be made the
first business, and success a secondary
consideration:-is not this the way to
exalt virtue? To assail one's own
wickedness and not assail that of
others;-is not this the way to correct
cherished evil? For a morning's anger to
disregard one's own life, and involve
that of his parents;-is not this a case
of delusion?"
Fan Ch'ih asked about benevolence. The
Master said, "It is to love all men." He
asked about knowledge. The Master said,
"It is to know all men."
Fan Ch'ih did not immediately understand
these answers.
The Master said, "Employ the upright and
put aside all the crooked; in this way
the crooked can be made to be upright."
Fan Ch'ih retired, and, seeing
Tsze-hsia, he said to him, "A Little
while ago, I had an interview with our
Master, and asked him about knowledge.
He said, 'Employ the upright, and put
aside all the crooked;-in this way, the
crooked will be made to be upright.'
What did he mean?"
Tsze-hsia said, "Truly rich is his
saying!
"Shun, being in possession of the
kingdom, selected from among all the
people, and employed Kai-yao-on which
all who were devoid of virtue
disappeared. T'ang, being in possession
of the kingdom, selected from among all
the people, and employed I Yin-and an
who were devoid of virtue disappeared."
Tsze-kung asked about friendship. The
Master said, "Faithfully admonish your
friend, and skillfully lead him on. If
you find him impracticable, stop. Do not
disgrace yourself."
The philosopher Tsang said, "The
superior man on grounds of culture meets
with his friends, and by friendship
helps his virtue."
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