Confucian Analects, Confucius, 500 B.C., Part 17
Yang Ho wished to see
Confucius,
but Confucius would not go to
see him.
On this, he sent a present of
a pig to
Confucius, who, having chosen
a time
when Ho was not at home went
to pay his
respects for the gift. He met
him,
however, on the way.
Ho said to Confucius, "Come,
let me
speak with you." He then
asked, "Can he
be called benevolent who keeps
his jewel
in his bosom, and leaves his
country to
confusion?" Confucius replied,
"No."
"Can he be called wise, who is
anxious
to be engaged in public
employment, and
yet is constantly losing the
opportunity
of being so?" Confucius again
said,
"No." "The days and months are
passing
away; the years do not wait
for us."
Confucius said, "Right; I will
go into
office."
The Master said, "By nature,
men are
nearly alike; by practice,
they get to
be wide apart."
The Master said, "There are
only the
wise of the highest class, and
the
stupid of the lowest class,
who cannot
be changed."
The Master, having come to
Wu-ch'ang,
heard there the sound of
stringed
instruments and singing.
Well pleased and smiling, he
said, "Why
use an ox knife to kill a
fowl?"
Tsze-yu replied, "Formerly,
Master, I
heard you say,-'When the man
of high
station is well instructed, he
loves
men; when the man of low
station is well
instructed, he is easily
ruled.'"
The Master said, "My
disciples, Yen's
words are right. What I said
was only in
sport."
Kung-shan Fu-zao, when he was
holding
Pi, and in an attitude of
rebellion,
invited the Master to visit
him, who was
rather inclined to go.
Tsze-lu was displeased. and
said,
"Indeed, you cannot go! Why
must you
think of going to see
Kung-shan?"
The Master said, "Can it be
without some
reason that he has invited ME?
If any
one employ me, may I not make
an eastern
Chau?"
Tsze-chang asked Confucius
about perfect
virtue. Confucius said, "To be
able to
practice five things
everywhere under
heaven constitutes perfect
virtue." He
begged to ask what they were,
and was
told, "Gravity, generosity of
soul,
sincerity, earnestness, and
kindness. If
you are grave, you will not be
treated
with disrespect. If you are
generous,
you will win all. If you are
sincere,
people will repose trust in
you. If you
are earnest, you will
accomplish much.
If you are kind, this will
enable you to
employ the services of others.
Pi Hsi inviting him to visit
him, the
Master was inclined to go.
Tsze-lu said, "Master,
formerly I have
heard you say, 'When a man in
his own
person is guilty of doing
evil, a
superior man will not
associate with
him.' Pi Hsi is in rebellion,
holding
possession of Chung-mau; if
you go to
him, what shall be said?"
The Master said, "Yes, I did
use these
words. But is it not said,
that, if a
thing be really hard, it may
be ground
without being made thin? Is it
not said,
that, if a thing be really
white, it may
be steeped in a dark fluid
without being
made black?
"Am I a bitter gourd? How can
I be hung
up out of the way of being
eaten?"
The Master said, "Yu, have you
heard the
six words to which are
attached six
becloudings?" Yu replied, "I
have not."
"Sit down, and I will tell
them to you.
"There is the love of being
benevolent
without the love of
learning;-the
beclouding here leads to a
foolish
simplicity. There is the love
of knowing
without the love of
learning;-the
beclouding here leads to
dissipation of
mind. There is the love of
being sincere
without the love of
learning;-the
beclouding here leads to an
injurious
disregard of consequences.
There is the
love of straightforwardness
without the
love of learning;-the
beclouding here
leads to rudeness. There is
the love of
boldness without the love of
learning;-the beclouding here
leads to
insubordination. There is the
love of
firmness without the love of
learning;-the beclouding here
leads to
extravagant conduct."
The Master said, "My children,
why do
you not study the Book of
Poetry?
"The Odes serve to stimulate
the mind.
"They may be used for purposes
of
self-contemplation.
"They teach the art of
sociability.
"They show how to regulate
feelings of
resentment.
"From them you learn the more
immediate
duty of serving one's father,
and the
remoter one of serving one's
prince.
"From them we become largely
acquainted
with the names of birds,
beasts, and
plants."
The Master said to Po-yu, "Do
you give
yourself to the Chau-nan and
the
Shao-nan. The man who has not
studied
the Chau-nan and the Shao-nan
is like
one who stands with his face
right
against a wall. Is he not so?"
The Master said, "'It is
according to
the rules of propriety,' they
say.-'It
is according to the rules of
propriety,'
they say. Are gems and silk
all that is
meant by propriety? 'It is
music,' they
say.-'It is music,' they say.
Are hers
and drums all that is meant by
music?"
The Master said, "He who puts
on an
appearance of stern firmness,
while
inwardly he is weak, is like
one of the
small, mean people;-yea, is he
not like
the thief who breaks through,
or climbs
over, a wall?"
The Master said, "Your good,
careful
people of the villages are the
thieves
of virtue."
The Master said, To tell, as
we go
along, what we have heard on
the way, is
to cast away our virtue."
The Master said, "There are
those mean
creatures! How impossible it
is along
with them to serve one's
prince!
"While they have not got their
aims,
their anxiety is how to get
them. When
they have got them, their
anxiety is
lest they should lose them.
"When they are anxious lest
such things
should be lost, there is
nothing to
which they will not proceed."
The Master said, "Anciently,
men had
three failings, which now
perhaps are
not to be found.
"The high-mindedness of
antiquity showed
itself in a disregard of small
things;
the high-mindedness of the
present day
shows itself in wild license.
The stern
dignity of antiquity showed
itself in
grave reserve; the stern
dignity of the
present day shows itself in
quarrelsome
perverseness. The stupidity of
antiquity
showed itself in
straightforwardness;
the stupidity of the present
day shows
itself in sheer deceit."
The Master said, "Fine words
and an
insinuating appearance are
seldom
associated with virtue."
The Master said, "I hate the
manner in
which purple takes away the
luster of
vermilion. I hate the way in
which the
songs of Chang confound the
music of the
Ya. I hate those who with
their sharp
mouths overthrow kingdoms and
families."
The Master said, "I would
prefer not
speaking."
Tsze-kung said, "If you,
Master, do not
speak, what shall we, your
disciples,
have to record?"
The Master said, "Does Heaven
speak? The
four seasons pursue their
courses, and
all things are continually
being
produced, but does Heaven say
anything?"
Zu Pei wished to see
Confucius, but
Confucius declined, on the
ground of
being sick, to see him. When
the bearer
of this message went out at
the door,
the Master took his lute and
sang to it,
in order that Pei might hear
him.
Tsai Wo asked about the three
years'
mourning for parents, saying
that one
year was long enough.
"If the superior man," said
he,
"abstains for three years from
the
observances of propriety,
those
observances will be quite
lost. If for
three years he abstains from
music,
music will be ruined. Within a
year the
old grain is exhausted, and
the new
grain has sprung up, and, in
procuring
fire by friction, we go
through all the
changes of wood for that
purpose. After
a complete year, the mourning
may stop."
The Master said, "If you were,
after a
year, to eat good rice, and
wear
embroidered clothes, would you
feel at
ease?" "I should," replied Wo.
The Master said, "If you can
feel at
ease, do it. But a superior
man, during
the whole period of mourning,
does not
enjoy pleasant food which he
may eat,
nor derive pleasure from music
which he
may hear. He also does not
feel at ease,
if he is comfortably lodged.
Therefore
he does not do what you
propose. But now
you feel at ease and may do
it."
Tsai Wo then went out, and the
Master
said, "This shows Yu's want of
virtue.
It is not till a child is
three years
old that it is allowed to
leave the arms
of its parents. And the three
years'
mourning is universally
observed
throughout the empire. Did Yu
enjoy the
three years' love of his
parents?"
The Master said, "Hard is it
to deal
with who will stuff himself
with food
the whole day, without
applying his mind
to anything good! Are there
not
gamesters and chess players?
To be one
of these would still be better
than
doing nothing at all."
Tsze-lu said, "Does the
superior man
esteem valor?" The Master
said, "The
superior man holds
righteousness to be
of highest importance. A man
in a
superior situation, having
valor without
righteousness, will be guilty
of
insubordination; one of the
lower people
having valor without
righteousness, will
commit robbery."
Tsze-kung said, "Has the
superior man
his hatreds also?" The Master
said, "He
has his hatreds. He hates
those who
proclaim the evil of others.
He hates
the man who, being in a low
station,
slanders his superiors. He
hates those
who have valor merely, and are
unobservant of propriety. He
hates those
who are forward and
determined, and, at
the same time, of contracted
understanding."
The Master then inquired,
"Ts'ze, have
you also your hatreds?"
Tsze-kung
replied, "I hate those who pry
out
matters, and ascribe the
knowledge to
their wisdom. I hate those who
are only
not modest, and think that
they are
valorous. I hate those who
make known
secrets, and think that they
are
straightforward."
The Master said, "Of all
people, girls
and servants are the most
difficult to
behave to. If you are familiar
with
them, they lose their
humility. If you
maintain a reserve towards
them, they
are discontented."
The Master said, "When a man
at forty is
the object of dislike, he will
always
continue what he is."
next page
return to index
