The Analects of Confucius

by Burton Watson

  14 Ran You said, Will our Master side with the ruler of Wei?4 Zigong said, Very well, I’ll go and ask him.

  Entering the Master’s room, Zigong said, What sort of men were Bo Yi and Shu Qi?

  The Master said, Worthy men of antiquity.

  Did they harbor rancor?

  They sought to behave humanely, and they succeeded in doing so. Why would they harbor rancor?

  When Zigong emerged from the room, he said, Our Master will not side with the ruler of Wei.

  15 The Master said, Eating simple food, drinking water, a bended arm for a pillow—there’s happiness in these things too. Wealth and eminence gained by unrightful means are to me mere drifting clouds.

  16 The Master said, Give me a few more years—if I have fifty years to study, then perhaps I, too, can avoid any great errors.

  [Or, according to the more widely accepted Ku text:] if I have fifty years to study the Book of Changes, then perhaps I, too, can avoid any great errors.

  17 The Master used the correct pronunciations when speaking of the Odes and Documents or the conduct of rituals. On all such occasions, he used the correct pronunciations.5

  18 The lord of She asked Zilu about Confucius, but Zilu did not reply.

  The Master said, Why didn’t you tell him that he’s the kind of person who in bursts of enthusiasm forgets to eat, in his delight forgets to worry, and doesn’t even realize that old age is coming on?

  19 The Master said, I was not born understanding anything. A lover of antiquity, I have diligently worked to acquire understanding.

  20 Subjects the Master did not discuss: strange occurrences, feats of strength, rebellion, the gods.

  21 The Master said, When I walk with two others, I’m bound to find my teacher there. I single out their good points and pursue them, note their bad points and make my corrections.

  22 The Master said, Heaven has implanted this virtue in me. Huan Tui—what can he do to me?6

  23 The Master said, You young men, do you think I’m hiding something? I’m not hiding anything. I take no actions that are not taken in conjunction with you. That’s Qiu for you.7

  24 The Master taught four things: culture, behavior, loyalty, trustworthiness.

  25 The Master said, A sage I have never managed to see. If I could see a true gentleman, that would be enough.

  The Master said, A truly good person I have never managed to see. If I could see a person of constancy, that would be enough. With nothingness pretending to possession, emptiness pretending to fullness, want pretending to affluence, true constancy is hard to find.

  26 The Master fished with a rod but not with a longline. He shot at birds with a stringed arrow, but not if they were roosting.

  27 The Master said, There are those who do not have knowledge and yet make things. I’m not that way. I hear much, choose what is good and follow it, see much and keep it in mind. This is the next best thing to knowledge.

  28 The people of Hu village are hard to talk to.8 A young man came for an interview with the Master. His disciples were troubled by this.

  The Master said, My concern was with what brought him, not with what he did after he left. What was so wrong about that? When a person comes to you in good faith, give him credit for the good faith. Don’t expect guarantees for what comes after.

  29 The Master said, Is humaneness so far away? If I want humaneness, then humaneness is right here.

  30 The minister of crime of the state of Chen asked whether Duke Zhao of Lu understood ritual. Confucius replied, Yes, he understood ritual.

  After Confucius had retired from the scene, the minister of crime signaled to Wuma Qi to step forward and said, I have heard that a gentleman is not partisan, but some gentlemen appear to be partisan indeed! Duke Zhao took a wife from the state of Wu, but because she was of the same surname as Duke Zhao, she was referred to simply as Wu Mengzi.9 If Duke Zhao understood ritual, then who doesn’t understand ritual?

  Wuma Qi reported this to Confucius. The Master said, How fortunate I am! If I make a mistake, someone is certain to let me know.

  31 If the Master was singing with others and one of them happened to be particularly good, he would invariably ask the person to repeat the piece and then he would join in.

  32 The Master said, In cultural matters I believe I do as well as others. But as for personally enacting the role of the gentleman—that I am not yet up to.

  33 The Master said, The title of sage or humane man—how could I dare lay claim to such? But working without tiring, teaching others and never growing weary—yes, that much could be said of me.

  Gongxi Hua said, It’s precisely this that we, his disciples, cannot equal him in!

  34 The Master was gravely ill. Zilu asked to be allowed to offer prayers for his recovery. The Master said, Is that done? Zilu replied, Yes. The Eulogies say, Prayers are offered for you to the upper and lower gods and spirits.

  The Master said, My praying began a long time ago.

  35 The Master said, The gentleman is composed, at peace with things. The petty man is constantly fretting, fretting.

  36 The Master was both mild and sharp-spoken, dignified but not oppressively so, respectful but relaxed.

  1 The bundle of dried meat was the student’s gift for the teacher, his tuition fee.

  2 The armies of a large state.

  3 See 3:25.

  4 After the death of Duke Ling of Wei in 493 B.C.E., a power struggle developed between Kuai Kui, the son of Duke Ling, who had been forced to flee from Wei, and Kuai Kui’s son Che, who had been made the new ruler of Wei. Confucius’s disciples, some of whom were involved with the ruling family of Wei, wished to know which party in the dispute Confucius would support. Zigong does not ask the question directly, but seeks an answer by referring to the story of Bo Yi and Shu Qi.

  5 As opposed to the pronunciations of Confucius’s native state of Lu.

  6 Words said to have been spoken when Huan Tui, minister of war in the state of Song, threatened to kill him.

  7 Confucius refers to himself by his personal name, Qiu.

  8 Presumably a place that Confucius passed in his travels. Commentators offer various explanations as to why the villagers were hard to talk to.

  9 According to Chinese ritual, persons of the same surname are forbidden to marry. The ruling houses of the states of Lu and Wu both had the Ji surname. Confucius, speaking with an official of another state, chose to give a wrong answer rather than acknowledge the error in ritual made by the ruler of his own state.

  Book Eight

  1 The Master said, Tai Bo may be said to exemplify the highest virtue. Three times he relinquished the right to the empire, but the common people did not understand why this was praiseworthy.

  2 The Master said, Courtesy without ritual becomes labored; caution without ritual becomes timidity; daring without ritual becomes riotousness; directness without ritual becomes obtrusiveness.

  If the gentleman treats those close to him with generosity, the common people will be moved to humaneness. If he does not forget his old associates, the common people will shun cold-heartedness.

  3 When Master Zeng was ill, he summoned his disciples and said, Uncover my feet, uncover my hands. The Ode says:

  Tremble, tremble, be wary

  as one on the brink of a deep pool,

  as one crossing thin ice—1

  Now and hereafter I know I have escaped, my little ones—have I not?

  4 When Master Zeng was ill, Meng Jing Zi asked how he was.

  Master Zeng spoke these words: When a bird is about to die, its cries are sad. When a man is about to die, his words are good. With regard to the Way, there are three things the gentleman prizes: in his actions and manner, that he be far from harshness or arrogance; in ordering his appearance, that he stick close to trustworthiness; in his utterances, that they be far from crude or unseemly. As for the sacrificial baskets and stands, there are experts to tend to such matters.

  5 Master Zeng said, Able but consu
lting those who lack ability, of many talents but consulting those with few, possessing but seeming to be without, full yet seeming to be empty, offended against but never retaliating—in the past I had a friend who always tried to be like that.2

  6 Master Zeng said, Trust him as guardian to a six-foot orphan,3 charge him with the command of a hundred-league domain, he will preside over the most critical occasions and can never be diverted from his course. This is the gentleman, is it not? This is the gentleman.

  7 Master Zeng said, The man of station must be both broad-minded and resolute. His burden is heavy, and the road is long. Humaneness is the burden he is charged with—heavy, is it not? The road ends only with death—long, is it not?

  8 The Master said, Get your start with the Odes; acquire a firm standing through ritual; complete the process with music.

  9 The Master said, The common people can be made to follow a course, but cannot be made to understand why they should do so.

  10 The Master said, Where there is love of daring and hatred of poverty, disorder will result. And if people lack humaneness and their hatred is extreme, disorder will result.

  11 The Master said, Although one may have talents as admirable as those of the duke of Zhou, if he employs them in an arrogant or a mean manner, then whatever other qualities he has are not worth a look!

  12 The Master said, Someone who can study for three years without thinking about an official salary—not easy to find!

  13 The Master said, Entirely trustworthy, a lover of learning, faithful until death, exemplar of the Way, he never enters a state where there is peril, never remains in a state where there is disorder. When the Way prevails in the world, he appears; when the Way is lacking, he retires. When the state follows the Way, being poor and lowly is a cause for shame. When the state is without the Way, being rich and eminent is a cause for shame.

  14 The Master said, If one does not hold the position, one does not dictate the policies that go with it.

  15 The Master said, When Music Master Zhi has begun and reached the conclusion of the Guanju ode,4 what a torrent of sound fills our ears!

  16 The Master said, Enthusiastic but not straightforward; naive but insincere; simple, guileless, but not to be trusted—such persons I do not understand.

  17 The Master said, Study as though you could never catch up, [and if you did,] you would still be fearful of losing it.

  18 The Master said, Awesome was the way in which Shun and Yu held possession of the empire! Yet they took no part in it.5

  19 The Master said, Great was Yao as a ruler! Awesome, awesome, Heaven alone is great, yet Yao alone made it his model. Vast, all-encompassing, the people could put no name to it. Awesome, awesome were his works and accomplishments, brilliant his cultural achievements.

  20 Shun had five ministers, and the empire was well governed. King Wu said, I have ten capable ministers.

  Confucius said, Talent is hard to find—true, is it not? In the time of Tang and Yu,6 talent flourished, [yet Shun had only five ministers. As for King Wu’s ten ministers,] one was a woman, so he had only nine men.7 Zhou already possessed two-thirds of the empire, yet it continued to serve the Yin dynasty. The virtue of the Zhou may be termed the highest virtue.

  21 The Master said, I can find no fault with Yu. Sparing in his food and drink, he yet served the spirits and gods with utmost filial devotion. His ordinary robes were shabby, but his sacrificial aprons and caps were of the utmost beauty. He lived in lowly rooms and halls, devoting his entire energy to the opening of irrigation ditches and channels. I can find no fault with Yu.

  1 Book of Odes, no. 195. Master Zeng is rejoicing that, as the ideal of filial piety dictates, he has preserved his body from harm, particularly from the mutilating punishments decreed by the penal code of ancient China.

  2 Commentators surmise that the friend was Confucius’s favorite disciple, Yan Yuan.

  3 A boy who has succeeded to the position of ruler of a state on the death of his father; a height of six Chinese feet would be shorter than that of a mature male.

  4 See 3:20.

  5 According to commentators, because they selected men of worth to carry out the actual administration of affairs.

  6 Alternative names for the rulers Yao and Shun.

  7 One woman, either King Wu’s mother or his wife, was numbered among the ten ministers. The text of this passage appears faulty, and the translation is tentative.

  Book Nine

  1 The Master seldom spoke about profit, about fate, or about humaneness.

  2 A villager of Daxiang said, What a great man Confucius is! He has studied widely, but he doesn’t make any particular name for himself.

  When the Master heard this, he said to his disciples, What should I specialize in? Should I specialize in charioteering? Should I specialize in archery? I think I’ll specialize in charioteering.

  3 The Master said, Ritual calls for caps of hemp, though nowadays silk is used, because it is more economical. I go along with others in this.

  Ritual calls for one to bow at the foot of the stairs. Nowadays people bow at the top of the stairs, but this is presumptuous. Although it means differing from others, I perform the bow at the foot of the stairs.

  4 The Master observed four prohibitions: no willfulness, no obstinacy, no narrow-mindedness, no egotism.

  5 The Master’s life was endangered in Kuang.1 He said, King Wen is deceased, but his culture (wen) remains here with me. If Heaven had intended to destroy that culture, then those who come after him could not have inherited that culture. But if Heaven is not ready to destroy that culture, what can the people of Kuang do to me?

  6 The prime minister2 questioned Zigong, saying, The Master—is he a sage? He has so many capabilities!

  Zigong said, Indeed, Heaven has opened the way for him to become a sage. And he has many capabilities besides.

  When the Master heard this, he said, The prime minister knows me well. When I was young, I was in humble circumstances and hence became capable in many menial undertakings. But is the true gentleman a person of many capabilities? Surely, he is not!

  7 Lao reports that the Master said, I have never been given a proper trial—hence these “accomplishments.”3

  8 The Master said, Do I have knowledge? I have no special knowledge. But if an uneducated fellow comes to me with a question, I attack it with all sincerity, exploring it from end to end until I’ve exhausted it.

  9 The Master said, The phoenix does not appear; the river puts forth no chart.4 It is all over with me, is it not?

  10 If the Master saw a person in mourning clothes, in ceremonial cap and robe, or a blind person, though the person might be younger in age, he would invariably rise to his feet and, if passing the person, would invariably quicken his steps.5

  11 Yan Yuan, sighing, exclaimed, Look up and it’s higher than ever, bore into it and it’s harder still. I see it in front of me, then suddenly it’s behind. Our Master—step by step, how skillfully he leads others along! He broadens me with culture, reins me in with ritual. I want to give up but cannot. Already he has exhausted my ability, yet I see him standing tall before me. But although I want to follow him, I’ve no way to do so.

  12 The Master was gravely ill. Zilu directed the disciples to attend him in the manner of retainers.6

  When the Master had recovered somewhat, he said, How long you go on, You, practicing these deceptions! To pretend that I have retainers when I have no retainers—who would I be deceiving? Would I be deceiving Heaven? Moreover, rather than dying in the hands of retainers, isn’t it better that I die in the hands of you, my disciples? And although I may not be entitled to a grand funeral, it’s not as though I were dying by the roadside, is it?

  13 Zigong said, Suppose here is a beautiful piece of jade. Better to put it in a box and store it away? Or to find someone willing to pay a good price and sell it?

  The Master said, Sell it! Sell it! I’m waiting for a buyer.

  14 The Master wished to go live among
the nine foreign tribes.7 Someone said, But they are so crude! The Master said, If a gentleman lives among them, how can they be crude?

  15 The Master said, When I returned from Wei to Lu, only then was the music put in order, and the “Ya” and “Song” found their proper places.8

  16 The Master said, In public life serving lords and high ministers; at home serving father and elder brothers; when there is a funeral, never daring to be remiss; never getting drunk and unruly—this much I can manage.

  17 Standing by a stream, the Master said, It flows on like this—does it not?—never ceasing, day or night.9

  18 The Master said, I have never seen the person who loved virtue the way he loved physical beauty.

  19 The Master said, It’s like building a mound. If the mound needs one more basketful of dirt for completion and I stop work, then the stopping is mine. Or it’s like the case of level ground. Although it may be only one basketful of dirt, if I heap it up, then the progress is mine.

  [Or, according to an older interpretation:]

  The Master said, It’s like someone building a mound. If the mound needs one more basketful of dirt for completion but the person stops work, then I stop [helping him]. Or it’s like the case of level ground. Although the person may have heaped up only one basketful of dirt, if he keeps working, then I follow along.

  20 The Master said, Someone I could talk to and he never got tired—that was Hui, wasn’t it?

  21 Speaking of Yan Yuan, the Master said, What a pity! I saw him move forward. I never saw him come to a stop.

  22 The Master said, There are seedlings that never grow to maturity, are there not? And mature plants that never bear fruit.10

  23 The Master said, Respect those younger than yourself. How do you know that the coming generation may not prove as good as our present one? But if a person lives to forty or fifty and hasn’t been heard of, then he’s no longer worthy of respect.

  24 The Master said, authoritative words—can one fail to heed them? But what is important is that they bring about a change in you. Words of friendly advice—can one fail to delight in them? But what is important is to interpret them correctly. To delight but not interpret, to heed but not change—I can do nothing with those who take that approach.