The Analects of Confucius

by Burton Watson

  14 Virtue in the sense of innate nature or capacity.

  15 The passage refers to recluses and how much animosity one should put up with before retiring and becoming one. Who the “seven” are is not known; the text is probably faulty.

  16 A row of stone slabs suspended from a rack and sounded with a mallet.

  17 Book of Odes, no. 34, which refers to adjusting to circumstances.

  18 The passage alludes to the three-year mourning period for parents, here observed by Gao Zong for his father, the former ruler of the Yin dynasty. Zizhang is probably referring to the Book of Documents, Zhou Documents, “Wuyi.”

  19 Was Confucius serious in his censures of his old friend Yuan Rang, one wonders, or merely joking?

  Book Fifteen

  1 Duke Ling of Wei asked Confucius about battle formations. Confucius replied, With regard to sacrificial platters and stands, I have some learning. But I have never studied military affairs.

  The next day he left Wei for good.

  2 When Confucius was in Chen, he ran out of provisions and his followers were so weak that none of them could stand up. Zilu confronted Confucius angrily, saying, Does the gentleman have to put up with such hardships?

  The Master said, The gentleman remains firm in the face of hardships. The petty man, when he encounters hardship, gives way to panic.

  3 The Master said, Si (Zigong), you suppose that I have studied many different matters and retain them in my memory, don’t you?

  Zigong replied, Yes. Isn’t that so?

  The Master said, No. I have one thread that links it all together.1

  4 The Master said, You (Zilu), those who understand virtue are few!

  5 The Master said, Of those who ruled through inaction, surely Shun was one. What did he do? Dedicating himself to courtesy, he faced directly south, that was all.2

  6 Zizhang asked about how to get along in the world. The Master said, If your words are loyal and trustworthy and your actions sincere and respectful, then even in the lands of the Man and Mo tribes you will get along.3 But if your words are not loyal and trustworthy and your actions not sincere and respectful, then even in your own district or village you won’t get along, will you? When you stand up, see these words plainly before you; when riding in your carriage, see them resting on the crossbar. Act in this way and then you will get along.

  Zizhang wrote this down on his sash.

  7 The Master said, How upright Shi Yu was! When the state followed the Way, he was straight as an arrow. When the state was without the Way, he was straight as an arrow. What a gentleman Qu Boyu was! When the state followed the Way, he held office. When the state was without the Way, he knew how to fold up his hopes and put them away in the breast of his robe.

  8 The Master said, If it’s someone you ought to speak to and you fail to speak, you waste a person. If it’s someone you ought not to speak to and you speak, you waste words. The wise man doesn’t waste people and doesn’t waste words either.

  9 The Master said, The man of high ideals, the humane person, never tries to go on living if it is harmful to humaneness. There are times when he sacrifices his life to preserve humaneness.

  10 Zigong asked how to practice humaneness. The Master said, A craftsman who wants to do his job well must first sharpen his tools. Whatever country you are in, be of service to the high officials who are worthy and become friends with the men of station who are humane.

  11 Yan Yuan asked about how to order the state. The Master said, Use the Xia calendar, ride in the chariots of the Yin, wear the caps of the Zhou, and for music, the Shao and Wu. Do away with the Zheng tunes and stay away from artful talkers. The Zheng tunes are excessive, and artful talkers are dangerous.4

  12 The Master said, The person who fails to take far-reaching precautions is sure to encounter near-at-hand woes.

  13 The Master said, It’s hopeless! I have never seen the person who loved virtue the way he loved physical beauty.5

  14 The Master said, Zang Wenzhong held high office unjustly, did he not? He knew that Liuxia Hui was a man of worth, but failed to elevate him to a position comparable to his own.6

  15 The Master said, Be hard on yourself; go lightly when you blame others—that way you stay clear of resentment.

  16 The Master said, People who don’t ask themselves, How should I proceed? How should I proceed?—I don’t know how to proceed with their kind!

  17 The Master said, Groups gathered together all day, not a word touching what is right, happy in carrying out their petty schemes—don’t look for much from them!

  18 The Master said, The gentleman makes rightness the substance, practices it through ritual, displays it with humility, brings it to completion with trustworthiness. That’s the gentleman.

  19 The Master said, The gentleman is troubled by his own lack of ability. He is not troubled by the fact that others do not understand him.

  20 The Master said, The gentleman is pained to think that after he has left the world his name will not be remembered.

  21 The Master said, The gentleman makes demands on himself. The petty man makes demands on others.

  22 The Master said, The gentleman is proud but not contentious; he joins with others but is not cliquish.

  23 The Master said, The gentleman does not esteem a person merely because of his words, nor does he disregard words merely because of the person.

  24 Zigong asked, Is there a single word that can guide a person’s conduct throughout life?

  The Master said, That would be reciprocity, wouldn’t it? What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others.7

  25 The Master said, In my dealings with others, who have I censured, who have I praised? If I praise someone, it is because he has been put to the test. The common people of today are the ones who carried out the straight Way of the Three Dynasties.8

  26 The Master said, I can still remember when recorders left blanks in their text [when they were unsure of something,] or when people with horses lent them to others to drive. Nowadays such customs are no longer observed, are they?9

  27 The Master said, Clever words are the disrupters of virtue. Lack patience in minor matters, and you may disrupt larger schemes.

  28 The Master said, When everyone hates someone, look into the matter carefully. When everyone likes someone, look into the matter carefully.10

  29 The Master said, A person can enlarge the Way, but the Way cannot enlarge a person.

  30 The Master said, To make a mistake and not correct it is to make a mistake indeed.

  31 The Master said, Once I went all day without eating and all night without sleeping in order to think. It was no use—better to study.

  32 The Master said, The gentleman schemes for the Way; he does not scheme for food. You might work the fields and still at times encounter hunger; you might study and at times acquire an official stipend. But the gentleman worries about the Way; he does not worry about poverty.

  33 The Master said, You might have sufficient knowledge to gain a position, but if you do not have the humaneness needed to hold on to it, then although you gain it, you will surely lose it. You might have sufficient knowledge to gain a position and the humaneness needed to hold on to it, but if you do not administer it with dignity, the common people will not respect you. You might have sufficient knowledge to gain a position, the humaneness needed to hold on to it, and may administer it with dignity, but if your actions do not accord with ritual, the results will be less than good.

  34 The Master said, The gentleman cannot handle affairs demanding only limited understanding, but he is capable of large undertakings. The petty man is not capable of large undertakings, but he can handle affairs demanding limited understanding.

  35 The Master said, Humaneness is more vital to the people than water or fire. I have seen people die from treading on water or fire, but I have never seen the person who died from treading the path of humaneness.

  36 The Master said, In matters of humaneness, do not defer even to
your teacher.

  37 The Master said, The gentleman is firm but not stubbornly unbending.

  38 The Master said, In serving the ruler, attend respectfully to your duties and look on pay as a secondary matter.

  39 The Master said, In matters of instruction, there should be no class distinctions.

  40 The Master said, If your Way is not the same, you cannot lay plans for one another.

  41 The Master said, With words it is enough if they get the meaning across.

  42 Music Master Mian called on Confucius. When they reached the steps, the Master said, Here are the steps. When they reached the seating mats, the Master said, Here are the mats. After everyone was seated, the Master reported, So-and-so is over here. So-and-so is over there.

  After Music Master Mian had left, Zizhang asked, Is that the way one talks to a music master? The Master said, Yes, of course. That’s how one assists a music master.11

  1 See 4:15.

  2 Confucius is invoking the Daoist ideal of wuwei (inaction) in characterizing the rule of the ancient sage Shun. But Shun, being a sage, was already possessed of very powerful charisma and, according to legend, was assisted by highly capable ministers. The Chinese ruler traditionally sits facing south.

  3 The Man and Mo were non-Chinese peoples who lived to the south and north of the Chinese.

  4 On the Shao and Wu music, see 3:25. The words to the songs of the state of Zheng are found in the Book of Odes, but Confucius apparently disapproved of the music to which they were sung.

  5 Identical to 9:18.

  6 On Zang Wenzhong, at one time prime minister of the state of Lu, see 5:18.

  7 See 12:2.

  8 The Xia, Yin, and Zhou, particularly the early, well-ordered years of these dynasties. That is, the common people of Confucius’s time are the same as those of the golden ages of the past.

  9 The meaning of the passage is unclear.

  10 See 13:24.

  11 The music masters of Confucius’s time were blind.

  Book Sixteen

  1 [In the following passage Ran You and Zilu, two disciples who were in the service of the Ji family, inform Confucius of a plan to attack Zhuanyu, a small feudal domain within the state of Lu. It was situated close to Bi, a region under the control of the Ji family. Feudal lords were charged with the duty of sacrificing to the major mountains and rivers in their domain.]

  When the Ji family was about to attack Zhuanyu, Ran You and Jilu (Zilu) called on Confucius and reported that the Ji family was planning to move against Zhuanyu.

  Confucius said, Qiu (Ran You), are you going to make a mistake like this? Long ago the kings of former times charged Zhuanyu with the duty of conducting sacrifices to Mount Dongmeng. Moreover, it is located within our state and thus is a servant of our altars of the soil and grain. What reason could there be to attack it?

  Ran You said, Our lord wishes to do so. Neither of us, his servants, wish it.

  Confucius said, Zhou Ren had a saying: Show your ability, move into the ranks; if you can’t do that, then step aside. If you see your lord in danger and cannot support him, if you see him tottering and cannot prop him up, then of what use are you as his aides? And you are wrong in what you said. If the tiger or rhinoceros breaks out of its cage, if the tortoiseshell or jades lie broken in their box, whose fault is it?1

  Ran You said, Zhuanyu is at present heavily fortified and is located close to Bi. If we do not seize it now, it is bound to be a threat to our lord’s sons and grandsons.

  Confucius said, The gentleman hates someone who won’t say outright that he favors a course and yet keeps offering reasons to support it. I have heard that a nation or a family does not worry that it has little but that that little is unevenly apportioned, does not worry that it is poor but that it is unstable. Because with equitable distribution there is no real poverty, with harmony, no real scarcity, with stability, no real peril. When such a situation exists, if neighboring people do not submit to your ruler, then enhance your culture and virtue and draw them to you, and once you have drawn them to you, offer them stability. Now you, Qiu and You, in assisting your lord to deal with neighbors who do not submit, are not following a course that will draw them to you. Instead, the state threatens to break apart, to collapse, and you cannot hold it together. And now you propose to resort to armed conflict within the state itself. I fear that the threat to the Ji family lies not in Zhuanyu but in what is taking place within its own walls!

  2 Confucius said, When the Way prevails in the world, rites, music, and punitive expeditions proceed from the Son of Heaven. When the Way no longer prevails in the world, rites, music, and punitive expeditions proceed from the feudal lords, and rarely does this situation continue for ten generations before failure ensues. If these proceed from the high officials, rarely five generations pass before failure; and if the retainers of the high officials govern the fate of the nation, rarely three generations before failure. When the Way prevails in the world, government is not in the hands of the high officials. When the Way prevails in the world, ordinary people voice no criticisms.

  3 Confucius said, Five generations have gone by since the right of making awards passed out of the hands of the ducal house of Lu, and four generations since the power of government came to be exercised by the high officials.2 Therefore, the three houses that descend from Duke Huan of Lu are now growing powerless.

  4 Confucius said, Three kinds of friends are beneficial; three kinds are harmful. Straightforward friends, sincere friends, well-informed friends—these are beneficial. Hypocritical friends, sycophantic friends, glib-talking friends—these are harmful.

  5 Confucius said, Three kinds of delight are beneficial; three kinds are harmful. The delight of regulating oneself with rites and music, the delight of speaking of others’ good points, the delight of having many worthy friends—these are beneficial. Delight in extravagant pleasures, delight in idle wanderings, delight in the joys of the feast—these are harmful.

  6 Confucius said, In one’s relations with a gentleman, there are three errors to avoid. To speak of something before the time is right—this is called boorishness. To fail to speak when it is time to do so—this is called secretiveness. To speak without first observing the face of the person one is addressing—this is called blindness.

  7 Confucius said, The gentleman has three things to beware of. When he is young and his energies are not fully controlled, he bewares of sexual attraction. When he is mature and his energies are at their height, he bewares of aggressiveness. When he is old and his energies have waned, he bewares of avariciousness.

  8 Confucius said, The gentleman has three things he stands in awe of. He stands in awe of the Mandate of Heaven, of persons in high position, and of the words of the sages. The petty man, failing to understand the Mandate of Heaven, does not view it with awe. He treats persons in high position with disrespect and scorns the words of the sages.

  9 Confucius said, Those born with understanding rank highest. Those who study and gain understanding come next. Those who face difficulties and yet study—they are next. Those who face difficulties but never study—they are the lowest type of people.

  10 Confucius said, The gentleman has nine things he thinks of. He thinks—is my vision clear? He thinks—is my hearing acute? He thinks—is my expression genial? He thinks—is my manner courteous? He thinks—are my words loyal? He thinks—am I respectful in the way I serve? He thinks—when in doubt, do I seek advice? He thinks—when angry, do I think of the troubles that may ensue? He thinks—when I spy gain, would I be right to take it?

  11 Confucius said, He sees what is good and acts as though he could never attain it, sees what is not good and acts as though he had put his hand in scalding water—I’ve seen people like that and heard reports of their kind. He lives in seclusion in order to fulfill his aims, practices rightness in order to perfect his Way—I’ve heard reports of such people but never actually seen them.

  12 Duke Jing of Qi had a thousand teams of four hors
es, but the day he died, the common people of Qi could think of no bounty to praise him for. Bo Yi and Shu Qi died of hunger on Mount Shou-yang, yet to this day the common people praise them. This is what the saying means.3

  13 Chen Gang (Ziqin) questioned [Confucius’s son] Boyu, saying, As a son, have you received any special instruction?

  No, replied Boyu. But once, when my father was standing by himself and I hurried across the courtyard, he said, Have you studied the Odes? Not yet, I replied. He said, If you don’t study the Odes, you won’t know how to speak properly! So after that I studied the Odes. Another day, when he was standing by himself and I hurried across the courtyard, he said, Have you studied the rites? Not yet, I replied. He said, If you don’t study the rites, you won’t have any basis to stand on. So after that I studied the rites. He gave me these two pieces of instruction.

  Afterward Chen Gang, delighted, said, I asked one question and learned three things. I learned about the Odes, I learned about rites, and I learned that the gentleman maintains a certain distance in relations with his son.

  14 In the case of the wife of the ruler of a state, the ruler refers to her as “the lady,” and she refers to herself as “this little youth.” The people of the state refer to her as “the lord’s lady,” but when they are addressing persons of other states, they call her “our little lord.” The people of other states refer to her as “the lord’s lady.”4

  1 The fault of the person responsible, as you are responsible for the actions of the Ji family.

  2 That is, the three branches of the Ji family, the three houses descended from Duke Huan referred to in the next sentence.

  3 This passage appears to be defective, as it lacks any indication of the speaker or the “saying” to which the last sentence refers.

  4 This seems to be a passage from a text on ritual that has for some reason been appended here.