Confucian Analects (Lun Yü)

iconChapter - 17

1Yang Ho wished to see Confucius, but Confucius would not go to see him.
2On 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.
3Ho 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?"
4Confucius replied, "No."
5"Can he be called wise, who is anxious to be engaged in public employment, and yet is constantly losing the opportunity of being so?"
6Confucius again said, "No."
7"The days and months are passing away; the years do not wait for us."
8Confucius said, "Right; I will go into office."
9The Master said, "By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart."
10The Master said, "There are only the wise of the highest class, and the stupid of the lowest class, who cannot be changed."
11The 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?"
12Tsze-yu replied, "Formerly, Master, I heard you say,-'When the man of high station is well instructed, he loves men;
13when the man of low station is well instructed, he is easily ruled.'"
14The Master said, "My disciples, Yen's words are right. What I said was only in sport."
15Kung-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.
16Tsze-lu was displeased. and said, "Indeed, you cannot go! Why must you think of going to see Kung-shan?"
17The 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?"
18Tsze-chang asked Confucius about perfect virtue. Confucius said, "To be able to practice five things everywhere under heaven constitutes perfect virtue."
19He begged to ask what they were, and was told, "Gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.
20If you are grave, you will not be treated with disrespect.
21If you are generous, you will win all.
22If you are sincere, people will repose trust in you.
23If you are earnest, you will accomplish much.
24If you are kind, this will enable you to employ the services of others.
25Pi Hsi inviting him to visit him, the Master was inclined to go.
26Tsze-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?"
27The 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?
28Is it not said, that, if a thing be really white, it may be steeped in a dark fluid without being made black?
29"Am I a bitter gourd? How can I be hung up out of the way of being eaten?"
30The Master said, "Yu, have you heard the six words to which are attached six becloudings?"
31Yu replied, "I have not."
32"Sit down, and I will tell them to you.
33"There is the love of being benevolent without the love of learning;-the beclouding here leads to a foolish simplicity.
34There is the love of knowing without the love of learning;-the beclouding here leads to dissipation of mind.
35There is the love of being sincere without the love of learning;-the beclouding here leads to an injurious disregard of consequences.
36There is the love of straightforwardness without the love of learning;-the beclouding here leads to rudeness.
37There is the love of boldness without the love of learning;-the beclouding here leads to insubordination.
38There is the love of firmness without the love of learning;-the beclouding here leads to extravagant conduct."
39The Master said, "My children, why do you not study the Book of Poetry?
40"The Odes serve to stimulate the mind.
41"They may be used for purposes of self-contemplation.
42"They teach the art of sociability.
43"They show how to regulate feelings of resentment.
44"From them you learn the more immediate duty of serving one's father, and the remoter one of serving one's prince.
45"From them we become largely acquainted with the names of birds, beasts, and plants."
46The 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?"
47The 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?"
48The 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?"
49The Master said, "Your good, careful people of the villages are the thieves of virtue."
50The Master said, To tell, as we go along, what we have heard on the way, is to cast away our virtue."
51The Master said, "There are those mean creatures! How impossible it is along with them to serve one's prince!
52"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.
53"When they are anxious lest such things should be lost, there is nothing to which they will not proceed."
54The Master said, "Anciently, men had three failings, which now perhaps are not to be found.
55"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.
56The stern dignity of antiquity showed itself in grave reserve; the stern dignity of the present day shows itself in quarrelsome perverseness.
57The stupidity of antiquity showed itself in straightforwardness; the stupidity of the present day shows itself in sheer deceit."
58The Master said, "Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with virtue."
59The Master said, "I hate the manner in which purple takes away the luster of vermilion.
60I hate the way in which the songs of Chang confound the music of the Ya.
61I hate those who with their sharp mouths overthrow kingdoms and families."
62The Master said, "I would prefer not speaking."
63Tsze-kung said, "If you, Master, do not speak, what shall we, your disciples, have to record?"
64The Master said, "Does Heaven speak? The four seasons pursue their courses, and all things are continually being produced, but does Heaven say anything?"
65Zu Pei wished to see Confucius, but Confucius declined, on the ground of being sick, to see him.
66When 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.
67Tsai Wo asked about the three years' mourning for parents, saying that one year was long enough.
68"If the superior man," said he, "abstains for three years from the observances of propriety, those observances will be quite lost.
69If for three years he abstains from music, music will be ruined.
70Within 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.
71After a complete year, the mourning may stop."
72The Master said, "If you were, after a year, to eat good rice, and wear embroidered clothes, would you feel at ease?"
73"I should," replied Wo.
74The 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.
75Therefore he does not do what you propose. But now you feel at ease and may do it."
76Tsai 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?"
77The Master said, "Hard is it to deal with who will stuff himself with food the whole day, without applying his mind to anything good!
78Are there not gamesters and chess players? To be one of these would still be better than doing nothing at all."
79Tsze-lu said, "Does the superior man esteem valor?"
80The Master said, "The superior man holds righteousness to be of highest importance.
81A 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."
82Tsze-kung said, "Has the superior man his hatreds also?"
83The Master said, "He has his hatreds.
84He hates those who proclaim the evil of others.
85He hates the man who, being in a low station, slanders his superiors.
86He hates those who have valor merely, and are unobservant of propriety.
87He hates those who are forward and determined, and, at the same time, of contracted understanding."
88The Master then inquired, "Ts'ze, have you also your hatreds?"
89Tsze-kung replied, "I hate those who pry out matters, and ascribe the knowledge to their wisdom.
90I hate those who are only not modest, and think that they are valorous.
91I hate those who make known secrets, and think that they are straightforward."
92The 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."
93The Master said, "When a man at forty is the object of dislike, he will always continue what he is."