FOOTNOTES:
[23] An Imperial prerogative.
[24] China.
[25] A prerogative of the Duke of Lu.
[26] A disciple in the service of the Chi.
[27] The loser had to drink a cup of wine.
[28] Tzu-hsia.
[29] Chi was the homeland of the House of Hsia, Sung that of the House of Yin.
[30] Wang-sun Chia was minister of Wei, and had more influence than his master. The hearth-god ranks below the god of the home (the Roman lares), but since he sees all that goes on in the house, and ascends to heaven at the end of the year to report what has happened, it is well to be on good terms with him.
[31] The royal house of Chou, which was then ruling China.
[32] Tremble and chestnut have the same sound in Chinese.
[33] In old times men had been sacrificed at the earth-altars, and Tsai Wo's answer might seem to approve the practice.
[34] Kuan Chung (+ 645 b.c.), a famous man in his day, was chief minister to the Duke of Ch'i, whom he raised to such wealth and power that he became the leading prince of the empire. His chief merit lay in taming the barbarous frontier tribes. The rest of his work was built upon sand and died with him.
[35] Of music.
BOOK IV
1. The Master said, Love makes a spot beautiful: who chooses not to dwell in love, has he got wisdom?
2. The Master said, Loveless men cannot bear need long, they cannot bear fortune long. Loving men find peace in love, the wise find profit in it.
3. The Master said, Love alone can love others, or hate others.
4. The Master said, A will set on love is free from evil.
5. The Master said, Wealth and honours are what men desire; but do not go from the Way, to keep them. Lowliness and want are hated by men; but do not go from the Way, to escape them.
Shorn of love, is a gentleman worthy of the name? Not for one moment may a gentleman sin against love; he must not do so in flurry and haste, nor do so in utter overthrow.
6. The Master said, I have seen no one that loves love and hates uncharity. He that loves love will set nothing higher. The hater of uncharity is so given to love that no uncharity can enter into his life. If a man were to give his strength to love for one day, I have seen no one whose strength would fail him. There may be such men, but I have not seen one.
7. The Master said, A man and his faults are of a piece. By watching his faults we learn whether love be his.
8. The Master said, To learn the Way at daybreak and die at eve were enough.
9. The Master said, A knight[36] in quest of the Way, who is ashamed of bad clothes and bad food, it is idle talking to.
10. The Master said, A gentleman has no likes or dislikes below heaven. He follows right.
11. The Master said, The gentleman cherishes mind, the small man cherishes dirt. Gentlemen trust in the law, the small man trusts in favour.
12. The Master said, The chase of gain is rich in hate.
13. The Master said, What is it to sway a kingdom by courteous yielding? If we cannot sway a kingdom by courteous yielding, what is our courtesy worth?
14. The Master said, Care not for want of place; care for thy readiness to fill one. Care not for being unknown, but seek to be worthy of note.
15. The Master said, One line, Shen,[37] runs through my Way.
Yes, said Tseng-tzu.
After the Master had left, the disciples asked what was meant.
Tseng-tzu said, The Master's Way is no more than faithfulness and fellow-feeling.
16. The Master said, The gentleman is learned in right; the small man is learned in gain.
17. The Master said, At sight of worth, think to grow like it; at sight of baseness, search thyself within.
18. The Master said, A father or a mother may be gently chidden. If thou seest they have no will to follow thee, be the more lowly, but do not give way; nor murmur at the trouble they give thee.
19. The Master said, Whilst thy father and mother are living, do not wander afar. If thou must travel, hold a set course.
20. The Master said, He that changes nothing in his father's ways for three years may be called pious.
21. The Master said, A father and mother's years must be borne in mind; with gladness on the one hand and fear on the other.
22. The Master said, The men of old were loth to speak, for not to live up to their words would have shamed them.
23. The Master said, We shall seldom get lost if we hold to main lines.
24. The Master said, A gentleman wishes to be slow to speak and quick to do.
25. The Master said, A great soul is never friendless: he has always neighbours.
26. Tzu-yu said, Nagging at kings brings disgrace, nagging at friends estrangement.
FOOTNOTES:
[36] Shih: a gentleman entitled to bear arms, not a knight in armour.
[37] The disciple Tseng-tzu.
BOOK V
1. Of Kung-yeh Ch'ang the Master said, A girl might be wedded to him. Though he has been in fetters that was not his crime.
He gave him his daughter to wed.
Of Nan Jung the Master said, When the land keeps the Way he will not be neglected; and if the land loses the Way he will escape punishment and death.
He gave him his brother's daughter to wed.
2. Of Tzu-chien[38] the Master said, What a gentleman he is! But if there were no gentlemen in Lu, where could he have picked it up?
3. Tzu-kung asked, And what of me?
Thou art a vessel, said the Master.
What kind of vessel?
A rich temple vessel.
4. One said, Yung[39] has love, but he is not glib.
The Master said, What is the good of being glib? Fighting men with tongue-craft mostly makes men hate you. Whether love be his I do not know, but what is the good of being glib?
5. The Master moved Ch'i-tiao K'ai to take office.
He answered, For this I want confidence.
The Master was pleased.
6. The Master said, Forsaken is the Way! I must take ship and stem the seas; and Yu[40] shall go with me.
When Tzu-lu heard this he was glad.
The Master said, Yu loves daring more than I do, but he is at a loss how to take things.
7. Meng Wu asked whether Tzu-lu had love.
I do not know, said the Master.
He asked again.
A land of a thousand chariots might give Yu charge of its levies; but whether love be his I do not know.
And how about Ch'iu?[41]
A town of a thousand households, a clan of an hundred chariots might make Ch'iu governor; but whether love be his I do not know.
And how about Ch'ih?[42]
Standing in the court, girt with his sash, Ch'ih might entertain the guests; but whether love be his I do not know.
8. The Master said to Tzu-kung, Which is the better man, thou or Hui[43]?
He answered, How dare I look as high as Hui? When Hui hears one thing, he understands ten; when I hear one thing I understand two.
The Master said, Thou art not his like. Neither art thou his like, nor am I.
9. Tsai Yü[44] slept in the daytime.
The Master said, Rotten wood cannot be carved, nor are dung walls plastered. Why chide with Yü?
The Master said, When I first met men I listened to their words and took their deeds on trust. When I meet them now, I listen to their words and watch their deeds. I righted this on Yü.
10. The Master said, I have met no firm man.
One answered, Shen Ch'ang.
The Master said, Ch'ang is passionate; how can he be firm?
11. Tzu-kung said, What I do not wish done to me, I likewise wish not to do to others.
The Master said, That is still beyond thee, Tz'u.
12. Tzu-kung said, To hear the Master on his art and precepts is granted us; but to hear him on man's nature and the Way of Heaven is not.
13. Until Tzu-lu could do what he had heard, his only fear was to hear more.
14. Tzu-kung asked, Why was K'ung-wen called cultured?
The Master said, He was quick and loved learning; he was not ashamed to ask those beneath him: that is why he was called cultured.
15. The Master said, Of the ways of a gentleman Tzu-ch'an had four. His life was modest; he honoured those that he served. He was kind in feeding the people, and he was just in his calls upon them.
16. The Master said, Yen P'ing was a good friend. The longer he knew you, the more attentive he grew.
17. The Master said, Tsang Wen lodged his tortoise with hills on the pillars and reeds on the uprights: was this his wisdom?
18. Tzu-chang said, The chief minister, Tzu-wen, was thrice made minister without showing gladness, thrice he left office with unmoved looks. He always told the new ministers how the old ones had governed: how was that?
He was faithful, said the Master.
But was it love?
I do not know, said the Master: how should this amount to love?
When Ts'ui murdered the lord of Ch'i, Ch'en Wen threw up ten teams of horses and left the land. On coming to another kingdom he said, 'Like my lord Ts'ui,' and left it. On coming to a second kingdom he said again, 'Like my lord Ts'ui,' and left it: how was that?
He was clean, said the Master.
But was it love?
I do not know, said the Master: how should this amount to love?
19. Chi Wen thought thrice before acting.
On hearing this the Master said, Twice is enough.
20. The Master said, Whilst the land kept the Way Ning Wu showed wisdom; when his land lost the Way he grew simple. His wisdom we may come up to; such simplicity is beyond us.[45]
21. When he was in Ch'en the Master said, Home, I must go home! Zealous, or rash, or finished scholars, my young sons at home do not know what pruning they still need!
22. The Master said, Because Po-yi and Shu-ch'i never remembered old wickedness they made few enemies.[46]
23. The Master said, Who can call Wei-sheng Kao straight? A man begged him for vinegar: he begged it of a neighbour, and gave it.
24. The Master said, Smooth words, fawning looks, and overdone humility, Tso Ch'iu-ming thought shameful, and so do I. He thought it shameful to hide ill-will and ape friendship, and so do I.
25. As Yen Yüan and Chi-lu[47] were sitting with him, the Master said, Why not each of you tell me thy wishes?
Tzu-lu said, I should like carriages and horses, and clothes of light fur to share with my friends, and, if they spoiled them, not to get angry.
Yen Yüan said, I should like to make no boast of talent or show or merit.
Tzu-lu said, We should like to hear your wishes, Sir.
The Master said, To give the old folk peace, to be true to friends, and to have a heart for the young.
26. The Master said, It is finished! I have met no one that can see his own faults and arraign himself within.
27. The Master said, In a hamlet of ten houses there must be men that are as faithful and true men as I, but they do not love learning as I do.
FOOTNOTES:
[38] A disciple born in Lu.
[39] The disciple Chung-kung.
[40] Tzu-lu.
[41] The disciple Jan Yu.
[42] The disciple Kung-hsi Hua.
[43] The disciple Yen Yüan.
[44] The disciple Tsai Wo.
[45] Ning Wu was minister of the Duke of Wei in the middle of the seventh century b.c. The duke was driven from his throne and deserted by the wise and prudent; but Ning Wu, in his simplicity, stuck to his master and finally effected his restoration.
[46] Po-yi and Shu-ch'i were sons of the King of Ku-chu. Their father left the throne to the younger of the two; but he would not supplant the elder, nor would the elder go against his father's wishes. So they both retired into obscurity. When King Wu overthrew the tyrant Chou (1122 b.c.), they starved to death, rather than live under a new dynasty. Of Po-yi Mencius tells us (Book X, chapter 1): 'His eyes would not look on an evil face, his ears would not listen to an evil sound. He served none but his own lord, he ruled none but his own people. He came in when there was order, and withdrew when tumults came. Where lawless rule showed, or lawless people stayed, he could not bear to dwell. To be together with country folk he thought like sitting in court dress and court cap on dust and ashes. In Chou's time he dwelt by the North Sea shore, waiting for all below heaven to grow clean. So, hearing the ways of Po-yi, the fool grows honest, and the weakling's purpose stands.'
[47] Tzu-lu.
BOOK VI
1. The Master said, Yung[48] might fill the seat of a prince.
And might Tzu-sang Po-tzu? asked Chung-kung.
Yes, said the Master; but he is slack.
To be stern to himself, said Chung-kung, and slack in his claims on the people, might do; but to be slack himself and slack with others must surely be too slack.
The Master said, What Yung says is true.
2. Duke Ai asked which disciples loved learning.
Confucius answered, Yen Hui[49] loved learning. He did not carry over anger; he made no mistake twice. Alas! his mission was short, he died. Now that he is gone, I hear of no one that loves learning.
3. When Tzu-hua[50] was sent to Ch'i, the disciple Jan asked for grain for his mother.
The Master said, Give her six pecks.
He asked for more.
The Master said, Give her sixteen.
Jan gave her eight hundred.
The Master said, On his way to Ch'i, Ch'ih[51] was drawn by sleek horses and clad in light furs. I have heard that gentlemen help the needy, not that they swell riches.
When Yüan Ssu was made governor he was given nine hundred measures of grain, which he refused.
Not so, said the Master: why not take it and give it to thy neighbours and countryfolk?
4. The Master said of Chung-kung, If the calf of a brindled cow be red and horned, though men be shy to offer him, will the hills and streams reject him?
5. The Master said, For three months together Hui's[52] heart never sinned against love. The others may hold out for a day, or a month, but no more.
6. Chi K'ang[53] asked whether Chung-yu[54] was fit to govern.
The Master said, Yu[54] is firm; what would governing be to him?
And is Tz'u[55] fit to govern?
Tz'u is thorough; what would governing be to him?
And is Ch'iu[56] fit to govern?
Ch'in is clever; what would governing be to him?
7. The Chi sent to make Min Tzu-ch'ien[57] governor of Pi.
Min Tzu-ch'ien said, Make some good excuse for me. If he sends again I must be across the Wen.
8. When Po-niu[57] was ill the Master asked after him. Grasping his hand through the window, he said, He is going. It is the Bidding; but why this man of such an illness? Why this man of such an illness?
9. The Master said. What a man was Hui![58] A bowl of rice, a gourd of water, in a low alley; man cannot bear such misery! Yet Hui never fell from mirth. What a man he was!
10. Jan Ch'iu[59] said, It is not that I take no pleasure in the Master's Way: I want strength.
The Master said, He that wants strength faints midway; but thou drawest a line.
11. The Master said to Tzu-hsia, Study to be a gentleman, not as the small man studies.
12. When Tzu-yu was governor of Wu-ch'eng, the Master said, Hast thou gotten any men?
He answered, I have Tan-t'ai Mieh-ming. He will not take a short cut when walking, and he has never come to my house except on business.
13. The Master said, Meng Chih-fan never brags. He was covering the rear in a rout; but on coming to the gate he whipped his horse and cried, Not courage kept me behind; my horse won't go!
14. The Master said, Unless we are glib as the reader T'o and fair as Chao of Sung, escape is hard in the times that be!
15. The Master said, Who can go out except by the door? Why is it no one keeps to the Way?
16. The Master said, Matter outweighing art begets roughness; art outweighing matter begets pedantry. Matter and art well blent make a gentleman.
17. The Master said, Man is born straight. If he grows crooked and yet lives, he is lucky to escape.
18. The Master said, He that knows is below him that loves, and he that loves below him that delights therein.
19. The Master said, To men above the common we can talk of higher things; to men below the common we must not talk of higher things.
20. Fan Ch'ih[60] asked, What is wisdom?
The Master said, To foster right among the people; to honour ghosts and spirits, and yet keep aloof from them, may be called wisdom.
He asked, What is love?
The Master said, To rank the effort above the prize may be called love.
21. The Master said, Wisdom delights in water; love delights in hills. Wisdom is stirring; love is quiet. Wisdom is merry; love grows old.
22. The Master said, By one revolution Ch'i might grow to be Lu; by one revolution Lu might reach the Way.
23. The Master said, A drinking horn that is no horn! What a horn! What a drinking horn!
24. Tsai Wo[61] said, If a man of love were told that a man is in a well, would he go in after him?
The Master said, Why should he? A gentleman might be got to the well, but not trapped into it, He may be cheated, but not fooled.
25. The Master said, By breadth of reading and the ties of courtesy, a gentleman is kept, too, from false paths.
26. The Master saw Nan-tzu.[62] Tzu-lu was displeased.
The Master took an oath, saying, If I have done wrong, may Heaven forsake me, may Heaven forsake me!
27. The Master said, The highest minds cleave to the Centre, the Common. They have long been rare among the people.
28. Tzu-kung said, To treat the people with bounty and help the many, how were that? Could it be called love?
The Master said, What has this to do with love? Must it not be holiness? Yao and Shun[63] still yearned for this. Seeking a foothold for self, love finds a foothold for others; seeking light for itself, it enlightens others too. To learn from the near at hand may be called the clue to love.
FOOTNOTES:
[48] The disciple Chung-kung.
[49] The disciple Yen Yüan.
[50] The disciple Kung-hsi Hua, or Kung-hsi Ch'ih.
[51] Kung-hei Ch'ih.
[52] Yen Yüan.
[53] The head of the Chi clan after Chi Huan.
[54] The disciple Tzu-lu.
[55] The disciple Tzu-kung.
[56] The disciple Jan Yu.
[57] A disciple.
[58] Yen Yüan.
[59] Jan Yu.
[60] A disciple.
[61] A disciple.
[62] The dissolute wife of Duke Ling of Wei.
[63] Two emperors of the golden age.
BOOK VII
1. The Master said, A teller and not a maker, one that trusts and loves the past; I might liken myself to our old P'eng.[64]
2. The Master said, To think things over in silence, to learn and be always hungry, to teach and never weary; is any of these mine?
3. The Master said, Not making the most of my mind, want of thoroughness in learning, failure to do the right when told it, lack of strength to overcome faults; these are my sorrows.
4. In his free moments the Master was easy and cheerful.
5. The Master said, How deep is my decay! It is long since I saw the Duke of Chou[65] in a dream.
6. The Master said, Keep thy will on the Way, lean on mind, rest in love, move in art.
7. The Master said, From the man that paid in dried meat upwards, I have withheld teaching from no one.
8. The Master said, Only to those fumbling do I open, only for those stammering do I find the word.
If I lift one corner and the other three are left unturned, I say no more.
9. When eating beside a mourner the Master never ate his fill. On days when he had been wailing, he did not sing.
10. The Master said to Yen Yüan, To go forward when in office and lie quiet when not; only I and thou can do that.
Tzu-lu said, If ye had to lead three armies, Sir, whom would ye have with you?
No man, said the Master, that would face a tiger bare-fisted, or plunge into a river and die without a qualm; but one, indeed, who, fearing what may come, lays his plans well and carries them through.
11. The Master said, If shouldering a whip were a sure road to riches I should turn carter; but since there is no sure road, I tread the path I love.
12. The Master gave heed to abstinence, war and sickness.
13. When he was in Ch'i, for three months after hearing the Shao played, the Master knew not the taste of flesh.
I did not suppose, he said, that music could reach such heights.
14. Jan Yu said, Is the Master for the lord of Wei?[66]
I shall ask him, said Tzu-kung.
He went in, and said, What kind of men were Po-yi[67] and Shu-ch'i?
Worthy men of yore, said the Master.
Did they rue the past?
They sought love and found it; what had they to rue?
Tzu-kung went out, and said, The Master is not for him.
15. The Master said, Eating coarse rice and drinking water, with bent arm for pillow, we may be merry; but ill-gotten wealth and honours are to me a wandering cloud.
16. The Master said, Given a few more years, making fifty for learning the Yi,[68] I might be freed from gross faults.
17. The Master liked to talk of poetry, history, and the upkeep of courtesy. Of all these he liked to talk.
18. The Duke of She asked Tzu-lu about Confucius.
Tzu-lu did not answer.
The Master said, Why didst thou not say, He is a man that forgets to eat in his eagerness, whose sorrows are forgotten in gladness, who knows not that age draws near?
19. The Master said, I was not born to wisdom: I loved the past, and sought it earnestly there.
20. The Master never talked of goblins, strength, disorder, or spirits.
21. The Master said, Walking three together I am sure of teachers. I pick out the good and follow it; I see the bad and shun it.
22. The Master said, Heaven begat the mind in me; what can Huan T'ui[69] do to me?
23. The Master said, My two-three boys, do ye think I hide things? I hide nothing from you. I am a man that keeps none of his doings from his two-three boys.
24. The Master taught four things: art, conduct, faithfulness and truth.
25. The Master said, A holy man I shall not live to see; enough could I find a gentleman! A good man I shall not live to see; enough could I find a steadfast one! But when nothing poses as something, cloud as substance and want as riches, it is hard indeed to be steadfast!
26. The Master angled, but he did not fish with a net; he shot, but not at birds sitting.
27. The Master said, There may be men that do things without knowing why. I do not. To hear much, pick out the good and follow it; to see much and think it over; this comes next to wisdom.
28. To talk to the Hu village was hard. When a lad was seen by the Master, the disciples doubted.
The Master said, I allow his coming, not what he does later. Why be so harsh? If a man cleans himself to come in, I admit his cleanness, but do not warrant his past.
29. The Master said, Is love so far a thing? I long for love, and lo! love is come.
30. A judge of Ch'en asked whether Duke Chao[70] knew good form.
Confucius answered, He knew good form.
After Confucius had left, the judge beckoned Wu-ma Ch'i[71] to him, and said, I had heard that gentlemen are of no party, but do they, too, take sides? This lord married a Wu, whose name was the same as his, and called her Miss Tzu of Wu: if he knew good form, who does not know good form?
When Wu-ma Ch'i told the Master this he said, How lucky I am! If I go wrong, men are sure to know it!
31. When anyone sang to the Master, and sang well, he made him sing it again and joined in.
32. The Master said, I have no more reading than others; to live as a gentleman is not yet mine.
33. The Master said, How dare I lay claim to holiness or love? A man of endless craving, who never tires of teaching, I might be called, but that is all.
That is just what we disciples cannot learn, said Kung-hsi Hua.
34. When the Master was very ill, Tzu-lu asked leave to pray.
Is it done? said the Master.
It is, answered Tzu-lu. The Memorials say, Pray to the spirits above and to the Earth below.
The Master said, Long-lasting has my prayer been.
35. The Master said, Waste makes men unruly, thrift makes them mean; but they are better mean than unruly.
36. The Master said, A gentleman is calm and spacious; the small man is always fretting.
37. The Master's manner was warm yet dignified. He was stern, but not fierce; humble, yet easy.
FOOTNOTES:
[64] We should be glad to know more of old P'eng, but nothing is known of him.
[65] Died 1105 b.c. He was the younger brother of King Wu, the founder of the Chou dynasty, as great in peace as the King in war. He was so bent on carrying out the old principles of government that 'if anything did not tally with them, he looked up and thought, till day passed into night, and if by luck he found the answer he sat and waited for the dawn' (Mencius, Book VIII, chapter 20).
[66] The grandson of Duke Ling, the husband of Nan-tzu. His father had been driven from the country for plotting to kill Nan-tzu. When Duke Ling died, he was succeeded by his grandson, who opposed by force his father's attempts to seize the throne.
[68] An abstruse, ancient classic, usually called the Book of Changes.
[69] In 495 b.c., during Confucius's wanderings, Huan T'ui sent a band of men to kill him; but why he did so is not known.
[70] Duke Chao of Lu (+ 510 b.c.) was the duke that first employed Confucius. It is against Chinese custom for a man to marry a girl whose surname is the same as his.
[71] A disciple of Confucius.
BOOK VIII
1. The Master said, T'ai-po[72] may be said to have carried nobility furthest. Thrice he refused all below heaven. Men were at a loss how to praise him.
2. The Master said, Without good form attentions grow into fussiness, heed becomes fearfulness, daring becomes unruliness, frankness becomes rudeness. When gentlemen are true to kinsfolk, love will thrive among the people; if they do not forsake old friends, the people will not steal.
3. When Tseng-tzu lay sick he called his disciples and said, Uncover my feet, uncover my arms. The poem says,