# embeddings_queue

created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 92, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 92, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "lects, other than in error."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 93, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 93, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 94 \nBook XVII \n \n17.1  Yang Huo wished  to have Confucius \nappear in audience, but Confucius would not appear.  Yang Huo sent  Confucius a suckling \npig.  Confucius timed a visit for a day when \nYang Huo was not at home and went to pay \nhis thanks, but encountered Yang Huo on the road.  Yang Huo addressed Confucius, \n\u201cCome.  I want a word with you.   \n\u201cTo conceal your treasure and let your \nstate go astray, can this be called ren?  No, it \ncannot.  To be eager to engage in affairs but \nto repeatedly miss one\u2019s proper time, can this be called wisdom?  No, it cannot. \n \u201cThe days and months are rushing by; \nno extra years will be allotted to me.\u201d  Confucius said, \u201cAll right.  It is my \nintent to serve.\u201d \n 17.2  The Master said, \u201cBy nature close to \none another, through practice far distant.\u201d \n \n17.3  The Master said, \u201cOnly the wisest and the stupidest do not change.\u201d \n \n17.4  The Master went to Wucheng and heard the sound of zithers and singing.  With"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f9952f4c-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 93, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 93, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "a little laugh he said, \u201cDoes one chop up a \nchicken with a beef cleaver?\u201d \n Ziyou replied, \u201cIn the past I have \nheard the Master say, \u2018When a junzi  studies \nthe dao he cherishes people; when small men \nstudy the dao they are easy to direct.\u2019\u201d \n The Master said, \u201cMy friends, Yan\u2019s \nwords are correct.  What I said before was merely in jest.\u201d  Notes \n \n17.1  Yang Huo (elsewhere known as Yang Hu) was a retainer of the \nJi family when Confucius was \nyoung.  Appointed steward of the Ji clan domain in Bi, Yang Huo took control of the city and re-belled against the Ji.  In this sense, he usurped the power of a clan that \nhad itself usurped the power of the \ndukes of Lu.  He was regarded as an immoral adventurer.  In this passage, we see \nConfucius attempt to avoid associ-\nating with so unsavory a man, but \nwhen they meet, Yang Huo\u2019s elo-quent use of the doctrine of timeli-ness gives him the appearance of morality \u2013 especially since he is \nseeking the service of a moral ex-"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f9952f74-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 93, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 93, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "emplar.  There is no record that Confucius ever served Yang Huo.   The doctrine of timeliness is a major theme of both Book XVII and Book XVIII.  17.1 is \nechoed in 17.4 and 17.6. \n 17.2  The Analects \u2019 only comment \non the issue of human \u2018nature\u2019 \n(xing \u6027), which becomes a central \nconcern of philosophy from the \nfourth century on.  17.4  Yan is the personal name of \nthe disciple Ziyou, who was at this \ntime managing the town of \nWucheng.  Here, he has apparently attempted to infuse the people of his\n town with Confucian ritual \nlearning. \nThe terms \u2018 junzi\u2019 and \n\u2018small man\u2019 are clearly used here in the senses of a ruler and those who are ruled. \n \n17.5  After the revolt of Yang Huo (17.1) failed, his subordinate, Gongshan Furao, continued the"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 94, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 94, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 95\n17.5  Gongshan Furao held the city of Bi in \nrevolt.  He summoned the Master, who wished to go to him.  Zilu was displeased. \nHe said, \u201cDo not go.  Why must it be Gong-\nshan you go to?\u201d  The Master said, \u201cHow can it be that \nhe summons me for no good purpose?  If \nthere is one who will use me, I could make for him a Zhou in the east!\u201d   \n17.6  Zizhang asked about ren.  The Master \nsaid, \u201cHe who can enact five things in the \nworld is ren.\u201d  When asked for details, he \nwent on, \u201cReverence, tolerance, trustworthi-\nness, quickness, and generosity.  He is rever-\nent, hence he receives no insults; he is toler-\nant, hence he gains the multitudes; he is \ntrustworthy, hence others entrust him with responsibilities; he is quick, hence he has ac-\ncomplishments; he is generous, hence he is \ncapable of being placed in charge of others.   17.7  Bi Xi summoned the Master, who \nwished to go.  Zilu said, \u201cIn the past, I have"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 94, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 94, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "heard the Master say, \u2018The domain of one who has marked himself with wrongdoing \nthe junzi   does enter.\u2019  Bi Xi has used the \ntown of Zhongmou as a base for revolt. \nHow can it be that you would go there?\u201d \n The Master said, \u201cI have indeed spo-\nken as you say.  But is it not said, \u2018So hard, it is not worn down by grinding; so white, it is \nnot blackened by pitch?\u2019   Can it be that I am \nno more than a bitter gourd?  How can I be hung, uneaten, by a string?\u201d \n \n17.8  The Master said , \u201cYou, have you heard \nthe six imperatives and the six related flaws of narrow vision?\u201d  Zilu replied, \u201cNo, I have attempt. \n 17.5 and 17.7, passages \nthat portray Confucius\u2019s attraction to the seamiest of usurpers, are puzzling, in that he is elsewhere portrayed as so scrupulously avoiding moral compromise with \neven legitimate rulers.  However, \n17.5 suggests that some situations reach an extremity of disruption that provides a moral opportunity to wipe the slate clean and con-"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f9952fe2-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 94, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 94, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "struct a moral regime entirely \nanew.  If that is, indeed, its impli-\ncation, it extends the doctrine of \ntimeliness in a new direction, im-plying that the Confucian sage should \u2018appear\u2019 even when the dao \ndoes not prevail, so long as chaos is pervasive.  Indeed, in the second great Confucian text, the Mencius , \ntimeliness has come to include this idea (see Mencius  2A.1). \n 17.7  Bi Xi\u2019s revolt occurred in the state of Jin, about the same time that Yang Huo and Gongshan Furao were leading revolts in Lu.  \nAll these revolts failed, and none \nof these men came to be viewed positively in history.  The Analects  \nseems to use these events to under-line the tensions involved in the doctrine of timeliness \u2013 moral op-\nportunity may be disguised in even \nthe seamiest political adventurism.    \n \n     \n17.8  The \u2018six imperatives\u2019 (more \nliterally, the \u2018six words\u2019) are ren, \nknowledge, faithfulness, straight-forwardness, valor, and incorrupti-"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 95, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 95, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 96 \nnot.\u201d \n \u201cSit, and I\u2019ll teach them to you.  If, you love ren, but you do not love learning, \nthe flaw is ignorance.  If you love knowledge but you do not love learning, the flaw is un-ruliness.  If you love faithfulness but do not \nlove learning, the flaw is harming others.  If \nyou love straightforwardness but you do not love learning, the flaw is offensiveness.  If you love valor but you do not love learning, \nthe flaw is causing chaos.  If you love incor-\nruptibility but you do not love learning, the flaw is recklessness. \n \n17.9  The Master said, \u201cYoung friends, why \ndo you not study the Poetry .  By means of \nthe odes one may inspir e, one may reveal \none\u2019s thoughts, one may gather with others, \none may voice complaints.  Near at hand, \nthey can guide you to serve your fathers; \nmore distantly, they can guide you to serve a ruler \u2013 and you can learn the names of many birds and beast, tress and grasses.\u201d"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f9953032-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
encoding: FLOAT32
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 95, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 95, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "17.10  The Master said to Boyu, \u201cHave you learned the odes of the Zhou-nan and Shao-\nnan?  A man who does not learn the odes of the Zhou-nan and Shao-nan is like a man \nstanding with his face to a wall.\u201d \n \n17.11  The Master said, Li, li, is jade and silk \nall we mean by it?  Music, music, are bells \nand drums all we mean by it? \n 17.12  The Master said, A fierce expression \noutside and cowardice within, if one com-\npared him to a small man, he would be a \nrobber leaping over a wall or breaking through. bility. \n \u2018Faithfulness\u2019 (or \u2018trust-\nworthiness\u2019) is literally keeping one\u2019s word.  To keep to one\u2019s word without regard to changing circumstances can harm others (the word here is literally \u2018thievery\u2019, \nperhaps meaning you steal others\u2019 \nwelfare so no one can say you vio-lated your promise).  This passage has much in common with 8.2. \n \n \n \n  17.9  On the uses of the Poetry , see"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f995305a-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
encoding: FLOAT32
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 95, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 95, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "13.5.    The last line of the first part of this passage seems oddly out of tune with the rest.  It is true enough that the Poetry  is filled \nwith plant and animal names, and was probably used as a primer for these in ordinary education.  Here, the comment is likely humor.  Boyu was Confucius\u2019s \nson. See 16.13. \n 17.10  The Zhou-nan  and Shao-\nnan are the first two collections of odes in the Poetry .  Traditional \ninterpretations gave them great \nweight of moral authority, al-\nthough contemporary criticism views them principally as simple folk poems.  \n17.11  This seems very much like \n6.25 in message."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f9953082-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 96, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 96, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 97\n17.13  The Master said, The good men of the \nvillage are thieves of virtue.  \n17.14  The Master said, To repeat on the \nroad what one has heard on the street is to throw virtue away. \n \n17.15  The Master said, Can one serve a lord side by side with a vulgar person?  Before he gets what he wants, he  worries about getting \nit.  Once he has it, he worries about losing it. Once he worries about losing it, there are no lengths to which he will not go.  \n \n17.16  The Master said, In former times the \npeople had three weakne sses, but today these \nhave disappeared.  The reckless men of the past exceeded proper constraints; reckless men today are disruptive.   The abrasive men \nof the past were haughtily pure; a\nbrasive \nmen today burst into fury.  The ignorant men of the past were straightforward; ignorant men today are simply deceitful. \n \n17.17  The Master said:  Those of crafty words and ingratiating expression are rarely \nren."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f99530aa-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
encoding: FLOAT32
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 96, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 96, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "17.18  The Master said, I detest that purple \nhas displaced crimson;  I detest that the \nmelodies of Zheng have disordered the mu-\nsic of court; I detest that crafty mouths have \noverturned states and households. \n \n17.19  The Master said, \u201cI wish to be word-\nless.\u201d  \nZigong said, \u201cIf you never spoke, then \nwhat would we disciples have to pass on?\u201d   \nThe Master said, \u201cDoes Tian speak? 17.13 The \u2018good men\u2019 are those \nwho use the prestige of age to pro-\ntect their position without accept-ing any ethical challenge.  They appear virtuous, but have no moral substance.  It may be that 17.12 builds on the image of 17.11. \n \n17.15  This is a comment on the urge to gossip.  17.14  Confucians are known as \n\u2018meritocrats\u2019 \u2013 in an aristocratic \nworld of hereditary privilege they \nadvocated for the advancement of \nmen on the basis of merit, not birth.  Yet there are times, as here, where there seems to be a sense of \nclass disdain for unpolished men"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f99530d2-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
encoding: FLOAT32
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 96, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 96, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "trying to rise fast in society.    17.16  This passage is constructed around sarcasm. \n \n    \n \n 17.17  Duplicates 1.3, and seems to initiate a series of passages con-cerning the misuse of speech.  \n17.18  The first two parts\n are ex-\namples of modish fashion destroy-\ning what the Analects  sees as the \npurity of Zhou li.  Purple, com-\nposed of threads of mixed dyes, \nhad displaced the proper single-\ndyed ritual caps of court.  The melodies of Zheng are frequently referred to as \u2018overwrought\u2019 (or lascivious).  As is generally true of series, it is the last item that is the \n\u2018punch line\u2019.  The issue here is \nmisused speech."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f99530fa-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 97, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 97, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 98 \nYet the seasons turn and the creatures of the \nworld are born.  Does Tian speak?\u201d  \n \n17.20  Ru Bei came seeking an audience with Confucius.  Conf ucius said to tell him \nhe could not receive him because of illness. \nAs the messenger went through the door, \nConfucius picked up his zither and began to sing, making sure Ru Bei would hear.  \n17.21  Zai Wo asked about the three year \nmourning period.  \u201cA full year is already a long time.  If a junzi were not to participate \nin li for three years, surely liwould decay; if \nhe did not participate in music for three years, surely music will collapse.  As the \ngrain of the old year is exhausted, the grain \nof the new year is harvested, the cycle of firewood has gone round \u2013 a full year is \nenough.\u201d \n The Master said, \u201cWould you feel comfortable eating rice and wearing bro-caded clothes?\u201d \n \u201cI would.\u201d \n \u201cIf you would be comfortable, do it. When the junzi is in mourning, fine foods are"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f9953122-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 97, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 97, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "not sweet to him, music brings no joy, living in luxury brings him no comfort, therefore, he does not indulge in these things.  Now, if \nyou would be comfortable, do it.\u201d \n Zai Wo went out.  The Master said, \u201cYu is not ren.  A child has lived for three \nyears before he leaves  his mother\u2019s arms. \nThe three year mourning period is common to mourning throughout the world.  Did not \nYu receive three years love from his par-\nents?\u201d  17.22  The Master said, To eat one\u2019s fill all  \n \n 17.20  The theme of wordlessness is continued from the previous passage.  Ru Bei was apparently a man of influence in Lu (the text \nrefers to \u2018Confucius\u2019 only when a \npower holder is present).  Confu-cius conveys his disdain for him \u2018wordlessly\u2019, through the combina-tion of the messenger and music \nmaking.    \n \n17.21  One of the most burden-\nsome of li was the rule that upon the death of a parent, a man must withdraw from society for three \nyears (actually twenty-seven"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f995314a-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 97, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 97, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "months), eschewing all common pleasures to indulge in concen-trated mourning.  Although in this passage \nConfucius refers to this as a \nworldwide custom, it was clearly a distinctive feature of Zhou culture.  The reasons given for the custom here are not among the most co-\ngent statements in the Analects . \n \n    \n \n    \n \n     \n \n 17.22  Bo  and yi were board \ngames.  The rules of bo are no"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f9953172-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 98, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 98, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 99\nday long and not exerci se one\u2019s mind \u2013 that \nis hard to understand.  Aren\u2019t there those \nwho pass time with the games of bo and yi? \nEven they are more worthy.  17.23  Zilu said, \u201cDoes the junzi  prize \nvalor?\u201d  The Master said, \u201cThe junzi  gives \nrighteousness (yi ) the topmost place.  If a \njunzi  had valor but not righteous-ness, he \nwould create chaos.  If a small person has \nvalor and not righteous ness, he becomes a \nbandit.  \n \n17.24  Zigong said, \u201cDoes the junzi have \nthings he hates?\u201d \n The Master said, \u201cHe does.  He hates \nthose who proclaim other men\u2019s faults; hehates those who occupy in ferior positions but \nwho slander their superiors; he hates those who are valorous but lack li; he hates those \nwho are bold but lack understanding.\u201d \n The Master went on, \u201cDo you too have \nthings you hate?\u201d \n \u201cI hate those who think having spied out things is wisdom; I hate those who think \nbeing uncompliant is va lor; I hate those who"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f995319a-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 98, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 98, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "think insulting others is straightforward-\nness.\u201d \n \n17.25  The Master said, Women and small men are difficult to nurture.  If you get too \nclose to them, they become uncompliant, and \nif you stay too distant, they become resent-ful. \n \n17.26  The Master said, If a man reaches the age of forty and has not earned the hatred of \nanyone, it is all over with him. longer fully understood.  Yi is to-\nday called weiqi, though it is much \nbetter known by its Japanese name, \ngo.    \n \n    \n \n \n \n   \n \n    \n \n    \n \n     \n \n  17.25  In early Confucian litera-ture, this passage stands out as \ndemeaning to women.  \u2018Small \nmen\u2019 here probably refers to minor male servants.  The passage con-flates issues of gender and class, and is the lament of elite males who worry that kindness leads \ntheir inferiors to forget their place.  \nWhether a late addition or Confu-cius\u2019s own words, the best that can \nbe said of it is that is atypical."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 99, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 99, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 100 \nBook XVIII \n \n18.1  Weizi left him; Jizi became his slave; \nBigan remonstrated with him and died.  Con-\nfucius said, \u201cThere were three renmen of \nYin.\u201d \n \n18.2  When Liuxia Hui served as warden, he was thrice dismissed.  People asked him, \n\u201cShould you not leave for another state?\u201d \n \u201cIf one serves a lord by means of the \nstraight dao, where could one go and not be \nthrice dismissed?  To serve a lord by means \nof a crooked dao, why need one leave the \ncountry of one\u2019s parents?\u201d  \n18.3  Duke Jing of Qi received Confucius, \nsaying, \u201cTo host him as I would the head of \nthe Ji family, this I am unable to do.    Estab-\nlish him at a level between that used to host \nthe Ji family and that used to host the Meng family.\u201d  Then he further said, \u201cI am old; I can-\nnot employ him.\u201d \n Confucius departed.  \n18.4  The people of Qi made a present of fe-\nmale musicians.  Ji Huanzi received them, and for three days he did not attend court.   \n Confucius departed."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 99, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 99, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "18.5  A madman of Chu encountered the \nchariot Confucius was driving, and walking across its path, intoned: \n Phoenix, phoenix, \n How virtue has withered! \n What is past is beyond repairing, \n What is to come is still worth pursuing. \n Enough, enough! Notes \n \n18.1  The three men named were relatives of the evil last king of the \nShang (Yin), Zh\u00f2u.  Weizi, an \nolder half-brother, fled from the capital.  Jizi, an uncle, finding his remonstrances useless, feigned madness and became a palace slave.  Bigan was disemboweled as \npenalty for his advice. \n 18.2 Liuxia Hui was a minor gran-dee in Lu three generations before \nConfucius, around whom many \nlegends grew.   \n 18.3  Duke Jing had died by the time Confucius\u2019s wanderings be-gan, but this may not have been \nunderstood by the authors of this \npassage.  The Ji clan was the great-est warlord clan in Lu; the Meng clan was second to them.  The duke was offering Confucius rather \nlavish treatment, but not at the"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 99, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 99, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "highest level, and indicating that he could not follow Confucius\u2019s dao in policy. \n \n18.4  Huanzi was head of the Ji \nwarlord clan in Lu.  Confucius is here pictured as an advisor at court, who departs upon seeing the moral lapse induced by the gift from Qi.  (Other sources say that at \nthis time Confucius was Minister \nof Crime in Lu, a ducal appoint-ment, secured for him by the Ji family.)\n \n 18.3-4 are clearly intended \nto establish that Confucius was recognized as a political power in the states of Qi and Lu, but found the environment too unethical to remain. \n \n18.5  The next four passages deal,"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 100, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 100, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 101\n Danger now for those at court.  \n Confucius stepped down, wishing to \nspeak with him, but the madman hurried to \ndodge away, and Confucius was unable to \nspeak with him.  \n18.6  Chang Ju and Jie Ni were ploughing \nthe fields in harness together.  Confucius passed by and sent his disciple Zilu over to \nask directions.  Chang Ju said, \u201cWho is that holding the carriage reins?\u201d  \n Zilu said, \u201cThat is Kong Qiu.\u201d  \n \u201cKong Qiu of Lu?\u201d  \n \u201cYes.\u201d \n \u201cWhy, then, he knows where he can \ngo!\u201d  Zilu then asked Jie Ni.  Jie Ni said, \u201cAnd who are you?\u201d  \n \u201cI am Zhong You.\u201d \n \u201cAre you a disciple of Kong Qiu of Lu?\u201d \n \u201cI am.\u201d \n \u201cThe world is inundated now. Who can change it?  Would you not be better off \njoining those who have fled from the world altogether, instead of following someone who flees from this man to that one?\u201d   \nThen the two of them went on with \ntheir ploughing.  Zilu returned to report to Confucius.  The Master\u2019s brow furrowed.  \u201cI can-"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 100, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 100, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "not flock together with the birds and beasts!\u201d \nhe cried.  \u201cIf I am not a fellow traveler with men such as these, then with whom?  If only \nthe Way prevailed in the world I would not \nhave to try to\n change it!\u201d \n \n18.7  Zilu fell behind.  He encountered an elaborately, with the themes of \nreclusion and timeliness.  The un-\nusual characters whom they de-scribe are the types of figures who lie in the background of the birth of the philosophical school of Dao-ism.  The passages attempt to illus-\ntrate Confucius\u2019s full awareness of \nthe critique of him mounted (long after his life) by followers of that persuasion, and his under-standing and sympathy with the standpoint \nof the recluse, even as he found \nmoral imperatives to remain en-\ngaged."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 101, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 101, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 102 \nold man with a staff, using his staff to carry a \nbasket.  Zilu asked him, \u201cHave you seen my master?\u201d \n The old man said, \u201cA man whose \nlimbs have never move d in labor, who can\u2019t \ntell one grain from another \u2013 who is your \nmaster?\u201d  Then he planted his staff in the \nground and began weeding.  Zigong bowed and stood in place.  The old man had Zilu stop with him \novernight.  He killed a chicken and made a \nmillet congee with it, and he fed Zilu, intro-\nducing his two sons to him afterwards. \n The next day, Z ilu caught up and re-\nported all this.  The Master said, \u201cHe is a re-\ncluse,\u201d and he had Zilu take him back to see \nthe old man.  When th ey reached the place, \nthe man had gone.  Zilu said, \u201cIt is unrighteous not to \nserve.  The codes that  govern the relation of \nold and young may not be discarded; how \ncan the proper relation of ruler and minister be discarded?  They wa nt to purify their per-"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 101, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 101, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "sons, but they disrupt the basic relationships among people.  The service of a junzi is the \nenactment of right.  That the dao does not \nprevail, this we already know.\u201d  18.8  Those who withdrew  from service:  Bo \nYi and Shu Qi; Yu Zhong, Yi Yi, and Zhu Zhang; Liuxia Hui and Shao Lian. \nThe Master said, \u201cNever compromis-\ning their aims, never subjecting their persons to disgrace: would this not be Bo Yi and Shu Qi?\u201d \nHe characterized Liuxia Hui and Shao \nLian thus: \u201cThey compromised their aims and subjected their persons to disgrace. Speech always fitting the role, conduct al- \n18.7  It seems likely that Zilu\u2019s \nfinal words in this passage were added by a later editor.  They seem out of sympathy with the remain-der of the passage, which ex-presses, like others in this section, \na type of admiration for the re-\ncluses it portrays, for their myste-riousness and wry sense of humor."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f99532d0-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 101, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 101, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "18.8  The seven men mentioned here may be those spoken of in 14.37.  For Bo Yi and Shu Qi, see \n5.23.   For Liuxia Hui, see 18.2.  \nYu Zhong was said to be a brother and companion of Taibo (see 8.1) in his flight away from the Zhou throne.  Little or nothing is known about the other figures. \n The key point to this\n pas-\nsage \u2013 and it is an important one \u2013 \nlies in its structure and final phrases.  All these exemplars"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 102, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 102, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 103\nways matching the plan; this they fulfilled, \nbut no more.\u201d   \nOf Yu Zhong and Yi Yi he said, \n\u201cThey hid themselves away and relinquished \npublic comment.  In one's person abiding in purity, in choosing retirement maintaining \ndiscretion. \n\u201cAs for me, I differ from them all.  I \nhave no rule of what is permissible and what \nis not.\u201d \n \n18.9  Grand Music Master Zhi fled to the state of Qi; the master of the second course, \nGan, fled to the state of Chu; the master of \nthe third course, Liao, fl ed to the state of Cai; \nthe master of the fourth  course, Que, fled to \nthe state of Qin; the drummer, Fangshu, fled \nup the Yellow River valley; the hand drum player, Wu, fled down the Han River valley; \nthe Master\u2019s assistant, Yang, and the beater \nof the stone chimes, Xiang, fled out to sea.  18.10  The Duke of Zhou addressed the \nDuke of Lu, saying, \u201cThe junzi does not  put \naside his family; he does not allow his high"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f9953320-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 102, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 102, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "ministers to become re sentful that they are \nnot used; he does not abandon old friends without great cause; he  does not demand of \nany one man that he be  skilled in all things. \n 18.11  There were eight gentlemen of  the Zhou: Boda, Bokuo, Zhongtu, Zhonghu, \nShuye, Shuxia, Jisui, and Jiwa. abided by some type of moral rule, \nwhich led each into reclusion.  The \ndifference with Confucius is that he has no rule \u2013 his actions are governed entirely by his trained judgments of the times, and of the moral opportunities they may or \nmay not present. \n This passage has a close parallel in the Confucian text Men-\ncius (5B.1). \n \n18.9  In the legend of the Zhou \nconquest of the Shang, the final \nsign that the Shang king had lost \nhis mandate to rule is depicted as the scattering of the Shang court musicians.  The musicians listed \nhere were those employed at the \ncourt of Duke Ai of Lu, who was on the throne when Confucius died.  The editors who included this seemingly extraneous passage"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f9953348-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 102, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 102, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "may have meant to imply that with \nConfucius\u2019s death, all legitimacy in Lu was lost.  This passage continues the theme of reclusion. \n \n18.10  The Duke of Zhou was the founding duke of Lu.  Because he had to remain at the capital in the west to assist the king, he deputed his son to found the fief in his \nstead.  This passage purports to be \nthe elder duke\u2019s charge to his son.   18.11 A puzzling list of unknown men.  \u2018Bo\u2019, \u2018Zhong\u2019, \u2018Shu\u2019, and \n\u2018Ji\u2019 are family age-rank markers, \nsuggesting these are meant to be two sets of four brothers.  Inter-preters have claimed that this pas-sage was meant to signify the rich-\nness of talent in the early Zhou."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 103, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 103, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 104 \nBook XIX \n \n19.1  Zizhang said, If a gentleman may be \ndeemed satisfactory if will fulfill his orders \nin the face of mortal danger, bear  righteous-ness in mind when faced with opportunities \nfor gain, bear respect in mind when at sacri-\nfice, and bear grief in mind when at mourn-ing.  \n19.2  Zizhang said, If a man\u2019s grasp on virtue \nis not broad in practice and his  faithfulness \nto the dao not profound, then there his pres-\nence or absence in th e world counts for noth-\ning.  \n19.3  A disciple of Zixia asked Zizhang \nabout social interactions.  Zizhang said, \u201cWhat does Zixia say?\u201d \n \u201cZixia says, \u2018Interact with those who \nare satisfactory, spurn those who are not.\u2019\u201d  Zizhang said, \u201cThis differs from what I have heard.  The junzi  honors the worthy \nand is tolerant of the ordinary multitude; he praises the good and takes pity on those who are not able to be.  If I am worthy, of whom"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f9953398-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 103, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 103, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "can I not be tolerant?  If I am unworthy, oth-ers will spurn me, how would I be able to spurn others?\u201d \n \n19.4  Zixia said, Though a dao be minor, \nthere is always someth ing worth appreciating \nin it.  But if one pursues it far, there is the fear of becoming bogged down.  Therefore, the junzi  does not take it up. \n 19.5  Zixia said, A ma n who daily assesses \nwhat he has yet to  understand and who, \nmonth by month, does not forget what he has Notes \n \n19.1  Book XIX collects sayings of Confucius\u2019s disciples after the \nMaster\u2019s death.  Confucius himself \ndoes not appear.  For this reason, some interpreters have viewed the book as a late addition to the text.  In fact, it may be relatively early, since the impulse to celebrate or \nattack these men may have waned \nafter their deaths, and many of the other books may not be as early as was traditionally thought. \n Book XIX is our best evi-\ndence of the early factional divides"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f99533c0-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 103, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 103, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "within the Juist (Confucian) school.  The disciples whose voices are collected in this book include Zizhang, Zixia, Ziyou, \nZeng Shen, and Zigong. \n 19.3  In this passage, we catch a glimpse of the competition among the original disciples.  See also 19.12 and 19.15-16. \n \n    \n \n     \n \n19.4  This passage employs the word \u2018 dao\u2019 in the sense of an art \u2013 \nas in, for example, \u2018the Way of archery\u2019.  Here, we may see the \nch\u00fcn-tzu  as a man who follows the\n \ndao.  It serves as a good reminder \nthat to outsiders, the Juist dao was \njust one set of arts and teachings among many."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f99533e8-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 104, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 104, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 105\nmastered, may be said to love learning. \n 19.6  Zixia said, To study broadly and \ndeepen one\u2019s resolve, to question closely and \nreflect on things near at hand, ren lies \ntherein. \n \n19.7  Zixia said, Artisans of all types dwell in their workshops to master their crafts; the \njunzi studies to perfect his dao. \n 19.8  Zixia said, When  a small man commits \nan error, he will al ways make excuses. \n 19.9  Zixia said, A junzi  goes through three \ntransformations.  When you view him from \nafar, he is awesome; when you approach him \nhe is warm; when you he re his words, he is \ndemanding. \n \n19.10  Zixia said, The junzi  only la\nbors his \npeople once he has earned their trust.  If he has not earned their trust, they will merely \nsee him as demanding.  Only after earning \ntrust does he remonstrate with a lord.  If he has not yet earned trust, the lord will take it \nas slander. \n 19.11  Zixia said, If in matters of great im-"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f9953406-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 104, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 104, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "port to virtue, one never oversteps the proper \nbounds, in minor matters of virtue, it is ac-ceptable to be flexible. \n \n19.12  Ziyou said, \u201cThe disciples at Zixia\u2019s gate are well schooled when it comes to mat-\nters of sprinkling and sweeping, responding \nto orders and replying to questions, present-\ning themselves and withdrawing.  These are details.  When it comes to the basics in  \n  \n \n \n     \n \n    \n \n \n \n  \n \n    19.10  The passage pictures the \njunzi \u2019s conduct in the positions of \nboth a superior, governing others, \nand an inferior, serving a lord.   \n \n   19.11 This passage contrasts inter-estingly with the next, which pic-\ntures Zixia as deeply concerned \nabout minor matters of training.    \n19.12  \u2018Sprinkling and sweeping\u2019 \nconcerns the most basic rules about proper housecleaning.  Ziyou\u2019s family name was \nYan \u8a00."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 105, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 105, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 106 \nwhich they are rooted, they are at a loss.\u201d \n Zixia heard of this and said, \u201cOh, how mistaken Yan You is!  When it comes to the \ndao of the junzi , what is taught first deter-\nmines who will weary last.  This may be \ncompared to trees and grasses; variances in \nthe first shoots mark that they will be differ-ent.  How can he slander the dao of the junzi\nin this way?  It is, af ter all, only the sage who \nmasters it from the beginning to the end.\u201d \n \n19.13  Zixia said, A man in service who is superior should study; a man who is superior \nin study should serve. \n \n19.14  Ziyou said, In m ourning, exhaust grief \nand then stop.  19.15  Ziyou said, My friend Zhang does \nthings hard to do, but this is not yet ren. \n \n19.16  Master Zeng said, Zhang is very im-posing, but it is hard to pursue renside by \nside with him.  19.17  Master Zeng said, I have heard it from \nthe Master: A man may have exhausted him-\nself in nothing else, but he must do so in"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 105, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 105, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "mourning for his parents. \n \n19.18  Master Zeng said, I have heard it from the Master: With regard to the filiality of \nMeng Zhuangzi, in all other respects he did \nonly what others may do, but in retaining his \nfather\u2019s ministers and his father\u2019s policies, he \naccomplished something difficult. \n 19.19  The Meng family appointed Yang Fu as warden.  Yang Fu inquired of Master  \n \n \n \n     \n \n  \n \n     \n \n   \n19.15  \u2018Zhang,\u2019 in this passage and \nthe next, is Zizhang. \n    \n \n     \n \n   19.18  Meng Zhuangzi was the \nleader of the second most powerful \nwarlord clan in Lu.  This passage seems to illustrate the background of 1.11 and 4.20."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 106, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 106, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 107\nZeng.  Master Zeng sa id, \u201cThose who rule \nhaving departed from the dao , the people \nhave long been left to their own devices.  If \nyou get to the true facts of a case, then react \nwith commiseration and pity, and never take \npleasure in it. \n \n19.20  Zigong said, The wickedness of Zh\u00f2u could not have been as extreme as they say. This is why the junzi hates to dwell down-\nstream; all the world\u2019s evils are relegated there.  \n19.21  Zigong said, The errors of a junzi are \nlike eclipses of the sun and moon: everyone \nsees them.  Once he corrects them, everyone \nlooks up to him. \n 19.22  Gongsun Chao of Wei asked Zigong, \n\u201cWhere did Zhongni acquire his learning?\u201d \n Zigong said, \u201cThe dao of Kings Wen \nand Wu had not yet crumbled, it lay within people.  The worth recalled its greater as-\npects, the unworthy recalled its lesser as-\npects.  In nothing was there not something of the dao of Kings Wen and Wu.  Where"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f99534a6-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 106, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 106, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "would the Master not have acquired learning, and yet what single teac her could there have \nbeen for him?\u201d  \n \n19.23  Shusun Wushu said to the grandees at court, \u201cZigong is worthier than Zhongni.\u201d \nZifu Jingbo reported this to Zigong.   \n Zigong said, \u201cIf one used walls sur-rounding a residence to make a comparison, \nmine would have walls of shoulder height, so \na passerby could peer over and see how fine \nthe buildings and chambers were.  The Mas-ter\u2019s walls would towe r many yards higher \u2013 \n \n     \n \n 19.20  Zh\u00f2u was the evil last ruler of the Shang Dynasty (see 18.1).  Reflecting on the role of Zigong in \nthe Analects , it is hard not to\n think \nthat the actual person Zigong pos-\nsessed considerable independence of mind.  19.21  This passage can be com-\npared to 7.31. \n   \n \n19.22  \u2018Zhongni\u2019 was Confucius\u2019s \n\u2018style name\u2019, by which he was known to non-intimates.  The sud-den use of this name in the cluster of passages ending Book XIX sug-\ngests that they derive from a single"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f99534ce-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 106, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 106, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "tradition, different from other por-tions of the Analects . \n   \n \n   19.23  Shusun Wushu was a gran-\ndee of the state of Lu, as was Zifu \nJingbo, whom we encountered in 14.36, at a time when Confucius was still alive.  (In both his ap-pearances in the Analects , Zifu \nJingbo is pictured conveying news \nof things said at court.)"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f99534f6-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 107, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 107, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 108 \nwithout entering through the gate, one \ncould not see the beauty of the ancestral hall and the richness of the many buildings. \nFew seem to have found their way through \nthe gate, so it is to be expected that people would say such things about the Master.\u201d \n \n19.24  Shusun Wushu disparaged Zhongni. Zigong said, \u201cThere is no point in it. Zhongni cannot be disparaged.  The wor-\nthiness of others is like a hill; one may \nclimb to the top.  Zhongni was the sun and moon; there is no way to climb to them. \nEven if people wish to cut themselves off \nfrom them, what harm does this do to the \nsun and moon?  At most, it simply shows \nthey have no sense of scale. \n 19.25  Chen Ziqin said to Zigong, \u201cYou are \na reverent man; how  could Zhongni be \nworthier than you?\u201d \n Zigong said, \u201cA junzi may be known \nas wise by a single phrase he utters, and by \na single phrase he may be known as un-\nwise.  One cannot but be careful of what \none says."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f995351e-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 107, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 107, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "\u201cThe Master cannot be matched, just \nas there are no steps one  can climb to reach \nthe sky.     \u201cHad the Master been entrusted with \nmanagement of a state or a family domain, it would have been like the saying: \u2018He set \nthem up and they st ood, he guided them \nand they walked, he comforted them and \nthey came, he moved them and they were \nin harmony.\u2019  \u201cIn life he was celebrated, in death he was mourned.  How can he be \nmatched?\u201d  \n \n    \n \n   \n \n   \n \n    \n \n  19.25  Nothing is known about Chen Ziqin. \n The structure of this pas-\nsage resembles 12.8, which also \ninvolves Zigong\n."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f995353c-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 108, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 108, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 109\nBook XX \n \n20.1  Yao said, \u201cOh, Shun!  The numbers of \nTian\u2019s calendar now fall to your person \u2013\nhold well to their center.  If the lands within \nthe four seas are pre ssed to exhaustion, the \nemolument from Tian will be forever ended.\u201d  With these same words, Shun charged Yu. \n [Tang the Successful] said, \u201cI, L\u00fc, \nwho am but a youth, dare  to sacrifice this \ndark coated bull in clear declaration before \nthe august Lord above.  I dare not pardon \nthose who have committed crimes, and thus I cannot make concealm ent for the Lord\u2019s \nminister, for he has already been observed in the Lord\u2019s heart.  If I myself have committed \na crime, do not hold the myriad regions the \nland responsible, but if the myriad regions \nhave committed a crime, let it fall on my person alone.\u201d  The House of Zhou possessed a great \ntreasure; good men were its riches.  \u201cThough \nI have my closest kin, it is better to have men \nof ren.  If the people err, let it fall on my per-"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f995356e-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 108, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 108, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "son alone.\u201d  \nThe Zhou standardized weights and \nmeasures, aligned laws and ordinances, re-\nstored offices that had been allowed to lapse, \nand governance proceeded in all the four quarters.  They restored states that had been \nextinguished, extended their broken lineages, \nraised up to office those worthies who had fled to reclusion, and the people of the world \nresponded to them in their hearts.   \nThey gave priority to the people, their \nsustenance, funerals, and sacrifices. \nBeing tolerant, the gained the multi-Notes \n \n20.1  Book XX, a short,  atypical book that many regard as a late \nappendix of miscellaneous mate-\nrial, collects in its initial passage a series of texts concerning the founding of dynasties, beginning with the sages Yao, Shun, and Yu (the founder of the Xia Dynasty), \nand proceeding through Tang, \nfounder of the Shang, to the Zhou.  Yao\u2019s words place man-agement of the calendar at the cen-\nter of rulership, and in this way \nseem to shed light on 8.19.  The"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f99535aa-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 108, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 108, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "\u2018emolument from Tian\u2019 refers to the Mandate to rule, and the \u2018sal-ary\u2019 it entails.  The words quoted from \nTang are said to be an oath he took \nupon launching his campaign against the evil last ruler of the Xia, Jie, who is here referred to as the \u2018Lord\u2019s minister\u2019.  \u2018Lord\u2019 \ntranslates the term Di ( \u5e1d), which \nis in many ways functionally \nequivalent to Tian (Heaven).  The celebration of stan-\ndardization \u2013 which was a policy \nof the post-Classical Qin Dynasty (221-208) \u2013 may mark this passage as very late.  The remaining fea-tures of that section are aspects of the legend of the Zhou conquest of \nthe Shang. \n The final section may be \nan intrusive variant duplication of portions of 17.5."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 109, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 109, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 110 \ntudes; being trustworthy, the people en-\ntrusted them with responsibility; being quick, they had accomplishments; being impartial, \nthe people were pleased. \n 20.2  Zizhang asked C onfucius, \u201cWhat must \na man be like before he  may participate in \ngovernance?\u201d  Confucius said, \u201cIf he honors the five beautiful things, casts out the four evils, then \nhe may participate in governance.\u201d \n Zizhang said, \u201cWhat are the five beau-tiful things?\u201d \n The Master said, \u201cThe junzi  is gener-\nous but not wasteful, a taskmaster of whom \nnone complain, desirous but not greedy, dig-\nnified but not arrogant, awe-inspiring but not \nfearsome.\u201d  Zizhang said, \u201cWhat do you mean by \ngenerous but not wasteful?\u201d \n The Master said, \u201cTo reward people with that which benefits them, is that not to be generous but not wast eful?  To pick a task \nthat people can fulfill and set them to it, is that not to be a taskmaster of whom none complain?  If one desires ren and obtains it,"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f99535fa-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 109, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 109, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "wherein is he greedy?  If he never dares to be unmannerly, regardle ss of whether with \nmany or a few, with the great or the small, is \nthat not to be dignified but not arrogant? When the junzi  sets his cap and robes right, \nand makes his gaze reve rent, such that peo-\nple stare up at him in awe, is this not, indeed, to be awe-inspiring and not fearsome?\u201d  Zizhang said, \u201cWhat are the four \nevils?\u201d \n The Master said, \u201cTo execute people without having given them instruction is called cruelty; to inspect their work without  \n \n    20.2  Like many passages in Books \nXVI and XVII, this includes a \nnumbered list (actually two), elaborated in detail."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f9953622-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 110, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 110, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 111\n warning is called oppr essiveness; to demand \ntimely completion while having been slow in \ngiving orders is called thievery; to dole out \nstingily what must be given is called clerk-\nishness.\u201d  \n20.3  The Master said ,  If you do not know \nyour destiny ( ming ), you cannot be a junzi . \nIf you don\u2019t know li, you cannot take your \nstand.  If you don\u2019t inte rpret people\u2019s words, \nyou cannot interpret people. \n  \n  \n \n     \n20.3  \u2018Destiny\u2019 translates the term \nming, which in other contexts may mean \u2018fate\u2019, or Tian\u2019s \u2018mandate.\u2019 (See the online Glossary. ) \n The term \u2018interpret\u2019 is the \nverb usually rendered \u2018know\u2019 or \n\u2018understand\u2019."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 111, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 111, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 112 \n \nAppendix:  The Major Disciples of Confucius \n \nThe major Confucian disciples portrayed in the Analects  are listed below by the names the \ntext most frequently uses for them.  In many cases, they are commonl y referred to by their \n\u201cpublic names.\u201d  This was a name a young man was given in adolescence, and it was used \nwith or without his family surname to refer to him.  Public names frequently began with the \nword zi, signifying gentleman status \u2013 names such as Zilu, Zixia, Zigong are all of this sort.  \nEach of these men could also be referred to by the personal name they were given at birth: \nZilu was named You, and his family surname was Zhong, so he could be called Zhong You.  Confucius, his teacher, just calls him by his personal name, You.  He calls Zixia \u201cShang\u201d and \nZigong \u201cSi\u201d because their family and personal names were Bu Shang and Duanmu Si.  Some"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f9953672-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 111, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 111, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "disciples are referred to in the Analects  by a combination of family surname and public name.  \nFor example, Yan Yuan is referred to in this way, but Confucius calls him Hui, which was the \nname his family used when speaking to him.  The personal name that Confucius uses is in \nboldface below. \n \nAlthough the dates given are approximate and uncertain, the order in which disciples are \nlisted is generally from most senior to most junior.  The names of particularly important dis-ciples are underscored. \n \nZilu \u5b50\uf937 (Zhong You \u4ef2\u7531, c. 542-480)  The senior disciple \u2013 only nine years younger \nthan Confucius \u2013 Zilu is pictured very dis tinctively as a brash a nd impulsive warrior, \nwhose natural character Confucius is at pain s to temper, often by making fun of him.  \nZilu served as steward (estate manager) for the most powerful warlord family of Lu, the \nJi clan, and in that role, he comes under frequent criticism.  In his last years, he took a"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 111, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 111, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "court position in the state of Wei, just north of the Yellow River, not far from Lu.  There, \nhe was slain in a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat one year before Confucius\u2019s own death. \n \nMin Ziqian \u9594\u5b50\u9a2b (Min Sun \u9594\u640d, c. 536 - ?)  Min Ziqian is  not a major actor in the \nAnalects ; he appears in only five passages.  Howeve r, in four of these, he is singled out \nfor praise or portrayed very positively.  Not much younger than Zilu, he may have been a \nsenior exemplar to junior disciples. \n \nRan Y\u01d2u \u5189\u6709 (Ran Qiu \u5189\u6c42, c. 522-462)  Despite his high seniority in the Confucian \ngroup, Ran Y \u01d2u is never very clearly delineated as a character in the Analects .  He was, \nin fact, a prominent man in Lu, and served th e Ji family in the same manner as Zilu; in \nthis regard, he is comes in for as mu ch or more criticism than Zilu.  The Analects  tells us \nhe was practiced in the \u201carts,\u201d but in which arts  is not clear.  Historically, his battlefield"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
id: f99536c2-7599-11ee-939e-367dda414390
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 111, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 111, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "accomplishments in Lu during the period of C onfucius\u2019s exile allowed him to plead suc-\ncessfully for permission to welcome his master b ack into the state for his final years.  He \ndoes not seem to have played any role in th e growth of Confucianism after the Master\u2019s \ndeath, and it may be for that reason that he is so colorlessly portrayed in the Analects \n \nZhonggong  \u4ef2\u5f13 (Ran Yong \u5189\u96cd, c. 522- ? )  The praise Zhonggong (Yong) receives in \n6.1 is exceptionally high, and although he is a ra re presence in the Analects he is never-\ntheless portrayed with high respect.  The great Confucian Xunzi aligned himself with \nZhonggong\u2019s tradition of Confucianism and atta cked the tradition of Zeng Shen\u2019s disci-"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 112, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 112, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 113\nple Zisi and his later follower Mencius.  Thus it seems likel y that Zhonggong, of whom \nwe know little, shaped a major st rain of early Confucianism.  Within the past few years, a \nbamboo text datable prior to 300 BC has been recovered, purpor ting to record a conversa-\ntion between Confucius and Zhonggong.  Although the text is formulaic and by no means \na record of a true conversation, it does confirm that Zhonggong was seen as an important \nConfucian figure at that early time.  Zhonggong\u2019s father, Boniu, is also praised at several \npoints in the Analects . \n \nYan Yuan  \u984f\u6df5 (Yan Hui \u984f\u56de, c. 521-481)  Sometimes viewed by later tradition as a \nsage second only to Confucius, Yan Yuan was a poor man who seems never to have as-\npired to social position or wealth \u2013 he is pi ctured as being devoted solely to Confucius\u2019s"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 112, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 112, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "dao.  In the Analects, others comment on him often, though he himself rarely has much to say.  Confucius\u2019s mother\u2019s family name was Yan, and it is possible that Yan Yuan was a relation. The conversation in  Book XI, between Confucius and Yan Yuan\u2019s father con-\ncerning Yan Yuan\u2019s coffin woul d make good sense in that context.  Yan Yuan\u2019s early \ndeath is the great tragedy of the Analects. \n \nZai Wo \u5bb0\u6211 (Zai Yu \u5bb0\u4e88, c. 520-481)  Zai Wo was a nativ e of the state of Qi whose \ninvolvement in political intri gues there ultimately cost him hi s life.  He is the only disci-\nple who is never portrayed in an y but a negative light in the Analects  \u2013 duplicitous, lazy, \nargumentative.  It is hard to see from the text why he was accepted as a disciple at all; 5.10 suggests that Confucius regretted admitting his to the group.  (Bear in mind that this \nmay reflect the attitude of the text\u2019s compile rs, since Zai Wo died young.  It may be that"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 112, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 112, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "it was his fellow disciples who disa pproved of him, not his teacher.) \n \nZigong  \u5b50\u8ca2 (Duanmu Si \u7aef\u6728\u8cdc, c. 520-450)  One of the most subtle and interesting \nfigures in the Analects .  Our sources tell us that Zigong b ecame famous in Lu as a diplo-\nmat in state affairs while he was Confucius\u2019s disciple, and then went on to a career of \ngreat success as a merchant \u2013 an occupation that  Confucians tended to denigrate.  In the \nAnalects , Zigong repeatedly appears in passages of  great philosophical interest \u2013 when \nyou see Zigong in a passage, it\u2019s always worthwhile to read it with specia l care.  Al-\nthough he is not known as the founder of a lin eage of Confucian instruction, we see him \nin 19.22-25 hobnobbing with great lords of Lu and Wei, some of whom regard him as of \ngreater authority than Confuciu s himself.  When Confucius di ed, after the other disciples \ndispersed, Zigong, we are told, bui lt a hut by the grave and mour ned there for three years,"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 112, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 112, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "the office traditionally performed by the elde st son.  (Confucius\u2019s on ly son had died two \nyears earlier.) \n \nYou Ruo \u6709\uf974 (called \u201cYouzi\u201d: Master You, c. 518-457)  You Ruo is appears several \ntimes in Book I of the Analects , referred to as \u201cMaster You,\u201d  suggesting the authors of \nthose passages were his students,  but he appears almost not at all in other books.  Early \naccounts tell us that after Conf ucius\u2019s death, the disciples to ok You Ruo to be their new \nmaster, because something in his bearing reminded them of Confucius.  But soon he dis-appointed their expectations, and they left him."}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 113, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 113, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 114 \nFan Chi \u6a0a\u9072 (Fan Xu \u6a0a\u9808, c. 515 - ? )  Little is known of Fan Chi, but he is recorded as \na soldier in Lu and several times pictured in the Analects  driving for Confucius in his \nchariot. \n \nYuan Si \u539f\u601d (Yuan Xian \u539f\u61b2, c. 515? - ? )  Yuan Si, w ho appears to be the speaker-\nauthor of 14.1, referring to himself by his pe rsonal name, is best known for having with-\ndrawn from society after Conf ucius\u2019s death, to live voluntar ily the life of an impover-\nished hermit.  An early source recounts the ta le of an encounter between Yuan Xian and \nthe now wealthy merchant Zigong, which leav es Zigong discomfited at  Yuan Xian\u2019s su-\nperior wisdom and faithfulness to the Confucian dao. \n \nQidiao Kai \u6f06\u96d5\u958b (c. 510-450)  Although we s ee Qidiao Kai in only one Analects pas-\nsage (5.6), he appears there in very good light, and an early source notes that one of eight \nearly Confucian traditions was that of \u201cMr. Qidiao.\u201d  This  suggests that Qidiao Kai may"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 113, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 113, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "have been an influential disciple whose follo wers took little or no part in compiling the \nAnalects .  It may also be, however , that a later group borrowe d the unusual surname of an \nobscure disciple to cloak themselves in th e authority of a direct link to the Master. \n \nGongxi Hua \u516c\u897f\u83ef (Gongxi Chi \u516c\u897f\u8d64, c. 509 - ? )  Although not much is known \nabout Gongxi Hua, he appear s to occupy a place among the disciples who were at once \nmen of political notice in the stat e of Lu, such as Zilu and Ran Y \u01d2u, and men subjected to \na critical view by the Analects  editors.  This can be seen in his role in the mutually reso-\nnant entries 5.8 and 11.26, where he is linked with the other two men.  In 11.26, he is ul-\ntimately compared unfavorably with the discip le Zeng Xi, Zeng Shen\u2019s  father \u2013 likely a \nliterary proxy for the much younger Zeng Shen himself. \n \nZixia  \u5b50\u590f (Bu Shang \u535c\u5546, c. 507-420)  Zixia was a younger disciple known for his"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 113, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 113, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "scholarly bent.  He is associated with the Poetry  in the Analects, and was traditionally \nunderstood to be the man to whom Confucius conveyed his interpretations of that canoni-\ncal work.  After Confucius\u2019s de ath, Zixia received appointment  as the court tutor in the \ngreat state of Wei (a new state carved from the massive state of Jin in 453).  We can get a \nsense of the down to earth training he provided his own disciples in Book XIX. \n \nZiyou \u5b50\u6e38 (Yan Yan \u8a00\u5043, c. 506-445)  Ziyou does not appear much in the Analects , \nbut he occasionally is quoted directly, as an authority, and is pictured actually getting the \nbest of Confucius in 17.4, where Confucius makes fun of his governance of a town.  That \npassage suggests that he laid emphasis on ritu al exactitude, but his criticisms of Zixia and \nother comments in Book XIX tend in the opposite direction. \n \nZeng Shen  \u66fe\uf96b (called \u201cZengzi,\u201d or Master Zeng, c.  505-436)  No disciple likely had"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 113, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 113, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "more influence on the shape of the emerging Confucian school than Zeng Shen, or Mas-ter Zeng (Zengzi).  He became leader of a major Confucian community in Lu, numbering \namong his disciples Confucius\u2019s grandson Zisi.  This was the tradition that was later led \nby the great thinker Mencius.  In ther Analects , despite his youth, Zeng Shen speaks with \ngreat authority in several pa ssages, such as 4.15, where he interprets Confucius to the"}


created_at: 2023-10-28 13:58:40
topic: persistent://default/default/d0c41e61-66a0-43a0-b433-84965fdb0a76
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{"source": "data/Confucianism/Analects of Confucius.pdf", "page": 114, "name": "Analects of Confucius", "domain": "Confucianism", "url": "https://chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf", "page_number": 114, "short_name": "Analects of Confucius", "chroma:document": "The Analects of Confucius 115\nother disciples.  Passages 8.3 through 8.7 co mprise a small \u201cmini-book\u201d of Zeng Shen\u2019s \nlater sayings, including his deathbed remarks. \n \nZizhang  \u5b50\u5f35 (Zhuansun Shi \u9853\u5b6b\u5e2b , c. 503-450)  Zizhang seems to have founded a \ncompeting teaching lineage afte r Confucius\u2019s death.  In the Analects , although Zizhang \nappears frequently, his persona lity is not clearl y drawn.  However, in Book XIX, which \nportrays the disciples after Conf ucius\u2019s death, he is shown in  clear conflict with Zixia, \nZiyou, and Zeng Shen; in 19.16-17, the comments attributed to Ziyou and Zeng Shen \nsuggest he was pompous."}


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Tao Te Ching 
Chapter One 
 
Tao (The Way) that can be spoken of is not the Cons tant Tao’ 
The name that can be named is not a Constant Name. 
Nameless, is the origin of Heaven and Earth; 
The named is the Mother of all things. 
Thus, the constant void enables one to observe the true essence. 
The constant being enables one to see the outward m anifestations. 
These two come paired from the same origin. 
But when the essence is manifested, 
It has a different name. 
This same origin is called “The Profound Mystery.” 
As profound the mystery as It can be, 
It is the Gate to the essence of all life. 
 
 
Chapter Two 
 
As soon as beauty is known by the world as beautifu l, it becomes ugly. 
As soon as virtue is being known as something good,  it becomes evil. 
Therefore being and non-being give birth to each ot her. 
Difficult and easy accomplish each other. 
Long and short form each other. 
High and low distinguish each other. 
Sound and tone harmonize each other


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Before and after follow each other as a sequence. 
Realizing this, the saint performs effortlessly acc ording to the natural Way without personal 
desire, and practices the wordless teaching thru on e’s deeds. 
The saint inspires the vitality of all lives, witho ut holding back. 
He nurtures all beings with no wish to take possess ion of. 
He devotes all his energy but has no intention to h old on to the merit. 
When success is achieved, he seeks no recognition. 
Because he does not claim for the credit, hence sha ll not lose it. 
 
 
Chapter Three 
 
By not adoring the worthy, people will not fall int o dispute. 
By not valuing the hard to get objects, people will  not become robbers. 
By not seeing the desires of lust, one’s heart will  not be confused. 
Therefore the governing of the saint is to empty on e’s mind, substantiate one’s virtue, weaken 
one’s worldly ambition and strengthen one’s essence .


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He lets the people to be innocent of worldly knowle dge and desire, and keeps the clever ones 
from making trouble with their wits. 
Acts naturally without desire, then everything will  be accomplished in its natural order.


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Chapter Four 
 
Tao (The Way) can be infused into the nature and pu t to use without being exhausted. 
It is so deep and subtle like an abyss that is the origin of all things. 
It is complete and perfect as a wholeness that can 
 Round off sharp edges; 
 Resolve confusion; 
 Harmonize with the glory; 
 Act in unity with the lowliness. 
Tao is so profound and yet in invisible, It exists in everywhere and anywhere. 
I don not know whose Son It is, It existed before h eaven and earth. 
 
 
Chapter Five 
 
Nature nurtures all things with the wholeness of co mplete virtue. 
It shows the greatest and perfect kindness by givin g life to let all things grow and accomplish 
them with the hastening of harvest. 
Therefore, according to ancient custom, nature may seem unkind to regard all beings as a 
traditional straw dog for sacrifice. 
And likewise with a saint, he may seem unkind to re gard people as a traditional straw dog for 
sacrifice.


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The space between heaven and earth is like the bell ows, it appears empty yet it gives a supply 
that never fails; 
The more it moves, the more it brings forth. 
Many words lead to exhaustion. 
It is better to center on the true essence within. 
 
 
Chapter Six 
 
Spirit of the valley is immortal. 
It is called the mystic nature. 
The gate o f the mystic nature is regarded as the r oot of the universe. 
It is everlasting and cannot be consumed. 
 
 
Chapter Seven 
 
Heaven is everlasting and earth is enduring. 
The reason that they are everlasting is because the y do not exist for themselves. 
Hence, they are long lived. 
Thus, although the saint puts himself last, finds h imself in the lead. 
Although he is not self-concerned, finds himself ac complished.


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It is because he is not focused on self-interests a nd hence can fulfill his true nature. 
 
 
Chapter Eight 
 
A person of great virtue is like the flowing water.  
Water benefits all things and contends not with the m. 
It puts itself in a place that no one wishes to be and thus is closest to Tao. 
A virtuous person is like water which adapts itself  to the perfect place. 
His mind is like the deep water that is calm and pe aceful. 
His heart is kind like water that benefits all. 
His words are sincere like the constant flow of wat er. 
His governing is natural without desire which is li ke the softness of water that penetrates through 
hard rocks. 
His work is of talent like the free flow of water. 
His movement is of right timing like water that flo ws smoothly. 
A virtuous person never forces his way and hence wi ll not make faults. 
 
 
Chapter Nine 
 
Those who overly pride wealth is like the overflowi ng water which shall cause damages. It is 
better to restrain early.


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Those who are not content with fame is like polishi ng the edge of a knife. 
The sharper it gets, the easier it is to break. 
Wealth and treasures are but illusions that one can not possess. 
Those who are arrogant of their wealth and fame sha ll invite blame upon oneself. 
The nature Tao teaches one to retreat after one’s s uccess and not to hold on to the credit. 
 
 
Chapter Ten 
 
Can one unite the body and the spirit as one and em brace the “Oneness” without departing from 
the great Tao? 
Can one achieve harmony with such gentleness by hol ding on to the true spirit within as if the 
innocence of an infant? 
Can one free oneself from worldly knowledge and cle anse one’s mind, so that no faults shall be 
made? 
Can a ruler love his people by governing with the n atural Way without personal intention? 
Can the mystic gate to all life essence be opened o r closed without the virtue of the mysterious 
nature?


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Can one gain the insight of nature and become a wis e person without the effort of action? 
The mysterious nature creates and nurtures all thin gs without the desire to possess them. 
It performs with all efforts without claiming for c redit. 
It flourishes all beings without the intention to t ake control of. 
Such is the “Mystic Te” or “Mystic Virtue.”


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Chapter Eleven 
 
Thirty spokes unite around one hub to make a wheel.  
It is the presence of the empty space that gives th e function of a vehicle. 
Clay is molded into a vessel. It is the empty space  that gives the function of a vessel. 
Doors and windows are chisel out to make a room. 
It is the empty space in the room that gives its fu nction. 
Therefore, something substantial can be beneficial.  
While the emptiness of void is what can be utilized . 
 
 
Chapter Twelve 
 
The five colors can blind one’s eyes. 
The five tones can deafen one’s ears. 
The five flavors can dull one’s taste buds. 
The pursuit of pleasures can derange one’s mind. 
The hard-to-get valuables can distort one’s behavio r. 
Therefore, a saint cultivates himself with virtues and does not indulge himself in sensory 
pleasures. 
He rejects those outer temptations and chooses this  True Nature. 
 
 
Chapter Thirteen 
 
Honor and disgrace can surprise a person.


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The greatest distress lies in one’s physical body. 
What does it men by “Honor and disgrace can surpris e someone?” 
Honor is inferior, because one who wins the favor i s afraid of losing it. 
And one who loses the favor is frightened with dist ress. 
This is the significance of “Honor and disgrace can  surprise someone.” 
What does it mean by “The greatest distress lies in  one’s body?” 
We have fear because we worry about our physical se lf. 
If one’s body does not exist, how can one has fear?  
Therefore, he who values the world as much as he va lues himself, can be entrusted with the 
ruling of the world. 
He who loves the world as much as he loves himself,  can be entrusted with the guidance of the 
world. 
 
 
Chapter Fourteen 
 
What cannot be seen is called the invisible. 
What cannot be heard is called the inaudible.


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What cannot be touched is called the intangible. 
These three cannot be examined and comprehended. 
And hence are mixed together as one. 
This “Oneness” is not much brighter in the sky, as It is not much dimmer on earth. 
It is not more glorious in a saint as It is not mor e fainter in an ordinary person. 
It is everlasting and cannot be named. 
It is the original void of “non-being.” 
This “Oneness” is the Tao which is invisible, and f ormless. 
It may be regarded as vague and intangible. 
When the Oneness Tao comes forward, Its front canno t be seen. 
When one tries to follow It, one cannot see Its rea r. 
By abiding with the original Tao, one can master th e presence. 
He who knows this “Origin,” shall know the teaching  and principle of the Great Tao. 
 
 
Chapter Fifteen 
 
The ancient Tao cultivators were subtle and mysteri ous. 
They were of immeasurable profundity. 
Because they were too subtle to be known, so reluct antly they were being described as follow:


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Cautious, as if crossing an icy river. 
 Hesitant, as if fearful of the surroundings. 
 Reverent, like an honorable guest. 
 Dispersed, like winter ice began to melt in spring . 
 Simple and sincere, like a genuine virgin. 
Open-minded, like an empty valley. 
Harmonized, like the turbid water. 
How can one turn the turbid water into clarity? 
A person of Tao would maintain peace in order to ac hieve pureness of the mind. 
And therefore shall not be disturbed by the worldly  desires. 
After achieving pureness of the mind, how can one l et it be everlasting? 
A person of Tao would unify and harmonize himself w ith all beings which shall lead to eternity. 
Those who abide by this Tao will not indulge themse lves in the desire of greed. 
It is because of this humbleness that enables one t o embrace the original “Oneness,” the Great 
Tao. 
 
 
Chapter Sixteen 
 
Human must achieve the ultimate void and maintain c almness with sincerity in order to observe


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the growth and flourish of all beings. 
It is in this way that one can understand the law o f nature. 
All things and beings will eventually return to the  original source. 
This is called “peace.” 
“Peace” means returning to one’s original nature. 
This original nature is the eternal law. To know th e nature’s law is to be enlightened.


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He who is ignorant of the nature’s law shall act re cklessly, and thus will invite misfortune. 
To know the constant law of nature is to be generou s. 
Being generous, one is impartial. 
Being impartial, one is the sovereign. 
Sovereign is the nature itself. 
Nature is Tao. Tao is everlasting. 
When one’s physical body dies away, Tao still long endures. 
 
 
Chapter Seventeen 
 
In early ancient mankind, Tao has been in existence  in one’s true nature. 
Men possess It without knowing. 
One then acts with virtue and honor which is inferi or to Tao. 
The less superior is to act with fear. 
And the least superior is to act with disgrace. 
This occurs because one does not have enough faith,  and hence has no confidence. 
The nature of Tao is distinguished by wordless teac hing with the natural act of virtue without 
action. 
As such, people would act effortlessly and harmoniz e with the Nature Tao. 
 
 
Chapter Eighteen


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When Great Tao declines, virtue of humanity and rig hteousness shall arise. 
When knowledge and intelligence appear, great hypoc risy shall arise. 
When the six various family relationships are not i n harmony, filial piety and compassion shall 
arise. 
When a country is in chaos, the loyal officials sha ll appear. 
 
 
Chapter Nineteen 
 
Transcend the saint’s teaching and conceal one’s wi sdom for potential use, shall benefit the 
people a hundred fold. 
Extend kindness to its ultimate and then polish to refine one’s righteousness shall help the people 
or regain filial piety and compassion. 
Employ one’s subtle true nature with exquisiteness and extend one’s personal benefit to share 
with others, shall eliminate robbers and thieves. 
These three statements are apparent superficial and  not sufficient to express the natural “Way” of 
the great Tao. 
Hence, this is what people should do: 
 Return to their original true self and embrace the  pure “Oneness.”


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string_value:
Chapter Twenty 
 
Enlightenment of the absolute Tao can free a person  from worries and sorrow. 
How much is the difference between a respectful res ponse and an angry response? 
How great is the difference between good and evil? 
What people naturally fear, one should also fear. 
One’s endless desire can result in negligence of th e true nature of life. 
People like to pursue after excitement as if they w ere ascending the terrace in spring and 
celebrate a sacrificial feast. 
But I alone remain quiet and calm like an infant wh o is pure and innocent. 
And I alone appeared to be lost like one who has no where to go. 
All people have a surplus, but I alone was simple a nd left out like a fool. 
People seemed bright and shrewd, while I seemed dul l. 
People like to dispute, while I alone remain quiet.  
I am calm and peaceful like the boundless ocean. 
I am open-hearted and free like the wind blowing hi gh above the sky without hindrance.


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Everyone thinks of themselves as capable and outsta nding while I appeared unlearned. 
I am the only one to be different from others for I  value highly the Great Tao and joyfully act 
accordingly. 
 
 
Chapter Twenty-one 
 
A man of great virtue is one who follows the nature  way of Tao. 
This Tao is vague and intangible. 
Yet, in the vague and void, there is image, there i s substance. 
Within the profound intangible, there is essence; 
This essence is genuine. 
In It lies the great faith. 
Since the beginning of the world, Tao has been in e xistence. 
Only through It that one can understand the origin of all beings. 
How do I know that this is the true essence? 
It is through this natural Way. 
 
 
Chapter Twenty-two 
 
To yield is to preserve the whole. 
To be misjudged is to be straightened. 
To be hollow is to be filled. 
To be battered is to be renewed. 
To be in need is to possess. 
To be abundant is to be confused.


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Therefore, the saint embraces the “Oneness” as a st andard for the world. 
The wise one is not prejudiced, hence he is enlight ened. 
The wise one is not self-opinioned, hence he is out standing.


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The wise one does not boast of himself, hence he sh all receive the credit. 
The wise one does not praise his own deeds, hence c an long endure. 
Because the wise one does not conflict with others and therefore the world cannot contend 
against him. 
It is not true as the ancients say, “To yield is to  preserve the whole?” 
Thus the “Oneness” will be honored to him. 
 
 
Chapter Twenty-three 
 
Words that cannot be heard of are natural. 
A gale can not blow for the whole morning. 
A rainstorm cannot last for the whole day. 
What caused these effects? 
Heaven and earth. 
Even the actions of nature do not last long. 
How much more can human’s behavior last when digres sed from the natural Tao? 
Thus, one who follows the Great Tao, 
When Tao is present, he will benefit the world with  Tao. 
When Te is present, he will benefit the world with Te. 
When Tao and Te are both lost, he identifies himsel f with the people and benefits them with the 
enlightenment of teaching.


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One who identifies with Tao is glad to be with Tao.  
One who identifies with Te is glad to be with Te. 
One who identifies with the loss of Tao and Te is g lad to be with the lost. 
If one does not have enough faith in “Tao,” how can  he assist others to practice with faith? 
 
 
Chapter Twenty-four 
 
He who raises himself on tiptoe cannot stand firm. 
He who walks with strides cannot travel far. 
He who is self-opinioned shall not be enlightened. 
He who is prejudiced shall not be recognized. 
He who brags about himself shall not receive credit . 
He who is arrogant shall not make improvements. 
In view of Tao, people who are self-centered are li ke the surplus food and redundant actions in 
everyday life. 
All things disgust them. 
Therefore a person of Tao will not conduct himself in such manner. 
 
 
Chapter Twenty-five 
 
Something is formed in the chaos, which existed bef ore heaven and earth. 
It is quiet and profound.


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It stands alone and alters not. 
It revolves eternally without exhaustion. 
It is regarded as the Mother of all beings. 
I do not know Its name, except to call It Tao. 
When forced to give It a name, I would call It “the  Great.” 
The Great is far-reaching. 
Far-reaching is infinite. 
Infinite is to return to the self-sufficient origin . 
Therefore, Tao is great, heaven is great, earth is great, and so is the true-self. 
There are four greatness in the universe, and true- self is one of them. 
Man models the Way of earth; 
Earth models the Way of heaven; 
Heaven models the Way of Tao; 
Tao models the Way of nature. 
 
 
Chapter Twenty-six 
 
The heavy is the fundamental of the light. Tranquil ity is the master of agitation. 
Therefore, the saint always conducts himself with t he essence of Tao and never departs from It. 
Although he is surrounded by the splendor of wealth , he remains to live a simple and ordinary 
life.


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How can a ruler govern a nation without recklessnes s if he indulges in power and desire? 
He who acts recklessly shall lose the essence of Ta o. 
He who is agitated with lust and desires shall lose  his true nature. 
 
 
Chapter Twenty-seven 
 
Good deeds leave no signs. 
Good words leave no flaws. 
Good scheme needs no deliberate plans. 
A good lock uses no bolts, yet it cannot be opened.  
A good knot uses no rope, yet it cannot be united. 
Hence, a saint is always kind by saving other peopl e and rejects no one. 
He is always kind by saving all things and therefor e nothing is being rejected. 
This is the true enlightenment. 
Thus, a kind person is the teacher of the unkind. 
An unkind person is a lesson for the kind to learn.  
He who does not value his teacher and dislikes the valuable lesson, although knowledgeable, is 
in fact greatly confused. 
This is the fundamental essence. 
 
 
Chapter Twenty-eight


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To know the strong masculine principle, yet abide b y the gentle female principle is like being the 
valley of the world where all rivers will flow into . 
This is alike all virtue which will merge into the subtle Tao. 
Being a valley of the world and not depart from the  true nature, once can return to original 
pureness like an infant. 
When one knows the white that is splendor, yet hold s on to the black that is humble and lowly. 
He can be a standard of the world. 
Being a standard of the world and not deviate from true nature, one is able to return to the void 
of Tao. 
To know what is honor, yet abide by the dishonored,  is like a valley of the world which is 
modest and humble. 
Being the valley of the world makes possible the tr ue virtue to be complete and sufficient. 
And hence can return to simplicity. 
When the nature of simplicity is being manifested, it results into various vessels. 
And by applying the pure simplicity, a saint can ma ster all things.


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Hence, the Great Tao is a unified Oneness which can not be separated apart. 
 
 
Chapter Twenty-nine 
 
He who wishes to take control of the world and acts  upon it,  
I can see that he will not succeed. 
For the world is a divine vessel, 
It cannot be acted upon as one wish. 
He who acts on it fails. 
He who holds on to it loses. 
Therefore some things move forward while some follo w behind. 
Some try to warm with exhaled air while some try to  blow it cold. 
Some are strong while some are weak. 
Some are successfully accomplished while some are d eclined and failed. 
Thus, the saint avoids all extremes, extravagance, and pride. 
 
 
Chapter Thirty 
 
One who assists the ruler with the principle of Tao , 
Will not use the force of arms to conquer the world . 
For such affairs will result in cause and effect. 
Wherever the armies touch the land, it is turned in to a wasteland of thorns and brambles. 
After a war is fought, bad years are sure to follow .


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Therefore, one who follows the true nature will und erstand the principle of cause and effect and 
shall not rely upon the strength of force. 
By knowing the effect, thus one will not brag. 
By knowing the effect, thus one will not boast. 
By knowing the effect, thus one will not become arr ogant.


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By knowing the effect, although one has no choice, one still abides with the principle of cause 
and effect and does not resolve into force. 
When things reach their prime, they start to age an d decline. 
This is the life that is diminishing and shall not reach the ultimate essence. 
 
 
Chapter Thirty-one 
 
Weapons of war are instruments of disaster. 
They are rejected by all beings. 
Thus a person of Tao will not dwell upon them. 
According to the ancient custom of Ying and Yang, 
A man of virtue values the left which is represente d by Yang. 
And a man of war values the right which is represen ted by Ying. 
Weapons are instruments of evil, and are not valued  by a man of virtue. 
They are only used as the last resort to attain pea ch when all else have failed. 
If their use is necessary, it is best to employ wit h calmness and tranquility. 
Even it if means victory, it is not something pleas ant. 
Those who rejoice over the victory, enjoy killing.


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He who delights in killing will not be favored by t he people and shall not bring harmony to the 
world. 
It is the ancient custom to favor happy events to t he left as represented by yang. 
While on sad occasions, it is favored to the right as represented by Ying. 
When this rite is applied in the army, 
The lieutenant general takes the place of the left,  
And the commander-in-chief takes the place of the r ight. 
This indicates that war is treated as if it is a fu neral service; 
For many lives had been killed and hence should be mourned with sorrow. 
Therefore, although a victory was won, 
It is treated like funeral rite. 
 
 
Chapter Thirty-two 
 
The universal Tao has no name. 
Although It appears in the plainest and may seem sm all, 
It is inferior to nothing. 
If the kings and marquises can abide by the Great T ao, 
All beings shall act as guests and submit to them. 
Heaven and earth will then be in harmony and shall descend sweet dew.


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People will not require command and orders, 
Yet can treat each other equally with peace. 
When Tao is manifested, names were given for the pu rpose of distinction. 
But one must know how to attain the original purene ss in order to avoid danger and disaster. 
Tao exists in the universe like the rivers and stre ams that lead to the ocean.


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Chapter Thirty-three 
 
One who knows other people is wise. 
One who knows himself is enlightened. 
To overcome others is strong. 
To overcome oneself is the will of power. 
One who is contented is rich. 
One who is determined has the strength of will. 
Those who embrace their true nature shall long live . 
He who is enlightened with the original nature,  
Although dies physically, is eternally united with the everlasting Tao. 
 
 
Chapter Thirty-four 
 
The great Tao is ever present. 
It can adjust Itself to everything. 
All things live by It, and It does not deny them. 
When Its work is accomplished, It does not claim po ssession. 
It gives great love to nurture all things and all l ives, but dominates not. 
The true void of Tao has no desires and may seem sm all. 
Yet all things entrust their lives to It and It doe s not act as their master. 
This may be recognized as “the Great.” 
Because a saint does not restrict himself with the greatness, 
Hence his greatness is accomplished.


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Chapter Thirty-five 
 
He who embraces the Great Tao shall be the guidance  of the world. 
By following him, the world will not be harmed and will be rendered with peace and harmony. 
Pleasures and delicacy can only attract passers-by to stay temporarily. 
The teaching of Tao is plain without extraordinary appearances. 
It can not be seen, 
It can not be heard, 
It can not be depleted or exhausted. 
 
 
Chapter Thirty-six 
 
It desire shall conceal true self, 
True self will manifest itself even more. 
If desire shall weaken true self, 
True self will strengthen itself even more. 
If desire shall abandon true self,


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True self will prosperous even more. 
If desire shall deprive true self, 
True self will give even more. 
This is known as the enlightened nature that is sub tle yet profound. 
Gentleness overcomes strength, and the meek overcom es the strong. 
Just as fish live in deep water and cannot survive after being taken out of the depths. 
And the powerful weapons of a country should not be  displayed, 
Just like one’s true nature cannot be revealed to b e seen. 
 
 
Chapter Thirty-seven 
 
The everlasting Tao acts according to the natural W ay. 
Therefore there is nothing that It will not accompl ish. 
If kings and the nobilities can abide by their true  nature and follow the great Tao,  
All things shall be reformed naturally. 
If during the process of reform, desires arouse. 
I shall overcome with the simplicity of original na ture. 
With the simplicity of true nature, there shall be no desire. 
Without desire, one’s original nature will be at pe ace.


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And the world will naturally be in accord with the right Way. 
 
 
Chapter Thirty-eight 
 
A man of superior virtue is not conscious of being virtuous, hence is truly virtuous. 
A man of inferior virtue performs for the purpose o f virtue, hence he is not virtuous. 
A man of superior virtue acts without action, and p erforms with his true nature. 
A man of inferior virtue acts with intentional effo rt. 
A man of superior kindness acts a natural act. 
A man of superior justice acts with righteousness a nd feelings for others. 
A man of superior etiquette acts according to his t rue self, hence no one responds to him by 
moving away. 
There, when Tai is lost, there is Te (virtue). 
When Te is lost, there is humanity. 
When humanity is lost, there is justice. 
When justice is lost, there is etiquette. 
Etiquette becomes prevalent when people fail to be sincere and honest. 
Hence, chaos begins. 
A person of knowledge and self-opinion will be hind ered from the enlightenment of Tao.


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Thus, this is the beginning of ignorance! 
Therefore, one who cultivates himself with Tao, 
Embraces the original nature and indulges not in se nsual nature. 
He abides by the fundamental Oneness and indulges n ot in sensory pleasures. 
Thus, abandon those desires and abide by this true essence of Tao.


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Chapter Thirty-nine 
 
In the beginning, there were those who attained the  Oneness; 
Heaven, by attaining the Oneness became clear; 
Earth, by attaining the Oneness became peaceful; 
Spirit, by attaining the Oneness became divine; 
True nature is like an empty valley, and by attaini ng the Oneness, 
It became fully productive. 
All things, by attaining the Oneness became alive. 
Emperors and nobilities, by attaining Oneness can b ring peace and prosperity to the world. 
All these are the results of achieving Oneness. 
Heaven, without clarity would crack. 
Earth, without peace would quake. 
Spirit, without divinity would be powerless. 
True nature, without productivity would result in e xhaustion of life. 
All things, without life essence would perish. 
Emperors, without Oneness to exalt them to nobility , would stumble and fall. 
Thus, honor is based on humbleness. 
The high builds its foundation upon the low.


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Therefore, the kings and nobles call themselves “th e solitude,” “the unworthy,” and “the 
virtueless.” 
Is this not the reason why they base their honor up on humbleness? 
Hence, the highly honored do not regard themselves as nobles and have no wish to be self-
centered to think nobly of themselves as a piece of  jade nor to think lowly of others as a lump of 
stone. 
 
 
Chapter Forty 
 
When Tao is in action, one’s worldly nature can be reversed to the true nature. 
Gentleness is the way of application of Tao. 
All things in the world originate from the manifest ation of Tao, 
The manifestation of Tao is the form of being, 
Which originates from the non-being of the void, th e Great Tao. 
 
 
Chapter Forty-one 
 
When a superior man heard of Tao, 
He cultivates himself diligently. 
When an average man heard of Tao, 
He is doubtful, vague and would give up halfway. 
When an inferior man heard of Tao, 
He laughs and thinks of It as foolish. 
If Tao is not being laughed at,


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It is not the Great Tao. 
Thus, there is a traditional saying of, 
One who is enlightened with Tao may appear foolish.  
He who is advancing in Tao may appear to withdraw. 
Great Tao is plain and simple which can adapt to al l circumstances, although It may seem 
uneven and rough. 
A man of superior virtue is like an empty, receptiv e valley. 
A man of innocence may appear to be disgraced. 
A man of great virtue appears to be deficient.  
A man who practices Tao and actively achieves great  merits may appear gentle and meek. 
A man who follows his true self may appear to be ch angeable. 
Generosity has no rough angels. 
Great achievement is time consuming, and is slow to  complete. 
Great tone has no sound. 
Great Tao is formless, 
It is invisible and has no name. 
It benefits all and fulfills all. 
 
 
Chapter Forty-two 
 
Tao gives birth to one. 
One gives birth to two. 
Two gives birth to three. 
Three gives birth to all things and all beings.


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All beings bear the negative physical form which is  represented by Ying, and embrace the 
positive true nature which is represented by Yang. 
With the union of these two, they arrive at a state  of harmony. 
Men dislike to be “the solitude,” “the unworthy,” a nd “the virtueless,” 
Yet the Lords and nobles call themselves these name s. 
Hence, things are benefited by being humble, and da maged by profiting. 
What the ancients had taught, I shall also teach as  such: 
A man of violence who is in disharmony between Ying  and Yang that is the physical body and 
true self, shall die of an unnatural death. 
This is the essential of my teaching. 
 
 
Chapter Forty-three 
 
The softest of all things can overcome the hardest of all things. 
Regardless of being or the non-being, they all have  to return to the empty void to express their 
gentleness. 
Thus, I have learned the benefits of natural action s without personal desires.


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Chapter Forty-four 
 
Fame and life, which one is of intimacy? 
Life and wealth, which one is of importance? 
To gain one but to lose the other, which is of harm ? 
Therefore, if one’s desires are great, one would re sult in exhaustion. 
Overstock shall result in heavy loss. 
He who is contented will not suffer disgrace. 
He who knows his true nature will not incur danger.  
It is in this Way that one can long endure. 
 
 
Chapter Forty-five 
 
Great achievement appears to be inadequate, yet its  use is never exhausted. 
Great fullness appears to be void, yet its use is b oundless. 
Great honesty may seem to be accused of wrong doing . 
Great mastery appears to be clumsy. 
Great eloquence may seem to be inarticulate. 
Movement can overcome chill. 
Tranquility can overcome heat. 
Peace and calmness is the Way to guide the world. 
 
 
Chapter Forty-six 
 
When the world lives in accord with Tao, 
Fine walking horses can be retired form plowing the  field.


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When the world fails to live in accord with Tao, 
Even pregnant mares are used as war horses, 
And were forced to breed in the battlefield. 
The greatest crime is to have too much desire. 
The greatest disaster is not to find contentment. 
The greatest mistake is to desire for endless posse ssion. 
Hence, when one is gratified with self-contentment,  
True contentment can then long endure. 
 
 
Chapter Forty-seven 
 
Tao exists in one’s own true self. 
It cannot be found outside of one’s true nature. 
Hence, there is no need to leave the house to take journey in order to know the world. 
There is no need to look outside of the window to s ee the nature of Tao. 
The further one departs from Tao, the less one will  be able to know. 
Therefore a saint is wise to know without seeking f or It.


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He is wise to understand without seeing It. 
He is wise to accomplish according to the Natural W ay. 
 
 
Chapter Forty-eight 
 
In pursuing knowledge, one learns with intellect an d desires. 
Therefore one’s knowledge is accumulated day after day. 
In pursuing Tao, one is enlightened with the true n ature and thus diminishes daily one’s worldly 
desires and knowledge. 
The continuous depletion of one’s desires persists until one acts accordingly to the natural Way. 
By acting without personal intention enables one to  accomplish all things. 
Therefore, to rule over the world, 
One must act naturally without personal desires. 
If one pursues with extreme effort, one shall fail to rule the world. 
 
 
Chapter Forty-nine 
 
The saint has no set mind, 
He regards the wish of the people as his own wish. 
He is kind to the kind, he is also kind to the unki nd. 
This is the true virtue of kindness. 
The saint trusts those who are trustworthy. 
He also trusts those who are not trustworthy.


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This is the true virtue of trust. 
The saint conducts himself in the world by harmoniz ing with all beings to be at one. 
The worldly people thus look up to him attentively with their eyes and ears. 
And the saint treats the people like a loving mothe r who loves her children unconditionally. 
 
 
Chapter Fifty 
 
Men enter this world with life and leave this world  with death. 
Those who work hard for living and longevity are co mprised of one-third of the people. 
Those who are leading their life towards death are comprised of another one-third. 
Those who live with indulgence in passion and desir es shall harm their life and invite death. 
This is comprised of the final one-third of the peo ple. 
Why is this so? 
It is because men are over-concerned with pleasures  of life and hence exhaust themselves with 
hard work of desires of greed. 
The wise one who knows how to nourish life with the  Nature Tao,


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When he travels, will not encounter fierce animals such as wild buffalos and tigers. 
When he is engaged in the battlefield, will not be harmed by the weapons. 
The horns of the wild buffalos are powerless agains t him. 
The claws of the tigers are useless against him.


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The weapons are of no avail towards him. 
Why is this so? 
It is because the wise one follows the great Tao an d cultivates himself accordingly. 
Hence, a man of Tao will not perish. 
 
 
Chapter Fifty-one 
 
Tao gives birth to all things. 
And Te (virtue) nurtures them. 
Matter shapes them. 
The natural environment matures them. 
Therefore, all things abide by Tao and honor Te. 
Although Tao deserves reverence and Te deserves hon or, 
They are not demanded by decree, 
But is a result of the Nature Way. 
Hence, Tao gives life to all beings and Te nurtures , grows, fosters, develops, matures, supports, 
and protects them. 
Tao gives birth to life and yet claims no possessio n. 
It gives support without holding on to the merit. 
It matures them but does not take control of. 
This is called the Mystic Te. 
 
 
Chapter Fifty-two 
 
The beginning of the universe is Tao, 
It is the mother of all. 
By knowing the Mother, we will know her creations.


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By knowing the creation of all lives, one can then return to the origin and abide by the Mother. 
It is in this way that although the body dies, the spiritual nature will not perish. 
To abide by the Mother of Tao is to keep guard on o ne’s sensory desire and shut the doors of 
temptation so as to prevent one from pursuing outwa rds. 
Thus, by doing so one’s whole life may be preserved  from exhaustion and pains. 
However, if on the contrary one indulges oneself in  the pleasure of desire and opens the door of 
temptation to pursue outwards, 
Then one’s true nature will be lost and hence is be yond rescuing. 
Those who are aware of the essence of the original nature are said to be enlightened. 
Those who abide by the gentleness of Tao are said t o be strong. 
Those who employ the glory of Tao, 
And were able to return to the true nature, are ens ured of no distress and is said to embrace the 
Nature Tao. 
 
 
Chapter Fifty-three


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If I were to have the very slight insight, 
I would live in accordance with the Great Tao. 
My only fear is, to go astray from Tao while spread ing it. 
Great Tao is smooth and plain, yet people prefer th e devious bypaths. 
Hence, the government is corrupted with luxury and splendor. 
The people were exhausted with labor and left the f ields to be wasted and the granaries depleted. 
Under such practices, the officials would wear fine  clothes,  
Carry sharp swords and indulge themselves in good f ood and drinks. 
They crave with greed to possess great wealth. 
Such is said to commit the crime of robbery and cer tainly is not the Way of Tao. 
 
 
Chapter Fifty-four 
 
One who cultivates himself with Tao, 
Firmly establishes his virtue. 
He holds on faithfully to the Great Oneness, 
And is honored for generations ever after. 
Cultivate oneself with the Oneness, Tao and the vir tue is genuine. 
Cultivate a family with the Oneness, Tao and the vi rtue is in surplus.


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Cultivate an entire village with the Oneness, Tao a nd the virtue is enduring. 
Cultivate a whole nation with the Oneness, Tao and the virtue is luxuriant. 
Cultivate the whole world with the Oneness, Tao and  the virtue is universal. 
Hence, by cultivating oneself, thus gains insight i nto one’s true virtue. 
By cultivating a family, thus gains insight into a loving family. 
By cultivating a village, thus gains insight into a  harmonious village. 
By cultivating a nation, thus gains insight into th e extensive benefits for the people. 
By cultivating the whole world, thus gains insight into the universal peace that embrace all 
beings. 
How do I know that the world is so? 
It is through this Way. 
 
 
Chapter Fifty-five 
 
One who preserves Te (virtue) in fullness, 
Is to be compared to an innocent infant. 
Hence, no poisonous insects will sting him. 
No wild beasts will attack him. 
No birds of prey will pounce upon him. 
In governing one’s life, learn from an infant as su ch:


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Its bones are soft, its tendons are tender, yet its  grip is firm. 
No knowing the unity of male and female, 
Yet the infant’s sexual organ is aroused. 
This is because its life essence is pure and comple te. 
Crying all day, yet the infant’s voice does not tur n hoarse.


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Such is the perfect harmony. 
To know harmony is called “Everlasting.” 
To know everlasting is called “Enlightenment.” 
To overprotect one’s life is called “Ill omen.” 
To let one’s mind follow the emotional impulse is c alled “Compulsion.” 
When things reach their prime they start to age and  decline. 
This is the life that is diminishing, which shall n ot reach the ultimate essence. 
 
 
Chapter Fifty-six 
 
The wise does not speak. 
He who speaks is not wise. 
Keep silent and close one’s mouth. 
Keep guard on one’s sensory organs. 
Round off one’s edges. 
Untie the entangled. 
Harmonize with the glory. 
Mix with the lowliness. 
This is called the Mystic Unity. 
Because the wise is unified with all and has no dis tinction, 
Thus, one cannot get close to him, 
Nor can one keep far away from him, 
One cannot benefit him, 
Nor can one harm him, 
One cannot honor him, 
Nor can one disgrace him. 
Therefore, he is honored by the whole world. 
 
 
Chapter Fifty-seven


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Govern a nation with the right principle, 
Fight a battle with the tactics of surprise, 
Rule over the world with peace and natural effort. 
How do I know that this so? 
By the following: 
The more prohibitions that are imposed on people, 
The poorer the people become. 
The more sharp weapons the people possess, 
The greater is the chaos in the country. 
The more clever and crafty the people become,  
The more unusual affairs occur. 
The more laws and regulations that exist, 
The more thieves and brigands appear. 
Hence, the saint declares:


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I act effortlessly with the Way of Tao, 
Thus, people transform themselves naturally. 
I love tranquility and peach, 
Thus, people naturally follow the right Way. 
I do not exhaust people with labor, 
Thus, people naturally are wealthy. 
I have no personal desires, 
Thus, people naturally are innocent and simple. 
 
 
Chapter Fifty-eight 
 
When the government is dull, 
People are simple and sincere. 
When the government is complex and stringent, 
People are cunning and shall cause trouble. 
 
Calamity is what blessings depend upon. 
In blessings there hides the calamity. 
Who knows the ultimate end of the cycle of calamity  and blessings? 
Is there no true principle that exists? 
The normal may revert and become unusual. 
The good may revert and turn into evil. 
Long indeed, man has been under such delusion. 
Therefore, the saint abides by firm principle and d oes not depart from it. 
He is honest and not mean. 
He is upright and not rue. 
He is honored and not eminent.


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Chapter Fifty-nine 
 
In governing one’s life and serving the nature, 
There is nothing better than to follow the Way of s implicity. 
Simplicity is to restrain one’s desires. 
To restrain one’s desires is to practice the virtue  of Nature Way. 
By practicing the virtue of Nature Way, 
One is capable to accomplish anything. 
With the ability to accomplish anything,  
One can achieve the infinite realm. 
By achieving the infinite realm, 
One can then become a true leader of a nation. 
To govern a nation with the Law of Nature is to be long enduring. 
This is regarded as a profound and firm foundation of the everlasting Tao.


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Chapter Sixty 
 
Ruling a great nation is like frying small fish. 
When they are over stirred, they will break into pi eces. 
Guide the world with Tao, 
Then the spiritual beings would lose their power. 
It is in fact not that the spiritual beings had los t their power, 
But that their spiritual power cannot harm people, 
But that the true nature of the saint has harmonize d with the spiritual power and hence will cause 
no harm. 
Since they both do not harm each other, 
Therefore they will harmonize with the true virtue to embrace the Oneness, Tao. 
 
 
Chapter Sixty-one 
 
A great nation rules by placing itself in a lowly p osition like the rivers that flow into the low 
regions of ocean. 
Hence, people will naturally be faithful to their c ountry. 
Mother nature always stays calm and quiet to overco me the unrest. 
It takes the lowly position to be in peace. 
Thus, if a great nation can lower itself to deal wi th a smaller nation,  
Then it shall win the heart of the people.


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And the smaller nation will willingly merge with th e great nation. 
And if the smaller nation can lower itself to deal with the great nation,  
Then it shall win the trust and be accommodated as a part of the great nation. 
Therefore, be it to take a lowly position to win ov er or to take a lowly position to be 
accommodated; 
The great nation only wishes to unite and shelter a ll the people,  
While the small nation only wishes to be a part of the nation to serve it. 
Now that both are granted with what they wish for, 
It is only natural for the “Great” to put itself in  a lowly position. 
 
 
Chapter Sixty-two 
 
Tao is the wonder of all creations. 
It is a treasure for those who are kind. 
It can also protect those who are not kind. 
Words of Tao can benefit all people. 
Its action can guide people to follow the right Way . 
Those who have gone astray, the all-forgiving Tao w ill not abandon them.


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Therefore, it is better to embrace this precious Ta o than to be crowned as kings or appointed as 
ministers or to possess wealth and fine horses. 
So why did the ancients value and honor this Tao? 
It is because “Those who seek will attain, those wh o offended will be forgiven.”


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Thus, It is the greatest honor in the world. 
 
 
Chapter Sixty-three 
 
Act without personal desire. 
Manage without intentional concern. 
Taste without desire of the flavor. 
Hold the same regard for big or small, abundant or little and reward the unkind with kindness. 
Plan for the difficult while it is easy. 
Act upon the great from the beginning of the minute . 
All difficult affairs must be taken care of when th ey are easy. 
All great accomplishments must be performed from th e small tasks. 
Hence, a saint does not strive to do something grea t. 
And as a result he is able to accomplish the great.  
He who makes promises easily seldom keeps his words . 
He who constantly regards things as easy shall resu lt in difficulty. 
Therefore, the saint is aware of the difficulties a head and hence is cautious in managing affairs 
while they are sill easy and small to prevent resul ting into problems. 
 
 
Chapter Sixty-four 
 
It is easy to preserve when things are stable.


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It is easy to plan ahead when things have no yet oc curred. 
If one waits until the affair has begun, 
Then the situation is as brittle as ice that easily  cracks and is fragile that easily shatters. 
Take actions before things occur. 
Manage before things get out of order. 
A huge tree grows from a tiny sprout; 
A nine-story high terrace is built from heaps of ea rth. 
A journey of thousand miles begins from the first s tep. 
He who acts with desire shall fail. 
He who tries to possess shall lose. 
Therefore, the saint acts without effort and so he does not fail. 
He is not eager to possess and so he does not lose.  
Most people fail when they are near completion. 
If one can be cautious from beginning to end, then he will not fail. 
Thus a saint pursues what people do not pursue. 
He does not value the hard-to-get objects. 
He learns what people do not learn and avoids the f aults in order to restore his true nature.


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He follows the course of nature to benefit all thin gs and dares not go astray from the right Way, 
Tao. 
 
 
Chapter Sixty-five


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The ancient Tao cultivators, 
Did not lead people to acquire knowledge to be tric ky, 
But to guide them to restore their simplicity and i nnocence. 
The reason people are difficult to be governed is b ecause they are clever and witty. 
Therefore, he who rules a nation with tactics and w its shall do harm to the country. 
He who does not rule with such is the nation’s bles sing. 
To know these two principles is to know the rule of  nature. 
To know the rule of nature is called Mystic Te (Mys tic Virtue). 
Mystic Te is profound and far-reaching. 
It can guide all things to return to their original  nature, 
And thus great harmony can be achieved. 
 
 
Chapter Sixty-six 
 
The reason that river and ocean can be the Lords of  all valley is because they are located in the 
lowly position. 
Therefore, the saint humbles himself to serve all p eople. 
And he leads the people by putting himself last for  the sake of the people’s welfare. 
Thus, although he rules above the people,


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The people do not feel him as a burden. 
Although he leads in front of the people, 
The people do not feel him as a threat. 
Hence, the world supports him with no objection. 
This is because he does not contend, 
Therefore, he is above all competition. 
 
 
Chapter Sixty-seven 
 
The whole world says the Tao that I have attained i s so great that It seems unreal. 
Because It is indeed so great, thus It seemed unrea l. 
If It were real, It would have been insignificantly  small. 
I have Three Treasures that I hold and guard. 
The first is Kindness. 
The second is Simplicity. 
The third is Humbleness. 
With Kindness, one can be courageous. 
With Simplicity, one can be generous. 
With Humbleness, one can be the lead to provide gui dance. 
Now, if one abandons kindness and yet tries to be c ourageous, 
If one abandons simplicity and yet tries to be gene rous. 
If one abandons humbleness and yet tries to lead as  guidance, 
He is doomed to perish.


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One who keeps guard with kindness shall secure. 
Even the great nature shall save him and protect hi m with kindness. 
 
 
Chapter Sixty-eight 
 
A faithful Tao cultivator does not use force. 
A good warrior does not lose his temper. 
A great conqueror does not challenge others. 
A good leader is humble. 
This is called the virtue of peace with no contenti on. 
This is also regarded as competence to make good us e of the effort of people. 
Such is regarded as achieving harmony with nature. 
Such is the perfect Oneness of true nature. 
 
 
Chapter Sixty-nine 
 
In warfare, there is a saying of such strategy: 
I would rather take a defensive position than to ma ke an initial offensive move. 
I would rather withdraw a foot than to march forwar d one inch. 
Such is called to advance without advancement; 
To defeat without arm force; 
To fight as if there were no enemy; 
To carry weapons as if there were no weapons and th us no need for the use of weapons.


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There is no greater disaster than to underestimate the enemy. 
To do so may cost one to lose his valuable life. 
Therefore, when two armies engage in a battle, 
The party that feels the sorrow of killing shall wi n. 
 
 
Chapter Seventy 
 
My words of Tao is easy to understand and to practi ce. 
However, the world can neither understand nor pract ice them. 
In my words of Tao, there is the subtle truth. 
In my deeds, there is the Way of Tao. 
Because people do not understand these, 
Therefore they do not understand me. 
Those who know me are few. 
Hence, the essence of Tao appears to be more honora ble and precious. 
Thus, a saint may dress in ordinary coarse clothing , 
Yet has a heart of gem with the true essence within . 
 
 
Chapter Seventy-one


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One who knows what people do not know, 
Is a person of enlightenment. 
One who pretends to know what he is ignorant of, is  at fault. 
He who is aware of what he does not know, shall not  be at fault. 
Therefore, a saint is flawless for he is aware of w hat he truly knows and what he knows not, 
hence he is flawless. 
 
 
Chapter Seventy-two 
 
When people do not respect the authority, 
There shall be great misfortune. 
Do not interfere with the people’s livelihood. 
Do not despise their living. 
Because there is no detest against the people, 
Therefore the people do not detest against the auth ority. 
The saint realizes his true nature and hence 
Does not distinguish himself. 
He has a sense of self-respect and thus does not ex alt himself. 
Therefore, he rejects those that are self-distingui shed and self-exalted. 
And abides by these that are self-awareness and sel f-respect. 
 
 
Chapter Seventy-three 
 
He who is brave in being daring, acts recklessly an d shall be killed.


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He who is brave but acts cautiously and kindly shal l live. 
Of these two, one is beneficial while the other is harmful. 
What nature wishes, who may know what the reasons a re? 
Thus, the saint is aware of the subtlety and profou ndness of the Nature’s Way,  
So he takes great caution in practicing It. 
The Tao of Nature, 
Does not contend, yet easily wins. 
Does not speak, yet always responds. 
Does not summon, yet all things gather. 
Does not contemplate as if at ease, 
Yet all plans were devised perfectly. 
The Law of Nature is like a giant web, 
Although sparsely meshed, nothing can slip through.  
 
 
Chapter Seventy-four 
 
When people do not fear death, 
There is no use trying to threaten them with death.


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If people value their lives, and those who break th e law were being executed, 
Then who would dare to commit criminal act? 
The life and death of all beings are handled by the  executioner of Nature. 
Those who substitute the nature executioner to kill , 
Is like replacing the master carpenter to chop the wood. 
One who substitutes the master carpenter to chop th e wood, 
Rarely does not hurt his hands. 
 
 
Chapter Seventy-five 
 
People starved because the ruler taxed too heavily.  
People are difficult to be ruled,  
Because the ruler governs with personal desire and establishes too many laws to confuse the 
people. 
Therefore the people are difficult to be ruled. 
People take death lightly,  
Because the ruler pursues after luxurious life and depletes the people. 
Therefore the people take death lightly. 
One who does not value his life with self-desire, t ruly cherishes his life. 
 
 
Chapter Seventy-six 
 
When a man is alive, he is soft and supple.


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When he dies, the body becomes hard and stiff. 
When a plant is alive, it is soft and flexible. 
When it is dead, it becomes dry and brittle. 
Therefore, hard and rigid shall lead to death. 
Soft and gentle shall lead to life. 
Thus, a strong army with rigid force shall not win.  
A thick and big tree will be cut down for its use. 
The big and strong will take an inferior position. 
The soft and gentle will take superior position. 
 
 
Chapter Seventy-seven 
 
 
The Tao of Nature is like stretching a bow. 
When the stretch is too high, it needs to be presse d down. 
When the stretch is too low, it needs to be raised high. 
The excess will be reduced. 
The deficient will be replenished. 
The Tao of Nature is to reduce the excessive and to  replenish the insufficient. 
The Tao of man, however is otherwise.


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It takes from the needy to serve those who already have a surplus. 
Who can spare one’s surplus to serve the world? 
A person of Tao. 
Thus, a saint acts without holding on to the achiev ements. 
He accomplishes but does not claim for credit. 
He has no desire to distinguish himself. 
 
 
Chapter Seventy-eight 
 
There is nothing in this world that is softer and m eeker than water. 
Even those that can conquer the strong and hard, 
Are still not superior than water. 
Nothing can substitute it. 
Hence, what is soft can overcome the strong. 
What is gentle can overcome the strength. 
This is known by the world. 
However, people cannot put it into practice. 
Therefore, the saint said as follow: 
He who can take the disgrace of a nation, 
Is said to be the master of the nation. 
He who can bear the misfortune of a nation, 
Is said to be the ruler of the world. 
Truthful words may seem to be the reverse of worldl y practices. 
 
 
Chapter Seventy-nine


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When a great resentment has resulted, 
Even if one tries to reconcile and make peace, 
There is bound to leave some remaining resentment. 
Thus, how can this be considered as a good settleme nt? 
Therefore, a saint cultivates himself with introspe ction and self-discipline without blaming others 
for faults. 
This is like the ancient custom which acts by holdi ng on to the left part of the tally as a debtor 
that demands nothing from others. 
Hence, a person of virtue acts as if he were the de btor. 
And a person without virtue acts as if he were the creditor that demands only from others. 
The Tao of Nature is impersonal which makes no exce ption to anyone. 
It always assists those that are kind and virtuous.  
 
 
Chapter Eighty 
 
An ideal nation is small and with few people. 
Although there are abundant weapons, there is no ne ed for the use.


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Let the people cherish their life and not pursue af ter fame and wealth, 
So that they have no intention to move to faraway p laces. 
Although there are boats and carriages, no one will  ride them. 
Although there are weapons and armors, there is no occasion to display them. 
Let the people return to the ancient simple life wh ere knotting ropes were used to record every 
event. 
People would then enjoy the simple food, simple clo thing, and be contented with a simple life. 
And they shall live happily with the traditional cu stoms. 
Neighbors of the nations overlook one another in th e near distance. 
The barks of dogs and crowing of cocks can be heard . 
Yet people are so contented that they enjoy their l ife without ever visiting each other. 
 
 
Chapter Eighty-one 
 
Words of truth are not pleasing. 
Pleasing words are not truthful. 
The wise one does not argue. 
He who argues is not wise. 
A wise man of Tao knows the subtle truth, 
And may not be learned.


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A learned person is knowledgeable but may not know the subtle truth of Tao. 
A saint does not possess and accumulate surplus for  personal desire. 
The more he helps others, the richer his life becom es. 
The more he gives to others, the more he gets in re turn. 
The Tao of Nature benefits and does not harm. 
The Way of a saint is to act naturally without cont ention. 
 
 
經典原文     中文中文中文中文    
一貫道師尊慈語各組線介紹一貫網際所在地動態報導經典研究     
一貫道簡介  
莊    子    道 德 經    六祖壇經     論    語 
孟    子    三 字 經     道之宗旨     禮運大同篇  
金 剛 經    心    經  彌勒救苦真經   朱子治家格言  
弟 子 規    大    學    中    庸   皇母訓子十誡  
太上清靜經


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The Analects of Confucius      
 
draft, August 2005, R. Eno, Indiana University 
 
 Book I 
 
1.1 The Master said:  To study and at due 
times practice what one has studied, is this not 
a pleasure?  When friends come from distant 
places, is this not joy?  To remain unsoured when his talents are unrecognized, is this not a 
junzi? 
 
1.2 Master You said:  It is rare to find a per-
son who is filial to his parents and respectful 
of his elders, yet who likes to oppose his rul-ing superior.  And never has there been one 
who does not like opposing his ruler who has 
raised a rebellion. 
 The junzi  works on the root – once the 
root is planted, the dao is born.  Filiality and 
respect for elders, are these not the roots of ren? 
 
1.3 The Master said:  Those of crafty words 
and ingratiating expression are rarely ren. 
 
1.4 Master Zeng said:  Each day I examine 
myself upon three points.  In planning for oth-ers, have I been loyal?  In company with


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friends, have I been trustworthy?  And have I 
practiced what has been passed on to me? 
 
1.5 The Master said:  To guide a state great enough to possess a thousand war chariots:  be attentive to affairs and trustworthy; regulate expenditures and treat people as valuable; em-
ploy people according to the proper season. 
 
1.6 The Master said:  A young man should be filial within his home and respectful of eld-Notes 
 
1.1 ‘The Master’ refers to Confu-
cius: Kongzi ( 孔子), or ‘Master 
Kong.’ 
There are three precepts 
here; the ‘punch line’ is the last. 
Junzi (君子): Originally ‘a 
prince’; used by the Analects  to 
denote an ideal moral actor.  The 
term is sometimes rendered ‘gen-
tleman’, but has a more emphatic moral sense, and is left untrans-lated here.  At times it merely de-notes a ruler.  
NOTE:  More detailed dis-
cussions of key terms may be found in the online E574 Glossary .
 
1.2 Master You (You Ruo 有若)


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was a disciple.  For a brief time after Confucius’s death, he took on the Master’s role for the group of disciples. 
 NOTE:  More details on 
the major disciples are provided in 
the Appendix below. 
 Dao (道):  The ‘Way’; the 
Confucian notion of the evolved moral & cultural pattern of past eras of sage governance.  Dao is 
also a generic term for any fully 
conceived behavioral path. 
Ren (仁):  The key moral 
term in the Analects .  Rendered as 
‘humanity,’ ‘goodness,’ etc.; its rich meaning is a mystery to many 
in the text, and defies translation. 
 
1.3  Duplicated at 17.17.  (When 
passages are duplicated in different books, it may signal independent editorial origins.) 
 
1.4  Master Zeng 曾子 is the disci-
ple Zeng Shen 參, the youngest of


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The Analects of Confucius 2 
 ers when outside, should be careful and trust-
worthy, broadly caring of  people at large, and 
should cleave to those who are ren.  If he has 
energy left over, he ma y study the refinements 
of culture ( wen). 
 
1.7 Zixia said:  If a person treats worthy 
people as worthy and so alters his expression, 
exerts all his effort when serving his parents, 
exhausts himself when serving his lord, and is trustworthy in keeping his word when in the 
company of friends, though others may say he 
is not yet learned, I would call him learned.  
1.8 The Master said:  If a junzi  is not seri-
ous he will not be held in awe. 
 If you study you will not be crude.   
Take loyalty and trustworthiness as the 
pivot and have no friends who are not like 
yourself in this. 
If you err, do not be afraid to correct 
yourself. 
 
1.9 Master Zeng said:  Devote care to life’s 
end and pursue respect for the distant dead; in


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this way, the virtue of the people will return to fullness. 
 
1.10 Ziqin asked Zigong, “When our Master travels to a state, he always learns the affairs 
of its government.  Does he seek out the in-
formation, or do people give it to him of their own accord?” 
 Zigong said, “Our Master obtains this 
information by being friendly, straightforward, reverential, frugal, a nd modest.  The way our 
Master seeks things is different from the way others do!”  Confucius’s major disciples.  
The fact that he is referred to as 
‘Master’ in the Analects indi-
cates that his own later disciples had a hand in the text.  (Zeng Shen’s death is described in Book VIII.) 
 ‘Loyalty’ ( zhong  忠) and 
‘trustworthiness’ ( xìn 信) are 
complex concepts in the Ana-
lects.  Loyalty involves taking 
others’ interests as central in 
your conduct; trustworthiness means standing by one’s word, 
or, more deeply, being a depend-


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able support for others.  Both could be rendered in some con-texts as ‘faithfulness’; occasion-ally, I have rendered xìn in that 
sense.  1.5  In Classical China, the size of feudal states was often ex-pressed in terms of chariot forces.  ‘One thousand chariots’ 
denotes a mid-size state. 
 Certain political issues important to the Classical era recur in the Analects ; employing 
people in the proper season con-
trasts with the practice of pulling 
peasants from the fields in sum-mer to fight in war.   
1.6  ‘Refinements of culture’ 
translates the term wen (文), 
which is a key term in the Ana-
lects.  Its basic sense is ‘pattern’, 
and it is applied in a variety of 
important ways. 
 NOTE:  Elsewhere in this translation, wen is generally 
translated in its literal sense, ‘pattern’, most often referring to basic cultural norms of civiliza-
tion that underlie li (on which, 
see 1.12).  In many instances, 
use of the word ‘pattern’ will signal a range of possible conno-


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The Analects of Confucius 3
 1.11 The Master said:  When the father is 
alive, observe the son’s intent.  When the fa-ther dies, observe the son’s conduct.   
 One who does not alter his late father’s 
dao for three years ma y be called filial.   
 
1.12 Master You said:   
In the practice of  li,  
harmony is the key. 
 In the Dao of the kings of old, 
  This was the beauty. 
 In all affairs, great and small, follow 
this.  Yet there is one respect in which one does not.  To act in harmony simply because one understands what is harmonious, but not 
to regulate one’s conduct according to li, in-
deed, one cannot act  in that way. 
 1.13 Master You said:  Trustworthiness is 
close to righteousness: one’s words are tested 
true.  Reverence is close to li:  it keeps shame 
and disgrace at a distance.  One who can ac-
cord with these and not depart from his fa-ther’s way – such a one may truly be revered. 
 1.14 The Master said:  A junzi  is not con-


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cerned that food fill his belly, he does not seek 
comfort in his residence.   
If a person is apt in conduct and cau-
tious in speech, stays near those who keep to the dao and corrects himself thereby, he may 
be said to love learning. 
 
1.15 Zigong said, “To be poor but never a 
flatterer; to be wealt hy but never arrogant –
what would you say to that?”  The Master said, “That’s fine, but not so 
good as:  To be poor but joyful; to be wealthy 
and love li.” tations, from ‘civilization’ to 
‘good breeding’ or ‘fine litera-
ture’.  1.7  Zixia was a junior disciple, noted for his abilities with texts.  Note how this passage 
seems a gentle correction to the 
one before.  The Analects  was 
composed by many hands over several centuries.  Some portions seem to bear the traces of a con-
versation among differing view-
points within the Confucian 
school. 
 1.8 This passage seems to string a set of aphorisms together.  Are 
they truly related?  Should we


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read this as a single lesson, or a catalogue?  (The latter portions are duplicated at 9.25.)  
1.9 Many passages in the Ana-
lects seem directed at individual 
action, but suggest social or po-
litical consequences.    On the term ‘virtue’, see 
2.1. 
 1.10 Not much is known of the 
disciple Ziqin 子禽.   
Zigong 子貢 was a sen-
ior disciple from a merchant 
background.  He is reported to 
have performed occasional dip-
lomatic tasks in the state of Lu 
despite having no office, because of his skills in speech. He is said to have becoming a rich man in later life. 
 
1.11 Duplicated at 4.20 (see the note there).  Why keeping to one’s father’s way ( dao) is criti-
cal to filiality is unclear.  Pas-
sage 19.18 may provide some 
insight into what it entailed.


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The Analects of Confucius 4 
  Zigong said, “In the Poetry  it says, 
  As though cut, as though chiseled,  
 As though carved, as though polished.   
Is that what you mean?” 
 The Master said, “Ah, Si!  At last I 
can talk about the Poetry with him.  I tell 
him what came before and he understands 
what is coming next.” 
 
1.16 The Master said:  Do not be concerned that no one may recognize your merits.  Be concerned that you may not recognize others.
 1.12  Li (禮) refers to the body of 
religious, political, and common 
ceremonial forms that marked the Zhou cultural sphere as ‘patterned’ (wen ), or civilized.  Confucians 
believed that li had evolved, 
through sage trial and error, from the earliest leaders of previous dy-nasties to its apex in the initial cen-turies of the Zhou era.  (Li  may be 
singular or plural.)  
1.13  See 1.11.   
 
1.15  In this conversation, in which 
Zigong shows his knowledge of 
the classical collection of songs, 
known as the Poetry  (Shijing詩經,


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see 2.2). 
Confucius refers to him by 
the name Si.  In ancient China, 
most men possessed at least two personal names: a childhood name, by which their families addressed them, and a ‘style’ name, for pub-
lic use, given to them at a puberty 
ceremony called ‘capping’.  ‘Zigong’ is a style name; as a teacher, Confucius uses the
 inti-
mate family name.  See the Ap-
pendix for more detail. 
Multiple names for people 
create a reading problem in the Analects .  I will use notes to try to 
keep clear who is who.  
1.16  Note how the themes of the 
opening and closing passages to this book serve as conceptual ‘book ends’.


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The Analects of Confucius 5
 Book II 
 
2.1 The Master said:  When one rules by 
means of virtue ( de) it is like the North Star 
– it dwells in its place and the other stars pay 
reverence to it. 
 
2.2 The Master said:  There are three hun-dred songs in the Poetry , yet one phrase cov-
ers them all: “Thoughts unswerving.” 
 
2.3 The Master said:  Guide them with policies and align them with punishments 
and the people will evade them and have no 
shame.  Guide them with virtue ( de) and 
align them with li and the people will have a 
sense of shame and fulfill their roles.  2.4 The Master said:  When I was fifteen I 
set my heart on learning.  At thirty I took my 
stand.  At forty I was without confusion.  At 
fifty I knew the command of Tian.  At sixty I 
heard it with a compliant ear.  At seventy I 
follow the desires of my heart and do not 
overstep the bounds.  
2.5 Meng Yizi asked about filiality.  The 
Master said, “Never disobey.”    Fan Chi was driving the Master’s


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chariot, and the Master told him, “Meng Yizi 
asked me about filiality and I replied, ‘Never 
disobey.’”  Fan Chi said, “What did you 
mean?”  The Master sa id, “While they are 
alive, serve them according to li.  When they 
are dead, bury them  according to li; sacrifice 
to them according to li.” 
 
2.6 Meng Wubo asked about filiality.  The Master said, “Let your mother and father Notes 
 
2.1  De (德) is a key ethical term 
with very flexible meaning, ac-
cording to context.  The vague term ‘virtue’ is an imperfect fit, but flexible enough to serve.  
2.2 ‘The Poetry ’ refers to an an-
thology of popular and court songs 
largely compiled during the pre-Classical era (c. 1000-700). The Confucian school believed it had 
been edited by sages, such as the 
founding Zhou Dynasty kings, and was thus a repository of wisdom.  (See 13.5.)  2.3  Note how this passage relates 
closely to the leader-ship model of 
2.1.  In the Analects , related pas-


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sages have sometimes been sepa-rated through re-editing.  
2.4  This famous ‘thumbnail auto-
biography’ is probably a later addi-tion to the book, but captures Con-fucian school views of its founder. 
 Tian ( 天; ‘sky’), refers to a 
concept of supreme deity, 
‘Heaven’.  Its conceptual range is flexible, and the term is left un-translated here. 
 
2.5 Meng Yizi was one of two 
young patricians of the state of Lu 
who were entrusted by their father to a youthful Confucius for tutor-
ing, thus beginning Confucius’s 
career as a teacher.  Since the later (rather undistinguished) disciple, 
Fan Chi 樊遲, is present here as 
well, we are presumably to picture 
Meng Yizi now as a fully adult
 
member of the Lu nobility.  Meng Yizi’s son, Meng Wubo, appears in 2.6. 
 With 2.5 we begin a string
 
of four passages all related to ‘fili-


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The Analects of Confucius 6 
 need be concerned onl y for your health.” 
 
2.7 Ziyou asked about filiality.  The Mas-
ter said, “What is meant by filiality today is 
nothing but being able to take care of your parents.  But even houn ds and horses can re-
quire care.  Without respectful vigilance, what is the difference?”  2.8 Zixia asked about filiality.  The Mas-
ter said, “It is the expr ession on the face that 
is difficult.  That the young should shoulder 
the hardest chores or that the eldest are 
served food and wine first at meals – when-
ever was this what filiality meant?” 
 
2.9 The Master said:  I can speak with Hui 
all day and he will neve r contradict me, like 
a dolt.  But after he withdraws, when I sur-
vey his personal conduct, indeed he is ready 
to go forth.  He’s no dolt! 
 2.10 The Master said :  Look at the means 
he employs, observe the sources of his con-duct, examine what gives him comfort –
where can he hide?  Where can he hide?


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2.11 The Master said:  A person who can bring new warmth to the old while under-
standing the new is worthy to take as a 
teacher.  
2.12 The Master said:  The junzi is not a 
vessel. 
 
2.13 Zigong asked about the junzi .  The 
Master said, “One who first tries out a pre-
cept and only after follows it.”  ality’ ( xiao 孝), which refers spe-
cifically to the way sons are to 
treat parents.  Learning and accept-ing with devotion one’s duties as a son are keys to the Confucian dao.  
Filiality was a traditional value in Zhou era China; these passages attempt to pinpoint value beyond the tradition.  References to filiality con-
cern sons. Although early Confu-
cianism reveals little or no active 
prejudice against women (see 
17.23 for an exception), it seems to 
tacitly assume that its readers, and 
the only people who matter in pub-
lic society, are men.  In this sense, 
it fails to escape the social norms of its time.  
2.7  Ziyou 子游  is a disciple of 
some importance.


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2.9 ‘Hui’ is Yan Hui 顏回 (or Yan 
Yuan 淵), Confucius’s most cele-
brated disciple.  He is pictured in 
the Analects  in sagelike ways, but 
dies before Confucius, to the Mas-ter’s dismay (see 11.8-11).    
 
 
 
  
 
  2.12  ‘Vessel’ connotes limited capacity, fit for only designated uses.  This passage is often taken to be the background of 5.4.


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The Analects of Confucius 7
 2.14 The Master said:  The junzi  is inclu-
sive and not a partisan ; the small man is a 
partisan and not inclusive. 
 
2.15 The Master said:  If you study but don’t reflect you’ll be lost.  If you reflect but 
don’t study you’ll get into trouble. 
 2.16 The Master said:  One who sets to work on a different strand does damage. 
 
2.17 The Master said:  Shall I teach you about knowledge, You?  To know when you 
know something, and to know when you 
don’t know, that’s knowledge. 
 
2.18 The Master said:  Zizhang wanted to 
learn how to seek a salaried appointment. The Master said, “If you listen to much, put 
aside what seems doubtful, and assert the 
remainder with care, your mistakes will be few.  If you observe much, put aside what seems dangerous, and act upon the remainder 
with care, your regrets will be few.  Few 
mistakes in speech, few regrets in action – a 
salary lies therein. 
 
2.19 Duke Ai asked,  “What should I do so


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that the people will obey?”  Confucius re-
plied, “Raise up the straight and set them 
above the crooked and the people will obey. Raise up the crooked and set them above the 
straight and the people will not obey.” 
 2.20 Ji Kangzi asked, “How would it be to 
use persuasion to make the people respectful and loyal?”  The Master said, “If you ap-proach them with solemnity they will be re-spectful; if you are filial and caring they will 2.14  See 7.31. 
        
2.16  A vague but much cited 
passage that seems to give teamwork priority over individ-ual initiative.  
2.17 ‘You’ is the personal name of 
the disciple Zilu 子路, the most 
senior of the longstanding disci-
ples. Zilu is depicted as a man of 
military temper and self-assurance.
 
2.18 Zizhang 子張 was one of the 
senior disciples.  This passage may 
be compared with 15.32.  2.19  Duke Ai was the ruler of 
Confucius’s home state of Lu.  A 
number of Analects  passages pic-
ture Confucius advising or tutoring


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men of power.  In many such pas-sages, and always when these men are legitimate rulers, Confucius is referred to
 not as ‘the Master’, but 
more formally, by his family name, Kongzi, ‘Master
 Kong’.  
 
2.20  In the state of Lu,  real politi-cal power had fallen from the duke’s house into the hands of 
three senior patrician clans, of 
which the most powerful was the Ji 
季  family, whose leader is pic-
tured in conversation with Confu-
cius here. 
 There are, in the great war-lord families of this era, interesting 
similarities to outlaw networks of a 
later time in the West, such as  ma-
fia ‘families’, although the warlord


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The Analects of Confucius 8 
 be loyal; if you raise up the good and instruct 
those who lack ability they will be per-suaded.” 
 
2.21 Someone addressed Confucius, say-ing, “Why do you not engage in govern-
ment?”  The Master said, “The Documents
says, ‘Filial, merely be filial, and friends to 
brothers young and old.’  To apply this as 
one’s governance is al so to engage in gov-
ernment.  Why must there be some purpose-ful effort to engage in governance?”  
2.22 The Master said:  A person without 
trustworthiness, who knows what he may do?  A carriage without a yoke strap, and 
cart without a yoke hook, how can you drive 
them?  
2.23 Zizhang asked, “May one foretell ten 
generations from now?”  The Master said, 
“The Yin Dynasty adhered to the liof the 
Xia Dynasty; what they added and discarded can be known.  The Zhou Dynasty adhered 
to the li of the Yin Dynasty; what they added 
and discarded can be known.  As for those who may follow after the Zhou, though a


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hundred generations, we can foretell.”  
2.24 The Master said:  To sacrifice to spir-
its that do not belong to you is to be a toady. To see the right and not do it is to lack cour-
age families differed in deriving their 
basic status from hereditary rights 
granted by rulers, and they were not outlawed (indeed, they were held in awe).  Warlord families like the Ji exercised informal con-trol over regions, inducing obedi-
ence through the threat of force; 
they sustained gangs of armed re-tainers and high advisors with no lineage connection; their behavior mixed emulation of patrician ethi-
cal and ritual codes with ruthless-
ness.  
 
2.21 The Documents  (Shang shu 
尚書) is a collection of political 
texts, supposedly recording the 
words of sage kings of the past, from the legendary emperors Yao, Shun, and Yu, to the founding rul-
ers of the Zhou Dynasty.  It was 
treated by Confucians as a wisdom text.  2.23 In traditional history, the third of the great sage kings, ‘Emperor


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Yu’, was said to have founded a 
dynasty, known as the Hsia.  After several centuries, it was displaced by the Yin ruling house, also known as the Shang.  The last 
Shang king was overthrown by the 
Zhou founding ruler, King Wu, in 
1045 B.C. 
 
 
2.24  People had the right and duty 
to sacrifice to their own ancestors only.  Some feudal lords had been granted duties to sacrifice to re-gional natural spirits.  Some lords aggrandized themselves by pre-
suming to sacrificial rights they 
had not been granted.


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The Analects of Confucius 9
 Book III 
 
3.1 The Ji family had eight ranks of danc-
ers perform in the court of their family com-
pound.  Confucius said of this, “If one can 
tolerate this, one can tolerate anything!” 
 3.2 The three great families of Lu had the ode Peace  performed at the clearing of sacri-
ficial dishes in their family temples.   
The Master said of this, “Just how 
does the lyric,  
The lords of the realm come to assist, 
The Son of Heaven stands all solemn 
pertain to the halls of the three families?” 
 
3.3 The Master said:  If a man is not ren, 
what can he do with li?  If a man in not ren, 
what can he do with music?  3.4 Lin Fang asked about the root of li. 
The Master said, “An important question!  In li it would be better to be frugal than to be extravagant.  In funeral ritual it would be better to be guided by one’s grief than sim-
ply to attend to the ritual stipulations.”  3.5 The Master said:  The nomad and for-
est peoples who have rulers do not come up


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to the people of the civilized realm who do not. 
 
3.6 The Ji family performed the great Lü sacrifice to mountains and rivers at Mt. Tai. 
The Master said to Ran Yǒ u, “You were un-
able to prevent this?”  Ran Y ǒu replied, “I 
was unable.”  The Mast er said, “Alas! Do 
they think Mt. Tai less perceptive than Lin 
Fang?” Notes 
 
3.1  On the Ji family, see the note to 2.20.  It was a great concern to 
Confucius that power in Lu 魯 (his 
home state) had devolved from the 
legitimate ruling duke into the hands of three warlord clans (the 
Ji, the Meng, and the Shusun), de-
scendents of an earlier duke.  The usurpation of power is linked to the matters of ritual usurpation discussed in 3.1-2.  It should be 
understood that the ultimate prob-
lem concerns the loss of power by 
the Zhou kings themselves, whose control of the Zhou state passed into the hands of regional lords after 771 B.C.  In 3.2, and else-
where, “Son of Heaven” refers to 
the Zhou king.


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3.4  Lin Fang 林放 was a disciple 
known for his rather slow witted-
ness.    
 
    
 
3.6 The senior disciple Jan Y ǒu 
(often referred to as Ran Qiu 冉求) 
was a court minister to the Ji fam-
ily.  Mt. Tai, the most prominent 
mountain in Northeast China, was a sacred place; only the Zhou kings and their
 deputies, the dukes of Lu, 
had the right to perform sacrificial 
rituals there. 
 NOTE:  There is an unfor-tunate overlap of names between two major senior disciples who are often discussed together.  One is 
most often called Ran Qiu, the 
other Zilu.  Ran Qiu’s personal


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The Analects of Confucius 10 
  
3.7 The Master said:  The junzi does not 
compete.  Yet there is  always archery, is 
there not?  They mount the dais bowing and yielding, they descend and toast one another. They compete at being junzis!” 
 3.8 Zixia asked, “What is the meaning of the lines from the Poetry ,  
The fine smile dimpled,  
The lovely eyes flashing,  
The plain ground brings out the color ?”   
The Master said, “Painting follows af-
ter plain silk.”  Zixia said, “Then is it that li
comes after?”  The Mast er said, “How Shang 
lifts me up!  At last I have someone to dis-
cuss the Poetry  with!”   
 
3.9 The Master said:  I can describe the li
of the Xia Dynasty, but my description can’t 
be verified by its descendants in the state of 
Qĭ.  I can describe the li of the Yin Dynasty, 
but my description can’t be verified by its 
descendants in the state of Song.  Not enough documents survive; if they did, I 
could verify what I say. 
 3.10 The Master said:  The way the great


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di-sacrifice is performed, from the point of 
the libation on I can’t bear to watch! 
 
3.11 Someone asked about the explanation 
of the di-sacrifice.  The Mast er said, “I don’t 
know.  A person who knew that could man-
age the world as though it was open to his 
view right here.”  And he pointed to his open 
palm. 
 
3.12 “Sacrifice as though present” – sacri-name was Qiu, but his public style 
name was Y ǒu (有), and he is fre-
quently referred to as Jan Y ǒu.  
The family name of Zilu (a public 
style name) was Chung and his 
personal name was You (由).  At 
times, the text speaks together of 
Ran Yǒu, whom Confucius ad-
dresses as Qiu, and Zilu, whom 
Confucius addresses as You.  I 
have added the diacritic to the ‘You’ in Ran Y ǒu’s name to try to 
minimize confusion. 
 
3.7 This refers to the ceremonial 
archery
 competition, a common  
patrician ritual occasion.  3.8 Zixia’s personal name was 
Shang 商.  This passage can be 
compared to 1.15. 
 3.9 The descendants of the ruling


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clans of the Xia and Yin (Shang) 
dynasties were settled on lands that provided enough income for them 
to continue sacrifices to their royal 
ancestors.  These lands became the 
states of Q ĭ and Song. 
 Q ĭ 杞was a minor state, 
different from Qi 齊, Lu’s power-
ful neighbor to the north. 
 3.10-11 The nature of the ti-
sacrifice is unclear, but it appears to have been connected to worship 
of the deity Di ( 帝), some-times 
pictured as a high god, or alterna-
tive term for Tian. 
 
     
 
 3.12  The most basic form of reli-
gious practices in ancient China


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The Analects of Confucius 11
 fice to the spirits as though the spirits were 
present.  The Master said:  If I don’t participate 
in a sacrifice, it is as though there were no 
sacrifice. 
 
3.13 Wangsun Jia asked, “What is the sense 
of that saying: ‘Better to appeal to the kitchen god than the god of the dark cor-ner?’”  The Master said , “Not so!  If one of-
fends against Tian, one will have no place at which to pray.”  
3.14 The Master said:  The Zhou could 
view itself in the mirror of the two previous 
ruling dynasties.  How splendid was its pat-
tern!  And we follow the Zhou.  3.15 The Master entered the Grand Temple 
and asked about ever y matter.  Someone 
said, “Who says this son of a man from Zou 
knows about li?  Entering the Grand Temple, he asked about every matter.”  Hearing of 
this, the Master said, “That is li.” 
 
3.16 The Master said:  The rule, ‘In arch-
ery, penetrating the target is not the object’ reflects the fact that men’s physical strengths differ.


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3.17 Zigong wished to dispense with the sacrificial lamb offered at the ritual report of 
the new moon.  The Master said, “Si, you 
begrudge the lamb, I begrudge the li.” 
 
3.18 The Master said:  If one were to serve 
one’s lord according to the full extent of li, 
others would take one  to be a toady. 
 were ceremonies offering food and 
drink to the spirits of one’s ances-
tors, which were pictured in semi-corporeal form, descending to par-take.  3.13 After failing to succeed in 
reforming the politics of his home 
state of Lu, Confucius journey-ed from state to state in search of a worthy ruler.  Here, he is in the state of Wei, and the powerful 
minister of war is suggesting by 
means of analogy with customary 
ideas of household gods, that he, 
rather than the duke of Wei, is the key to political access in Wei.  (See 6.28.) 
 
   3.15 Confucius’s father was from 
the tiny state of Zou, just south of


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Lu.  Lu was viewed as a repository of authoritative knowledge of Zhou customs, while Zou had, un-til recently, been a non-Zhou cul-
tural region. Here we see Confu-
cius’s cultural authority being questioned on the basis of his fam-ily background.  (See also 10.18.)


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The Analects of Confucius 12 
 3.19 Duke Ding asked,  “How should a lord 
direct his minister and the minister serve his 
lord?”  Confucius replied, “If the lord directs 
his minister with li, the minister will serve 
his lord with loyalty.” 
 
3.20 The Master said:  The poem Ospreys : 
happiness without license, anguish without 
injury.  
3.21 Duke Ai questioned Zai Wo about the 
earthen alter of state.  Zai Wo replied, “The 
lords of the Xia Dynasty planted a pine tree 
beside it; the people of the Yin Dynasty 
planted a cypress.  The people of the Chou planted a chestnut ( lì) tree, saying, ‘Let the 
people be fearful ( lì).’”   When the Master 
heard of this he said, “One does not plead against actions already done; one does not 
remonstrate about affairs that have con-
cluded.  One does not assign blame concern-ing matters of the past.”  
3.22 The Master sa id, “Guan Zhong was a 
man of small capacitie s.”  Someone said, 
“But wasn’t Guan Zhong frugal?”


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The Master said, “Guan Zhong main-
tained three residences and allowed no con-
solidation of responsibilities among state of-
ficers.  Wherein was this frugal?”   
“Well, but did he not know li?” 
The Master said, “When the lord of his 
state set up a screen at court, Guan Zhong 
gated his family courtyard with a screen. Because an earthen drinking platform is built 
when lords of states meet together to en-
hance their congeniality, Guan Zhong also 
built an earthen drinking platform.  If Guan Zhong knew li, who does not know li?” 3.19  Duke Ding was the ruler of 
Lu prior to Duke Ai, whom we 
encountered in 2.19 and again be-low in 3.21.   3.20 The Poetry  opens with the 
song Ospreys , which links the im-
age of those birds to a lover’s longing for an ideal woman.  
3.21 Zai Wo 宰我 was a disciple.  
He plays a minor role in the Ana-
lects, but is unique in that his role 
is unremittingly negative.  He died 
in abortive coup attempt in his na-
tive state of Qi, and his treatment


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in the text may be connected to that.  The name of the chestnut 
tree ( lì 栗), happens to be part of a 
compound word that means ‘fear-ful’ ( lì慄). 
 
  3.22 Guan Zhong was the prime minister of the state of Qi during 
the seventh century B.C.  His wise 
counsel was said to have made his 
ruler the first of the great ‘he-gemons’ of the chaotic ‘Spring and Autumn’ period of history (722-
489 B.C.).  He was a hero to later 
generations in Northeast China, 
but Confucians were ambivalent about him, because
 they viewed 
the hegemonic power of the Duke of Qi and others like him as de-
priving the Zhou king of his right-
ful authority as Tian’s
 designated 
ruler.  
 Guan Zhong’s historical status and the intellectual impor-tance of evaluating that role may 
be analogized to an American fig-
ure like Jefferson (although only in the sense that both were touch-stones of political interpretation


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The Analects of Confucius 13
  
3.23 The Master instructed the Music Mas-
ter of Lu:  “The pattern of music is some-
thing we can understand.   Music commences 
with unison, and then follows with harmony, 
each line clearly heard, moving in sequence 
towards the coda.” 
 3.24 The keeper of the pass at Yi requested an interview.  “I have never been denied an 
interview by any gentleman coming to this
place.”  The followers pr esented him.  When 
he emerged he said, “G entlemen, what need 
do you have to be anxious over your Mas-
ter’s failure?  The world has long been with-
out the tao.  Tian means to employ your 
Master as a wooden bell.”  3.25 The Master said of the Shao music, “It 
is thoroughly beautiful and thoroughly 
good.”  Of the Wu music he said, “It is thor-oughly beautiful, but not thoroughly good.”  
3.26 The Master said:  One who dwells in 
the ruler’s seat and is  not tolerant, one who 
performs li and is not revere nt, one who joins


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a funeral and does not mourn – what have I 
to learn from any of these? 
 and controversy).  The Analects 
presents alternative perspectives 
on Guan Zhong.  For a view of 
Guan Zhong very different from 3.22, see 14.16-17.   
 
  3.24 The pass at Yi lay on the bor-der of the state of Wei, where Con-
fucius traveled but failed to find a 
welcome at court for his teaching.  
Here, as he leaves, the lowly 
keeper of the pass conveys to the disciples what he discerns as the meaning of Confucius’s failure. 
 
3.25 The Shao music was an or-chestral ballet said to have been composed by the legendary Em-peror Shun, who was raised to the 
throne because of his virtue.  The 
Wu music was a dance of the con-quest in war of the evil last king of the Shang by the Zhou founder, 
King Wu.  (‘ Wu’ means ‘martial’.)


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The Analects of Confucius 14 
 Book IV 
 
4.1  The Master said, To settle in renis the 
fairest course.  If on e chooses not to dwell 
amidst ren, whence will come knowledge? 
 
4.2  The Master said , Those who are not ren
cannot long dwell in straitened circum-
stances, and cannot long dwell in joy.  The ren person is at peace with ren .  The wise 
person makes use of ren. 
 4.3  The Master said, Only the renperson 
can love others and hate others.  4.4  The Master said, If one sets one’s heart 
on ren, there will be none he hates. 
 
4.5  The Master said, Wealth and high rank 
are what people desire; if they are attained 
by not following the dao, do not dwell in 
them.  Poverty and mean rank are what peo-
ple hate; if they are a ttained by not following 
the dao, do not depart from them.  If one takes ren away from a junzi , 
wherein is he worthy of  the name?  There is 
no interval so short that the junzi deviates 
from ren.  Though rushing full tilt, it is there;


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though head over heels, it is there. 
 
4.6  The Master said, I have never seen one who loves ren and hates what is not ren. 
One who loves ren puts nothing above it. 
One who hates what is not ren will never al-
low that which is not rento be part of his 
person.  Is there any person who can direct his strength to ren for an entire day – I have 
never seen anyone whose strength is not suf-Notes 
 
4.1  The metaphor of choosing a neighborhood is very concrete in 
this passage.  See 4.25. 
 4.2  The final phrases here have led some commentators to see the ren and the wise as very different 
types of people; others see these as 
complementary facets of the sage 
person.   
 
4.3 / 4.4  These two passages seem 
contradictory, suggesting the Ana-
lects’  complex editorial process.  
The last part of 4.4 could also mean ‘there will be no bad aspect 
to him’. 
 4.5  There seem to be two different passages linked here.  On the first, see also 7.12 and 7.16. 
The second section is


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justly famous as a vivid illustration of what it means to be fully ren, 
and thus truly worthy of the name ‘junzi ’. 
 
 
     
4.6  Sarcasm is a device that ap-
pears regularly in the Analects , 
suggesting that it may indeed have been a feature of Confucius’s speech.


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The Analects of Confucius 15
 ficient – most likely there is such a one, but I 
have yet to see him.  
4.7  The Master said, People make errors ac-
cording to the type of person they are.  By 
observing their errors, you can understand 
ren. 
 
4.8  The Master said, In  the morning hear the 
dao, in the evening die content. 
 
4.9  The Master said, If a gentleman sets his heart on the dao but is ashamed to wear poor 
clothes and eat poor food, he is not worth 
engaging in serious discussion. 
 
4.10  The Master said, The junzi ’s stance to-
wards the world is this: there is nothing he 
insists on, nothing he refuses, he simply 
aligns himself beside right ( yi). 
 4.11  The Master said, The junzi  cherishes 
virtue (de ), the small man cherishes land. 
The junzi  cherishes the examples men set, 
the small man cherishes the bounty they be-stow. 
 
4.12  The Master said, If one allows oneself to follow profit in one’s behavior, there will 
be many with cause for complaint.


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4.13  The Master said,  Can li and deference 
be employed to manage a state.  What is 
there to this?  If one cannot use li and defer-
ence to manage a state, what can one do with 
li? 
 4.14  The Master said, Do not be concerned that you have no position, be concerned that  
 
 4.7  Sometimes the sense here is taken to be that by
 observing the 
pattern of a person’s errors, one can understand his distance from 
ren. 
 
4.8  A famous, unusual, and puz-zling passage  -- puzzling because of the Confucian stress on the dao 
as an instrument for political ac-tion.  4.9  ‘Gentleman’ translates shih 
(士), a term applied to all well-
born men, from rulers to lower 
aristocrats.  It came to point more towards the lower levels, and then as a normative term, came to sig-
nify a person of basic moral at-
tainments and culture, worthy  of 
being treated as an aristocrat, re-gardless of birth.  Confucians were among the earliest champions of treating people on the basis of their


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attainments of morality and cul-
ture, rather than on the basis of birth.  4.10  Beginning here, we encoun-
ter a string of passages aiming to 
delineate the character of the junzi , 
often in terms of very specific atti-tudes, and often in contrast to his opposite, the ‘small man’. 
Right ( yi 義) is a tradi-
tional concept, stressed by Confu-cians (particularly the second great Confucian, Mencius [fourth cen-
tury B.C.]).  It is, in some ways, a 
complement to ren .  At some 
points, yi  is rendered here as 
‘righteousness’.  
4.11 On de (德), see 2.1 and the 
Coursepack Glossary.


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The Analects of Confucius 16 
 you have what it takes to merit a position. 
Do not be concerned that no one recognizes you, seek that which is worthy of recogni-
tion. 
 4.15  The Master said, “Shen, a single thread 
runs through my dao.” 
 Master Zeng said, “Yes.” 
 The Master went out, and the other disciples asked, “What did he mean?” 
 Master Zeng said, “The Master’s dao
is nothing other than loyalty and reciproc-
ity.” 
 
4.16  The Master said, The junzi  compre-
hends according to right, the small man 
comprehends according to profit. 
 4.17  The Master said, When you see a wor-
thy, think of becoming equal to him; when 
you see an unworthy person, survey yourself within.  
4.18  The Master said, When one has several 
times urged one’s parents, observe their in-tentions; if they are not inclined to follow 
your urgings, maintain respectful-ness and 
do not disobey, labor on their behalf and bear 
no complaint.


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4.19  The Master said, When one’s parents are alive, make no di stant journeys; when 
you travel, have a set destination.  4.20  The Master said, One who does not al-
ter his late father’s dao for three years may 
be called filial.   
 4.21  The Master said, One cannot fail to  
4.14  This passage resonates with 
1.1 and 1.16.  There are many other instances in the text where this idea is central. 
 
4.15  Many have noted that it would be odd if Zeng Shen (see 
1.4), a very junior disciple, pos-
sessed the sort of esoteric
 under-
standing this passage  suggests.  
His apparent wisdom here is probably due to the role of his own 
later students in editing the Ana-
lects.  The passage can be com-
pared with 15.3. 
 4.16  More literally, the sense is that the junzi  will grasp points 
framed in terms of morals; for the small man, talk in terms of profit. 
 
  
 
  4.18-21  A set of four passages on filiality.


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4.20  Duplicated at 1.11 (see the discussion there).  Three years was the ritual mourning period for 
one’s parents, during which a son 
was to withdraw from all social 
roles and entertainments (see 
17.19).


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The Analects of Confucius 17
 know the ages of one’s parents: on one hand, 
these are a source of happiness, on the other 
hand of fear. 
 
4.22  The Master said, The ancients were wary of speaking be cause they were 
ashamed if their conduct did not match up.  4.23  The Master said, Rarely has anyone missed the mark through self-constraint. 
 
4.24  The Master said, The junzi wishes to be 
slow of speech and quick in action. 
 
4.25  The Master said,  Virtue is never alone; 
it always has neighbors. 
 
4.26  Ziyou said, If one is insistent in serving one’s ruler, one will be  disgraced.  If one is 
insistent with friends, they will become dis-tant.  
  
 
  4.22 and 4.24 appear originally to have been side by side.  
 
    
 
 
 
4.25  Book IV is more consistent in form than any of the other books.  All passages except 4.15 
and 4.26 are simple aphorisms


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stated by the Master.  Most inter-preters believe the two exceptions represent late additions to the book.  If this is the case, 4.25 was 
originally the end of Book IV, and 
it is in this light that we must note how closely it resonates with 4.1.  
4.26  See also 12.23.


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The Analects of Confucius 18 
 Book V  
 
5.1  The Master charact erized Gongye Chang: 
“He is marriageable.  Though he was in shack-
les, it was through no cr ime of his own.”  And 
he wed his daughter to him. 
 
5.2  The Master characterized Nan Rong: “If the dao prevailed in the stat e, he would not be 
discarded; if the dao did not prevail in the 
state, he would evade corporal punishment.” And he wed his elder brother’s daughter to him. 
 
5.3  The Master characterized Zijian thus: “He is a junzi !  If Lu truly lacks any junzi s, 
where has he come from?”  5.4  Zigong said, “What am I like?”  The Mas-
ter said, “You are a vessel.”  “What vessel?”  “A vessel of ancestral sacrifice.”  
5.5  Someone said, “Yong is renbut he has no 
craft in speech.”  
 The Master said, “Of what use is craft in 
speech?  Those who parry others with glib 
tongues are frequent object s of detestation.  I 
don’t know whether Yong is ren, but of what


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use is craft in speech?”  5.6  The Master gave Qi diao Kai leave to take 
up a position.  He replied, “I’m not yet pre-pared to fulfill this fa ithfully.”  The Master 
was pleased. 
 
5.7  The Master said, “The dao does not pre-
vail!  I shall set out ove r the sea on a raft.  I 
expect that You will be willing to accompany Notes 
 
5.1  Many passages in Book V comment on contemporary and 
historical figures.  In many cases, 
we know little or nothing about 
them.  Gongye Chang 公冶長 is 
else-where said to have been a dis-
ciple.  It is unknown why he was 
imprisoned.  
5.2  Nan Rong 南容 is also said to 
have been a disciple (see 14.5) 
 Other sources tell us Con-
fucius’s father had another, elder 
son, born of a concubine different from Confucius’s mother. 
 The basic rule that Nan 
Rong here follows is known as 
‘timeliness’ ( shí  時); it is a key 
Confucian concept, which grows


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in scope from the simple idea ar-ticulated here, to a broad vision of the dynamic application of ethical authority in ever-changing con-texts. 
 
5.3  Zijian 子賤 was a disciple. 
 
5.4 This passage is often thought 
to resonate with 2.12:  “The junzi  
is not a vessel.”  This idea is in tension with the sacred character of the sacrificial vessel.  
5.5  Yong 雍 is the disciple 
Zhonggong 仲弓 (see 6.1).  Com-
pare 1.3, 4.22, and 4.24 with the 
message of this passage.  
5.6  Qidiao Kai 漆彫開 is a disci-
ple referred to only in this one 
Analects  passage, but there is evi-
dence his later influence was great (see the Appendix). 
 
5.7  The disciple Zilu (Zhong You – personal name: You) is portrayed


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The Analects of Confucius 19
me.” 
 Zilu heard of this and was pleased.  The Master said, “You’s love of valor 
exceeds mine; there is nowhere to get the 
lumber.”  
5.8  Meng Wubo asked, “Is Zilu ren?”  The 
Master said, “I don’t know.” 
 When asked again, the Master said, “You may be placed in charge of managing 
the military exactions for a state of a thou-sand war chariots.  I don’t know whether he 
is ren.” 
 “What about Qiu?” 
 The Master said, “Qiu may be made 
steward of a city of a thousand households or 
a feudal estate of a hund red war chariots.  I 
don’t know whether he is ren.” 
 “What about Chi?”  The Master said, “Girt with a sash and 
standing in court, Chi may be entrusted with 
the role of greeting visitors.  I don’t know whether he is ren.” 
 5.9  The Master addr essed Zigong, saying, 
“Who is superior, you or Hui?” 
 “How could I dare even to gaze up at 
Hui?  When Hui hears one part, he under-stands all ten; I hear  one and understand


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two.”  The Master said, “Yes, you do not come up to him.  Neither you nor I come up 
to him.” 
 5.10  Zai Yu napped in his chamber during 
the day.  The Master  said, “Rotten wood 
cannot be carved; a wall of dung cannot be 
whitewashed.  What point is there in blaming Yu?” as martial and impetuous 
throughout the Analects  (see the 
next passage).  Here, Confucius 
teases him.  There is a key pun: ‘lumber’ is a pun on
 the word 
‘talent’, a harsh comment on Zilu’s limited abilities.  (The 
humor of the Analects  can be 
edgy.) 
 5.8  Meng Wubo was a grandee in the state of Lu (see 2.5-6).  
Here, we are probably to assume 
he is seeking job references. 
Qiu is the senior disciple 
Ran Qiu.  Both he and Zilu served for a time as officers at 
the warlord Chi family court. 
 Chi is the disciple 
Gongxi Hua 公西華, from a pa-
trician Lu family. 
 All these disciples did


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achieve some political stature in Lu.  5.8 should be read as the basis of the most elaborate pas-sage in the Analects , 11.26. 
    5.9  ‘Hui’ refers to the disciple 
Yan Hui. 
    
 
 
 
   
5.10  The only disciple in the 
Analects  towards whom no type 
of approval or affection is shown 
is  the senior disciple Zai Yu 予 
(also known as Zai Wo; see 
3.21).  (I believe there is likely a


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The Analects of Confucius 20 
  
The Master said, “It used to be that 
with people, when I heard what they said I 
trusted their conduct w ould match.  Now I 
listen to what they say and observe their 
conduct.  It is because of Yu that I have 
changed.” 
 5.11  The Master said, “I have never seen anyone who was incorruptible.”  Someone 
replied by mentioning Shen Cheng.  The 
Master said, “Cheng is full of desires.  How could he be called incorruptible?” 
 
5.12  Zigong said, “What I do not wish oth-
ers to do to me, I do not wish to do to oth-
ers.” 
 The Master said, “Si, this is a level you have not yet reached.” 
 
5.13  Zigong said,  The Master’s emblem of 
patterns is something we  may learn of.  The 
Master’s statements concerning our nature 
and the dao of Tian are things we may not 
learn of. 
 
5.14  When Zilu hear d something new and 
had not yet learned to practice it, his only 
fear was that he would hear something else 
new. 
 5.15  Zigong asked, “Why is Kong Wenzi


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referred to by the posthumous title of Wen?”  The Master said, “He was bright and loved learning, and unashamed to ask ques-
tions of those below him.  That is why he is 
referred to as Wen.”   text error here, and that what Zai 
Yu is accused of is actually deco-
rating the walls of his chamber.)     
 
  5.11  Nothing is known of Shen Cheng; some sources list him as a 
disciple. 
 
  
 
5.12  Si was Zigong’s personal name.  This formula, a version of 
the Golden Rule, is important to 
the Analects , and is some-times 
referred to as ‘reciprocity’ (see 15.24).  5.13  ‘Emblem of patterns’ 
(wenzhang 文章) is a phrase that 
occurs again in 8.19 (see also 
5.22).  It likely refers to the practi-
cal style of conduct that was cen-
tral to the Confucian ritualist school.    
 
   5.15  Kong Wenzi was a grandee 
in the state of Wei.  After a senior


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patrician’s death, it was common to select an honorific name to use posthumously as a sign of respect.  The name was intended to capture some aspect of character.  In this 
case, the issue is most importantly 
a gloss on the meaning of the key term wen (patterned).


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The Analects of Confucius 21
 5.16  The Master charact erized Zichan thus: 
“There were in him four aspects of the dao
of the junzi .  He was reverent in his com-
portment, he was respectfully attentive in service to his superiors, he was generous in nurturing the people, he  was righteous in di-
recting the people.”  5.17  The Master said, Yan Pingzhong was good at interacting with people.  Even after 
long acquaintance, he re mained respectfully 
attentive.  
5.18  The Master said, When Zang Wen-
zhong created a chamber for his great turtle, 
he had the beams pain ted with mountains, 
and the supporting posts.  What wisdom he 
had!  
5.19  Zizhang asked, “Chief minister Ziwen 
when thrice appointed chief minister showed no sign of pleasure; when thrice dismissed, he showed no sign of displeasure, and duly 
reported to the new chief minister the affairs 
of the old.  What would you say of him?”  The Master said, “He was loyal.” 
 “Was he ren?” 
 “I don’t know.  Wherein would he be


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ren?” 
 “When Cuizi assassi nated the ruler of 
Qi, Chen Wenzi posse ssed ten teams of 
horses, but he cast all that away and took his 
leave.  Arriving at another state, he said, 
“These men are like our grandee Cuizi,” and took his leave.  Arriving at yet another state, 
he said, “These men are like our grandee 
Cuizi,” and took his l eave.  What would you 
say of him?”  The Master said, “He was pure.” 5.16  Zichan was an exemplary 
prime minister in the small state of 
Zheng, who died in 522 B.C., when Confucius was still young. 
“Directing the people” re-
fers to calling on corvée manpower obligations for war or labor pro-
jects. 
  5.17  Yan Pingzhong was a famous prime minister in the state of Qi.  
He lived well into
 Confucius’s 
lifetime, dying c. 506 B.C. 
 5.18  Zang Wenzhong was a fa-mous prime minister in Lu three generations senior to Confucius.  
He procured for his clan a great


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turtle, of some sacred significance.  The decor described here is said to have been the prerogative of the 
Zhou king, hence Confucius’s final 
sarcastic remark. 
 5.19  Another illustration of how difficult it is to earn the Master’s praise as ren. 
 Ziwen was chief minister in the state of Chu several genera-tions before Confucius.  The assassination of Duke Chuang of Qi took place about the time of Confucius’s birth.  ‘Ten 
teams of horses’ clearly means 
only that Chen Wenzi abandoned a lavish household to avoid associa-tion with Cuizi.


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The Analects of Confucius 22 
  “Was he ren?” 
 “I don’t know.  Wherein would he be 
ren?” 
 5.20  Ji Wenzi always  pondered thrice before 
acting.  The Master h eard of this and said, 
“Twice is enough.”  5.21  The Master said, As for Ning Wuzi, when the dao prevailed in his state, he was 
wise; when the dao did not prevail, he was 
stupid.  His wisdom may be matched; his 
stupidity is unmatchable.” 
 
5.22  The Master was in Chen.  He said, “Let 
us return!  Let us re turn!  The young men of 
our group are bold but simple.  They weave 
an emblem but do not know how to trim it.”  
5.23  The Master said, Bo Yi and Shu Qi did 
not recite old wrongs.  For this reason, their complaints were rare.  
5.24  The Master said, Who says Weisheng 
Gao is straightforwar d.  If someone asked 
him for vinegar, he would borrow it from a 
neighbor and give it.  5.25  The Master said, Crafty words, an in-
gratiating expression , obsequious conduct –
Zuo Qiuming would be ashamed of such be-


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havior, and I would be ashamed of it as well. 
To hide one’s resentment and befriend an-
other – Zuo Qiuming would be ashamed of such behavior, and I would be ashamed of it 
as well. 
 5.26  Yan Yuan and Ji Lu were sitting in at-tendance.  The Master  said, “Why not each  
 
   5.20  Ji Wenzi was head of the powerful Ji warlord clan in Lu sev-
eral generations before Confucius. 
 5.21  Ning Wuzi was a grandee in the state of Wei.  Compare with 5.2.  This is an example of the dry 
humor the Analects  often imparts 
to its portrait of Confucius. 
 
5.22  Chen was one of the states Confucius visited during his long exile from Lu.  Here he imagines 
the activity of the disciples left 
behind using the metaphor of the cloth emblem of patterns
 (see 
5.13).   
 
5.23  Bo Yi and Shu Qi were two 
legendary brothers who retreated to the wilderness to escape the evil of the last Shang ruler.  They re-turned upon hearing of the virtues 
of King Wen of the Zhou, but ar-


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rived as his son, King Wu, con-quered the Shang. Seeing his war-making as no improvement, they retreated again, to die of hunger in 
the mountains. 
 The last phrase may be 
read to mean few complained 
against them. 
 5.24  Nothing is known of Wei-
sheng Gao, or why Confucius de-
vises this colorful characterization. 5.25  Zuo Qiuming is the name of the shadowy author of the Zuo-chuan (Zuo’s Commentary on the 
Spring and Autumn Annals ), the 
great history of the early Classical 
period.  Why Confucius character-izes him as he does here in not


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The Analects of Confucius 23
 of us speak his heart’s desire?” 
 Zilu said, “Let me drive a team of horses and be dressed in a light fur jacket 
side by side with friends ; even were we all in 
tatters, we would be fr ee of resentment.”  
 Yan Yuan said, “I would wish not to boast of my virtues nor cause others labor.” 
 Zilu said, “We would like to hear the Master’s wish.”  The Master said, “That the old are 
content with me, my friends trust me, and the 
young cherish me.”  
5.27  The Master said, Enough!  I have yet to 
see anyone who can rec ognize his own errors 
and bring changes against himself within.  
5.28  The Master said , In a town of ten 
households, there will su rely be one who is 
as loyal and trustworthy as I.  But there will 
be none who love learning as much! known. 
 
5.26  Yan Yuan is the disciple Yen 
Hui.  Ji Lu 季路 is the disciple 
Zilu.  Like 5.8, this passage in an 
inspiration for 11.26.


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The Analects of Confucius 24 
 Book VI 
 
6.1  The Master said, Yong may be permitted 
to sit facing south.  6.2  Zhonggong asked about Zisang Bozi. 
The Master said, “He was satisfactory; his 
style was simple.”  Zhonggong said, “T o be attentively 
respectful when interacting at home but sim-
ple in conduct when approaching one’s peo-
ple is indeed satisfactory.  But is not being simple both at home and in conduct abroad 
to be too simple?” 
 The Master said, “Yong’s words are correct.” 
 
6.3  Duke Ai asked wh ich of the disciples 
loved learning.  The Master said, “There was 
Yan Hui who loved l earning.  He never 
shifted his anger, never repeated his errors. 
Unfortunately, his life was short and he died. Now there is none.  I have not heard of an-
other who loves learning.” 
 6.4  Zihua was dispatched on a mission to 
Qi.  Ranzi asked for an allotment of grain to 
provide his mother.  Th e Master said, “Give 
her six measures.”


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Ranzi asked for more.   “Give her nine measures.” Ranzi gave her twenty-five measures.  
The Master said, “When Chi traveled 
to Qi, he rode a sleek horse and wore a fine 
fur jacket.  I have heard it said, ‘The junzi
attends to the needy; he does not enrich the wealthy.’” 
 
6.5  Yuan Si acted as steward of the Master’s Notes 
 
6.1  Yong (Ran Yong) is the disci-ple Zhonggong. 
 The ruler’s throne faces 
south.  This is extraordinary praise. No extensive lore praising Zhong-gong exists, but in the Xunzi , the 
third great early Confucian text (third century B.C.), Zhonggong is 
noted as a founder of a branch of 
the Confucian school.  6.2 Nothing certain is known of 
Zisang Bozi. 
 
    
 
 6.3  Essentially duplicated at 11.7, with Ji Kangzi as the interlocutor.   
 
    
 
6.4  Zihua is the disciple Gongxi Hua (see 5.8).  Ranzi is Ran Qiu.      
 
    
 
    
 
6.5  Yuan Si was a disciple; he is


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The Analects of Confucius 25
 household.  The Master set his salary at nine 
hundred measures.  Yuan  Si declined.  The 
Master said, “No, you can give it to your 
neighbors and townsmen.” 
 6.6  The Master characterized Zhonggong 
thus: If the calf of a plough ox has a sorrel 
coat and fine horns, though one wished not 
to sacrifice it, would the spirits of the moun-tains and rivers forego it? 
 
6.7  The Master said , Hui would go three 
months without his heart ever departing from 
ren.  As for the others, their hearts merely 
come upon ren from time to time. 
 6.8  Ji Kangzi asked, “Cannot Zhong You be 
appointed to government position?”  
The Master said, “You is resolute. 
What difficulty would he have in govern-ance?”  “Cannot Si be appointed to govern-ment position?” 
 The Master said, “Si has understand-
ing.  What difficulty would he have in gov-ernance?” 
 “Cannot Qiu be appointed to govern-
ment position?”  The Master said, “Qiu is accomplished


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in arts.  What difficulty would he have in 
governance?”  
6.9  The Ji family sent word appointing Min 
Ziqian as the steward of Bi.  Min Ziqian said, “Make a good excuse for me.  If they send 
for me again, I will su rely be found north of 
the River Wen.” 
 6.10  Boniu fell ill.  The Master called upon more usually referred to by his 
personal name, Xian (see 14.1). 
The lesson of this passage 
is clearly meant to be coupled with 
the last.  6.6  From this, we can infer that 
Zhonggong, who is so highly 
praised in Book VI, was of humble birth.  (See 6.10.)   
 
 
 
   
 
 6.8  Ji Kangzi was head of the war-lord Ji clan in Lu.  Zhong You is the disciple Zilu; Si is the disciple 
Zigong; Qiu is the disciple Ran 
Qiu.  This passage seems in-tended to identify key traits valu-able in public roles.  ‘Resolute’ 
carries a sense of following 
through in action; ‘understanding’ may also mean able to express ideas clearly.


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6.9  Min Ziqian was a disciple.  Bi was the walled city at the center of the of the Ji family domain.  
‘North of the River Wen’ 
suggests an intent to flee beyond 
the borders of Lu. 
  6.10  Boniu (Ran Boniu) is the


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The Analects of Confucius 26 
 him, grasping Boniu’s hand through the win-
dow.  He said, “There is nothing for it!  It is fated.  Yet for such a man to have such an 
illness!  For such a man to have such an ill-ness!”  
6.11  The Master said, How worthy is Hui! 
A simple bowl of food and a dipperful of drink, living on a shabby lane – others could not bear the cares, yet Hui is unchanging in 
his joy.  How worthy is Hui! 
 6.12  Ran Qiu said, “It is not that I do not de-
light in your dao, Master – my strength is in-
sufficient.” 
 The Master said, “Those with insuffi-
cient strength fall by the path midway.  You 
are simply drawing a line.”  
6.13  The Master addressed Zixia, saying, 
“Be a junzi  Ru; don’t be a small man Ru.” 
 6.14  Ziyou became the steward of Wucheng. 
The Master said, “Do you find good men 
there?”  “There is one called Tan-tai Mie-
ming.  He never takes shortcuts in his con-
duct, and if it is not upon official business,


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he never comes to see me in my chamber.” 
 
6.15  The Master said, Meng Zhifan was not 
boastful.  When the army retreated, he held 
the rear, but as they a pproached the city gate 
he whipped his horse ahead, saying, “It’s not that I dared to stay behind – my horse simply 
wouldn’t go!” 
 6.16  The Master said, Without the glibness of Zhu Tuo or the handsomeness of Song father of Zhonggong (Ran Yong).  
His polite name means “elder ox,” 
which may explain the metaphor used in 6.6.    What Boniu’s illness may have been is a matter of specula-
tion.
  The word ‘fated’ ( ming 命) 
also carried the sense of ‘lifespan’, 
and it was commonly believed that 
a limit of years was determined for 
each person by destiny. 
    6.12  ‘The path’ simply translates 
daoin its original sense, in order to 
clarify the metaphor governing 
Confucius’s reply. 
  
 
6.13  ‘Ru’ ( 儒) is the name by 
which the Confucian school was 
known (Confucianism is some-
times called Ruism in English).  Its


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original meaning is disputed.  This passage (the only one in the Ana-
lects to employ the term) suggests 
a split already existing in the 
school at the time the Analects  was 
composed. Clearly, the followers 
of Zixia believed their master was on the junzi  side of the equation. 
 6.14  The final statement means he 
never seeks contact for private rea-
sons.  6.15  Meng Zhifan was a contem-
porary grandee of Lu. 
 
    
 
6.16  Confucius refers to the super-ficial advantages of two minor fig-


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The Analects of Confucius 27
 Zhao, it is hard to esca pe in times like these. 
 
6.17  The Master said, Who can go out ex-
cept through the door?  Why, then, does no 
one follow this Dao? 
 
6.18  When plain substance prevails over 
patterned refinement , you have a bumpkin. 
When patterned refinement prevails over substance, you have a clerk.  When sub-
stance and pattern are in balance, only then 
do you have a junzi . 
 
6.19  Men stay alive through straight-
forward conduct.  When the crooked stay 
alive it is simply a matter of escaping 
through luck. 
 6.20  The Master said, Knowing it is not so 
good as loving it; loving it is not so good as 
taking joy in it.  6.21  The Master said, With men of middle 
level or higher, one ma y discuss the highest; 
with men below the middle rank, one may 
not discuss the highest. 
 
6.22  Fan Chi asked a bout knowledge.  The 
Master said, “To concentrate on what is right 
for the people; to be attentively respectful


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towards ghosts and spirits but keep them at a distance – this may be called knowledge.” 
 He asked about ren.  “People who are 
ren are first to shoulder difficulties and last 
to reap rewards.  This may be called ren.” 
 
 6.23  The Master said, The wise delight in water; the rendelight in mountains.  The 
wise are in motion; the renare at rest.  The ures from history to suggest the 
values of a debased age. 
     
 
    
 
 
 
   
 
    
6.20  This may refer to any activ-
ity, but ‘it’ is probably best under-stood as the dao. 
  
 
     
 
6.22  This and the following pas-sage pair ren  and knowledge (or 
wisdom) in the manner of  4.2.


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The Analects of Confucius 28 
 wise are joyful; the ren are long lived. 
 
6.24  The Master said, The state of Qi with 
one transformation could become the state of 
Lu, and the state of Lu with one transforma-tion could reach the dao. 
 6.25  The Master said, A gourd that is not a gourd – is it a gourd?  Is it a gourd?  
6.26  Zai Wo asked, “If you were to say to a 
ren person that there was someone fallen 
down into a well, would he leap in to save 
him?” 
 The Master said, “What do you mean 
by this?  A junzi  may be urged, but he cannot 
be snared; he may be deceived, but he may 
not be made a fool of.”  
6.27  The Master said, Once a junzi  has stud-
ied broadly in patterns ( wen) and constrained 
them with li, indeed he will never turn his 
back on them.   
 
6.28  The Master had an audience with 
Nanzi.  Zilu was displeased.  The Master 
swore an oath: “That wh ich I deny, may Tian 
detest it!  May Tian detest it!” 
 
6.29  The Master said, The Central Mean in


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conduct is where virtue ( de) reaches its pin-
nacle.  Few are those who can sustain it for 
long. 
 6.30  Zigong said, “If one were to bring 
broad benefits to the people and be able to 
aid the multitudes, what  would you say about 
him?  Could you call him ren?” 
 The Master said, “Why would you call  
 
     
 
6.25  Gourds were used as a cer-tain type of wine vessel, called, therefore, ‘gourds’.  This passage must refer to some irregularity of 
vessel usage, and in doing so, to 
raise the issue of the distortion of 
language to cover up unorthodox 
conduct.  An implied meaning might be that a
 ‘ruler’ who does 
not properly ‘rule’ should not be 
called a ‘ruler’ – an idea that has 
come to be known as part of a doc-trine called ‘the rectification of names’.  (See also 17.11.)  
6.26  This is one of many instances 
of tension between Zai Wo and Confucius (see 3.21, 5.10, 17.21).  
6.27  Duplicated at 12.15.


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6.28  Nanzi was the unsavory fe-male consort of the Marquis of Wei.  Confucius here denies Zilu’s suspicion that he was planning to conspire with Wei’s unethical 
power brokers in order to gain a 
court position.  (See 3.13.)  
6.30  ‘Sage’ ( sheng  聖) is a term 
generally reserved for great figures 
of legendary accomplishment.  One may read this passage as say-ing either that sagehood is a type of ‘super-ren ’ – ren with political 
achievements added on – or that these are two different types of issues, one having to do with power opportunities turned to ad-vantage, and the other having to do 
with a habitual linkage of self and


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The Analects of Confucius 29
 this a matter of ren ?  Surely, this would be a 
sage!  Yao and Shun th emselves would fall 
short of this.   
 “The ren person is one who, wishing 
himself to be settled in position, sets up oth-
ers; wishing himself to have access to the 
powerful, achieves access for others.  To be 
able to proceed by analogy from what lies 
nearest by, that may be termed the formula 
for ren.” other – not unrelated matters, but 
still distinct.


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The Analects of Confucius 30 
 Book VII 
 
7.1  The Master said, To transmit but not 
create, to be faithful in loving the old – in 
this I dare compare myself to Old Peng. 
 
7.2  The Master said, To  stay silent and mark 
something in the mind, to study without tir-
ing, to instruct others without fatigue – what difficulty are these things to me? 
 
7.3  The Master said, That I have not culti-vated virtue, that I have learned but not ex-
plained, that I have heard what is right but 
failed to align with it, that what is not good in me I have been unab le to change – these 
are my worries.  7.4  When the Master was at leisure, his 
manner was rela xed and easy. 
 
7.5  The Master said, How far I have de-clined!  Long has it been since I have again 
dreamed of the Duke of Zhou. 
 7.6  The Master said, Set your heart on the 
dao, base yourself in virtue, rely on ren , 
journey in the arts. 
 
7.7  The Master said, From those who offer


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only a bundle of dried sausages on up, I have never refused to teach. 
 
7.8  The Master said, Where there is no agi-tated attempt at thinking, I do not provide a 
clue; where there is no stammered attempt at 
expression, I do provide a prompt.  If I raise one corner and do not receive the other three in response, I teach no further. Notes 
 
7.1  There is no consensus about who Old Peng may have been.   
 Book VII is, by and large, 
a portrait of Confucius, in his own words or in the words of the Ana-
lects compilers. 
  
 
   
 
 
    
 
    7.5  The Duke of Zhou was a dy-
nastic founder famous for saving 
the young dynastic house through his wise regency. He was also said to have devised the rituals of the Zhou government.   
The passage may mean 
that Confucius has long given up hope of seeing a new sage arise. 
 
7.6  ‘The arts’ refers to the gentle-manly arts of archery, charioteer-
ing, and writing, and the Confu-
cian ritual arts of li and music.


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7.7  The openness of Confucius’s ‘school’ to men of all classes is 
reflected here.  Note ‘on up’: Con-
fucius was a professional private teacher (often said to be the first), who seems to have lived largely off the largess of his wealthier pu-
pils.


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The Analects of Confucius 31
  
7.9  When the Master dined by the side of one who was in mourni ng, he never ate his 
fill.  7.10  If on a certain day the Master cried, he 
did not on that day sing.  7.11  The Master said of Yan Yuan, When put to use, act; when discarded, hide – only 
you and I are thus. 
Zilu said, “Master, if you were put in 
charge of the three ar my divisions, then 
whom would you wish to have with you?” 
 The Master said, “Those who fight ti-
gers with their bare hands, wade across riv-
ers, and are willing to die without regret – I would not want their co mpany.  I would cer-
tainly want those who approach affairs with 
fearful caution and who like to lay careful plans for success.”  7.12  The Master said, If wealth may be well 
sought, though it be as lowly bearer of the 
whip I too would pursue it.  If it cannot be well sought, I will follow what I love. 
 
7.13  Things the Master was vigilant about: fasting, war, illness.


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7.14  When the Master was in the state of Qi, he heard the Shao Music.  For three months 
he did not know the tast e of meat.  He said, 
“I never imagined that the making of music 
could reach this level.” 
 
7.15  Ran Y ǒu said, “Will the Master be-
come a partisan on behalf of the ruler of Wei?”  
      
 
 
7.11  What is ‘put to use’ or ‘dis-carded’ may refer to rulers’ treat-ment of Confucius and Yan Yuan, or, more likely, to the dao.  The 
initial passage here restates the doctrine of timeliness. 
Classical era armies were 
typically divided into left, right, and central divisions. 
 Zilu’s eager valor is once 
again quashed here (see 5.7). 
    
 
 7.12  See the first part of 4.5 and 7.17.  Confucius claims to desire what others desire – wealth – but 
here his desires seem superseded 
by what he ‘loves’.  7.13  ‘Fasting’ refers to dietary and other rules for purification appro-priate prior to ancestral sacrifice 
rituals, during mourning periods,


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and so forth.  7.14  The Shao dance was said to 
have been composed by the sage 
emperor Shun.  Other sources sug-
gest this visit to Qi took place early in Confucius’s career.  7.15  Ran Y ǒu is the disciple Ran 
Qiu. 
The heir to the throne of 
Wei was exiled. Upon his father’s death, his son was enthroned in his


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The Analects of Confucius 32 
  Zigong said, “Right – I’ll ask him.” 
He entered and said to the Master, “What sort of men were Bo Yi and Shu Qi?” 
 “They were worthies of ancient 
times.”  “Did they harbor complaints?” 
 “They sought ren and gained ren –
what complaint could they have?” 
 Zigong exited.  “The Master will not be a partisan in this,” he said. 
 
7.16  The Master said, To eat coarse greens, drink water, and crook one’s elbow for a pil-
low – joy also lies therein.  Wealth and high 
rank obtained by unrighteous means are to 
me like the floating clouds. 
 
7.17  The Master said, Give me a few years, 
till fifty, in order to learn, and indeed I may 
be free of great flaws. 
 7.18  Those things for which the Master al-ways employed court dialect: the Poetry, the 
Documents, the conduct of li.  For all these, 
he employed court dialect.   
7.19  The Lord of She asked Zilu about Con-
fucius.  Zilu could think of no response.  The Master said, “Why did you not say: As a


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man, when agitated in thought he forgets to 
eat, joyfully forgetting his cares, not realiz-ing that old age is near at hand?” 
 
7.20  The Master said, I was not born with knowledge.  I love what is old and am as-
siduous in pursuing it. 
 7.21  The Master did not speak of strange occurrences, feats of strength, political dis-place, and he, the rightful ‘ruler’, 
planned to lead an army to retake 
the throne.   Confucius had made 
many contacts in Wei (see 3.13, 6.28), and Ran Qiu here wonders whether he will take advantage of the situation. 
 On Bo Yi and Shu Qi, see 
5.23.    
 
 
7.16  See 4.5 and 7.12.   7.17  The word rendered as ‘in-
deed’ is also the title of the famous 
mantic work, Yi jing  (‘Book of 
Changes’). Most interpreters take Confucius to be saying here that he wishes to study that text, which is 
otherwise not mentioned in the 
Analects .  (An oblique reference 
may appear at 13.22, however.)  7.18  Classical China was a patch-
work of dialects.  Confucius likely


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spent his childhood in a region south of Lu that spoke a local dia-lect distinct from Zhou norms (see 3.15).  
7.19  The Lord of She was a gran-
dee of the state of Chu; She was 
his feudal estate. 
  
 
     
 
7.21  This should be understood in contrast to some other ‘wisdom’ schools, which claimed to under-


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The Analects of Confucius 33
 ruptions, and spirits. 
 7.22  The Master said, When walking in a 
group of three, my te achers are always pre-
sent.  I draw out what is good in them so as 
to emulate it myself, and what is not good in 
them so as to alter it in myself. 
 7.23  The Master said, Tian has engendered virtue in me – what ha rm can Huan Tui do to 
me?    7.24  The Master said, My friends, do you 
believe I have secrets from you?  I am with-
out secrets.  There is nothing I do that I do 
not share with you, my friends.  That is who 
I am. 
 7.25  The Master taught by means of four 
things:  patterns ( wen), conduct, loyalty, 
faithfulness. 
 7.26  The Master said, “Sages I have had no 
opportunity to see.  You may say that I have 
been able to see junzi s.”   
 The Master said, “Good men I have 
had no opportunity to s ee.  You may say that 
I have been able to se e steadfast men.  To


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treat having nothing as having enough, being empty as being full, being in tight constraints 
as being in luxury – it is hard enough to be steadfast!” 
 
7.27  When the Master fished he did not use a net; when he hunted, he did not shoot at 
nesting birds. 
 7.28  The Master said, There are probably those who invent without prior knowledge.  I stand anomalies like earthquakes 
or comets, to be able to nurture 
super-human bodily capacities, to teach how to turn political turmoil to advantage, or to penetrate the world of spirit beings.  
 
  7.23  The Han period history, Shiji, 
offers
 context.  Huan Tui was  min-
ister of war in the state of Song.  Jealous of Confucius, he threat-ened him when Confucius and his disciples journeyed to Song.  Con-fucius calmed his disciples with this statement.  See 9.5 for what 
seems to be a different version of 
the same lesson.    
 
 
 
  
7.26  Two separate and somewhat


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contradictory passages seem to have been combined here.  It may be that originally, different branches of the school developed variant texts on a common teach-
ing theme, and the Analects  editors 
simply juxtaposed them, rather 
then selecting.


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The Analects of Confucius 34 
 am not such a one.  To listen to much, select 
what is good, and follow it; to observe much and to mark it in memory – these are second 
to knowledge. 
 7.29  The people of Hu Village were difficult 
to talk with.  A youth from there appeared at 
the gate and the disciples were unsure what to do.  The Master said, “To approve of him 
when he advances does not mean you’ve ap-
proved of his steps back.  What is extraordi-nary in this?  When a person purifies himself 
so as to advance, you approve his purity; you 
are not endorsing his past.” 
 
7.30  The Master said, Is rendistant?  When 
I wish to be ren, ren arrives. 
 7.31  The Minister of Crime in the state of 
Chen asked, “Did Duke Zhao understand li?” 
Confucius said, “He did.”  Confucius retired, and the Minister 
bowed to Wuma Qi, w ho entered.  The Min-
ister said, “I have heard that the junzi is not a 
partisan – is he indeed  a partisan after all? 
Your former ruler married a woman from the


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state of Wu with the same surname as his 
own clan, but simply referred to her as 
‘Mengzi of Wu.’  If your ruler understood li, 
who does not understand li?” 
 Wuma Qi reported this to the Master, who said, “I am lucky.  When I make an er-
ror, others always know it.”  
7.32  When the Master sang with others and 
they sang well, he w ould always wait and 
then ask them to repeat before joining in harmony.  
 
     
 
 
 
         
 
 
 
 7.31  Confucius is here pictured visiting Chen in his quest to find political employment.  Duke Zhao was a former 
duke in Lu.  The Minister has put 
Confucius in the difficult position of choosing between telling the 
truth and being loyal to his state’s 
ruling house. 
 Wuma Qi appears to be a 
man of Lu traveling with Confu-cius, perhaps a minor disciple.  Marrying someone of the same surname was considered to 
be breaking an incest taboo.  Had 
‘Mengzi of Wu’ been referred to in an ordinary way, she would have been called ‘Madame Ji’, using the


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surname Ji 姬, which was the same 
as that of the dukes of Lu. 
 Confucius’s final remark is sarcastic.  The Minister could have criticized him either way.


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The Analects of Confucius 35
  
7.33  The Master said, In terms of unstinting effort, I can measure up to others, but as far 
as exemplifying the junzi  in my personal 
conduct, I have not  yet grasped it. 
 7.34  The Master said, “As for terms such as 
‘sage’ or ‘ ren’, how could I dare accept 
them?  Rather, ‘tireless in pursuing it, un-
flagging in teaching ot hers’ – that may be 
said of me.”  Gongxi Hua said, “That is just what we disciples cannot learn to be.” 
 
7.35  The Master fell ill.  Zilu requested 
permission to offer prayers.  The Master 
said, “Is there precedent for this?”  Zilu an-
swered, “There is.  In the liturgy it says, ‘Pray to the spirits above and below.’” 
 The Master said, “My prayers are 
longstanding.”  7.36  The Master said, Extravagance leads 
towards disobedience; thrift leads towards 
uncouthness.  Rather than be disobedient, it is better to be uncouth. 
 
7.37  The Master said, The junzi is free and 
easy, the small man always careworn.


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7.38  The Master was warm, yet severe, awe-
some, yet never harsh, reverent, yet calm.   
 
     
 
7.34  See 7.2.    
 
 
 
   
7.35  For an alternative account, 
see 9.12.


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The Analects of Confucius 36 
 Book VIII  
 
8.1  The Master said, Taibo may be said to 
have possessed the utmost of virtue ( de). 
Thrice he ceded the wo rld to another.  The 
people could find no words to praise him.  
8.2  The Master said, If one is reverent but without li one is burdened; if one is vigilant 
but without li one is fearful; if one is valor-
ous but without li one causes chaos; if one is 
straightforward but without li one causes af-
fronts. 
 When the junzi  is devoted to his par-
ents, the people rise up as ren; when he does 
not discard his old comrades, the people are 
not dishonest. 
 8.3  Master Zeng fell ill.  He summoned the 
disciples of his sch ool. “Uncover my feet; 
uncover my hands!  The Poetry  says,  
All vigilance, all caution,  
As though nearing the edge of abyss,  
As though treading upon thin ice.  
“My young friends, from this point on, 
I know that I have escaped whole!” 
 
8.4  Master Zeng fell ill.  Meng Jingzi called


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upon him.  Master Zeng said, “When a bird 
is about to die, his call is mournful; when a man is about to die, his words are good.   
“There are three things a junzi cher-
ishes in the dao.  In attitude and bearing, 
keep far from arrogance; in facial expression, 
keep aligned close to faithfulness; in uttering 
words, keep far from co arse abrasiveness.   
“So far as minor matters of ritual im-
plements are concerned,  there are functionar-
ies to take care of that.” Notes 
 
8.1  Taibo was an uncle of the fu-ture Zhou King Wen, and heir to 
the Zhou throne.  Having seen how 
promising his nephew was, he ceded the throne to his brother so his nephew would inherit it, and fled to the south, so no one could reverse his action.  Ultimately, 
King Wen’s son, King Wu, estab-
lished the Zhou Dynasty and so ruled the ‘world’.  Book VIII has an unusual 
structure; 8.1 was clearly, at some 
point, in a single group with 8.18-


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21, all being added late in such a way as to bracket the book.  8.2 This highly formulaic passage 
is more typical of the latter sec-
tions of the Analects , and partially 
duplicated in 17.8.  The term ‘junzi ’ in the second portion 
clearly refers to an exemplary ruler. 
 
8.3  Set many years after Confu-cius’s death, when his youngest disciple is dying as an old man, this passage depicts Zeng Shen’s 
pride in evading the dangers of his 
age by following the doctrine of timeliness.  (Because there is a tradition that Zeng Shen’s school stressed filial conduct, many inter-preters read the remarks in 8.3 as 
pride in preserving whole the body 
bequeathed by parents.)  Passages 8.3-7 are
 all rel-
ics of the school of Zeng Shen, and represent a
 micro-text lodged 
within the Analects , a tiny ‘Book 
of Master Zeng’.  8.4  Zeng Shen’s school of Confu-cianism is believed to have 
stressed matters of inner sincerity 
over external li.


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The Analects of Confucius 37
  
8.5  Master Zeng said, To be able yet to ask advice of those who are not able, to have 
much yet to ask advi ce of those who have 
little, to view possession as no different than 
lacking, fullness as no different than empti-
ness, to be transgressed against yet not to 
bear a grudge – in past times, I had a friend who worked to master these things.  
8.6  Master Zeng said , A man to whom one 
can entrust a growing youth of middling 
stature and a territory a hundred lĭsquare, 
who, nearing a great crisis, cannot be way-
laid from his purpose – would such a man 
not be a junzi ?  Such a man would be a junzi .
 8.7  Master Zeng said, A gentleman cannot but be broad in his de termination.  His bur-
den is heavy and his road ( dao) is long.  He 
takes ren to be his burden – is the burden not 
heavy?  Only with death may he lay it down – is the road not long? 
 
8.8  The Master said, Rise with the Poetry , 
stand with li, consummate with music.


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8.9  The Master said , The people can be 
made to follow it, they cannot be made to 
understand it. 
 8.10  The Master said , When one who loves 
only valor is placed under the stress of pov-erty, the result is chaos.  If a person is not ren, placing them under stress leads to ex-
tremes, and chaos follows.  8.11  The Master said, If a person had ability as splendid as the Duke of Zhou, but was  
8.5  Traditionally, the friend has 
been understood to be Yan Hui.  The word ‘friend’ could also be plural, and refer to the group of original disciples.  
 
    
8.6  The passage seems to refer to 
a minister entrusted by a dying 
ruler with the care of his minor 
heir and lands.   
A lĭ is ⅓ mile, so the do-
main in question is of moderate 
size. 
    
 
    
 
 8.8  ‘Rise’ is a technical term re-ferring to the initial image of a poem.  ‘Stand’ means to assume a social role.  ‘Consummate’ is a 
technical term denoting the final 
coda of a musical piece or move-ment.


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The Analects of Confucius 38 
 otherwise arrogant and stingy, the rest 
would not be worth a glance.  
8.12  The Master said, A student willing to 
study for three years without obtaining a salaried position is hard to come by. 
 
8.13  The Master said, Be devoted to faith-fulness and love lear ning; defend the good 
dao until death.   
Do not enter a state in poised in dan-
ger; do not remain in a state plunged in chaos. 
When the dao prevails in the world, 
appear; when it does not, hide. 
When the dao prevails in a state, to 
be poor and of low rank is shameful; when 
the dao does not prevail in a state, to be 
wealthy and of high rank is shameful. 
 
8.14  The Master said, When one does not occupy the position, one does not plan its governance.  
 
8.15  The Master said, The overture of Mu-sic Master Zhi, the fi nal coda of the song 
Ospreys , overflowing – how they fill the 
ear!  
8.16  The Master said, Recklessly bold yet 
not straightforward, ignorant yet uncompli-


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ant, empty headed yet unfaithful, I wish to 
know nothing of such people. 
 8.17  The Master said, One should study as 
though there is not enough time and still 
feel fear of missing the point.  8.18  The Master said, Towering! – that  
 
 8.12  The minimum term of disci-pleship was tradition-ally taken to be three years. 
 
   
 
    
8.14  Duplicated (with comment) 
at 14.26.  8.15  Music Master Zhi was a fa-mous past court musician of Lu 
(see 18.9).  The ‘Ospreys’ is the 
initial song in the Poetry . 
 8.18  This passage picks up the historical theme begun in 8.1.  
Emperor Shun passed his kingdom 
to Yu, rather than to his son, and 
so did not treat the throne as be-longing to his own lineage.  This was not the case with Yu, how-ever, and in the book Mencius , 
where this aphorism appears, Yu is not included.  8.19  Emperor Yao, in Confucian tradition the first of the sage rulers, was celebrated for sending
 mem-
bers of his court to  the four corners


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of the empire to map the heavens and create a calendar to regulated society.  The last book of the Ana-
lects begins by quoting a lost text 
pertaining to Yao and the calendar (see 20.1)  Here, Yao’s achievements are pictured as the ideal form of civilized society, the emblem of 
pattern (see 5.13).


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The Analects of Confucius 39
 Shun and Yu should have possessed the 
world yet treated none of it as their own.  
8.19  The Master said, How grand was the 
rule of the Emperor Yao!  Towering is the grandeur of Tian; only Yao could emulate 
it.  So boundless the people could find no 
name for them – towering were his achievements.  Glimmering, they formed an emblem of patterns. 
 
8.20  Shun possessed five ministers and the world was ordered.  King Wu said, “I have 
ten ministers to curtail the chaos.”  
Confucius commented, “Talent is 
hard to find, is it not!  In the times of Yao and Shun it was most abundant.  Of the ten, 
one was a woman, it was merely nine. 
“The Zhou controlled two-thirds of 
the empire, yet continued to serve the Yin. The virtue of the Zhou may be said to be the utmost of virtue.” 
 
8.21  The Master said, I can find no fault in Yu.  Yu was frugal in his own food and drink, but thoroughly filial towards the 
spirits; he wore shabby clothes, but ritual


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robes of the finest beauty; his palace cham-
bers were humble, but he exhausted his 
strength on the waterways that irrigated the 
fields.  I can find no fault with Yu. 8.20  The first part of Confucius’s 
comment refers to a belief that 
King Wu’s wife served a key role in governance.  The second part refers to the pre-conquest reign of King Wen, who forbore to conquer the Shang (Yin) Dynasty, although 
most of the empire had been 
swayed by his virtue to regard him as the true king.  8.21  Yu was celebrated as the 
ideal ruler by the Mohists, early 
adversaries of the Ruist, or Confu-
cian school.  His story was part 
myth – Yu was at some point a flood myth hero, and famous for single-handedly dredging the riv-
ers of China and draining a world-
threatening flood.  The Mohists, who believed virtue lay simply in selfless effort for others and who regarded ritual (and Confucians) as 
wasteful extravagance, promoted


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Yu as an exemplar of thrift, sim-plicity, and self-sacrifice.  In this passage,
 Confucius seems to 
‘adopt’  Yu by picturing him as 
equally devoted to thrifty self-sacrifice and ritual perfection.  This apparent effort to comman-deer a competitor school’s chief exemplar probably marks the pas-sage as a late insertion.  The same 
motive may account for Yu’s 
somewhat puzzling appearance at 8.18.


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The Analects of Confucius 40 
Book IX 
 
9.1  The Master rarely spoke of profit, fate, 
or ren. 
 
9.2  A resident of Da Lane said, “How great 
is Confucius!  He has studied broadly, and 
has no accomplishment by which he is known.”  The Master heard of this and said to 
his disciples, “What shall I master?  Chario-
teering?  Archery?  I’ll master charioteer-
ing!” 
 
9.3  The Master said, The hemp ceremonial 
cap is what is called for in li.  Nowadays 
plain silk is used.  That is thrifty.  I follow the general trend.  To  make one’s bows at 
the base of the steps is what is called for in 
li.  Nowadays people bow after ascending. 
That is arrogant.  Though it goes against the general trend, I ma ke my bows below. 
 
9.4  The Master forbade four things:  One 
must not act on guesses, one must not de-mand absolute certainty, one must not be 
stubborn, one must not  insist on oneself. 
 
9.5  When the Master was in danger in the 
state of Kuang, he said, “King Wen is dead,


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but his patterns ( wen) live on here in me, do 
they not?  If Tian wished these patterns to 
perish, I would not have been able to partake 
of them.  Since Tian has not destroyed these patterns, what harm can the people of Kuang 
do to me?” 
 9.6 The Grand Steward asked Zigong, “Your Master is surely a Sage, is he not?  He is Notes 
 
9.1  This probably means Confucius rarely spoke of events, actions, or 
people in these terms. 
     
 
   
 
 
 9.3  This passage is often cited as expressing the view that the liare not 
frozen and may evolve with the 
times, but only when underlying 
principles are understood and fol-lowed.    
 
  9.4  Like Book VII, Book IX is stud-ded with short comments on Confu-
cius and his style of teaching.  In 
some respects, Books VII and IX appear to be variants on the same theme, developed by different branches of the school.  
9.5  The Han history Shiji provides 
context, saying that the people of


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Kuang mistook Confucius for a well known political outlaw from Lu.  This passage and 7.23 are clearly 
variants of a single legend. 
   9.6  The Grand Steward was proba-
bly an emissary from the state of 
Wu.


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The Analects of Confucius 41
 skilled in so many things !”  Zigong replied, 
“It is actually Tian which allows him to be a 
great Sage; he is skilled in many things be-
sides.”   
The Master heard of it.  “What does 
the Grand Steward know of me?” he said. "When I was young I was of humble station, 
and so I became skilled in  many rude things. 
Is the junzi skilled in many things?  No, not 
many.”  
9.7  Lao said, The Master stated, “I was not tried in office, hence I became skilled in 
arts.” 
 
9.8  The Master said, Do I have know-ledge? 
No, I do not.  If even a bumpkin asks a ques-tion of me, I am all empt y.  I simply tap at 
both ends of the question until I exhaust it. 
 
9.9  The Master said , The phoenix does not 
arrive, the River does not  produce its charts –
I am finished! 
 
9.10  Whenever the Master saw someone wearing mourning clothes, a grandee dressed 
in court robes, or a blind person, upon catch-


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ing sight of them, though they be young, if seated he would strand, if walking past he 
would quicken his step. 
 9.11  Yan Yuan heaved a heavy sigh. “When 
I look up, it grows taller, when I bore into it, 
it grows harder.  I see it before men and sud-denly it is behind.  The Master skillfully en-
tices people forward, step by step.  He 
broadens me with patterns and constrains me 
with li – I want to stop, but I cannot until my 
abilities are exhausted.  He stands before me  This discussion of what is 
essential in the junzi  resonates with 
both 9.8 below and 15.3.  It is 
structurally similar to 9.2.    
 
    
 
 
9.7  The identity of Lao is dis-
puted.  It may be the personal name of the disciple Yuan Xian.  This short passage appears to be a 
piece of later commentary that 
worked its way into the text.  9.8  If 9.7 is excluded as a late in-sertion, the rhetoric of the end of 
9.6 and the start of 9.8 are perfect


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complements.  9.9  The arrival of the legendary feng-bird (conventionally equated 
with the ‘phoenix’) and the ap-
pearance of magic diagrams from the Yellow River were believed to be signs of the coming of a new sage king, mandated by Tian.  Ref-erence to this sort of omenology 
probably marks this passage as a 
later addition.    
9.11  The elaborate imagery here 
also suggests late authorship.  No-where else in the text does the en-igmatic Yan Hui speak at greater length.    Part of this passage is du-
plicated at 12.15.


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The Analects of Confucius 42 
 as though towering high, and though I wish 
to follow, I can find no route up.”  
9.12  The Master fell ill.   Zilu had the disci-
ples act towards him as  though they were re-
tainers.  When the illn ess eased, the Master 
said, “Long has You practiced this decep-
tion!  To have no reta iners and pretend to 
have them, whom do I deceive?  Do I de-ceive Tian?  And moreover, rather than die 
in the hands of retainers, would I not prefer 
to die in your hands, my friends?  Even though I may receive no great funeral, would 
I be dying by the side of the road?” 
 
9.13  Zigong said, “Let’s  say I have a pre-
cious gemstone; should I place it in a fine 
box and conceal it, or should I seek out a 
good merchant and sell it?” 
 The Master said, “Sell it!  Sell it!  I 
myself am waiting for a good price.”  9.14  The Master wished  to dwell among the


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uncivilized tribes.  Someone said, “What would you do about their crude-ness?”  The Master said, “When a junzi  dwells among 
them, what crudeness could there be?”  9.15  The Master said, Only after I returned 
to Lu from Wei did the court odes and sacri-
ficial hymns find their proper places. 
 
9.16  The Master said, When abroad serving 
court grandees and ministers, when at home serving elders, not daring to fail in effort in 
matters of mourning, not becoming intoxi-
cated with wine – what difficulty are these things to me?   
 
  9,12  An alternative account ap-pears at 7.35.  ‘Retainers’ (house-hold 
ministers) denotes the personal 
retinue of a patrician who has wealth
 and standing adequate to 
involve a grant of hereditary lands and court rank. 
 
     
 
9.13  This passage seems designed 
to remind members of the school 
that although the doctrine of time-liness says to hide in times of dan-
ger, the goal is still to find political 
leverage to put the tao into prac-


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tice.   
 
     
 
 9.15  The odes and hymns are sec-tions of the Poetry .  They were 
performed as parts of court and 
patrician ceremonies.  In this pas-
sage, Confucius claims that only after he assigned the various songs to their appropriate ceremonies did 
the Poetry  fulfill its proper usage 
in li.


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The Analects of Confucius 43
 9.17  The Master stood on the banks of the 
river.  “How it flows on, never ceasing, night and day!” 
 
9.18  The Master said,  I have yet to see a 
man who loved virtue as much as sex.   
 9.19  The Master said, Think of it as making 
a mountain.  If, one bucketful short of com-pletion, I stop, then I’ve stopped.  Think of it 
as filling a pit.  Though I’ve thrown in only a 
single bucketful, I’m progressing.  
9.20  The Master said, Instructing him, he 
was never lazy – that would be Hui, would it 
not? 
 
9.21  The Master characterized Yan Yuan thus:  What a shame!  I observed him ad-
vance; I never saw him stop. 
 9.22  The Master said, There are shoots that never come to flower, and there are flowers 
that never bear fruit. 
 9.23  The Master said, The younger genera-
tion must be held in awe – how can we know 
that the future will not match up to the pre-sent?  But if a man reac hes forty or fifty and


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nothing has been heard from him, he is no longer worthy of awe.  
9.24  The Master said, Exemplary sayings: 
can one fail to follow them?  Yet it is adapt-ing them that is important.  Lessons of obe-
dience: can one fail to  approve them with 
pleasure?  Yet it is applying them to fit that 
is important.  Those who approve without fitting and follow without adapting – I can  
 
   9.18  Duplicated at 15.13. 
 
 
 
9.19  This is a complex meta-
phor for pursuing the dao.  It 
bears comparison with 6.12.   
 
 9.20  This and the following three passages all seem to be about Yan Hui, though he is only 
mentioned by name in the first 
two. 
 
9.21  This passage was, perhaps, 
once the punch line of 9.19.  
 
    
 
9.23  Because of its celebration of sage eras of the past, Confu-cianism is often construed as recidivistic, lamenting the world’s decline.  This passage 
suggests a different view.


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The Analects of Confucius 44 
 do nothing with such people. 
 9.25  The Master said , Take loyalty and 
trustworthiness as th e pivot and have no 
friends who are not like yourself in this. 
If you err, do not be afraid to correct 
yourself.    9.26  The Master said, One can seize the general in charge of the three army divisions, 
but one cannot seize the heart’s intent of a 
peasant.  
9.27  The Master said, If a man could wear a 
tattered cloth jacket and stand beside one 
wearing fox or badger furs without shame, it would be You, would it not? 
 
9.28 Free of resentment, free of craving, 
 In what way is he other than fine?  
 Zilu constantly chanted this verse. 
The Master said, “What is so fine about the 
tao of this poem?” 
 9.28  The Master said, Only when the year 
turns cold can one see that pine and cypress 
are the last to wither.  9.29  The Master said, The wise are not con-
fused, the ren are not beset with cares, the 
valorous are not fearful.


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9.30  The Master said, One may study to-
gether with a man; th at does not yet mean 
one can pursue the dao with him.  One may 
pursue the dao together with a man; that 
does not yet mean one ma y take a stand with 
him.  One may take a stand together with a 
man; that does not ye t mean one may share  
 
 9.25  Duplicated at 1.8.    
 
  9.26 The term ‘heart’s intent’ ( zhi 
志) is often translated as ‘will’.  
The term is key in passages such 
as 5.8 and 11.24, where disciples reveal their characters by describ-ing their zhi, or heart’s desire. 
 9.27  You is the disciple Zilu.  See 5.26.   
9.28  Zilu has selected a passage 
from the Poetry  to treat as a motto, 
and Confucius teases Zilu, as he so frequently does.  Some interpreters read 9.27 together with this, such that it is Confucius who chants the 
poem, thus setting Zilu up for an 
even greater put-down, similar to 5.7.


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9.30  This passage speaks of long processes of deepening trust, and works on many levels.  ‘Take a stand’ refers to assuming a social role,
 with a court context as the  
image.  ‘Authority’ also concerns official position, but it also carries the sense of making action choices on the basis of discretionary judg-ment, rather than on the basis of 
strict rules.  Only a true junzi  pos-


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The Analects of Confucius 45
 authority with him. 
 
9.31   The flowers of the cherry tree, 
 How the petals wave and turn. 
 How could it be I do not long for you? 
 But your home is so far distant.  
 The Master commented, “He couldn’t 
really have longed for her, could he – if he 
had, how could any distance have been too great?”  
 
 sesses the moral authority to break 
the rules in order to carry out his 
ethical judgments.  9.31  Interpreters over the centu-ries have tried to figure out why this comment on a poem otherwise 
unknown merited inclusion in the 
Analects .  Some have taken it to be 
part of 9.30, relating the ‘turning’ of the petals to some elusive fea-ture of sharing authority with an-
other.  It is, of course, possible that 
it is included simply because it 
preserves an actual comment by 
Confucius – its irreverent tone tal-lies well with other remarks we encounter in the text.


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The Analects of Confucius 46 
 Book X 
 
10.1  When Confucius was at home in his 
neighborhood, he was warm and courteous, 
and seemed as if he  found it difficult to 
speak.  In the ancestral temples or at court, 
he was articulate, his speech merely showing 
signs of caution. 
 10.2  At court, in conversation with the 
lower ranks of grandees, he was familiar; in conversation with the upper ranks of gran-dees, he was respectful.  When the ruler was 
present, he walked with quick step, yet 
evenly.  
10.3  When the ruler ordered him to greet a 
guest to court, he changed expression, as if flushing.  His step became hurried.  When he 
stood beside the guests, he bowed to them, 
putting first his left or right hand, as appro-priate.  His robes remained even in front and 
back.  When stepping with them towards the 
throne, he walked with quickened step, his arms bent wing-like.  When the guests had departed, he always re turned to report, say-
ing, “The guests have ceased to look back.”


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10.4  When he entere d the duke’s gate, he 
would draw his body in, as though the gate-way would not accommoda te his height.  He 
never stood in the middle of a gateway; he 
never trod on the threshold.  When he 
walked past his lord’s position, his expres-sion would be serious a nd he would step rap-
idly.  He would speak as if it were difficult 
for him. 
 When he lifted the hem of his robe to ascend the hall steps, he would draw his Notes 
 
10.1  Book X is largely a portrait of the highly ritualized behavior 
that the Confucian school pre-
scribed for a life lived according to li.  Passages sketch this portrait through a picture of Confucius’s own style of behavior in different contexts, beginning with a series 
depicting his style of conduct at 
court, and moving to matters of everyday life.  There exist a number of 
early Confucian ritual texts that 
include some of these items as


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rules, along with many others.  Non-practitioners have not always found such texts fascinating; they are, however, of cultural interest, 
and sometimes underscore impor-
tant ethical themes.


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The Analects of Confucius 47
body in and suppress his breath, as though he 
were not breathing.  On departing, once he 
had stepped back down one  level, he relaxed 
his expression as if in relief.  Descending the 
last step, he would walk briskly forward, with his bent arms winglike, and resume his 
position with respectful bearing. 
 10.5  When he carried a jade tally of official business, he would draw his body in, as 
though he could not hold it up.  When he 
held it high, it was as though bowing; when he held it low, it was as though about to con-
fer it.  His expression was serious, as though 
fearful, and he stepped as though he were
following a line. 
 When participating in a ceremony of 
li, his expression was rela xed; when in a pri-
vate meeting, he was genial. 
 
10.6  The junzi does not hem his upper robes 
with crimson or maroon.  He does not em-ploy red or purple for leis ure clothes.  In hot


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weather, he always wears a singlet of fine or coarse hemp as an outer garment.  With a black robe he wears a lambskin 
jacket; with a plain robe he wears a fawnskin 
jacket; with a yellow robe he wears a foxskin jacket. 
 His leisure jacket is long, but the right 
sleeve is cut short.  He always wears sleepwear that is half 
again as long as his height. 
 Thick skins, such as fox and badger, are used at home. 
 Upon putting aside mourning clothes, 
he places no restrictions on the ornaments he may hang from his sash.  Apart from robes for sacrificial cere- 
 
     
 
    
 
 
 
   
 
    
 
10.6  The subject of this passage is ‘the junzi ’, which may refer to 
Confucius.  It is also possible this passage is an insertion here, break-
ing the apparent consistency of 
subject, all other passages appear-ing to refer back to the ‘Confucius’ of 10.1.  This passage alone is ren-dered in the present tense. 
This and many subsequent


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passages in Book X concern de-tails of everyday cultivated con-duct and etiquette, whereas the earlier ones describe court con-duct.


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The Analects of Confucius 48 
mony, the layers of his robes are cut to dif-
ferent lengths.  He does not wear a lambskin jacket or 
black cap when making a condolence call. 
 On the first day of the new year, he always goes to court dressed in full court 
robes. 
 When undergoing purification, he al-ways wears a robe of plain material.  In fast-ing, he always alters his diet and alters from 
his usual seat when at home. 
  10.7  He did not demand that his rice be 
finely polished nor that his meat be finely 
diced.  If rice had turned sour, he did not eat 
it.  If fish or meat had spoiled, he did not eat 
it.  He did not eat food of bad color or of bad 
odor.  He did not eat food that was under-cooked.   
He did not eat except at the proper 
times.  If food had not been correctly cut, he did not eat it.  If the sauce was not proper to 
it, he did not eat it. 
Though there might be much meat, he 
did not allow the amount of meat to exceed the amount of rice.


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He had no set lim it for wine, he sim-
ply never reached a state of confusion.  He did not drink wine or eat meat purchased 
from the market. 
He did not allow ginger to be dis-
pensed with in his rice, but he did not eat a great deal of it. 
When he participated in a sacrifice at 
the duke’s temples, he did not allow the meat 
brought back to remain overnight.  Common 
sacrificial meat he di d not leave out three 
days.  Once it had been left out three days, 
he did not eat it.


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The Analects of Confucius 49
 
10.8  He did not speak while eating, nor when lying down to sleep.  
 
10.9  Though his meal was only greens and vegetable congee, he in evitably offered some 
in sacrifice, and always in ritual reverence.  10.10  He did not sit upon a mat that was not in proper position.  When  villagers gathered 
to drink wine, he left as soon as those bear-ing walking staffs departed.  
10.11  When villagers mounted the annual 
exorcism procession, [the Master] stood in 
court robes at the eastern steps of his resi-
dence.  
 10.12  When sending his greetings to some-
one in another state, he would twice bow low 
as he sent the messenger off. 
 10.13 When Kangzi sent him medicine, he 
bowed as he received it, saying, “As I am 
unacquainted with its use,  I dare not taste it.”
 
10.14  When the stables burnt, the Master 
returned from court asking, “Was anyone hurt?”  He did not ask after the horses.


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10.15  When his ruler sent prepared food, he would always set his mat aright and be first 
to taste it.  When his ruler sent uncooked 
food, he would always cook it and offer it in sacrifice.  When his ruler sent him a live 
animal, he would always rear it.  When he 
dined at his ruler’s ba nquet, after the ruler 
had laid out the sacrificial foods, he would 
first taste the plain rice.  
 
     
 
    
 
 
 
 10.11  The exorcism procession was a feature of popular, shamanic 
religion, far from the royal Zhou 
ritual framework celebrated by Confucians.  It seems noteworthy that the Analects  portrays Confu-
cius according it full ritual
 respect.
     
10.13  Ji Kangzi was head of the 
warlord Ji family in Lu.


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The Analects of Confucius 50 
 
10.16  When he was ill, the ruler paid a visit. He lay with his head facing east, covered 
with his court robes, his sash laid across 
them.  
10.17  When summoned by an order from his 
ruler, he set off without waiting for the horses to be yoked to the carriage.  
10.18  Entering the Gra nd Temple, he asked 
about every item. 
 
10.19  When a friend died, if there was no
family to make arrange ments, he said, “Let 
the coffin be prepared at my home.”   
 
10.20  When a friend sent a gift, unless it was of sacrificial meats, he would not bow, 
though it were so much as a horse or car-
riage.  10.21  When he slept, he did not assume the 
position of a corpse.  When  at leisure, he did 
not ornament his dress. 
 
10.22  When he saw a person wearing 
clothes of mourning, though it was someone with whom he was very  familiar, he would 
alter his facial expre ssion.  When he saw 
someone wearing a cour t cap or a blind per-


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son, though it was someone he encountered 
repeatedly, he would adopt a solemn bearing. 
When riding in his carriage, encoun-
tering a person in mourning he would bow against the carriage bar, and he would bow 
also to those carrying documents of state.  When delicacies were served, he would always alter his expression and stand.  
 
     
 
    
 
10.18  This passage appears to be 
inserted as a rule of good conduct 
in response to 3.15.


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The Analects of Confucius 51
 At peals of thunder or gusts of wind, he 
would alter his expression.  
10.23  When mounting a carriage, he always 
faced it squarely and grasped the mountingcord.  Once in the carriage, he did not turn to 
look at those standing behind him; he did not 
speak rapidly; he did not point.  10.24  At the change of one’s expression, 
they rise in the air, soaring up and then 
perching in a flock.  [The Master] said, 
 The hen pheasant by the mountain bridge, 
 What timeliness!  What timeliness!  
 Zilu bowed towards them, but with 
three sniffs, they flew off. 
  
 
     
 
  
 
10.24  This odd passage seems to read the lesson of timeliness from 
a chance encounter in the natural 
world.  The stanza that seems to be quoted is otherwise unknown, and may simply be intended to be a poetic comment by Confucius.


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The Analects of Confucius 52 
 Book XI 
 
11.1  The Master said, Those who first ad-
vanced in li and music were men of the 
wilds.  Those who later advanced in li and 
music were junzi s.  If there were a chance to 
put them to use, I would follow those who advanced first.  11.2  The Master said, None of those with 
me in Chen and Cai ha d any access to men at 
court. 
 
11.3  For virtuous conduct: Yan Yuan, Min 
Ziqian, Ran Boniu, and Zhonggong;  for 
speech: Zai Wo and Zigong; for governance: 
Ran Yǒu and Ji Lu; for patterned study: Zi-
you and Zixia. 
 
11.4  The Master said, Hui is of no help to 
me.  There is nothing in my words that fails to please him.  
11.5  The Master said, How filial is Min 
Ziqian!  No fault can be found in anything is parents or brother say about him. 
 
11.6  Nan Rong constantly  repeated a refrain 
from the poem White Jade Scepter .  Confu-
cius married his older brother’s daughter to him.  
11.7  Ji Kangzi aske d who among the disci-


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ples loved learning.  Confucius replied, 
“There was Yan Hui who loved learning. 
Unfortunately, his lifespan was short and he 
died.  Now th ere are none.” 
 11.8  Yan Yuan died.  Yan Lu asked for the Notes 
 
11.1  A puzzling passage.  It may refer to the more rough-hewn na-
ture of the senior disciples, com-
pared to junior disciples; it may refer to the early sages, compared to later kings.  (It may be that the earlier disciples were men from Zou, the region Confucius was 
raised in, which was not fully part 
of the Zhou cultural sphere, and so ‘wild’.)   
In this passage, ‘ junzi ’ car-
ries only the sense of cultivated 
gentlemen. 
 11.2  Confucius and his followers exhausted their resources and fell into poverty while journeying in 
these two states. 
 11.3  A famous assessment of a number of ten disciples.  Note that Ran Boniu and Zhonggong are father and son. 
 
    
 
  11.6  See 5.2.   
 
   11.7  This duplicates 6.3. 
 
    
11.8-11  This group of passages


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The Analects of Confucius 53
Master’s cart in order to use the wood for an 
outer coffin.  The Master said, “Able or not,each man speaks well of his son.  When my 
son Li died, there was an inner coffin, but no outer one.  I would not go upon foot in order that he have an outer coffin.  Because I fol-
low behind the grandees, it is not fitting that 
I go upon foot.”  11.9  Yan Yuan died.  The Master said, “Oh! 
Tian destroys me!  Tian destroys me!”  11.10  Yan Yuan died.  The Master wailed 
for him beyond proper bounds.  His follow-
ers said, “You have wailed beyond the 
proper bounds, Master.” 
 The Master said, “Have I.  If I do not 
wail beyond proper bounds for this man, then for whom?” 
 
11.11  Yan Yuan died.  The disciples wished to give him a lavish funeral.  The Master 
said, “It is improper.” 
 The disciples gave Yan Yuan a lavish 
funeral.  The Master said, “Hui looked upon 
me as a father, but I ha ve not been able to 
look after him as a son.  This was not my do-


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ing!  It was you, my friends.”  
11.12  Ji Lu asked about serving the spirits. 
The Master said, “While you are yet not able to serve men, how could you be able to serve 
the spirits?”  “May I ask about death?”  “When you do not yet understand life, 
how could you understand death?” 
 11.13  When Minzi sat in  attendance, he kept 
an upright posture, Zilu seemed to swagger, sponse to the early death of his 
most promising disciple, Yan Hui. 
     
 
    
 
 
 
11.10  Note that this passage spe-cifically licenses the transgression of li. 
 
    
 
    
 
 
    
 
  11.12  Ji Lu is the disciple Zilu. 
 
     
 
 
 11.13  There are a number of pas-
sages in Book XI devoted to the


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The Analects of Confucius 54 
 and Ran Y ǒu and Zhonggong sa t in a mild 
manner.  The Master joked, “One like You 
will not die in his bed!” 
 
11.14  The people in Lu rebuilt the treasury storehouse.  Min Ziqian said, “What would 
be wrong with repairing the old structure? 
Why must they build a new one?”  The Master said, “That man rarely says anything, but when he does, it always 
hits its target.” 
 11.15  The Master said, “What is You’s 
zither doing at my gate?” 
 The disciples showed Zilu no respect. 
The Master said, “You has advanced to the 
great hall, but has not yet entered the inner 
chamber.”  
11.16  Zigong said, “Who is more worthy, 
Shi or Shang?”  The Master said, “Shi goes too far; Shang does not go far enough.” 
 “Then Shi is superior?” 
 “Too far is the same as not far enough.” 
 
11.17  The Chi family was wealthier than the Duke of Zhou.  Qiu assisted them in the col-
lection of taxes and so enlarged their riches 
further.


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The Master said, “He is no follower of 
mine!  Young men, you ha ve my permission 
to sound the drums and drive him away.” 
 
11.18  Zhai was simpleminded; Shen was 
slow; Shi was puffed up; You was coarse.  11.19  The Master said, “Hui is just about characterization of disciples. 
Both because of his bold 
temperament and his political en-
gagement with the warlord Ji clan, Zilu’s relationship with Confucius was fraught with tensions.  Disci-ple-readers of the Analects  would 
recognize irony here; Zilu (You) was , in fact, killed during a coup d’état, displaying brave loyalty to a ruler already murdered.   
 
 
 
 
11.15  Disciples played zithers 
(stringed instruments plucked in a horizontal position) when in atten-
dance.  (See 11.26.)  Here, Zilu’s 
zither is being used as a trope for the man himself.   
 
 
11.16  Shi 師 and Shang 商are the 
disciples Zizhang and Zixia.  Book 
XIX shows how these two became 
rival school leaders after Confu-cius’s death.


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11.17  Like Zilu, Ran Qiu’s service 
to the Chi clan created an ethical 
issue within Confucius’s group.  
See 16.1. 
   11.18  It is difficult to know what to make of this apparently harsh 
assessment, which includes some 
very prominent disciples.  (The 
four are better known as Zigao 子
羔, Zeng Shen, Zizhang, and Zilu.)
 
11.19  Late accounts say that Zi-


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The Analects of Confucius 55
there – and he is in frequent poverty.  Si 
manages to make a profit without a mer-
chant’s license; his speculations are fre-
quently on the mark. 
 11.20  Zizhang asked about the dao of the 
good person.  The Master  said, “He does not 
tread in old tracks, but he does not enter the inner chamber.”  
11.21  The Master said, Is a fervently held 
position correct?  Is it held by a junzi , or one 
who is simply solemn in demeanor.   
 
11.22  Zilu asked, “May one immediately put 
into practice what one has learned?” 
 The Master said, “When your father 
and elder brothers are alive, how could you 
immediately practice what one has learned?”
 Ran Y ǒu asked, “May one immedi-
ately put into practice what one has 
learned?”  The Master said, “Yes, one may.”
 Gongxi Hua said, “You asked, ‘May 
one immediately put into practice what one has learned?’  Your said, ‘Your father and 
elder brothers are still alive.’  Qiu asked


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‘May one immediately put  into practice what 
one has learned?’  You said, ‘Yes, one may.’ 
I am confused, and presume to ask about this.”  The Master said, “Qiu holds back, and 
so I drew him forward;  You encroaches upon 
others, and so I drew him back.” 
 
11.23  The Master was in danger in the state 
of Kuang.  Yan Yuan fell behind.  The Mas-
ter said, “I thought you had died.”  Yan Yuan said, “While you are alive, gong (Si) became a wealthy mer-
chant in later life. 
    11.20  The ‘good person’ seems to 
be a term of faint praise for some-
one who does not simply do what others have done, but still has at-tained little moral understanding.  
 
 
 
   
11.22  A number of Analects  pas-
sages convey the message that in a 
teaching context, statements are only correct in relation to the stu-dent.  None is clearer on this point 
than this one. 
    
 
     
 
    
 
    11.23  Yan Yuan, of course, did 
die before Confucius, as every


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The Analects of Confucius 56 
Master, how would I dare to die?” 
 11.24  Ji Ziran asked, “Can Zhong You and 
Ran Qiu serve as great ministers?” 
 The Masters said, “I thought you were asking about different men – can this be 
asked about You and Qiu?  A great minister 
serves his lord by means of the tao.  If there 
is no prospect of doing so, he desists.  Now, You and Qiu can serve as part of a full com-
plement of ministers at court.” 
 “In that case, are they men who will follow their orders?” 
 The Master said, “If it meant killing 
their fathers or rulers, they would indeed not 
follow orders.” 
 
11.25  Zilu appointed Zigao to be the stew-ard of Pi.  The Master said, “You are stealing 
another man’s son!” 
 Zilu said, “There are people there; there are altars of st ate there – why must one 
first read texts and only then be considered 
learned?” 
 The Master said, “This is why I detest glib talkers!” 
 
11.26  Zilu, Zeng Xi, Ran Y ǒu, and Gongxi


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Hua were sitting in atte ndance.  The Master 
said, “Put aside for now that I am so much as a day older than you.  You are always say-ing, ‘My talents are unrecognized.’  If some 
person were to recognize and give you posi-
tion, what ability could you offer?” 
Zilu boldly replied first.  “Let there be 
a state of a thousand war chariots, wedged 
between great neighboring states, harassed 
by invading armies and plunged in famine as 
a consequence.  If I were given authority to  
 
     
 
    
 
 
 
   
 
   11.25  Zigao was a disciple. 
 Zilu seems to be invoking 
lessons Confucius himself taught, much like the ideas in 1.6-7, to confound Confucius himself, which is the basis of Confucius’s 
response. 
     
11.26  This famous passage is 
clearly a late elaboration of themes introduced in 5.8 and 5.26, the former passage serving as its direct inspiration.  The same three disci-
ples who appear in 5.8 appear here,


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and they are portrayed in similar terms.  This passage must be un-derstood by comparison, noting in particular that the chief difference 
is the addition of Zeng Xi 曾晳
(Dian 點), traditionally identified 
as the disciple Tseng Shen’s father, 
but otherwise unknown in the Ana-
lects.


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The Analects of Confucius 57
act, I would within three years endow that 
state with valor and a sense of purpose.” 
The Master smiled at him.  “Qiu, what 
about you?” 
Qiu replied, “Let th ere be a territory 
sixty or seventy li square, perhaps fifty or 
sixty.  If I had author ity to act, I would 
within three years ensure that the people had sufficient means.  As for liand music, they 
would have to await a junzi .” 
“Chi, what about you?” Chi replied, “I cannot say I would be 
able to do this, but I would like to try:  At 
ceremonies in the ancestral temples or dip-
lomatic meetings, wearing ceremonial cap 
and robes, I would wish to be a minor officer 
of ceremony.” 
“Dian, what about you?” 
The rhythm of his zither slowed, it 
rang as he laid it down and rose.  “My 
thoughts differ from the others’,” he said.   
“There is no harm in that,” said the 
Master.  “After all, ea ch of us is simply 
speaking his own heart.”     
“In late spring,” said Zeng Dian, “after


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the spring garments have  been sewn, I would 
go out with five rows of six capped young men and six rows of seven boys.  We would 
bathe in the River Yi, and stand in the wind 
on the stage of the Great  Rain Dance.  Then 
chanting, we would return.”     
The Master sighed deep ly.  “I am with 
Dian,” he said. 
The other three disciples went out, but 
Zeng Xi lingered behind.  Zeng Xi said, 
“What about the words of the other three?” 
The Master said, “After all, each was 
simply stating his heart’s desire.” 
“Why did you smile at You?”  The portion of the passage 
that extends from the point at 
which the three other disciples exit to the end is probably an addition made later still.  This appendix does not seem to capture
 the inter-
esting subtleties of the main por-tion of the passage.


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The Analects of Confucius 58 
 “To manage a state one needs li, and 
his words showed no deference, that is why I 
smiled.” 
“As for Qiu, he was not aspiring to 
manage a state, was he?” 
“How can one see a domain of sixty or 
seventy square li, or even fifty or sixty, as 
other than a state?” 
“As for Chi, he was not aspiring to 
manage a state, was he?” 
“Ancestral halls and diplomatic affairs 
– what are these if not matters of a feudal state.  Moreover, if Chi were a minor officer, 
who would be a major one?”


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The Analects of Confucius 59
Book XII  
 
12.1  Yan Yuan asked about ren.  The Mas-
ter said, “Conquer yourself and return to li:
that is ren .  If a person could conquer him-
self and return to li for a single day, the 
world would respond to him with ren.  Being 
ren proceeds from oneself, how could it 
come from others?” 
 Yan Yuan said, “May I ask for details 
of this?” 
 The Master said, “If it is not li, don't look at it; if it not li, don't listen to it; if it is 
not li, don't say it; if it is not li, don't do it.” 
 Yan Yuan said, “Although I am not quick, I ask to apply myself to this.” 
 
12.2  Zhonggong asked about ren.  The Mas-
ter said, “When you go out your front gate, 
continue to treat each person as though re-ceiving an honored guest.  When directing the actions of subordinates, do so as though officiating at a great ritu al sacrifice.  Do not


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do to others what you would not wish done to you.  Then there can be no complaint against you, in your state or in your house-
hold.” 
 Zhonggong said, “A lthough I am not 
quick, I ask to apply myself to this.” 
 
12.3  Sima Niu asked about ren.  The Master 
said, “The person who is ren speaks with re-
luctance.”  “Reluctant in speech – may such a person, then, be called ren?” 
 The Master said, “When doing it is difficult, can one not be reluctant to speak of it?”  Notes 
 
12.1  This passage and the next are the most celebrated descriptions of 
ren in the Analects .  Book XII is 
highly formulaic in its rhetoric, 
and is likely a later book, articulat-ing  more polished expressions of concepts that had become key to the early Confucian school. 
 
   
 
 
    
 
12.2  The force of this passage lies principally in the concreteness of the first two parts of Confucius’s response, followed by the general-ized statement, close to the Golden 
Rule.  We do not normally think of


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the Golden Rule in terms of the highly ritualized conduct described here.  This linkage is what ties 12.1 and 12.2 together. 
 
     
12.3  Sima Niu is identified as a 
disciple whose brother, Huan Tui, was Minister of War in the state of Song.  In 7.23, we see Huan Tui as a threatening enemy.


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The Analects of Confucius 60 
12.4  Sima Niu asked about the junzi .  The 
Master said, “The junzi is not beset with care 
or fear.” 
 “Not beset with care or fear – may 
such a person, then, be called a junzi ?” 
 “Surveying himself within and finding 
no fault, what care or fear could there be?” 
 12.5  Sima Niu was be set with care.  “All 
people have brothers, I alone am without 
them.” 
 Zixia said, “I have heard it said, ‘Life and death are preordai ned, wealth and rank 
are up to Tian.  The junzi  never let’s slip his 
respectful vigilance, when  with others, he is 
reverent and acts with li – in the world 
within the four seas, all men are his broth-ers.’  What concern need a junzi  have that he 
is without brothers?” 
 
12.6  Zizhang asked about  discernment.  The 
Master said, “When one is uninfluenced by slanderous statements about someone that 
reach a saturation point or by disputes that 
are brought before him that have a direct bearing on him, then he may be said to be


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discerning.  He may also  be said to be far-
sighted.” 
 
12.7  Zigong asked about governance.  The 
Master said, “Provide people with adequate 
food, provide them with adequate weapons, 
they will keep faith with their ruler.” 
 Zigong said, “If you had no choice but to dispense with one of those three things, 
which would it be?” 
 “Dispense with weapons.” 
“If you had no choice but to dispense 
with one of those two things, which would it 12.4  Like 12.1 and 12.2, 12.3 and 
12.4 are perfectly parallel in con-
struction, reflecting well crafted teachings of a maturing
 school. 
   
 
  12.5  Since Sima Niu did have a 
brother:  Confucius’s enemy Huan 
Tui.  We must presume he means 
here a brother who acts like a 
brother. 
 Zixia’s response is the 
source of the famous phrase, “all 
men are brothers,” which has been 
much associated with Chinese cul-
ture in the West.


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The Analects of Confucius 61
be?” 
“Dispense with food.  From ancient 
times there has always been death.  If the 
people do not keep faith, the state cannot 
stand.”  
12.8  Ji Zicheng said, “Being a junzi  is sim-
ply a matter of one’s plain substance.  Of 
what use are patterns ( wen)?”   
 Zigong said, “What a shame that you 
have described the junzi in this way – a team 
of horses is not as swift as the tongue!  If 
patterns were like plain substance and plain 
substance like patterns, the pelts of tigers and 
leopards would be like those of hounds and 
sheep.” 
 
12.9  Duke Ai questioned You Ruo.  “In years of famine, when I do not take in 
enough to meet my expenditures, what 
should I do?”  You Ruo replied, “Why not set taxes 
at the rate of one-tenth?” 
 “At the rate of two-tenths my income 
is not adequate – how could I manage at one-
tenth?” 
 You Ruo replied,  “When the people 
have sufficient means, who will not provide 
the ruler with what he needs; when the peo-


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ple do not have sufficie nt means, who will 
provide the ruler with what he needs?” 
 
12.10  Zizhang asked about exalted virtue 
and discerning confusion.  The Master said, “Taking loyalty and trustworthiness as the 
pivot and ever shifting to align with the 
right: that is exalted virtue. When one cher-ishes a person one wishes him to live; when one hates a person one wishes him to die – 
 
     
12.8  Ji Zicheng was a grandee in 
the state of Wei.  Presumably he interviewed Confucius during the latter’s sojourn in Wei. 
Compare 6.18. 
 
 
 
   
 
  12.9  You Ruo is the disciple Mas-ter You (see 1.2), who, for a short 
time, succeeded Confucius as 
leader and teacher of the original group of disciples. (See the Ap-pendix.)  
 
     
 
    
 
12.10  This passage has consider-able overlap with 12.21, which is helpful as a gloss on the last sec-tion of this passage.


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The Analects of Confucius 62 
on the one hand cherishing and wishing him 
life, while on the other hating and wishing him death: that is confusion. 
 Truly, it is not a matter of riches, 
 Indeed, it is simply about discernment. 
 
12.11  Duke Jing of Qi asked Confucius about governance.  Conf ucius replied, “Let 
the ruler be ruler, ministers ministers, fathers fathers, sons sons.”  The Duke said, “Excellent!  Truly, if the ruler is not ruler, ministers not ministers, 
fathers not fathers, s ons not sons, though I 
possess grain, would I be able to eat it?” 
 
12.12  The Master said, “Able to adjudicate a 
lawsuit by hearing a single statement –would this not characterize You?” 
 Zilu never postponed fulfillment of a 
promise overnight.  
12.13  The Master said, In hearing lawsuits, I 
am no better than others.  What is imperative 
is to make it so that there are no lawsuits. 
 
12.14  Zizhang asked a bout governance.  The 
Master said, “Fulfill your office untiringly,


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perform your duties with loyalty.” 
 
12.15  The Master  said, Once a junzi has 
studied broadly in patterns ( wen) and con-
strained them with li, indeed he will never 
turn his back on them.   
12.16  The Master said, The junzi  perfects 
what is beautiful in people, he does not per-
fect what is ugly.  The small man does just 
the opposite.   
 
     
 
12.11  Confucius was said to have visited Qi several times.  Duke Jing died before Confucius’s exile from Lu, and so this interview is 
set during Confucius’s relative 
youth. 
 This passage is often in-
terpreted in light of 13.3.   
 
12.12 An alternative translation less charitable to Zilu interprets the first sentence to be apparent sar-casm: “able to adjudicate after 
hearing only one side.” 
  12.13  This passage is cited in the late Warring States
 era text, The 
Great Learning , which notes that 
lawsuits permit those whose claims have no substance to use words to obscure what is so.    
 
  12.15  Duplicated at 6.27.


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The Analects of Confucius 63
12.17  Ji Kangzi questioned Confucius about 
governance.  Confucius replied, “Govern-ance is setting things upright.  If you lead 
with uprightness, who w ill dare not to be up-
right?” 
 
12.18  Ji Kangzi was concerned about ban-
dits, and asked Confucius about it.  Confu-cius replied, “If you yourself were truly not covetous, though you re warded people for it, 
they would not steal.”  12.19  Ji Kangzi asked Confucius about gov-
ernance, saying, “How would it be if I were 
to kill those who are without the Dao in or-
der to hasten others towards the dao?” 
 Confucius replied, “Of what use is 
killing in your governance?  If you desire goodness, the people will be good.  The vir-
tue of the junzi  is like the wind and the virtue 
of common people is like the grasses:  when the wind blows over the grasses, they will surely bend.” 
 
12.20  Zizhang asked, “When may a gentle-
man be said to have attained success?” 
 The Master said, “What do you mean


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by attaining success?”  Zizhang replied, “His name is known 
throughout his state and his household.” 
 The Master said, “This is to be known, not to be successful.  Attaining success lies 
in being straightforward in basic substance 
and loving the right, being perspicacious when listening to others speak and observant 
of their facial expressions, and bearing in 
mind deference towards others.  Such a per-son will surely attain success in the state and in his household. 12.17  This passage embeds a sig-
nificant pun.  The words for ‘gov-
ernance’ (zheng  政) and ‘upright’ 
(zheng  正) are homonyms that 
overlap in both graph forms and 
corresponding meaning.  12.18  This passage and the next express the Confucian faith in the 
great force of example presented 
by those in positions of power. 
 
  
12.19  The last phrase of this pas-
sage is very famous.  It is unclear, perhaps by design, whether ‘ junzi ’ 
in this instance refers to the ethical exemplars or simply men in power.


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12.20  The phrase ‘attained suc-cess’ here translates the same term rendered as ‘get through’ at 14.23 
and 14.35.  The basic sense of the 
term is to achieve recognition from 
those in authority, and so gain a 
visible social role.


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The Analects of Confucius 64 
 “As for being known,  such a man gets 
a reputation for ren from appearances, 
though his conduct contra venes it, and he is 
free of self-doubt.  His name is known 
throughout his state and his household.”  
12.21  Fan Chi accompanied the Master on 
an outing past the altar of the great rain dance.  “May I ask about exalted virtue, re-forming faults, and discerning confusion?” 
 The Master said, “Well asked!  Be 
first to the effort and last to take reward – is that not exalted virtue?  To set to work upon 
one’s own faults and not upon the faults of 
others, is that not the way to reform faults? 
In the anger of the moment to forget one’s 
safety and that of one’s parents, is that not 
confusion?”  
12.22  Fan Chi asked about ren.  The Master 
said, “Cherish people. ”  When he asked 
about knowledge, the Master said, “Know 
people,” and Fan Chi did not understand. 
 The Master said, “If you raise up the


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straight and place them over the crooked, they can make the crooked straight.” 
 Fan Chi took his leave and went to see 
Zixia.  “Just now, I was with the Master and asked him about know ledge.  He said, ‘If 
you raise up the straight and place them over the crooked, they can make the crooked straight.’ What did he mean?” 
 Zixia said, “How rich these words are! 
When Shun possessed the world he picked Gaoyao out from among the multitudes, and 
those who were not ren kept far distant. 
When Tang possessed the world, he picked 
Yi Yin out from among the multitudes, and those who were not ren kept far distant.”  
 
     
 
 12.21  This passage seems to give alternative approaches to queries posed in 12.10. 
 
 
 
   
 
    
 
 12.22  In Zixia’s closing remark, he refers to figures from legendary and pre-Zhou history.  Gaoyao was 
a sagely member of the court of


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the legendary Emperor Shun, vari-ously reported to have been in charge of criminals and in charge of music.  Tang was the founding king of the Shang Dynasty, and Yi 
Yin was his principal aide.


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The Analects of Confucius 65
 
12.23  Zigong asked about friends.  The Master said, “Advise them loyally and guide 
them well.  If this does not work, desist.  Do 
not humiliate yourself.”  
12.24  Master Zeng said, A junzi attracts 
friends through his patte rned behavior, and 
employs friends to assist him in ren.  
 
12.23  This resonates with 4.26.


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The Analects of Confucius 66 
Book XIII 
 
13.1  Zilu asked about governance.  The 
Master said, “Be first to the task and comfort 
others at their labors.”  When asked for more, he said, “Be 
tireless.” 
 13.2  Zhonggong was serving as steward for the Chi family.  He asked about governance. 
The Master said, “Provide a leading example 
to your officers.  Pardon minor offences. Raise up the worthy.” 
 “How can I recognize who has worthy 
abilities so I can raise them up?”  “Raise up those you recognize.  Those 
you don’t recognize, will the others let you 
do without them?”  
13.3  Zilu said, “If the ruler of Wei were to 
entrust you with governance of his state, what would be your first priority.”  The Master said, “Most certainly, it 
would be to rectify names.” 
 Zilu said, “Is that so?  How strange of you!  How would this set things right?” 
 The Master said, “What a boor you 
are, You!  A junzi  keeps silence about things
he doesn’t understand.


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“If names are not right then speech 
does not accord with things; if speech is not in accord with things, then affairs cannot be 
successful; when affairs are not successful, li
and music do not flourish; when li
 music do 
not flourish, then sanctions and punishments miss their mark; when sanctions and pun-
ishments miss their mark, the people have no place to set their hands and feet.  “Therefore, when a junzi gives things Notes 
 
13.1  Many of the passages in Book XIII have to do with govern-
ance, as is true of the latter part of 
Book XII.     
 
   
 
 
    
 
   13.3  This states one facet of what is known as the doctrine of the 
“rectification of names.”  There are 
many aspects to this idea.  Passage 12.11, which stresses the need for people to perform their social roles properly, is often taken as a basic 
text for this doctrine.  Passages 3.1


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and 3.2, which concern usurpations of ritual prerogatives, are also sometimes linked to these ideas.  Those passages stress the need to make one’s conduc t match one’s 
social position.  13.3 stresses the need to align names to reflect the reality of circumstances; in this, it may resonate with 6.25. 
 Philosophical questions 
concerning the alignment of words and reality became central to fourth and third century B.C. thought, and many
 interpreters 
believe that 13.3 is a product of 
that era.


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The Analects of Confucius 67
names, they may be properly spoken of, and 
what is said may be properly enacted.  With regard to speech, the junzi  permits no care-
lessness.”  13.4  Fan Chi asked to learn about farming 
grain.  The Master said, “Better to ask an old 
peasant.”  He asked a bout raising vegetables. 
“Better to ask an old gardener.”   When Fan Chi left, the Master said, 
“What a small man Fan Xu is!  If a ruler 
loved li, none among the people would dare 
be inattentive; if a ruler loved right, none 
would dare be unrighte ous; if a ruler loved 
trustworthiness, none would dare be insin-
cere.  The people of th e four quarters would 
come to him with their children strapped on their backs.  Why ask about farming?”  
13.5  The Master said, If a man can recite 
from memory the three hundred odes of the Poetry  but, when you entrust him with gov-
ernance, he is unable to  express his meaning,


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or, when you send him to the four quarters on diplomatic missions, he  is unable to make 
replies on his own in itiative, though he may 
have learned much, of what use is he?  
 
13.6  The Master said, If he is upright in his 
person, he will perform without orders.  If he 
is not upright in his person, though you give 
him orders, he will not carry them out. 
 
13.7  The Master said, The governments of the states of Lu and Wei are like older and 
younger brothers. 
 13.8  The Master commented that Prince Jing of Wei handled possessing his resi- 
 
    13.4  Confucius refers to Fan Chi 
by his personal name, Xu. 
    
 
 
 
   
 
    
 
13.5  The Poetry  had become, by 
Confucius’s time, a canonical col-lection of songs well known to the patrician elite, who would at times 
communicate subtle messages by 
citing lines from the songs (as one sees throughout the Analects ).  
Memorizing the text was signifi-cant, but if one could not put them to use through creative citation,


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one’s mastery counted for nothing.  
It is for this reason that the Poetry  
was an important part of the Con-fucian ritual curriculum.   
 
 13.7  As the former fief of the Duke of Zhou and a repository of Zhou culture, Lu’s government was admired, though no longer 
under the control of the rightful 
duke.  The state of Wei was origi-nally the fief of the Duke of Zhou’s younger brother, and here


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The Analects of Confucius 68 
dences well.  When he first possessed a 
home he said, “This is truly a good fit.” 
When he came to have some luxuries he 
said, “This is truly comp lete.”  When he be-
came wealthy he said, “This is truly beauti-
ful.” 
 
13.9  The Master traveled  to the state of Wei. 
Ran Yǒu drove his chariot.  The Master said, 
“How populous it is!” 
 Ran Y ǒu said, “As Wei is already 
populous, what would you add?” 
 “Enrich them.” 
 “Once the people were enriched, what 
would you add?” 
 “Teach them.” 
 
13.10  The Master said, If there were some-one who would employ me, things would be 
in hand within a year on the calendar things 
would be in hand.  In three years, they would 
have come to success.  
13.11  The Master said, “‘If good men gov-
erned for a hundred years, cruelty could in-deed be overcome and killing dispensed 
with.’  How very true that saying is!” 
 13.12  The Master said , If there were one 
who reigned as a true king, after a genera-


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tion, all would be ren. 
 
13.13  The Master said, If one can make his 
person upright, then what difficult will he have in taking part in governance?  If he 
cannot make his person upright, how can be 
make others upright? 
 13.14  Ranzi came from court.  The Master Confucius, who was hopeful of 
political opportunities in Wei, sug-
gests that like Lu, Wei also pos-sessed political virtues.    
 
    
 
 
 
   
 
 13.10  This and the following two passages share a theme in common with 13.29. 
 
    
 
     
 
    
 
     
 
 13.14  Ranzi is the disciple Ran Qiu (Yǒu).  The court referred to is


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The Analects of Confucius 69
said, “Why are you late?”  Ranzi replied, 
“The were matters of government.”  The Master said, “Surely, these were 
affairs of the household.  Were there matters 
of government, though I am not in office, I would be advised of them.” 
 
13.15  Duke Ding asked, “Is there a single saying that can lead a state to flourish?”  Confucius replied, “No saying can 
have such an effect, but there is one that 
comes close: There is a saying, ‘It is hard to be a ruler; it is not easy being a minister.’  If 
one thus understood how hard it is to rule, 
would this not come close to a single saying 
leading a state to flourish?” 
 “Is there a single saying that can de-
stroy a state?”  Confucius replied, “No saying can 
have such an effect, but there is one that 
comes close: There is a saying, ‘There is nothing I love more about  being a ruler than 
that no one contradicts me.’  If a ruler were 
fine and none contradicted him, that would


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be fine indeed; if he were not a good ruler 
and none contradicted him, then would this not come close to a single saying destroying 
a state?”  
13.16  The Lord of She asked about govern-
ance.  The Master sa id, “Those nearby are 
pleased, those far distant come.” 
 
13.17  Zixia served as steward of Jufu and asked about governance.  The Master said, 
“Don’t seek quick results; don’t attend to matters of minor profit.  If you seek quick 
results, you will not attain success; if you at-
tend to matters of mi nor profit, you will not likely the Ji clan court, where Ran 
Qiu served as steward.  Confucius 
seems to be making a distinction between affairs of the Ji clan – which should rightly concern only matters of their hereditary domain, or household – and matters of 
state, which should rightly concern 
only the duke’s court.


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The Analects of Confucius 70 
succeed in great affairs. 
 13.18  The Lord of She instructed Confucius, 
saying, “There is an upright man in my dis-
trict.  His father stol e a sheep, and he testi-
fied against him.”  Confucius said, “The upright men in 
my district are different.  Fathers cover up for their sons and sons cover up for their fa-thers.  Uprightness lies therein.” 
 
13.19  Fan Chi asked about ren.  The Master 
said, Let your bearing be reverent when you 
are at leisure, be respectfully attentive in 
managing affairs, and be loyal towards oth-
ers.  Though you be among bar
barians, these 
may never be cast aside. 
 13.20  Zigong asked, “How must one be in 
order to deserve bei ng called a gentleman?” 
 The Master said, “One who conducts 
himself with a sense of shame and who may 
be dispatched to the four quarters without 
disgracing his lord’s commission, such a one 
may be termed a gentleman.”  “May I ask what is next best?” 
 “When his clan calls him filial and his


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neighborhood district calls him respectful of elders.” 
 “May I ask what is next best?” 
 “Keeping to one’s word and following through in one’s actions – it has the ring of a 
petty man, but indeed, this would be next.” 
 “What are those who participate in governance today like?” 
 “Oh!  They are men you measure by 
cup or quart – why even count them?” 
 13.21  The Master said, Those who cannot  
 
13.18  This famous passage re-flects the Confucian stress on fili-ality as an essential foundation for virtue, and an inalienable compo-nent of good character.


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The Analects of Confucius 71
keep to the central path in their conduct but 
who are still worth some praise are surely the reckless and the timid.  The reckless are will-
ing to advance towards the goal, and the 
timid have things that they are unwilling to do. 
 
13.22  The Master said , “The people of the 
South have a saying: ‘A person without con-stancy may not be a shaman or a doctor.’ 
This is very fine!”   
“If one is not constant in virtue, one 
will receive disgrace” – the Master said, 
“Simply do not divine.” 
 
13.23  The Master said, The junzi acts in 
harmony with others but does not seek to be like them; the small man seeks to be like others and does not act in harmony. 
 
13.24  Zigong asked, “If all the people of your village loved you, how would that be?” The Master said, “Not good enough.” 
 “If all the people of your village hated 
you, how would that be?”  “The Master sa id, “Not good enough.


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Better that the good people in your village love you and the bad people hate you.”  
13.25  The Master said, The junzi is easy to 
serve and hard to please.  If you do not ac-
cord with the dao in pleasing him, he  is not 
pleased; when it comes to employing others, he only puts them to tasks they are fit to manage.  
 The small man is hard to serve but 
easy to please.  If you do not accord with the dao in pleasing him, he is still pleased; when it comes to employing others, he demands 13.21  ‘Things they are unwilling 
to do’ means there is a limit to the 
immoral acts they will take in or-der to please their lord.    
 
13.22  It is difficult to parse this passage well.  The second portion begins with a citation from the mantic text Yi jing  (Book of 
Changes).    Confucius’s final 
comment seems to pertain to it.  
However, an alternative reading 
lays stress on the word ‘constant’, share by the ‘saying of the South’ and the Yi ching  passage, and links


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those as a single unit.  Because of  the source of the Yi jing  passage, Confucius’s 
final comment is sometimes taken to refer to the Yi, and to suggest 
that the text should not be used for 
fortunetelling, but rather simply to understand how action conse-quences vary with contexts.  That is the interpretation governing this 
translation.


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The Analects of Confucius 72 
they be able in everything.  
 13.26  The Master said, The junzi is at ease 
without being arrogant; the small man is ar-rogant without being at ease.  
13.27  The Master said, Incorruptibility, 
steadfastness, simplicity, and reticence are near to ren. 
 
13.28  Zilu asked, “How  must one be in or-
der to deserve being called a gentleman?” 
 The Master said, “Supportive, encour-aging, congenial – such a man may be called 
a gentleman.  Supportive and encouraging 
with his friends, congenial with his broth-
ers.” 
 13.29  The Master said, If a good man were 
to instruct the people for seven years, they 
would indeed be ready to go into battle.  13.30  The Master said, Not to teach the 
people how to fight in  war may called dis-
carding them.  
 
     
 
    
 
 
 
   
 
  13.29  A recently discovered text of the “Huang-Lao” (Dao-
ist/Legalist) tradition of the third to


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second century B.C. pictures the ideal ruler as nurturing a state for seven years to prepare it for battle.  This passage and the next may re-
flect the influence of non-
Confucian thought in those later times.  13.29 may be contrasted with what would seem the more 
purely Confucian 13.10-12.


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The Analects of Confucius 73
Book XIV 
 
14.1  Xian asked about shame.  The Master 
said, “When the dao prevails in a state, take 
office.  To take office when the daodoes not 
prevail – that is shame.”  “Overbearing, boastful, resentful – to 
wish to be none of these, is that ren?” 
 The Master said, “I t is difficult.  As 
for ren, I don’t know.”  
 14.2  The Master said, A gentleman who is attached to the amenities of his home is not 
worthy of being called a gentleman. 
 14.3  When the dao prevails in the state, 
speak as though in danger, act as though in danger.  When the dao does not prevail in 
the state, act as though in danger, and make 
your speech compliant. 
 14.4  The Master said, Those who possess virtue must have teachings to impart, but a 
man with teachings to  impart does not al-
ways possess virtue.  The man of renwill be 
valorous, but valorous men are not always ren. 
 
14.5  Nangong Kuo questioned Confucius, 
saying, “Yi was a great archer and Ao was a


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great boatman, yet neither died a natural death.  On the other hand, Yu and Ji were 
farmers in the fields and yet came to possess 
all the world.”  The Master did not reply.  After Nan-
gong Kuo went out, the Master said, “What a 
junzi this man is!  What fine virtue this man 
has!” 
 Notes 
 
14.1  Xian was the personal name of the disciple Yuan Xian.  In early 
literary convention, use of the per-
sonal name in a narrative context was a sign of first person voice, and this has led some interpreters to view this passage, and perhaps much of the chapter, as written by 
Yuan Xian.  According to histori-
cal accounts, Yuan Xian became a recluse after Confucius’s death, and reclusion from society in dan-
gerous times, an aspect of timeli-
ness, is a recurrent theme in Book 
XIV.     
 
     
 
    
 
   14.5  Nangong Kuo was the disci-ple Nan Rong (see 5.2).  He refers 
here to a series of legendary men.


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Tales of Yi and Ao celebrated the talents noted here.  Yu refers to the Emperor Yu, founder of the Hsia Dynasty.  Ji (sometimes called 
Prince Millet) was the legendary 
forbear of the Zhou royal house.  Both men were said to have been raised from commoner status by Emperor Shun.


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The Analects of Confucius 74 
14.6  The Master said, A junzi who is not 
ren, there are such people.  There has never 
been a small man who is ren. 
 
14.7  The Master said, If you cherish them can you not make them labor?  If you are 
loyal to them, can you not instruct them? 
 14.8  The Master said, In crafting diplomatic documents, Pi Chen drafted them, Shi Shu 
commented upon them, envoy Ziyu embel-
lished them, and Zichan of Dongli made 
them beautiful. 
 
14.9  Someone asked about Zichan.  The 
Master said, “He was a generous man.” 
They asked about Zixi.  “That one?  That 
one?”   
They asked about Guan Zhong.  “He 
was a man!  He seized from the Bo family its domain of three hundred households in Pian, and though the family head was reduced to eating greens for his meals, he lived out his 
years without uttering a word of resentment.”
 
14.10  The Master said, To be poor and without resentment is hard; to be wealthy 
and without arrogance is easy.


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14.11  The Master said, If Meng Gongchuo 
served as an elder at the courts of the Zhao and Wei families, he would be excellent. 
But he’s unfit to be a grandee at court in the states of Teng and Xue.  
14.12  Zilu asked about  the complete man. 
The Master said, “If he were as wise as Zang 
Wuzhong, as free from de sire as Gongchuo, 
as valorous as Zhuangz i of Bian, as accom- 
 
     
 
  14.8  These four men were officers in the court of Zheng during Con-
fucius’s youth.  Chiefly on account 
of the prime minister, Zichan, this 
court enjoyed a reputation as un-
usually capable and ethical.  14.9  Zichan was prime minister of 
the state of Zheng.  The Zixi 
named here was probably his suc-cessor, whose performance was not marked by success.  Confu-cius’s exclamation may be a pro-
test to hearing him mentioned be-
side Zichan.  On Guan Zhong, see 3.22 and 14.16-17.  Some interpreters read ‘He was a man’ as ‘He was 
ren’; ‘man’ ( ren 人) and ‘ ren’ (仁) 
are cognate words, identical in


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sound and close in graph.  But see the note on 14.16-17. 
 
 
 
14.11  Meng Gongchuo was a 
grandee of Lu contemporary with 
Confucius.  Zhao and Wei were 
great warlord families in the state of Jin (the later participated in di-viding that state and founding their own).  Teng and Xue were tiny states near Lu.  The point is that 
Meng Gongchuo was suitable as a 
‘household’ officer for even pow-erful families, but did not have the qualities to serve even the most powerless legitimate ruler.  (He is, 
however, implicitly praised in the


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The Analects of Confucius 75
plished in the arts as Ran Qiu, and patterned 
with li and music besides, then he may be 
called a complete man.” 
 He added, “But for someone to be 
deemed a complete man nowadays, what 
need does he have for all this?  If, seeing 
profit, his thoughts turn to what is right, and 
seeing danger, he is ready to risk his life, if he can long endure hard ship without forget-
ting the teachings that have guided his ordi-
nary life, he may indeed be deemed a com-
plete man.”  
14.13  The Master asked Gongming Jia 
about Gongshu Wenzi, saying, “Is it true that 
your master never spoke , never laughed, and 
never took anything?”  Gongming Jia replied, “That report was exaggerated.  My master spoke, but only 
when it was timely; in that way, people did not tire of his words.  He laughed, but only when he was joyful; in that way, people didnot tire of his laughter.  He took things, but 
only when it was righteous; in that way, peo-


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ple did not tire of his taking.”  The Master said, “I s that so?  How can 
that be true?”  14.14  The Master said, Zang Wuzhong used 
Fang to bargain for continuation of his clan 
line in Lu.  Though they say he did not co-erce his lord, I do not believe it. 
 
14.15  The Master said, Duke Wen of Jin was adept at expedient means but not up-
right; Duke Huan of Qi was upright but not 
adept at expedient means.  14.16  Zilu said, “When Duke Huan killed next passage.)   
 
14.12  The term ‘complete man’ is not used elsewhere in the Analects .
Zang Wuzhong was head 
of a major Lu family a generation before Confucius, with a reputa-
tion for wisdom (see 14.14).  For 
Gongchuo, see the last passage.  Zhuangzi was reputed for feats of strength and battle bravery.  Ran Qiu is Confucius’s disciple; his 
skill in arts is noted at 6.8. 
 
14.13  Gongming Jia was a man of 
the state of Wei, and Gongshu Wenzi a late grandee of Wei.  See also 14.18.


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14.14  Zang Wuzhong was leader 
of one of the great families of Lu; 
Confucius’s father was in his ser-vice.  Zang fled into exile in 550 B.C., but prior to doing so, he of-fered the duke of Lu possession of 
his family’s sacred turtle (see 5.18, 
which concerns his grandfather) in return for allowing his family to remain lords of their domain at Fang.  
14.15  This passage names the 
second and first of the ‘hegemon’ overlords of the Spring and Au-tumn era.  Duke Wen was known


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The Analects of Confucius 76 
Prince Jiu, Shao Hu committed suicide for 
the death of his lord, but Guan Zhong did not.  We can say of him that he was not ren, 
can we not?”  The Master said, “Duke Huan nine times brought the feudal lords into assem
bly 
without the use of weapons or war chariots. This was due to the efforts of Guan Zhong. Such ren!  Such ren! 
 
14.17  Zigong said, “Surely, Guan Zhong 
was not a ren  man.  Duke Huan killed Prince 
Jiu and Guan Zhong was unable to die for his 
lord, and even served as prime minister to 
Duke Huan.”  The Master said, “Guan Zhong served 
as prime minister to Duke Huan and Duke 
Huan became hegemon ove r the feudal lords. 
For a time, he set the world in order.  To this 
day the people receive blessings from it. 
Were it not for Guan Zhong, we would wear 
our hair loose and button our jackets on the left.  How would it have been proper for him 
to be faithful like a common man or woman, 
and slit his throat in a ditch where none


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would ever know?” 
 
14.18  Gongshu Wenzi’s household officer, the grandee Zhuan, was promoted to service 
in the duke’s court alongside Wenzi.  The Master, learning of this, commented, “He may rightly be called wen.” 
 14.19  The Master spoke of how Duke Ling of Wei did not follow the dao.  Kangzi said, 
“If that is the case, w hy does he not meet his 
downfall?”  Confucius said, “Zhongshu Yu attends 
to visitors of state, Zhu Tuo manages matters for his craft in diplomacy and war; 
Duke Huan for a painful adherence 
to rules in order to win respect (a policy he was persuaded to follow by his prime minister, Guan Zhong, see below).  
14.16-17  These passages reflect 
judgments of Guan Zhong, a for-mer prime minister of the state of Qi and the most famous figure of seventh century B.C. politics.  His 
great achievement was guiding his 
lord, Duke Huan of Qi, to become 
the acknowledged leader of an ex-


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tensive alliance of states, a position of ‘hegemony’ recognized offi-cially by the King of the Chou, 
whose protector Duke Huan be-
came.  The lavish praise of Guan Zhong in these passages stands in sharp contrast to 3.22.  Originally, Duke Huan 
competed with his
 brother, Prince 
Jiu, to  become duke in Qi.  Guan 
Zhong and Shao Hu were aides to 
Prince Jiu.  When Prince Jiu was killed, Shao Hu acted as a gentle-
man and committed suicide.  Guan 
Zhong was pardoned by Duke Huan, who was advised that only by appointing him a minister could he hope to become a truly great ruler. 
 Confucius’s judgment that 
Guan Zhong was ren in 14.16 is so 
surprising that many interpreters 
refuse to read the passage in that way, and render the final line as an 
inconclusive, ‘But as for his being 
ren . . .’ 
 14.18  ‘Wenzi’ was the posthu-mous honorific given to the Wei grandee Gongsun Ba (see also 
14.13).  Confucius approves his


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The Analects of Confucius 77
of the ancestral temples, Wangsun Jia com-
mands the armies.  Given all this, how could he fail?” 
 
14.20  The Master said, When words are ut-tered without modesty, living up to them is 
difficult.  14.21  Chen Chengzi assassinated Duke Jian of Qi.  Confucius bathed  and went to court, 
where he reported to Duke Ai, “Chen Heng 
has assassinated his ruler.  I request he be pursued.” 
 The duke said, “Report this to the 
three lords.” 
 Confucius said, “Because I follow be-
hind the grandees, I dare not make this re-
port.  My lord has said, ‘Report this to the three lords.’” 
 He then went to the three lords to re-
port.  They denied his request.  Confucius said, “Because I follow behind the grandees, I dare not make this report.” 
 
14.22  Zilu asked about serving a ruler.  The Master said, “Do not deceive him, but be 
willing to offend him.” 
 14.23  The Master said, The junzi gets 
through to what is ex alted; the small man


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gets through to what is base.  
14.24  The Master said, In the past men 
learned for themselves; now men learn for others. 
 
14.25  Qu Boyu sent an emissary to Confu-cius.  Confucius sat together with him and questioned him.  “What does your master  
14.19  Kangzi was head of the 
warlord Ji family in Lu.  The other men named here were all ministers at Duke Ling’s court.  On Wang-sun Jia, see 3.13.  
 
 14.21  Chen Chengzi (referred to by personal name Chen Heng by Confucius in order to presume fa-
miliarity and thus indicate disap-
proval) was a grandee of Qi.  His 
family ultimately usurped the 
throne of the dukes of Qi after Confucius’s lifetime, as the au-thors of the Analects  would have 
known.  It is unclear what role is implied by the phrase ‘following behind the grandees’ signifies – it appears also at 11.8 – but the point 
is that Confucius made his appeal


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to the duke, who would have sole legitimate power to pursue and punish the assassin of a neighbor-ing lord, and the duke deferred to 
the three warlord families, who 
were naturally unmoved with Con-fucius’s moral stance.    
 
 14.23  This passage has resonance with 14.35.  The word for ‘get through’ means ‘to understand’ or 
‘to master’, but also ‘to gain access 
to power holders’.     
14.25  Qu Boyu was a grandee of 
the state of Wei.  His reputation in Classical literature is very high (see 15.7.).


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The Analects of Confucius 78 
wish.” 
 “My master wishes to reduce his er-rors and has not been able to do so.” 
 After the emissary left, the Master 
said, “What an emissary!  What an emis-sary!” 
 
14.26  The Master said, When one does not occupy the position, one does not plan its governance. 
 Master Zeng said, The thoughts of the 
junzi do not stray beyond his position. 
 14.27  The Master said, The junzi is ashamed 
when his words outstrip his actions. 
 
14.28  The Master said, “There are three 
points to the dao of a junzi  that I have been 
unable to reach: to be ren, and so not beset 
with cares, to be wise, and so not confused, to be valorous, and so not fearful.”  Zigong said, “Master, you have de-scribed yourself.” 
 
14.29  Zigong spoke of others’ defects.  The 
Master said, “How worthy Si is!  As for me, 
I have no time for that.” 
 14.30  The Master said, Do not be concerned 
that others do not recognize you, be con-
cerned about what you are yet unable to do.


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14.31  The Master said, Without anticipating 
that others are being deceptive, without guessing that they will not keep faith, yet to 
sense these things in advance, is that not 
what being worthy is about?  14.32  Weisheng Mou said to Confucius,  
 
     
 
 14.26  The first portion of this pas-sage duplicates 8.14.  The second portion is likely a later elaboration 
added by Zeng Shen’s followers. 
 
 
   
 
 14.28  In the original text, this pas-sage fully embeds the language of 9.29, though the order of items is 
different. 
    
 
 14.29  Si was Zigong’s personal name.   
 
14.30  This passage seems to be a prelude to 14.35.   
 
 
     
 
 14.32  Weisheng Mou was likely a


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The Analects of Confucius 79
“Qiu, why do you go prattling about like 
this?  Doesn’t it just amount to so much gli b 
talk?” 
 Confucius said, “I would not presume 
to attempt glibness.  It  is my anxiety about 
stubborn ignorance.” 
 
14.33  The Master said, A fine horse is not praised for its strength, but for its virtue.  
14.34  Someone said, “T o employ virtue to 
repay resentment, how would that be?” 
 The Master said, “What, then, would 
you employ to repay virtue?  Employ 
straightforwardness to repay resentment; 
employ virtue to repay virtue.” 
 
14.35   The Master said, “No one recognizes me!”   
Zigong said, “How is it that this is 
so?”    
The Master said, “I do not complain 
against Tian, nor do I blame men.  I study 
what is lowly and so get through to what is 
exalted.  Is it not Ti an who recognizes me?” 
 
14.36  Gongbo Liao ma de accusations 
against Zilu at the Ji family court.  Zifu Jingbo reported this, saying, “My master


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harbors uncertain feelings towards Gongbo 
Liao.  My effort would still suffice to have his corpse splayed in the market and court.” 
 The Master said, “Will the dao pre-
vail?  That is a matter of fate ( ming). Will 
the dao be cast aside?  That is a matter of 
fate.  What can Gongbo Liao do about fate?”
 
14.37  The Master said, Worthy are those who shun the world.  Next are those who senior and intimate of Confucius, 
as he addresses Confucius by his 
personal name, Qiu.     
 
 14.33  The term ‘virtue’ ( de) is 
very flexible.  Here, it seems to denote all the qualities that make a 
horse fine – temperament, propor-
tions, and so forth. 
 
      
14.35   It is a feature of many pas-
sages involving Zigong that they include a surprising twist of mes-
sage.  In this case, Confucius’s 
initial statement, in light of pas-sages such as 1.1, 1.16, 14.30, and others, takes Zilu by surprise.  ‘Recognition,’ in all these passages 
involves both recognizing a per-


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son’s talents and employing him at court.  This passage reads well as a complement to 3.24.  
14.36  The term ming ( 命) denoted 
an order, a fixed span of life, and 
fate.  The adversaries of Confuci-ans, the Mohists, accused Confuci-
ans of ‘fatalism’, meaning the idea 
that predestination makes effort useless.  This passage tends to support such a view.   
 
 14.37-39  The last part of Book XIV focuses on the issue of with-drawal from engagement with an


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The Analects of Confucius 80 
shun a particular place.  Next best shun las-
civiousness.  Next the next shun speech.  The Master said, There have been 
seven able to do this. 
 14.38  Zilu stayed the night by Stone Gate. 
The morning gate keeper said, “Where are 
you coming from?”  Zilu said, “From the Kong home.”  “Is that the one who knows it can’t be 
done and keeps doing it?” 
 14.39  The Master was striking stone chimes 
in Wei.  A man passe d by his gate, shoulder-
ing baskets hung from a pole.  He said, 
“What heart there is in the playing of these 
chimes!”   
Then he said, “How uncouth, this 
clanking!  If none recognize you, then sim-ply give up. 
When it’s deep, you wade straight through; 
When it’s shallow, you lift your skirts. ” 
The Master said, “Is it really so? 
There’s nothing hard in that.”  
 
14.40  Zizhang said, “The Documents say, 
‘During Gaozong’s period of mourning for 
his father, for three years he dwelt in his mourning hut and did not speak.’  What does


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this mean?” 
 The Master said, “This did not neces-sarily apply only to Gaozong.  All the an-
cients were thus.  When the ruler died, the 
officers of state gathered themselves and for three years took their orders from the prime 
minister.” 
 14.41  The Master said, When the ruler loves 
li, the people are easy to employ. immoral human world, which, in 
the Analects , Confucius seems 
both to praise and to fight against. 
 The theme is also a major one in Book XVIII.  14.38  Kong is Confucius’s sur-
name. 
    
 
 
 
   
 
    
 
    
 
   14.40  Gaozong was a Shang Dy-nasty king.


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The Analects of Confucius 81
 
14.42  Zilu asked about the junzi.   The Mas-
ter said, “Cultivate in yourself respectful at-
tentiveness.” 
 “Is that all there is to it?”  “Cultivate yourself to bring comfort to 
others.” 
 “Is that all there is to it?”  “Cultivate yourself to bring comfort to the people.  Cultivating oneself to bring 
comfort to the people, even Yao and Shun 
themselves would fall short of that.”  
14.43  Yuan Rang sat wa iting with his legs 
crossed.  The Master said, “As a youth dis-
obedient and disrespectful to your elders, as 
an adult accomplishing nothing worth speak-
ing of, old and still not dead – nothing but a thief!”  And he struck him on the shin with 
his staff. 
 14.44  A boy from the Que district was act-ing as a messenger and someone asked about 
him.  “Is he likely to improve?” 
 The Master said, “I have noticed that he seats himself in company and walks di-
rectly alongside his elders.  He is not seeking 
improvement.  He’s after quick results.”


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14.42  The final phrase is also used 
at 6.30.     
 
    
 
 
 
 14.43  Yuan Rang is elsewhere reported to be an old friend of 
Confucius.  If that is correct, this 
passage is probably meant to be humorous.  Sitting cross legged was highly informal, and thus not re-
spectful. 
 14.44  The term rendered as ‘re-sults’ also carries a sense of ‘grow to adulthood’, which appears to be 
what the boy was trying to take a 
shortcut to.


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The Analects of Confucius 82 
Book XV 
 
15.1  Duke Ling of Wei questioned Confu-
cius about battlefield formations.  Confucius 
replied, “When it comes to matters of sacri-
ficial vessels, I have some learning.  I have 
never studied m ilitary affairs.” 
 The next day he departed. 
 15.2  In Chen, the supplies of food were ex-
hausted, and the followers fell so ill that 
none could rise from bed.   Zilu appeared be-
fore the Master with a bitter expression. 
“May even a junzi  fall to the depths of pov-
erty.” 
 The Master said, “The junzi holds 
steadfast through povert y.  When the small 
man falls into poverty,  he will do anything.” 
 
15.3  The Master said, “Si!  Do you take me 
for one who studies a great deal and remem-bers it?”  Zigong replied, “Yes. Is it not so?” 
 “It is not. I link all on a single thread.”
 15.4  The Master said, “You, there are few 
who recognize virtue.” 
 15.5  The Master said, He did nothing and all 
was well ordered – this would describe Shun,


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would it not?  What did he do?  He simply 
composed himself with reverence and sat 
facing due south. 
 15.6  Zizhang asked about effective action. 
The Master said, “If your words are loyal 
and trustworthy and your conduct sincere and respectful, though you be in distant bar-barian states, you will be effective.  If your Notes 
 
15.1  We have seen else-where (e.g., 3.13, 6.28) how Confucius 
pursued his political opportunities 
in Wei, always turning aside less than moral chances to gain access to power holders.  Here we see him at last attain the audience with the duke he sought.  (See 14.19.) 
 
15.2  The full legend of Confu-cius’s travels in exile from Lu must have had many colorful epi-
sodes, such as this one.  
 
    
 
   15.3  This may be com-pared to the more polished 4.15, which 
makes a rather different point on 
the same theme, and also to 9.8.    
 
    15.5  Daoist philosophy celebrated 
the power of ‘natural’ action – ac-
tion that involved no plan or striv-


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ing: ‘non-action’ ( wuwei 無為).  
The Legalist Han Feizi made non-
action a hallmark of political per-fection.  Here, in what is probably a late insertion, the Analects  ap-
propriates wuwei to make its own 
exemplary sage the definitive 
model.


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The Analects of Confucius 83
words are not loyal and trustworthy and your 
conduct not sincere and respectful, though 
you be is your own nei ghborhood or district, 
can you be effective?  When you stand, let these thoughts appear before you; when you ride in your carriage, let them appear, lean-
ing on the carriage bar beside you.” 
 Zizhang inscribed these words on his sash.  
15.7  The Master said, How straight Shi Yu
is.  When the dao prevails in the state, he is 
like an arrow; when the dao does not prevail, 
he is like an arrow.  A junzi ! 
 With Qu Boyu, when the dao prevails 
in the state, he serves; when the daodoes not 
prevail, he can roll it into a ball and hide it by his heart  
15.8  The Master said, To fail to speak with 
someone whom it is worthwhile to speak 
with is to waste that person.  To speak with 
someone whom it is not worthwhile to speak 
to is to waste words.  The wise man wastes 
neither people nor words. 
 
15.9  The Master said, The gentleman who is


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resolute and ren does not seek to live on at 
the expense of ren, and there are times when 
he will sacrifice his life to complete ren. 
 
15.10  Zigong asked about ren.  The Master 
said, “The craftsman who wishes to do his work well must first sharpen his tools.  When you dwell in a state, serve those of its gran-
dees who are worthy men, befriend those of 
its gentlemen who are ren. 
 15.11  Yan Yuan asked about managing a  
 
     
 
    
 
15.7  The final imaginative phrase 
in this portrait
 of timeliness seems 
to picture  the exemplary man roll-
ing up the dao itself, to conceal 
protect it within his jacket.  (On 
Qu Boyu, see 14.25.) 
    
 
    
 
 
    
 
    
 
15.10  At some points, like this one, the Analects  seems to use the 
term ‘ ren’ to mean little more than 
‘moral’.


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The Analects of Confucius 84 
state.  The Master sa id, “Implement the cal-
endar of the Xia, ride the carriages of the 
Yin, wear the ceremoni al caps of the Zhou. 
For music: the Shao dance.  Get rid of the melodies of Zheng, and keep crafty talkers at a distance – the melodies of Zheng are over-
wrought; crafty talkers are dangerous.” 
 15.12  The Master said, A man who does not think far ahead will have troubles near at 
hand. 
 15.13  The Master said,  Enough!  I have yet 
to see a man who loved virtue as much as 
sex.   
 
15.14  The Master said, Did not Zang Wen-
zhong purloin his privile ge of position?  He 
was aware that Liuxia Hui was worthy, but 
would not raise him to office beside him. 
 15.15  The Master said, If one emphasizes enhancing one’s own qualities and curtails 
finding fault with others, one will keep re-
sentments at a distance.  
15.16  The Master said, Those who are not 
always saying, “What shall I do?  What shall I do?” – I can do nothing with them.


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15.17  The Master said, Those who sit in a group all day enjoying clever conversation 
without their talk ever touching on right –
such men are difficu lt to deal with.  
 
15.18  The Master said, The junzi takes right 
as his basic substance; he puts it into practice 
with li, uses compliance to enact it and faith-
fulness to complete it. 15.11  The Xia, Yin (Shang), and 
Zhou are the three early dynasties.  
Here the Analects  makes clear that 
the li of the Confucian school is 
not merely Zhou ritual, but a com-posite of the finest traditions.  
 
    
 
 
 
15.13  Duplicated at 9.18.   
 
 15.14 Zang Wenzhong was a high minister and head of a great patrician family in Lu (see 5.18).  
Liuxia Hui was head of a family of 
parallel descent.  Zang Wenzhong is indicted in some texts for keeping the ruler from recognizing the talents of Liuxia Hui. 
 
     
 
    
 
    15.18-23  A particularly extended 
string of passages on a common 
theme: the junzi .


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The Analects of Confucius 85
 
15.19  The Master said, The junzi blames 
himself for lacking ability; he does not blame 
others for not recognizing him. 
 15.20  The Master said, The junzi  is appre-
hensive that he may leave the world without his name remaining praised there.  15.21  The Master said, The junzi seeks it in 
himself; the small man seeks it in others.  15.22  The Master said, The junzi  bears him-
self with dignity but does not contend; he 
joins with others, but does not become a par-tisan. 
 
15.23  The Master said, The junzi does not 
raise up a man because of his words, and 
does not discard words because of the man. 
 
15.24  Zigong asked, “It there a single saying that one may put into practice all one’s life?”
 The Master said, “That would be ‘re-
ciprocity’: That which you do not desire, do not do to others.” 
 
15.25  The Master said, In my appraisals of people, whom do I disparage, whom do I 
praise?  If I praise a man, it is always on the


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basis of evidence.  Th ese are the people who 
guided the three eras to walk along the 
straight dao. 
 
15.26  The Master said, In my time there 
were still recorders who left what they did 
not know blank and those with horses who lent them to others to drive.  Now there are none.  
       
 
 
    
 
    
 
 
    
 
15.24  See 5.12 and 12.2.    
 
   15.25  The ‘three eras’ of the final phrase refers to the Xia, Shang, 
and Zhou dynasties.   
    
 
 
15.26  ‘Recorders’ refers to those who kept records at court; the term may be rendered ‘historians’.  An 
alternative interpretation reads the 
initial sentence as referring to re-corders who lacked cultivation,


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The Analects of Confucius 86 
 
15.27  The Master said, Crafty speech dis-rupts virtue.  Impatience in small matters dis-
rupts great plans. 
 15.28  The Master said , If the masses hate 
someone, one must investigate the case; if the masses love someone, one must investi-gate the case.  
15.29  The Master said, A man can enlarge 
the dao; it is not that the dao enlarges a man.
 
15.30  The Master said, To err and not 
change – that, we may say, is to err. 
 
15.31  The Master said,  I have spent whole 
days without eating, whole nights without sleeping, in order to think.  It was useless –
not like study. 
 15.32  The Master said,  The junzi makes 
plans for the sake of the dao, not for the sake 
of eating.  Ploughing: th ere is a starvation in 
it.  Study: there is a reward in it.  The junzi
worries about the dao, not about poverty.  
 15.33  The Master said, If one’s knowledge is adequate for it, but one does not possess 
the ren  needed to preserve  it, though one gets


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it, one will surely lose it.  If one’s knowledge 
is adequate for it and one possesses the ren
needed to preserve it, if one is not solemn in dealing directly with them, the people will not show respect.  If one’s knowledge is 
adequate for it a nd one possesses the ren
needed to preserve it, and one is solemn in dealing directly with th e people, if one initi-
ates action without according to li, it will not and takes the loan of horses as a 
lapse of li, giving the passage a 
very different sense. 
    
 
   15.29  This passage makes best 
sense when ‘enlarge a man’ is 
taken in the sense of raising his 
rank or wealth. 
   
 
 15.31  The contrast between thoughtful reflection and active study is a theme of the Confucian 
text Xunzi . 
 
  15.32  There is interesting reso-
nance with 2.18 here. 
     
 
 15.33  In this passage, the meaning of the term ren  seems reduced to 
‘benevolence’, a non-
comprehensive virtue that permits


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of varying degrees.  The overall context clearly refers to those who come into possession of a state or domain.


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The Analects of Confucius 87
yet be good. 
 15.34  The Master said, The junzi does not 
accept being known for petty talents, but ac-cepts receiving great burdens.  The small man does not accept receiving great burdens, 
but accepts being known for petty talents. 
 15.35  The Master said, Ren is of greater 
moment to the people than water or fire.  I 
have seen people tread through water and 
fire and die; I have yet to see anyone tread 
through ren and die. 
 
15.36  The Master said, When one acts with 
ren, one does not yield to one’s teacher.  
 
15.37  The Master said, The junzi  is steadfast 
but not rigid. 
 
15.38  The Master said, In serving a ruler, be attentive to affairs and consider salary a sec-ondary matter. 
 
15.39  The Master said, There is a teaching; there are no divisions. 
 
15.40  The Master said, Do not make plans together with others whose daodiffers from 
yours.  15.41  The Master said , Words should do no


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more than convey the idea.  15.42  Music Master Mian came to visit. 
When he reached the steps, the Master said, 
“Here are the steps.”  When he reached the mat, the Master said, “Here is the mat.” When all were seated, the Master said to  
 
     
 
  15.35  The word rendered ‘tread’ 
(dao 蹈) was most likely a play on 
words with dao (道), in the sense 
of the Way, or to ‘walk the Way’.  
Thus ‘tread through ren’ could be 
understood as ‘walk the Way of 
ren’. 
 15.36  This short passage makes an 
important statement about the at-
tainment of moral authority and personal autonomy.  15.37  ‘Steadfast’ implies ethical determination.  ‘R igid’ refers to 
narrow insistence on according with rules; the same term, in other contexts, denotes faithfulness in promise-keeping.  
15.39  This may mean that the 
teaching is a whole, without divi-sions; it has often been celebrated as meaning that there is a single 
teaching, meant equally for all 
classes of persons.


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The Analects of Confucius 88 
him, “So-and-so is here, so-and-so is there.” 
 After Music Master Mian left, Zi-zhang asked, “Is that the dao for speaking to 
a music master?”  The Master said, “Yes.  It is indeed the dao of assisting a music master.”


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The Analects of Confucius 89
Book XVI 
 
16.1  The Ji family was preparing to attack 
the territory of Zhuanyu.  Ran Y ǒu and Ji Lu 
appeared before Confuc ius and said, “The Ji 
family plans to launch an affair against Zhuanyu.” 
 Confucius said, “Qiu, would this not 
be your fault?  In the past, the former kings 
appointed Zhuanyu to be in charge of East 
Meng Mountain.  Moreove r, it lies within the 
territory of this state, and is hence a subject at the state altars of Lu.  What point is there 
is attacking it?” 
 Ran Y ǒu said, “It is our master’s wish, 
not the wish of the two of us.” 
 Confucius said, “Q iu!  Zhou Ren had a 
saying: ‘He who can marshal his strength in 
the effort should take his place in the ranks; 
he who cannot, should desist.’  What use to a 
blind man is an attendant who cannot steady 
him when the footing is  treacherous or pull 
him up when he falls?  Besides, your words 
are mistaken.  When th e tiger or rhino escape


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their cages, when the sacred turtle shell or 
precious stone are smashed while in their 
boxes, who should be held to blame?” 
 Ran Y ŭ said, “At present, Zhuanyu is, 
in fact, very near to Bi.  If it is not taken 
now, it will surely create trouble for the Ji 
clan descendants.”  Confucius said, “Qiu!  The junzi  de-
tests those who cover up their desires by 
making excuses.   
“I have heard it said that those who 
preside over states or family domains do not worry that they will have too few people, they worry that distribution of goods may be uneven; they do not worry about poverty, Notes 
 
16.1  A number of Confucius’s senior disciples were men of im-
portance in Lu, and several of 
them, most notably Ran Y ǒu (Ran 
Qiu) and Ji Lu (Zhong Yu; Zilu) were influential stewards at the court of the warlord Ji family (also called Jisun), the de facto power in 
the state of Lu. 
 In this passage, they report that the head of the Ji clan (Ji Kangzi) has decided to launch a


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military attack against a tiny state, 
Zhuanyu, whose small territory lay 
entirely within the border of the state of Lu, in the region of a mountain called East Meng.  Ap-parently, the lords of Zhuanyu had 
at some time been entrusted with 
keeping sacrifices to the spirit of this mountain, and granted a small domain to support them in this task.  Zhuanyu was close to the large Ji family domain and strong-
hold at Bi, and Ji Kangzi seems to 
have found its independence an irritant.  This passage illustrates the perils of political engagement with 
immoral rulers.  Ran Qiu exempli-
fies the behavior of a man vested in rationalizing immoral conduct by a power holder to whom he is beholden.  The Zhou Ren whom Con-
fucius mentions is said in com-
mentary to have been a historian of earlier times, although there is no confirming evidence that this is so. In the middle section of 
Confucius’s final statement here,


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there may be some corruption of the text – the argument lacks the parallelism one would expect.  In this discussion, Confucius refers to 
underpopulation.  The scarcest 
good contended for by rulers dur-


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The Analects of Confucius 90 
they worry they will not bring peace.  Is it 
not so that when distribution is even there is no poverty; when there is harmony there is 
no underpopulation; when there is peace 
there is no danger the ruler will topple?  It is just in this spirit that if those who are distant 
do not submit, one must cultivate patterns 
and virtue to attract th em.  Once they have 
come, one must comfort them. 
“Now you, Qiu, and You attend your 
master, but those who are distant do not submit and you are unable to attract them, the state is split and crumbing and you are 
unable to protect it.  Instead, you plot the use 
of weapons of war within the borders of the 
state.  I fear that the troubles of the Jisun 
family lie not with Zhuanyu, but within their 
own walls.” 
 
16.2  Confucius said, When the dao prevails 
in the world, li and music, and punitive mili-
tary actions proceed on the order of the Son of Heaven.  When the dao does not prevail in


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the world, li and music, and punitive military 
actions proceed on the orders of the feudal lords.  Once they proceed from the feudal 
lords, it is rare that after ten generations they 
have not lost the power .  Once they proceed 
from grandees, it is rare that after five gen-
erations they have not lost the power.  Once 
subordinate officers control the fate of the state, it is rare that after three generations 
they have not lost the power. 
 When the dao prevails in the world, 
governance does not lie in the hands of gran-
dees.  When the dao prevails in the world, 
the common people do not discuss govern-
ance.  ing this period was not land – there 
was plenty of land – it was people 
who could work the land and pro-duce income for a ruler.  Confu-cius here suggests two prudential reasons for treating people well – not only will those who are resist-
ing submit, but those who are dis-
tant will come to dwell, providing a labor and tax pool.


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16.2  After 16.1, the remainder of 
Book XVI is, for the most part, highly formulaic, and clearly comes from a set of editorial hands different from other books.  For 
example, passages begin “Confu-
cius said,” rather than “The Master said,” and many passages are numbered lists (something ob-served also in parts of Book XVII). The book is not noted for profound 
insights.


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The Analects of Confucius 91
16.3  Confucius said, Control of appoint-
ments fell from the hands of the ducal house 
five generations ago.  Governance has been 
in the hands of the grandees for four genera-tions.  Therefore, the descendants of the ‘three Huan’ families will live in obscurity. 
 
16.4  Confucius said, There are three types of friends who improve you, and three types of friends who diminish you.  Friends who 
are straightforward, sincere, and have 
learned much improve you.  Friends who are fawning, insincere, and crafty in speech di-
minish you. 
 
16.5  Confucius said, There are three types 
of delights that improve you, and three types 
of delights that diminish you.  To delight in li and music, to delight in speaking of others’ 
good points, to delight in having many wor-
thy friends – these impr ove you.  To delight 
in arrogant pleasures, to delight in idle wan-derings, to delight in banquet parties – these


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diminish you.  16.6  Confucius said, In attending a ruler 
there are three mistakes .  To speak of some-
thing before an appropr iate time has come it 
is to be impetuous; to fail to speak of some-thing when an appropriate time has come is 
to be secretive; to speak without gauging the ruler’s expression is to be blind. 
 
16.7  Confucius said, The junzi has three 
cautions.  When he is young and his blood 
and energy are not yet settled, he is cautious 
about sex.  When he is in his prime and his 
blood and energy have newly achieved 
strength, he is cautious  about combativeness. 16.3  The last passage set general 
rules concerning the rate at which 
power had been devolving in China.  In 16.3, these rules are ap-
plied to the state of Lu, where power had long since passed into the hands of three great grandee 
families, the Ji, Meng, and Shusun 
families.  All three traced their lineage origins to the sons of Duke Huan of Lu, and therefore were known as the ‘three Huan’ fami-
lies.


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The Analects of Confucius 92 
When he is old and his blood and energy are 
declining, he is cautious about acquisitive-ness. 
  
16.8  Confucius said, The junzi  holds three 
things in awe.  He holds the decree of Tian in 
awe, he holds great men in awe, and he holds 
the words of the Sage in awe.  The small 
man does not know the decree of Tian and so 
does not hold it in awe, he is disrespectful 
towards great men, and he disgraces the 
words of the Sage.  
16.9  Confucius said, Those who are born 
knowing are the best; next are those who 
study and come to know it; next are those 
who study it only in circumstances of duress. 
Those who do not study it even under duress, they are the lowest of people.  
 
16.10  Confucius said, The junzi  focuses his 
attention in nine ways.  In observation, he 
focuses on clarity; in listening, he focuses on 
acuity; in facial expression, he focuses on 
gentleness; in bearing,  he focuses on rever-
ence; in words, he fo cuses on loyalty; in af-


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fairs, he focuses on attentiveness; in doubt he focuses on questioning; in anger, he focuses on troublesome consequences; in opportuni-
ties to gain, he focuses on right. 
 16.11  Confucius said, “‘When he sees the 
good, he seems rushing to catch up; when he 
sees the bad, he seem s to have touched boil-
ing water’:  I have s een such men; I have 
heard this said of them.  ‘He lives in reclu-sion to seek his heart’s desire; he practices right to spread his dao.’  I have heard this 
said of men; I have yet to see such a man.”  
 
     
 
    
 
 
 
   
16.9  See 7.20.


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The Analects of Confucius 93
 
16.12  Duke Jing of Qi  had a thousand teams 
of horses, but on the day he died, the people 
could find no virtue to praise in him.  Bo Yi 
and Shu Qi starved beneath Mount Shou-yang, but the people praise them to this day. 
The saying, “It is not wealth that matters, but 
only having this difference,” most likely re-fers to this.  
16.13  Chen Gang asked Boyu, “Has the 
Master imparted to you some different knowledge?” 
 Boyu replied, “No.  Once he was 
standing alone as I hurried across the court-
yard and he said to me ‘Have you studied the 
Poetry ?’  I replied, ‘Not yet,’ and he said, ‘If 
you don’t study the Poetry, you will have 
nothing to speak.’  I withdrew and studied 
the Poetry. 
 “On another occasio n he was standing 
alone and I hurried across the courtyard and he said to me, ‘Have you studied li?’  I re-
plied, ‘Not yet,’ and he said, “If you don’t 
study li, you will be unable to take your 
stand.’  I withdrew and studied li.”


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Chen Gang withdrew and said with pleasure, “I asked about one thing and learned three!  I learned about the Poetry , I 
learned about li, and I learned that the junzi
keeps some distance from his son.”   
16.14  The principal wife of the ruler of a 
state is referred to by him as “Lady.”  She refers to herself as “Little Lad.”  The people 
of the state refer to her as “Lord’s Lady,” but 
when they are in other states, they refer to her as “Lowly Little Lord.”  The people of 
other states refer to her as “Lord’s Lady.”  
16.12  The ‘saying’ in this pas-sage does not appear here in the text; it appears at the close of 12.10, where it makes no sense.  I have followed medieval Song Dynasty commentary in moving it to this location.  
 
  16.13  Chen Gang is identified by commentators as the disciple Ziqin (see 1.10).  Boyu was Confucius’s son, Li (see 11.8).                      16.14  No good explanation has ever been offered as to why this passage is included in the Ana-


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The Analects of Confucius 94 
Book XVII 
 
17.1  Yang Huo wished  to have Confucius 
appear in audience, but Confucius would not appear.  Yang Huo sent  Confucius a suckling 
pig.  Confucius timed a visit for a day when 
Yang Huo was not at home and went to pay 
his thanks, but encountered Yang Huo on the road.  Yang Huo addressed Confucius, 
“Come.  I want a word with you.   
“To conceal your treasure and let your 
state go astray, can this be called ren?  No, it 
cannot.  To be eager to engage in affairs but 
to repeatedly miss one’s proper time, can this be called wisdom?  No, it cannot. 
 “The days and months are rushing by; 
no extra years will be allotted to me.”  Confucius said, “All right.  It is my 
intent to serve.” 
 17.2  The Master said, “By nature close to 
one another, through practice far distant.” 
 
17.3  The Master said, “Only the wisest and the stupidest do not change.” 
 
17.4  The Master went to Wucheng and heard the sound of zithers and singing.  With


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a little laugh he said, “Does one chop up a 
chicken with a beef cleaver?” 
 Ziyou replied, “In the past I have 
heard the Master say, ‘When a junzi  studies 
the dao he cherishes people; when small men 
study the dao they are easy to direct.’” 
 The Master said, “My friends, Yan’s 
words are correct.  What I said before was merely in jest.”  Notes 
 
17.1  Yang Huo (elsewhere known as Yang Hu) was a retainer of the 
Ji family when Confucius was 
young.  Appointed steward of the Ji clan domain in Bi, Yang Huo took control of the city and re-belled against the Ji.  In this sense, he usurped the power of a clan that 
had itself usurped the power of the 
dukes of Lu.  He was regarded as an immoral adventurer.  In this passage, we see 
Confucius attempt to avoid associ-
ating with so unsavory a man, but 
when they meet, Yang Huo’s elo-quent use of the doctrine of timeli-ness gives him the appearance of morality – especially since he is 
seeking the service of a moral ex-


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emplar.  There is no record that Confucius ever served Yang Huo.   The doctrine of timeliness is a major theme of both Book XVII and Book XVIII.  17.1 is 
echoed in 17.4 and 17.6. 
 17.2  The Analects ’ only comment 
on the issue of human ‘nature’ 
(xing 性), which becomes a central 
concern of philosophy from the 
fourth century on.  17.4  Yan is the personal name of 
the disciple Ziyou, who was at this 
time managing the town of 
Wucheng.  Here, he has apparently attempted to infuse the people of his
 town with Confucian ritual 
learning. 
The terms ‘ junzi’ and 
‘small man’ are clearly used here in the senses of a ruler and those who are ruled. 
 
17.5  After the revolt of Yang Huo (17.1) failed, his subordinate, Gongshan Furao, continued the


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The Analects of Confucius 95
17.5  Gongshan Furao held the city of Bi in 
revolt.  He summoned the Master, who wished to go to him.  Zilu was displeased. 
He said, “Do not go.  Why must it be Gong-
shan you go to?”  The Master said, “How can it be that 
he summons me for no good purpose?  If 
there is one who will use me, I could make for him a Zhou in the east!”   
17.6  Zizhang asked about ren.  The Master 
said, “He who can enact five things in the 
world is ren.”  When asked for details, he 
went on, “Reverence, tolerance, trustworthi-
ness, quickness, and generosity.  He is rever-
ent, hence he receives no insults; he is toler-
ant, hence he gains the multitudes; he is 
trustworthy, hence others entrust him with responsibilities; he is quick, hence he has ac-
complishments; he is generous, hence he is 
capable of being placed in charge of others.   17.7  Bi Xi summoned the Master, who 
wished to go.  Zilu said, “In the past, I have


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heard the Master say, ‘The domain of one who has marked himself with wrongdoing 
the junzi   does enter.’  Bi Xi has used the 
town of Zhongmou as a base for revolt. 
How can it be that you would go there?” 
 The Master said, “I have indeed spo-
ken as you say.  But is it not said, ‘So hard, it is not worn down by grinding; so white, it is 
not blackened by pitch?’   Can it be that I am 
no more than a bitter gourd?  How can I be hung, uneaten, by a string?” 
 
17.8  The Master said , “You, have you heard 
the six imperatives and the six related flaws of narrow vision?”  Zilu replied, “No, I have attempt. 
 17.5 and 17.7, passages 
that portray Confucius’s attraction to the seamiest of usurpers, are puzzling, in that he is elsewhere portrayed as so scrupulously avoiding moral compromise with 
even legitimate rulers.  However, 
17.5 suggests that some situations reach an extremity of disruption that provides a moral opportunity to wipe the slate clean and con-


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struct a moral regime entirely 
anew.  If that is, indeed, its impli-
cation, it extends the doctrine of 
timeliness in a new direction, im-plying that the Confucian sage should ‘appear’ even when the dao 
does not prevail, so long as chaos is pervasive.  Indeed, in the second great Confucian text, the Mencius , 
timeliness has come to include this idea (see Mencius  2A.1). 
 17.7  Bi Xi’s revolt occurred in the state of Jin, about the same time that Yang Huo and Gongshan Furao were leading revolts in Lu.  
All these revolts failed, and none 
of these men came to be viewed positively in history.  The Analects  
seems to use these events to under-line the tensions involved in the doctrine of timeliness – moral op-
portunity may be disguised in even 
the seamiest political adventurism.    
 
     
17.8  The ‘six imperatives’ (more 
literally, the ‘six words’) are ren, 
knowledge, faithfulness, straight-forwardness, valor, and incorrupti-


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The Analects of Confucius 96 
not.” 
 “Sit, and I’ll teach them to you.  If, you love ren, but you do not love learning, 
the flaw is ignorance.  If you love knowledge but you do not love learning, the flaw is un-ruliness.  If you love faithfulness but do not 
love learning, the flaw is harming others.  If 
you love straightforwardness but you do not love learning, the flaw is offensiveness.  If you love valor but you do not love learning, 
the flaw is causing chaos.  If you love incor-
ruptibility but you do not love learning, the flaw is recklessness. 
 
17.9  The Master said, “Young friends, why 
do you not study the Poetry .  By means of 
the odes one may inspir e, one may reveal 
one’s thoughts, one may gather with others, 
one may voice complaints.  Near at hand, 
they can guide you to serve your fathers; 
more distantly, they can guide you to serve a ruler – and you can learn the names of many birds and beast, tress and grasses.”


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17.10  The Master said to Boyu, “Have you learned the odes of the Zhou-nan and Shao-
nan?  A man who does not learn the odes of the Zhou-nan and Shao-nan is like a man 
standing with his face to a wall.” 
 
17.11  The Master said, Li, li, is jade and silk 
all we mean by it?  Music, music, are bells 
and drums all we mean by it? 
 17.12  The Master said, A fierce expression 
outside and cowardice within, if one com-
pared him to a small man, he would be a 
robber leaping over a wall or breaking through. bility. 
 ‘Faithfulness’ (or ‘trust-
worthiness’) is literally keeping one’s word.  To keep to one’s word without regard to changing circumstances can harm others (the word here is literally ‘thievery’, 
perhaps meaning you steal others’ 
welfare so no one can say you vio-lated your promise).  This passage has much in common with 8.2. 
 
 
 
  17.9  On the uses of the Poetry , see


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13.5.    The last line of the first part of this passage seems oddly out of tune with the rest.  It is true enough that the Poetry  is filled 
with plant and animal names, and was probably used as a primer for these in ordinary education.  Here, the comment is likely humor.  Boyu was Confucius’s 
son. See 16.13. 
 17.10  The Zhou-nan  and Shao-
nan are the first two collections of odes in the Poetry .  Traditional 
interpretations gave them great 
weight of moral authority, al-
though contemporary criticism views them principally as simple folk poems.  
17.11  This seems very much like 
6.25 in message.


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The Analects of Confucius 97
17.13  The Master said, The good men of the 
village are thieves of virtue.  
17.14  The Master said, To repeat on the 
road what one has heard on the street is to throw virtue away. 
 
17.15  The Master said, Can one serve a lord side by side with a vulgar person?  Before he gets what he wants, he  worries about getting 
it.  Once he has it, he worries about losing it. Once he worries about losing it, there are no lengths to which he will not go.  
 
17.16  The Master said, In former times the 
people had three weakne sses, but today these 
have disappeared.  The reckless men of the past exceeded proper constraints; reckless men today are disruptive.   The abrasive men 
of the past were haughtily pure; a
brasive 
men today burst into fury.  The ignorant men of the past were straightforward; ignorant men today are simply deceitful. 
 
17.17  The Master said:  Those of crafty words and ingratiating expression are rarely 
ren.


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17.18  The Master said, I detest that purple 
has displaced crimson;  I detest that the 
melodies of Zheng have disordered the mu-
sic of court; I detest that crafty mouths have 
overturned states and households. 
 
17.19  The Master said, “I wish to be word-
less.”  
Zigong said, “If you never spoke, then 
what would we disciples have to pass on?”   
The Master said, “Does Tian speak? 17.13 The ‘good men’ are those 
who use the prestige of age to pro-
tect their position without accept-ing any ethical challenge.  They appear virtuous, but have no moral substance.  It may be that 17.12 builds on the image of 17.11. 
 
17.15  This is a comment on the urge to gossip.  17.14  Confucians are known as 
‘meritocrats’ – in an aristocratic 
world of hereditary privilege they 
advocated for the advancement of 
men on the basis of merit, not birth.  Yet there are times, as here, where there seems to be a sense of 
class disdain for unpolished men


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trying to rise fast in society.    17.16  This passage is constructed around sarcasm. 
 
    
 
 17.17  Duplicates 1.3, and seems to initiate a series of passages con-cerning the misuse of speech.  
17.18  The first two parts
 are ex-
amples of modish fashion destroy-
ing what the Analects  sees as the 
purity of Zhou li.  Purple, com-
posed of threads of mixed dyes, 
had displaced the proper single-
dyed ritual caps of court.  The melodies of Zheng are frequently referred to as ‘overwrought’ (or lascivious).  As is generally true of series, it is the last item that is the 
‘punch line’.  The issue here is 
misused speech.


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The Analects of Confucius 98 
Yet the seasons turn and the creatures of the 
world are born.  Does Tian speak?”  
 
17.20  Ru Bei came seeking an audience with Confucius.  Conf ucius said to tell him 
he could not receive him because of illness. 
As the messenger went through the door, 
Confucius picked up his zither and began to sing, making sure Ru Bei would hear.  
17.21  Zai Wo asked about the three year 
mourning period.  “A full year is already a long time.  If a junzi were not to participate 
in li for three years, surely liwould decay; if 
he did not participate in music for three years, surely music will collapse.  As the 
grain of the old year is exhausted, the grain 
of the new year is harvested, the cycle of firewood has gone round – a full year is 
enough.” 
 The Master said, “Would you feel comfortable eating rice and wearing bro-caded clothes?” 
 “I would.” 
 “If you would be comfortable, do it. When the junzi is in mourning, fine foods are


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not sweet to him, music brings no joy, living in luxury brings him no comfort, therefore, he does not indulge in these things.  Now, if 
you would be comfortable, do it.” 
 Zai Wo went out.  The Master said, “Yu is not ren.  A child has lived for three 
years before he leaves  his mother’s arms. 
The three year mourning period is common to mourning throughout the world.  Did not 
Yu receive three years love from his par-
ents?”  17.22  The Master said, To eat one’s fill all  
 
 17.20  The theme of wordlessness is continued from the previous passage.  Ru Bei was apparently a man of influence in Lu (the text 
refers to ‘Confucius’ only when a 
power holder is present).  Confu-cius conveys his disdain for him ‘wordlessly’, through the combina-tion of the messenger and music 
making.    
 
17.21  One of the most burden-
some of li was the rule that upon the death of a parent, a man must withdraw from society for three 
years (actually twenty-seven


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months), eschewing all common pleasures to indulge in concen-trated mourning.  Although in this passage 
Confucius refers to this as a 
worldwide custom, it was clearly a distinctive feature of Zhou culture.  The reasons given for the custom here are not among the most co-
gent statements in the Analects . 
 
    
 
    
 
     
 
 17.22  Bo  and yi were board 
games.  The rules of bo are no


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The Analects of Confucius 99
day long and not exerci se one’s mind – that 
is hard to understand.  Aren’t there those 
who pass time with the games of bo and yi? 
Even they are more worthy.  17.23  Zilu said, “Does the junzi  prize 
valor?”  The Master said, “The junzi  gives 
righteousness (yi ) the topmost place.  If a 
junzi  had valor but not righteous-ness, he 
would create chaos.  If a small person has 
valor and not righteous ness, he becomes a 
bandit.  
 
17.24  Zigong said, “Does the junzi have 
things he hates?” 
 The Master said, “He does.  He hates 
those who proclaim other men’s faults; hehates those who occupy in ferior positions but 
who slander their superiors; he hates those who are valorous but lack li; he hates those 
who are bold but lack understanding.” 
 The Master went on, “Do you too have 
things you hate?” 
 “I hate those who think having spied out things is wisdom; I hate those who think 
being uncompliant is va lor; I hate those who


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think insulting others is straightforward-
ness.” 
 
17.25  The Master said, Women and small men are difficult to nurture.  If you get too 
close to them, they become uncompliant, and 
if you stay too distant, they become resent-ful. 
 
17.26  The Master said, If a man reaches the age of forty and has not earned the hatred of 
anyone, it is all over with him. longer fully understood.  Yi is to-
day called weiqi, though it is much 
better known by its Japanese name, 
go.    
 
    
 
 
 
   
 
    
 
    
 
     
 
  17.25  In early Confucian litera-ture, this passage stands out as 
demeaning to women.  ‘Small 
men’ here probably refers to minor male servants.  The passage con-flates issues of gender and class, and is the lament of elite males who worry that kindness leads 
their inferiors to forget their place.  
Whether a late addition or Confu-cius’s own words, the best that can 
be said of it is that is atypical.


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The Analects of Confucius 100 
Book XVIII 
 
18.1  Weizi left him; Jizi became his slave; 
Bigan remonstrated with him and died.  Con-
fucius said, “There were three renmen of 
Yin.” 
 
18.2  When Liuxia Hui served as warden, he was thrice dismissed.  People asked him, 
“Should you not leave for another state?” 
 “If one serves a lord by means of the 
straight dao, where could one go and not be 
thrice dismissed?  To serve a lord by means 
of a crooked dao, why need one leave the 
country of one’s parents?”  
18.3  Duke Jing of Qi received Confucius, 
saying, “To host him as I would the head of 
the Ji family, this I am unable to do.    Estab-
lish him at a level between that used to host 
the Ji family and that used to host the Meng family.”  Then he further said, “I am old; I can-
not employ him.” 
 Confucius departed.  
18.4  The people of Qi made a present of fe-
male musicians.  Ji Huanzi received them, and for three days he did not attend court.   
 Confucius departed.


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18.5  A madman of Chu encountered the 
chariot Confucius was driving, and walking across its path, intoned: 
 Phoenix, phoenix, 
 How virtue has withered! 
 What is past is beyond repairing, 
 What is to come is still worth pursuing. 
 Enough, enough! Notes 
 
18.1  The three men named were relatives of the evil last king of the 
Shang (Yin), Zhòu.  Weizi, an 
older half-brother, fled from the capital.  Jizi, an uncle, finding his remonstrances useless, feigned madness and became a palace slave.  Bigan was disemboweled as 
penalty for his advice. 
 18.2 Liuxia Hui was a minor gran-dee in Lu three generations before 
Confucius, around whom many 
legends grew.   
 18.3  Duke Jing had died by the time Confucius’s wanderings be-gan, but this may not have been 
understood by the authors of this 
passage.  The Ji clan was the great-est warlord clan in Lu; the Meng clan was second to them.  The duke was offering Confucius rather 
lavish treatment, but not at the


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highest level, and indicating that he could not follow Confucius’s dao in policy. 
 
18.4  Huanzi was head of the Ji 
warlord clan in Lu.  Confucius is here pictured as an advisor at court, who departs upon seeing the moral lapse induced by the gift from Qi.  (Other sources say that at 
this time Confucius was Minister 
of Crime in Lu, a ducal appoint-ment, secured for him by the Ji family.)
 
 18.3-4 are clearly intended 
to establish that Confucius was recognized as a political power in the states of Qi and Lu, but found the environment too unethical to remain. 
 
18.5  The next four passages deal,


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The Analects of Confucius 101
 Danger now for those at court.  
 Confucius stepped down, wishing to 
speak with him, but the madman hurried to 
dodge away, and Confucius was unable to 
speak with him.  
18.6  Chang Ju and Jie Ni were ploughing 
the fields in harness together.  Confucius passed by and sent his disciple Zilu over to 
ask directions.  Chang Ju said, “Who is that holding the carriage reins?”  
 Zilu said, “That is Kong Qiu.”  
 “Kong Qiu of Lu?”  
 “Yes.” 
 “Why, then, he knows where he can 
go!”  Zilu then asked Jie Ni.  Jie Ni said, “And who are you?”  
 “I am Zhong You.” 
 “Are you a disciple of Kong Qiu of Lu?” 
 “I am.” 
 “The world is inundated now. Who can change it?  Would you not be better off 
joining those who have fled from the world altogether, instead of following someone who flees from this man to that one?”   
Then the two of them went on with 
their ploughing.  Zilu returned to report to Confucius.  The Master’s brow furrowed.  “I can-


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not flock together with the birds and beasts!” 
he cried.  “If I am not a fellow traveler with men such as these, then with whom?  If only 
the Way prevailed in the world I would not 
have to try to
 change it!” 
 
18.7  Zilu fell behind.  He encountered an elaborately, with the themes of 
reclusion and timeliness.  The un-
usual characters whom they de-scribe are the types of figures who lie in the background of the birth of the philosophical school of Dao-ism.  The passages attempt to illus-
trate Confucius’s full awareness of 
the critique of him mounted (long after his life) by followers of that persuasion, and his under-standing and sympathy with the standpoint 
of the recluse, even as he found 
moral imperatives to remain en-
gaged.


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The Analects of Confucius 102 
old man with a staff, using his staff to carry a 
basket.  Zilu asked him, “Have you seen my master?” 
 The old man said, “A man whose 
limbs have never move d in labor, who can’t 
tell one grain from another – who is your 
master?”  Then he planted his staff in the 
ground and began weeding.  Zigong bowed and stood in place.  The old man had Zilu stop with him 
overnight.  He killed a chicken and made a 
millet congee with it, and he fed Zilu, intro-
ducing his two sons to him afterwards. 
 The next day, Z ilu caught up and re-
ported all this.  The Master said, “He is a re-
cluse,” and he had Zilu take him back to see 
the old man.  When th ey reached the place, 
the man had gone.  Zilu said, “It is unrighteous not to 
serve.  The codes that  govern the relation of 
old and young may not be discarded; how 
can the proper relation of ruler and minister be discarded?  They wa nt to purify their per-


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sons, but they disrupt the basic relationships among people.  The service of a junzi is the 
enactment of right.  That the dao does not 
prevail, this we already know.”  18.8  Those who withdrew  from service:  Bo 
Yi and Shu Qi; Yu Zhong, Yi Yi, and Zhu Zhang; Liuxia Hui and Shao Lian. 
The Master said, “Never compromis-
ing their aims, never subjecting their persons to disgrace: would this not be Bo Yi and Shu Qi?” 
He characterized Liuxia Hui and Shao 
Lian thus: “They compromised their aims and subjected their persons to disgrace. Speech always fitting the role, conduct al- 
18.7  It seems likely that Zilu’s 
final words in this passage were added by a later editor.  They seem out of sympathy with the remain-der of the passage, which ex-presses, like others in this section, 
a type of admiration for the re-
cluses it portrays, for their myste-riousness and wry sense of humor.


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18.8  The seven men mentioned here may be those spoken of in 14.37.  For Bo Yi and Shu Qi, see 
5.23.   For Liuxia Hui, see 18.2.  
Yu Zhong was said to be a brother and companion of Taibo (see 8.1) in his flight away from the Zhou throne.  Little or nothing is known about the other figures. 
 The key point to this
 pas-
sage – and it is an important one – 
lies in its structure and final phrases.  All these exemplars


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The Analects of Confucius 103
ways matching the plan; this they fulfilled, 
but no more.”   
Of Yu Zhong and Yi Yi he said, 
“They hid themselves away and relinquished 
public comment.  In one's person abiding in purity, in choosing retirement maintaining 
discretion. 
“As for me, I differ from them all.  I 
have no rule of what is permissible and what 
is not.” 
 
18.9  Grand Music Master Zhi fled to the state of Qi; the master of the second course, 
Gan, fled to the state of Chu; the master of 
the third course, Liao, fl ed to the state of Cai; 
the master of the fourth  course, Que, fled to 
the state of Qin; the drummer, Fangshu, fled 
up the Yellow River valley; the hand drum player, Wu, fled down the Han River valley; 
the Master’s assistant, Yang, and the beater 
of the stone chimes, Xiang, fled out to sea.  18.10  The Duke of Zhou addressed the 
Duke of Lu, saying, “The junzi does not  put 
aside his family; he does not allow his high


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ministers to become re sentful that they are 
not used; he does not abandon old friends without great cause; he  does not demand of 
any one man that he be  skilled in all things. 
 18.11  There were eight gentlemen of  the Zhou: Boda, Bokuo, Zhongtu, Zhonghu, 
Shuye, Shuxia, Jisui, and Jiwa. abided by some type of moral rule, 
which led each into reclusion.  The 
difference with Confucius is that he has no rule – his actions are governed entirely by his trained judgments of the times, and of the moral opportunities they may or 
may not present. 
 This passage has a close parallel in the Confucian text Men-
cius (5B.1). 
 
18.9  In the legend of the Zhou 
conquest of the Shang, the final 
sign that the Shang king had lost 
his mandate to rule is depicted as the scattering of the Shang court musicians.  The musicians listed 
here were those employed at the 
court of Duke Ai of Lu, who was on the throne when Confucius died.  The editors who included this seemingly extraneous passage


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may have meant to imply that with 
Confucius’s death, all legitimacy in Lu was lost.  This passage continues the theme of reclusion. 
 
18.10  The Duke of Zhou was the founding duke of Lu.  Because he had to remain at the capital in the west to assist the king, he deputed his son to found the fief in his 
stead.  This passage purports to be 
the elder duke’s charge to his son.   18.11 A puzzling list of unknown men.  ‘Bo’, ‘Zhong’, ‘Shu’, and 
‘Ji’ are family age-rank markers, 
suggesting these are meant to be two sets of four brothers.  Inter-preters have claimed that this pas-sage was meant to signify the rich-
ness of talent in the early Zhou.


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The Analects of Confucius 104 
Book XIX 
 
19.1  Zizhang said, If a gentleman may be 
deemed satisfactory if will fulfill his orders 
in the face of mortal danger, bear  righteous-ness in mind when faced with opportunities 
for gain, bear respect in mind when at sacri-
fice, and bear grief in mind when at mourn-ing.  
19.2  Zizhang said, If a man’s grasp on virtue 
is not broad in practice and his  faithfulness 
to the dao not profound, then there his pres-
ence or absence in th e world counts for noth-
ing.  
19.3  A disciple of Zixia asked Zizhang 
about social interactions.  Zizhang said, “What does Zixia say?” 
 “Zixia says, ‘Interact with those who 
are satisfactory, spurn those who are not.’”  Zizhang said, “This differs from what I have heard.  The junzi  honors the worthy 
and is tolerant of the ordinary multitude; he praises the good and takes pity on those who are not able to be.  If I am worthy, of whom


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can I not be tolerant?  If I am unworthy, oth-ers will spurn me, how would I be able to spurn others?” 
 
19.4  Zixia said, Though a dao be minor, 
there is always someth ing worth appreciating 
in it.  But if one pursues it far, there is the fear of becoming bogged down.  Therefore, the junzi  does not take it up. 
 19.5  Zixia said, A ma n who daily assesses 
what he has yet to  understand and who, 
month by month, does not forget what he has Notes 
 
19.1  Book XIX collects sayings of Confucius’s disciples after the 
Master’s death.  Confucius himself 
does not appear.  For this reason, some interpreters have viewed the book as a late addition to the text.  In fact, it may be relatively early, since the impulse to celebrate or 
attack these men may have waned 
after their deaths, and many of the other books may not be as early as was traditionally thought. 
 Book XIX is our best evi-
dence of the early factional divides


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within the Juist (Confucian) school.  The disciples whose voices are collected in this book include Zizhang, Zixia, Ziyou, 
Zeng Shen, and Zigong. 
 19.3  In this passage, we catch a glimpse of the competition among the original disciples.  See also 19.12 and 19.15-16. 
 
    
 
     
 
19.4  This passage employs the word ‘ dao’ in the sense of an art – 
as in, for example, ‘the Way of archery’.  Here, we may see the 
chün-tzu  as a man who follows the
 
dao.  It serves as a good reminder 
that to outsiders, the Juist dao was 
just one set of arts and teachings among many.


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The Analects of Confucius 105
mastered, may be said to love learning. 
 19.6  Zixia said, To study broadly and 
deepen one’s resolve, to question closely and 
reflect on things near at hand, ren lies 
therein. 
 
19.7  Zixia said, Artisans of all types dwell in their workshops to master their crafts; the 
junzi studies to perfect his dao. 
 19.8  Zixia said, When  a small man commits 
an error, he will al ways make excuses. 
 19.9  Zixia said, A junzi  goes through three 
transformations.  When you view him from 
afar, he is awesome; when you approach him 
he is warm; when you he re his words, he is 
demanding. 
 
19.10  Zixia said, The junzi  only la
bors his 
people once he has earned their trust.  If he has not earned their trust, they will merely 
see him as demanding.  Only after earning 
trust does he remonstrate with a lord.  If he has not yet earned trust, the lord will take it 
as slander. 
 19.11  Zixia said, If in matters of great im-


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port to virtue, one never oversteps the proper 
bounds, in minor matters of virtue, it is ac-ceptable to be flexible. 
 
19.12  Ziyou said, “The disciples at Zixia’s gate are well schooled when it comes to mat-
ters of sprinkling and sweeping, responding 
to orders and replying to questions, present-
ing themselves and withdrawing.  These are details.  When it comes to the basics in  
  
 
 
     
 
    
 
 
 
  
 
    19.10  The passage pictures the 
junzi ’s conduct in the positions of 
both a superior, governing others, 
and an inferior, serving a lord.   
 
   19.11 This passage contrasts inter-estingly with the next, which pic-
tures Zixia as deeply concerned 
about minor matters of training.    
19.12  ‘Sprinkling and sweeping’ 
concerns the most basic rules about proper housecleaning.  Ziyou’s family name was 
Yan 言.


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The Analects of Confucius 106 
which they are rooted, they are at a loss.” 
 Zixia heard of this and said, “Oh, how mistaken Yan You is!  When it comes to the 
dao of the junzi , what is taught first deter-
mines who will weary last.  This may be 
compared to trees and grasses; variances in 
the first shoots mark that they will be differ-ent.  How can he slander the dao of the junzi
in this way?  It is, af ter all, only the sage who 
masters it from the beginning to the end.” 
 
19.13  Zixia said, A man in service who is superior should study; a man who is superior 
in study should serve. 
 
19.14  Ziyou said, In m ourning, exhaust grief 
and then stop.  19.15  Ziyou said, My friend Zhang does 
things hard to do, but this is not yet ren. 
 
19.16  Master Zeng said, Zhang is very im-posing, but it is hard to pursue renside by 
side with him.  19.17  Master Zeng said, I have heard it from 
the Master: A man may have exhausted him-
self in nothing else, but he must do so in


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mourning for his parents. 
 
19.18  Master Zeng said, I have heard it from the Master: With regard to the filiality of 
Meng Zhuangzi, in all other respects he did 
only what others may do, but in retaining his 
father’s ministers and his father’s policies, he 
accomplished something difficult. 
 19.19  The Meng family appointed Yang Fu as warden.  Yang Fu inquired of Master  
 
 
 
     
 
  
 
     
 
   
19.15  ‘Zhang,’ in this passage and 
the next, is Zizhang. 
    
 
     
 
   19.18  Meng Zhuangzi was the 
leader of the second most powerful 
warlord clan in Lu.  This passage seems to illustrate the background of 1.11 and 4.20.


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The Analects of Confucius 107
Zeng.  Master Zeng sa id, “Those who rule 
having departed from the dao , the people 
have long been left to their own devices.  If 
you get to the true facts of a case, then react 
with commiseration and pity, and never take 
pleasure in it. 
 
19.20  Zigong said, The wickedness of Zhòu could not have been as extreme as they say. This is why the junzi hates to dwell down-
stream; all the world’s evils are relegated there.  
19.21  Zigong said, The errors of a junzi are 
like eclipses of the sun and moon: everyone 
sees them.  Once he corrects them, everyone 
looks up to him. 
 19.22  Gongsun Chao of Wei asked Zigong, 
“Where did Zhongni acquire his learning?” 
 Zigong said, “The dao of Kings Wen 
and Wu had not yet crumbled, it lay within people.  The worth recalled its greater as-
pects, the unworthy recalled its lesser as-
pects.  In nothing was there not something of the dao of Kings Wen and Wu.  Where


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would the Master not have acquired learning, and yet what single teac her could there have 
been for him?”  
 
19.23  Shusun Wushu said to the grandees at court, “Zigong is worthier than Zhongni.” 
Zifu Jingbo reported this to Zigong.   
 Zigong said, “If one used walls sur-rounding a residence to make a comparison, 
mine would have walls of shoulder height, so 
a passerby could peer over and see how fine 
the buildings and chambers were.  The Mas-ter’s walls would towe r many yards higher – 
 
     
 
 19.20  Zhòu was the evil last ruler of the Shang Dynasty (see 18.1).  Reflecting on the role of Zigong in 
the Analects , it is hard not to
 think 
that the actual person Zigong pos-
sessed considerable independence of mind.  19.21  This passage can be com-
pared to 7.31. 
   
 
19.22  ‘Zhongni’ was Confucius’s 
‘style name’, by which he was known to non-intimates.  The sud-den use of this name in the cluster of passages ending Book XIX sug-
gests that they derive from a single


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tradition, different from other por-tions of the Analects . 
   
 
   19.23  Shusun Wushu was a gran-
dee of the state of Lu, as was Zifu 
Jingbo, whom we encountered in 14.36, at a time when Confucius was still alive.  (In both his ap-pearances in the Analects , Zifu 
Jingbo is pictured conveying news 
of things said at court.)


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The Analects of Confucius 108 
without entering through the gate, one 
could not see the beauty of the ancestral hall and the richness of the many buildings. 
Few seem to have found their way through 
the gate, so it is to be expected that people would say such things about the Master.” 
 
19.24  Shusun Wushu disparaged Zhongni. Zigong said, “There is no point in it. Zhongni cannot be disparaged.  The wor-
thiness of others is like a hill; one may 
climb to the top.  Zhongni was the sun and moon; there is no way to climb to them. 
Even if people wish to cut themselves off 
from them, what harm does this do to the 
sun and moon?  At most, it simply shows 
they have no sense of scale. 
 19.25  Chen Ziqin said to Zigong, “You are 
a reverent man; how  could Zhongni be 
worthier than you?” 
 Zigong said, “A junzi may be known 
as wise by a single phrase he utters, and by 
a single phrase he may be known as un-
wise.  One cannot but be careful of what 
one says.


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“The Master cannot be matched, just 
as there are no steps one  can climb to reach 
the sky.     “Had the Master been entrusted with 
management of a state or a family domain, it would have been like the saying: ‘He set 
them up and they st ood, he guided them 
and they walked, he comforted them and 
they came, he moved them and they were 
in harmony.’  “In life he was celebrated, in death he was mourned.  How can he be 
matched?”  
 
    
 
   
 
   
 
    
 
  19.25  Nothing is known about Chen Ziqin. 
 The structure of this pas-
sage resembles 12.8, which also 
involves Zigong
.


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The Analects of Confucius 109
Book XX 
 
20.1  Yao said, “Oh, Shun!  The numbers of 
Tian’s calendar now fall to your person –
hold well to their center.  If the lands within 
the four seas are pre ssed to exhaustion, the 
emolument from Tian will be forever ended.”  With these same words, Shun charged Yu. 
 [Tang the Successful] said, “I, Lü, 
who am but a youth, dare  to sacrifice this 
dark coated bull in clear declaration before 
the august Lord above.  I dare not pardon 
those who have committed crimes, and thus I cannot make concealm ent for the Lord’s 
minister, for he has already been observed in the Lord’s heart.  If I myself have committed 
a crime, do not hold the myriad regions the 
land responsible, but if the myriad regions 
have committed a crime, let it fall on my person alone.”  The House of Zhou possessed a great 
treasure; good men were its riches.  “Though 
I have my closest kin, it is better to have men 
of ren.  If the people err, let it fall on my per-


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son alone.”  
The Zhou standardized weights and 
measures, aligned laws and ordinances, re-
stored offices that had been allowed to lapse, 
and governance proceeded in all the four quarters.  They restored states that had been 
extinguished, extended their broken lineages, 
raised up to office those worthies who had fled to reclusion, and the people of the world 
responded to them in their hearts.   
They gave priority to the people, their 
sustenance, funerals, and sacrifices. 
Being tolerant, the gained the multi-Notes 
 
20.1  Book XX, a short,  atypical book that many regard as a late 
appendix of miscellaneous mate-
rial, collects in its initial passage a series of texts concerning the founding of dynasties, beginning with the sages Yao, Shun, and Yu (the founder of the Xia Dynasty), 
and proceeding through Tang, 
founder of the Shang, to the Zhou.  Yao’s words place man-agement of the calendar at the cen-
ter of rulership, and in this way 
seem to shed light on 8.19.  The


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‘emolument from Tian’ refers to the Mandate to rule, and the ‘sal-ary’ it entails.  The words quoted from 
Tang are said to be an oath he took 
upon launching his campaign against the evil last ruler of the Xia, Jie, who is here referred to as the ‘Lord’s minister’.  ‘Lord’ 
translates the term Di ( 帝), which 
is in many ways functionally 
equivalent to Tian (Heaven).  The celebration of stan-
dardization – which was a policy 
of the post-Classical Qin Dynasty (221-208) – may mark this passage as very late.  The remaining fea-tures of that section are aspects of the legend of the Zhou conquest of 
the Shang. 
 The final section may be 
an intrusive variant duplication of portions of 17.5.


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The Analects of Confucius 110 
tudes; being trustworthy, the people en-
trusted them with responsibility; being quick, they had accomplishments; being impartial, 
the people were pleased. 
 20.2  Zizhang asked C onfucius, “What must 
a man be like before he  may participate in 
governance?”  Confucius said, “If he honors the five beautiful things, casts out the four evils, then 
he may participate in governance.” 
 Zizhang said, “What are the five beau-tiful things?” 
 The Master said, “The junzi  is gener-
ous but not wasteful, a taskmaster of whom 
none complain, desirous but not greedy, dig-
nified but not arrogant, awe-inspiring but not 
fearsome.”  Zizhang said, “What do you mean by 
generous but not wasteful?” 
 The Master said, “To reward people with that which benefits them, is that not to be generous but not wast eful?  To pick a task 
that people can fulfill and set them to it, is that not to be a taskmaster of whom none complain?  If one desires ren and obtains it,


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wherein is he greedy?  If he never dares to be unmannerly, regardle ss of whether with 
many or a few, with the great or the small, is 
that not to be dignified but not arrogant? When the junzi  sets his cap and robes right, 
and makes his gaze reve rent, such that peo-
ple stare up at him in awe, is this not, indeed, to be awe-inspiring and not fearsome?”  Zizhang said, “What are the four 
evils?” 
 The Master said, “To execute people without having given them instruction is called cruelty; to inspect their work without  
 
    20.2  Like many passages in Books 
XVI and XVII, this includes a 
numbered list (actually two), elaborated in detail.


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The Analects of Confucius 111
 warning is called oppr essiveness; to demand 
timely completion while having been slow in 
giving orders is called thievery; to dole out 
stingily what must be given is called clerk-
ishness.”  
20.3  The Master said ,  If you do not know 
your destiny ( ming ), you cannot be a junzi . 
If you don’t know li, you cannot take your 
stand.  If you don’t inte rpret people’s words, 
you cannot interpret people. 
  
  
 
     
20.3  ‘Destiny’ translates the term 
ming, which in other contexts may mean ‘fate’, or Tian’s ‘mandate.’ (See the online Glossary. ) 
 The term ‘interpret’ is the 
verb usually rendered ‘know’ or 
‘understand’.


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The Analects of Confucius 112 
 
Appendix:  The Major Disciples of Confucius 
 
The major Confucian disciples portrayed in the Analects  are listed below by the names the 
text most frequently uses for them.  In many cases, they are commonl y referred to by their 
“public names.”  This was a name a young man was given in adolescence, and it was used 
with or without his family surname to refer to him.  Public names frequently began with the 
word zi, signifying gentleman status – names such as Zilu, Zixia, Zigong are all of this sort.  
Each of these men could also be referred to by the personal name they were given at birth: 
Zilu was named You, and his family surname was Zhong, so he could be called Zhong You.  Confucius, his teacher, just calls him by his personal name, You.  He calls Zixia “Shang” and 
Zigong “Si” because their family and personal names were Bu Shang and Duanmu Si.  Some


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disciples are referred to in the Analects  by a combination of family surname and public name.  
For example, Yan Yuan is referred to in this way, but Confucius calls him Hui, which was the 
name his family used when speaking to him.  The personal name that Confucius uses is in 
boldface below. 
 
Although the dates given are approximate and uncertain, the order in which disciples are 
listed is generally from most senior to most junior.  The names of particularly important dis-ciples are underscored. 
 
Zilu 子路 (Zhong You 仲由, c. 542-480)  The senior disciple – only nine years younger 
than Confucius – Zilu is pictured very dis tinctively as a brash a nd impulsive warrior, 
whose natural character Confucius is at pain s to temper, often by making fun of him.  
Zilu served as steward (estate manager) for the most powerful warlord family of Lu, the 
Ji clan, and in that role, he comes under frequent criticism.  In his last years, he took a


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court position in the state of Wei, just north of the Yellow River, not far from Lu.  There, 
he was slain in a coup d’état one year before Confucius’s own death. 
 
Min Ziqian 閔子騫 (Min Sun 閔損, c. 536 - ?)  Min Ziqian is  not a major actor in the 
Analects ; he appears in only five passages.  Howeve r, in four of these, he is singled out 
for praise or portrayed very positively.  Not much younger than Zilu, he may have been a 
senior exemplar to junior disciples. 
 
Ran Yǒu 冉有 (Ran Qiu 冉求, c. 522-462)  Despite his high seniority in the Confucian 
group, Ran Y ǒu is never very clearly delineated as a character in the Analects .  He was, 
in fact, a prominent man in Lu, and served th e Ji family in the same manner as Zilu; in 
this regard, he is comes in for as mu ch or more criticism than Zilu.  The Analects  tells us 
he was practiced in the “arts,” but in which arts  is not clear.  Historically, his battlefield


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accomplishments in Lu during the period of C onfucius’s exile allowed him to plead suc-
cessfully for permission to welcome his master b ack into the state for his final years.  He 
does not seem to have played any role in th e growth of Confucianism after the Master’s 
death, and it may be for that reason that he is so colorlessly portrayed in the Analects 
 
Zhonggong  仲弓 (Ran Yong 冉雍, c. 522- ? )  The praise Zhonggong (Yong) receives in 
6.1 is exceptionally high, and although he is a ra re presence in the Analects he is never-
theless portrayed with high respect.  The great Confucian Xunzi aligned himself with 
Zhonggong’s tradition of Confucianism and atta cked the tradition of Zeng Shen’s disci-


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The Analects of Confucius 113
ple Zisi and his later follower Mencius.  Thus it seems likel y that Zhonggong, of whom 
we know little, shaped a major st rain of early Confucianism.  Within the past few years, a 
bamboo text datable prior to 300 BC has been recovered, purpor ting to record a conversa-
tion between Confucius and Zhonggong.  Although the text is formulaic and by no means 
a record of a true conversation, it does confirm that Zhonggong was seen as an important 
Confucian figure at that early time.  Zhonggong’s father, Boniu, is also praised at several 
points in the Analects . 
 
Yan Yuan  顏淵 (Yan Hui 顏回, c. 521-481)  Sometimes viewed by later tradition as a 
sage second only to Confucius, Yan Yuan was a poor man who seems never to have as-
pired to social position or wealth – he is pi ctured as being devoted solely to Confucius’s


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dao.  In the Analects, others comment on him often, though he himself rarely has much to say.  Confucius’s mother’s family name was Yan, and it is possible that Yan Yuan was a relation. The conversation in  Book XI, between Confucius and Yan Yuan’s father con-
cerning Yan Yuan’s coffin woul d make good sense in that context.  Yan Yuan’s early 
death is the great tragedy of the Analects. 
 
Zai Wo 宰我 (Zai Yu 宰予, c. 520-481)  Zai Wo was a nativ e of the state of Qi whose 
involvement in political intri gues there ultimately cost him hi s life.  He is the only disci-
ple who is never portrayed in an y but a negative light in the Analects  – duplicitous, lazy, 
argumentative.  It is hard to see from the text why he was accepted as a disciple at all; 5.10 suggests that Confucius regretted admitting his to the group.  (Bear in mind that this 
may reflect the attitude of the text’s compile rs, since Zai Wo died young.  It may be that


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it was his fellow disciples who disa pproved of him, not his teacher.) 
 
Zigong  子貢 (Duanmu Si 端木賜, c. 520-450)  One of the most subtle and interesting 
figures in the Analects .  Our sources tell us that Zigong b ecame famous in Lu as a diplo-
mat in state affairs while he was Confucius’s disciple, and then went on to a career of 
great success as a merchant – an occupation that  Confucians tended to denigrate.  In the 
Analects , Zigong repeatedly appears in passages of  great philosophical interest – when 
you see Zigong in a passage, it’s always worthwhile to read it with specia l care.  Al-
though he is not known as the founder of a lin eage of Confucian instruction, we see him 
in 19.22-25 hobnobbing with great lords of Lu and Wei, some of whom regard him as of 
greater authority than Confuciu s himself.  When Confucius di ed, after the other disciples 
dispersed, Zigong, we are told, bui lt a hut by the grave and mour ned there for three years,


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the office traditionally performed by the elde st son.  (Confucius’s on ly son had died two 
years earlier.) 
 
You Ruo 有若 (called “Youzi”: Master You, c. 518-457)  You Ruo is appears several 
times in Book I of the Analects , referred to as “Master You,”  suggesting the authors of 
those passages were his students,  but he appears almost not at all in other books.  Early 
accounts tell us that after Conf ucius’s death, the disciples to ok You Ruo to be their new 
master, because something in his bearing reminded them of Confucius.  But soon he dis-appointed their expectations, and they left him.


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The Analects of Confucius 114 
Fan Chi 樊遲 (Fan Xu 樊須, c. 515 - ? )  Little is known of Fan Chi, but he is recorded as 
a soldier in Lu and several times pictured in the Analects  driving for Confucius in his 
chariot. 
 
Yuan Si 原思 (Yuan Xian 原憲, c. 515? - ? )  Yuan Si, w ho appears to be the speaker-
author of 14.1, referring to himself by his pe rsonal name, is best known for having with-
drawn from society after Conf ucius’s death, to live voluntar ily the life of an impover-
ished hermit.  An early source recounts the ta le of an encounter between Yuan Xian and 
the now wealthy merchant Zigong, which leav es Zigong discomfited at  Yuan Xian’s su-
perior wisdom and faithfulness to the Confucian dao. 
 
Qidiao Kai 漆雕開 (c. 510-450)  Although we s ee Qidiao Kai in only one Analects pas-
sage (5.6), he appears there in very good light, and an early source notes that one of eight 
early Confucian traditions was that of “Mr. Qidiao.”  This  suggests that Qidiao Kai may


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have been an influential disciple whose follo wers took little or no part in compiling the 
Analects .  It may also be, however , that a later group borrowe d the unusual surname of an 
obscure disciple to cloak themselves in th e authority of a direct link to the Master. 
 
Gongxi Hua 公西華 (Gongxi Chi 公西赤, c. 509 - ? )  Although not much is known 
about Gongxi Hua, he appear s to occupy a place among the disciples who were at once 
men of political notice in the stat e of Lu, such as Zilu and Ran Y ǒu, and men subjected to 
a critical view by the Analects  editors.  This can be seen in his role in the mutually reso-
nant entries 5.8 and 11.26, where he is linked with the other two men.  In 11.26, he is ul-
timately compared unfavorably with the discip le Zeng Xi, Zeng Shen’s  father – likely a 
literary proxy for the much younger Zeng Shen himself. 
 
Zixia  子夏 (Bu Shang 卜商, c. 507-420)  Zixia was a younger disciple known for his


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scholarly bent.  He is associated with the Poetry  in the Analects, and was traditionally 
understood to be the man to whom Confucius conveyed his interpretations of that canoni-
cal work.  After Confucius’s de ath, Zixia received appointment  as the court tutor in the 
great state of Wei (a new state carved from the massive state of Jin in 453).  We can get a 
sense of the down to earth training he provided his own disciples in Book XIX. 
 
Ziyou 子游 (Yan Yan 言偃, c. 506-445)  Ziyou does not appear much in the Analects , 
but he occasionally is quoted directly, as an authority, and is pictured actually getting the 
best of Confucius in 17.4, where Confucius makes fun of his governance of a town.  That 
passage suggests that he laid emphasis on ritu al exactitude, but his criticisms of Zixia and 
other comments in Book XIX tend in the opposite direction. 
 
Zeng Shen  曾參 (called “Zengzi,” or Master Zeng, c.  505-436)  No disciple likely had


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more influence on the shape of the emerging Confucian school than Zeng Shen, or Mas-ter Zeng (Zengzi).  He became leader of a major Confucian community in Lu, numbering 
among his disciples Confucius’s grandson Zisi.  This was the tradition that was later led 
by the great thinker Mencius.  In ther Analects , despite his youth, Zeng Shen speaks with 
great authority in several pa ssages, such as 4.15, where he interprets Confucius to the


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The Analects of Confucius 115
other disciples.  Passages 8.3 through 8.7 co mprise a small “mini-book” of Zeng Shen’s 
later sayings, including his deathbed remarks. 
 
Zizhang  子張 (Zhuansun Shi 顓孫師 , c. 503-450)  Zizhang seems to have founded a 
competing teaching lineage afte r Confucius’s death.  In the Analects , although Zizhang 
appears frequently, his persona lity is not clearl y drawn.  However, in Book XIX, which 
portrays the disciples after Conf ucius’s death, he is shown in  clear conflict with Zixia, 
Ziyou, and Zeng Shen; in 19.16-17, the comments attributed to Ziyou and Zeng Shen 
suggest he was pompous.


