No More Learning

He said: Not like a fellow who is poor and cheerful,
or rich and in love with precise observance.
2. Tze-King said: It's in the Odes, "as you cut and then file; carve and then polish. " That's like what you mean?
11
he gets it.
men's.
His mode of going after it differs from other
10
line with honour.
perhaps too bold. ]
[This reading will be dsputed and is
XIV
1. He said : A gentleman eats without trying to stuff himself, dwells without seeking (total) quietude, attends to business, associates with decent people so as to adjust his own decencies; he can be said to love study.
? ? ? ? CONFUCIAN ANALECTS
3. Ts'ze here, one can begin to discuss the Odes with him; gave him the beginning and he knew what come<l (after it).
XVI
1. He said : Not worried that men do not know me, but that I do not understand men.
BOOK TWO
I
1. Governing by the light of one's conscience is like the pole star which dwells in its place, and the other stars fulfill their functions respectfully.
II
1. He said : The anthology of 300 poems can be gathered into the one sentence : Have no twisty thoughts.
III
1. He said : If in governing you try to keep things levelled off in order by punishments, the people will, shamelessly, dodge.
2. Governing them by looking straight into one's
heart and then acting on it (on conscience) and keeping
order by the rites, their sense of shame will bring them
not only to an external conformity but to an organic order.
IV
1. He said : At fifteen I wanted to learn.
2. At thirty I had a foundation.
3. At forty, a certitude.
4. At fifty, knew the orders of heaven.
5. At sixty, was ready to listen to them.
6. At seventy, could follow n1y own heart's desire
without overstepping the T-square.
v
1. Mang-I-tze asked about filiality. He said : Don't disobey. *
*P. expands the . single word wei to mean: s'opposer a. ux principes de la raison, making the sentence equivalent to Gilson's statement of Erigena : Authority comes from right reason-anticipating the "rites" . (light and dish of fecundity) a few lines further down.
13
12
- --------. . ,,. -------
---------------------------
? ? ? ? ? ? CONFUCIAN ANALECTS
2. Fan Ch'ih was driving him and he said : Mang-
Sun asked me about filiality, I said: it consists in not
disobeying (not opposing, not avoiding).
3. Fan Ch'ih said: How do you mean that? He said :
"While they are alive, be useful to them according to the
-proprieties; when dead, bury them according to the rites, . make the offerings according to the rites.
VI
1. Mang Wu the cider asked about filiality. He said :
. A father or inother is only worried as to whether a child is sick.
VII
1. Tze-Yu asked about filiality. He said: Present-day
-filial piety consists in feeding the parents, as one would a dog or a horse; unless there is reverence, what difference is there?
VIII
1. Tze-Hsia asked about filiality. He said: The trouble is with the facial expression. Something to be done, the junior takes trouble, offers food first to his elders, is that all there is to filiality?
IX
1. He said : I have talked a whole day with Hui and he sits quiet as if he understood nothing, then I have watched what he does. Hui is by no means stupid.
x
BOOK TWO
XI

1. If a man keep alive what is old and recognize
novelty, he can, eventually, teach.
1. He said : Watch a man's means, what and how.
2. See what starts him.
3. See what he is at ease in.
4. H o w can a man conceal his real
14
bent?
1.
XII
The proper man is not a dish.
XIII
Tze-Kung said: What is a proper man? He said: He acts first and then his talk fits what he has done.
XIV
1. He said : A proper man is inclusive, not sectary; the small man is sectarian and not inclusive.
xv
1. He said : Research without thought is a mere net and entanglement; thought without gathering data, a peril.
XVI
1. He said : Attacking false systems merely harms you.
XVII
1. He said: Yu, want a definition of knowledge? To know is to act knowledge, and, when you do not knowr not to try to appear as if you did, that's knowing.
XVIII
1. Tze-Chang was studying to get a paid job.
2. He said : Listen a lot and hide your suspicions ; see that you really mean what you say about the rest, and you won't get into many scrapes. Look a lot, avoid the
15
1.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? CONFUCIAN ANALECTS
dangerous and be careful what you do with the rest, you will have few remorses. Salary is found in a middle space where there are few words blamed, and few acts
that lead to remorse.
XIX
1. Duke Ai asked how to keep the people in order. He said : Promote the straight and throw out the twisty, and the people will keep order; promote the twisty and throw out the straight and they won't.
xx
1. Chi K'ang asked how to instil that sincere rever- ence which would make people work. He said : Approach them seriously [verso it popolo], respectful and deferent to everyone; pron1ote the just and teach those who just cannot, and they will try.
XXI
1. Someone asked Confucius why he was not in the government.
2. He said: The Historic Documents say: filiality, simply filiality and the exchange between elder and younger brother, that spreads into govern1nent; why should one go into the government?
[P. turns this admirably : Pourquoi con- siderer seulement ceux qui occupent des emplois publics, co1nme rernplissant des fonc- tions publiques. ]
XXII
l. He said : Men don't keep their word, I don't know what can be done for them : a great cart without a wagon-pole, a small cart and no place to hitch the traces.
16
BOOK TWO
XXIII
1. Tze-Chang asked if there were any knowledge "good for ten generations.
2. He said : Yin, because there was wisdom in the rites of Hsia, took over some and added, and one can know this; Chou because it was in the rites of Yin took some and added; and one can know what; someone will
thread along after Chou, be it to an hundred generations one can know.
XXIV
1. He said : To sacrifice to a spirit not one's own is flattery.
2. To see justice and not act upon it is cowardice.
17
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? -------------------------~? --~? -
? BOOK THREE
Pa Yih
The Eight Rows
I
1. Corps de ballet eight rows deep in Head of Chi's courtyard. Kung-tze said : If he can stand for that, what won't he stand for?
II
1. The Three Families used the Yung Ode while the
sacrificial vessels were cleared away. He said : "The Princes are facing the Dukes, the Son of Heaven is like a field of grain in the sunlight," does this apply to their family halls?
III
1. A man without manhood, is this like a rite? Is there any music to a man without n1anhood?
IV
1. Lin Fang asked what was the root of the rites.
2. He said : That is no small question.
3. Better to be economical rather than extravagant in
festivities and take funerals sorrowfully rather than lightly. [Poignancy rather than nuances (of ceremony). ]
BOOK THREE
VI
1. The head of the Chi sacrificing to T'ai Shan (the Sacred East Mountain), Confucius said to Zan Yu: Can't you save him? The reply was : I cannot. Kung said: Too bad, that amounts to saying that T'ai Shan is below the level of Lin Fang. [Vide supra, IV, L]
VII
1. He said : The proper man has no squabbles; if he
contends it is in an archery contest, he bows politely and
goes up the hall, he comes down and drinks (his forfeit if he loses), contending like a gentleman.
VIII
1. Tze-Hsia asked the meaning of :
" T h e dimpled smile, the eye's clear white and
black,
Clear ground whereon hues lie. "
2. He said : The broidery is done after the simple
weaving.
3. (Hsia) said: You mean the ceremonial follows . . ?
4. He said : Shang's on, I can start discussing poetry with him.
IX
1. He said : I can speak of the Hsia ceremonial but you can't prove it by Chi (data) ; I can speak of the Yin ceremonies but Sung (data) won't prove it. The inscribed offerings ar. e insufficient to argue from, were they ade- quate they could bear me out. [I should think this hsien 4. M. 2699, might refer to the inscribed sacrificial bones, which Karlgren has done so much work on. ]
vx
1. I--Ie said : Eastern and northern tribes have princes
1. He said : When the Emperor has poured the liba- tion in the Sacrifice to the Source of the dynasty, I have no wish to watch the rest of the service.
19
not like this Hsia country has lost. them. ]
18
[Or: which has lost
? ? ? ? ? ? ? --------------
? CONFUCIAN ANALECTS
XI
1.
Someone said : What does the sacrifice mean? He said: I do not know. If one knew enough to tell that, one could govern the empire as easily as seeing the palm of one's hand.
XII
1. He sacrificed as if he had taken root-hold in the earth, he- sacrificed to the circumvolant spirits as if they took root.
2. He said: If I do not enter into this light, it is as if I did not sacrifice. [Or, H I do not give, i. e. myself, to it. ]
XIII
1. " stove versus altar "
Wang-sun Chia asked the meaning of : It is better to pay court to the hearth [pre. rnnt lexicons: stove] than to the mysterious (the household gods).
2. He said: It simply isn't. Who sins against heaven has nothing to pray to. [No means of getting light with the seasons. ]
XIV
I. He said : Chou revised the two dynasties, how full and precise was its culture, I fo11ow Chou.
xv
1. B:ntering the Great Ten1ple, he asked about every detail. Son1eone said : Who says the Man from Tsau knows the rites? He goes into the Great Temple and asks about everything. He said : That is the etiquette.
XVI
" bullseye better than shooting thru the target "
1. He said : In archery the going clean thru the leather is not. the first requisite. Men aren't equally
20
BOOK THREE
strong. That was the old way [? when they were ex- p. ected to be all of them fit for itJ.
XVII
1. Tze-Kung wanted to eliminate the sheep from the sacrifice to the new moon.
2. He said : You, Ts'ze, love the sheep, I love the rite.
XVIII
1. He said : Some people consider it sycophancy to serve one's prince with all the details of the rites.
XIX
1. The Duke of Ting asked how a prince should employ his ministers, and how ministers should serve their prince. Kung-tze answered : The prince uses his ministers according to the prescribed ceremonial, minis- ters serve the prince by their sincerity. [The prince to judge the propriety, the ministers (middle-heart) not to fake in the execution. ]
xx
I. He said : The fish-hawk song [the first of the folk- songs in the anthology] is pleasant without being licen- tious, its melancholy does no hurt (does not wound).
XXI
1. The Duke Ai asked Tsai Wo about the chthonian altars. * Tsai Wo replied: The Hsia dynasty's clans planted pines, the Yin cypress, and the men of Chou chestnut trees (Ii) in order to instil awe (Ii) in the populace.
*P. Q? Ufels ou tertres de terre; rather than P's" w11tour," I should take " amid " pines, etc.
21
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? CONFUCIAN ANALECTS
2. Kung heard this and said : Perfect acts do not use
words, prolonged customs are not sentenced, what for-
merly was is not to be blamed. XXII
1. He said : Kwan Chung is a small dish, and how I
2. Someone said : Is Kwan Chung stingy?
3. He said: Kwan Chung had the Triple-Return
(pagoda), court functionaries did not work overtime, how can he have been stingy?
4. "Did Kwan Chung, then, know the ceremonies? "
5. (He) said: Princes of States plant gate-screens; Kwan Chung also set up a gate-screen. When State Princes meet they have a small table for inverted cups; Kwan also had a small table, if Kwan knew how to
XXIII
1. Talking with the superintendent of music in Lu,
he said : On? e can understand this music; a rousing start in unison, then the parts follow pure, clear one from another, (brilliant) explicit to the conclusion.
XXIV
1. The Border Warden at I asked to see him, saying
when gentlemen come here I have always seen them.
(Kung's) escort introduced him. He came out saying: Small group of friends [lvt: you two three gentlemen] how can you regret his loss of office. The empire has long been in anarchy. Heaven will use the big man as a watchman's rattle. [L. (Legge): bell with wooden tongue. M. : with clapper. ]
xxv
I. He said : The Shao (songs) are completely beauti- ful and wholly good. The Wu are beautiful, completely, but not completely good (morally proportioned).
22
BOOK THREE
XXVI
1. He said: Dwelling on high without magnanimity,
p~rfonning the rites without reverence, corning to funerals without regrets; why should I bother about 'em?
23
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? BOOK FOUR
I
1. He said : A neighbourhood's humanity is its beauty. If a man doesn't settle among real people, how can he
know.
II
1. He said : Without n1anhood one cannot stand diffi- culties, nor live for long atnid pleasures, The real man is at rest in his inanhood, the wise man profits by it.
III
1. He said : Only the complete man can love others, or hate them.
BOOK FOUR
VI
"1. He said : I have not seen anyone who loves whole- h~manity and who hates un-whole manhood_; if he lo_ve this whole-manhood (humanity) he cannot nse above 1t; if he hate the un-whole manhood, he would go to work on his own manhood, he would not try to get incomplete men to heighten his character for him.
2. If a man can direct his energy for one day towai:d 1nanhood, ch? I have not seen anyone's energy insufficient.
1. He said : If the will is set toward manhood, there
you may. ]
is no criminality.
cf/mustard seed. ]
[The graph of kou' suggests grass-root
v
IX
1. }le said: Riches with honour are what men desire; if not obtained in the right way, they do not last. Poverty and penny-pinching are what men hate, but are only to be avoided in the right way.
2. If a gentleman give up manhood, what does his title really mean, what does the complete name gentle- man mean?
3. A proper man doesn't merely lay off his manhood after dinner. He must have it to make a sequence, he must have it in sudden disasters.
24
1. He said : A scholar with his will on learning the process, who is ashamed of poor clothes, and fusses over bad food, is not worth talking to.
x
1. I-le said: A proper 1nan is not absolutely bent on, or absolutely averse from, anything in particular, he will be just.
XI
1. The proper man is concerned with exan1ining his consciousness and acting on it, the sma11 man is concerned about land; the superior man about legality, the small man about favours.
25
3.
A case may exist, but I have not seen it.
VII
VIII
He said : A man's errors, every one of 'em, belong
? 1.
to his environment (clique, party, gang he associates with); watch his faults and you can judge his humanity.
1. He said: Hear of the process at sunrise, you can die in the evening. [Word order is: morning hear pro- IV cess, evening die can? may, you may, it is possible that
? ? ? ? ? ? ? CONFUCIAN ANALECTS
XII
1. He said : Always on the make : many complaints.
XIII
1. I-Ie said : Can with ceremony and politeness manage a state, what difficulty will he have; unable to govern a state with ceremonies and courtesy, what ordered en- lightenment has he?
XIV
1. He said: Not worried at being out of a job, but about being fit for one; not \Vorried about being unknown but about doing something knowable.
xv
1. He said : Shan, my process is unified, penetrating, it holds things together and sprouts. Tsang said: Only? 2. (Kung)2-tze went out. A disciple asked : what does he mean? Tsang-tze said: the big man's way con-
sists in sincerity and sympathy, and that's all.
XVI
1. He said : The proper man understands* equity, the small man, profits.
XVII
1. He said : See solid talent and think of measnring up to it; see the un-solid and examine your own insides.
*yu: mouth answering in the affirmative, parable. responds to, all out for.
26
BOOK FOUR XVIII
1. He said: In being useful to father and mother, o~e can almost reprove them; but if they won't do what one wants one must respect them and not oppose* them, work and not grumble.
XIX
1. He said: During their lifetime one must not go far abroad, or if one does, must leave an address.
xx
1. I-Ie said : To carry on in a father's way for three
years, can be called continuing as a son.
XXI
1. He said: One must recognize the age of one's father and mother both as a measure of good and of anxiety.
XXII
1. He said : The men of old held in their words for fear of not matching then1 in their character.
XXIII
1. Those who consume their own smoke seldom get lost. The concise seldom err.
XXIV
1. He said : The proper man wants to put a meaning into his words (or to be slow in speech), ready in action.
xxv
1. He said : Candidness is not fatherless, it is bound to have neighbours.
*<wei cf/II. , v. I.
27
? ? ? ? ? CONFUCIAN ANALECTS
XXVI
1. Tze-Yu said: Harping on things with a prince brings disgrace, and between friends estrangement.
BOOK FIVE
Kung-Ye Ch'ang
I
1. He described Kung-Ye Ch'ang as a suitable hus- band: although he was fettered with the black (criminal's) rope he was not guilty; completing the idea he gave him his daughter to wife.
2. Of Nan Yung he said: if the country were well governed he would not be out of office; if the country were in chaos he would escape punishment and disgrace; he gave him his elder brother's daughter to wife.
II
1. He said of Tze-Chien : a proper man, and how ! If there weren't proper men in Lu, where did he get it from?
III
1. Tze-Kung said: What about me, Ts'ze? Con- fucius said : You're a dish. "What kind? " Confucius said : Oh, a jewelled one for the altar.
IV
1. Someone said : Y ung is a full man but not elo- quent. [Persuasive, ideogram: man tranquillizing a ivoman.