No More Learning

BOOK THIRTEEN
Tze-Lu, the Sprout
I
1. Tze-Lu asked about government. He said: Go ahead, and work at it.
78
about government. He said : First get your assistants,
overlook small faults and promote men of solid talent. 2. Said : How shall I know men of solid talent? Said: Promote those you do know, will everybody
then neglect those whom you don't?
III
1. Tze-Lu said: The Lord of Wei is waiting for you
to form a governm. ent, what are you going to do first?
2. He said : Settle the names (determine a precise terminology).
3. Tze-Lu said: How's this, you're divagating, why fix 'em?
4. He said : You bumpkin ! Sprout ! When a proper
man don't know a thing, he shows some reserve.
5. If words (terminology) are not (is not) precise, they cannot be followed out, or completed in action according to specifications.
6. When the services (actions) are not brought to
true focus, the ceremonies and music will not prosper; where rites and music do not flourish punishments will be misapplied, not make bullseye, and the people won't know how to move hand or foot (what to lay hand on, or stand on).
7. Therefore the proper man must have terms that can be spoken, and when uttered be carried into effect;
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2.
1.
Asked further.
Said: Don't lie down on it.
II
Chung-kung being minister of the Chi Head asked
? ? the proper man's words must cohere to things, correspond to them (exactly) and no more fuss about it.
IV
1. Fan Ch'ih asked to be taught agriculture. He said : I am not as good as an old peasant. Asked to study gardening. He said : I am not as good as an old gardener.
2. Fan Ch'ih went out. He said : What a nit-wit, that Fan.
3. If the men above love the rites no one of the people will dare be irreverent. If the men above love justice, none of the people will fail to conform, if the men above love veracity, none of the people will want to use mendacity, when the Great one is like this, the people of the Four Squares will come to him with their children on their backs, what does he need to know about farming?
v
1. Reciting the thr. ee hundred odes, given a govern- ment mission and not understanding it, sent to the Four Coigns and not being able to give the answers, even with a lot of talk won't be able to carry it through. [L. : Notwithstanding extent of his learning, what practical use is it? ]
VI
1. He said : When a prince's character is properly formed, he governs without? giving orders (without orders, things go on). If his character is twisty he can give orders, but they won't be carried out.
VII
1. He said: The governments (forms of government) of Lu and Wei : dder and younger brothers.
80
Enrich the111.
4. Said : They are rich, what next?
x
Said : Educate.
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BOOK THIRTEEN
VIII
1. He described Ching, a younger member of the Ducal family in Wei, by saying : He knew how to live (r;rn a house). When he began to own something he satd: what a lot. When he had a bit more, he said : this is enough. When rich, he said : how magnificent.
IX
1. \;\/hen he went to Wei, Zan Yu drove.
2. He said : What's the population?
3. Zan Yu said: Well populated, what next? Said:
1. He said : If anybody had used me for twelve months I'd have been able to do something, and in three years to have done something perfect.
XI
1. He said : I--! onest men govern a country a hundred years, they could vanquish the malevolent and get rid of the death penalty. I mean these precise words.
[Possibly the first time anyone had thought of this. ]
XII
He said : With a real king, it would need a genera-
].
tion to produce the consequent humanisation.
XIII
1. He said : If a man correct himself what difficulty will he have in consequent government, if he cannot cor- rect himself, what's he doing in (or with) government, anyhow? [P. comment pourrait-il rectifier la conduite des l! Utres? ]
81
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BOOK THIRTEEN
XVIII
, 1. The Duke of Sheh said to Kung-tze : There are
honest characters in my village, if a man steals a sheep his son will bear v. ritness to it.
2. Kung-tze said: There are honest men in my village with this difference; a father will conceal his son's doing, and a son his father's. There's honesty (straight seeing) in that, too.
XIX
1. Fan Ch'ih asked about full manhood. He said : When living in comfort to be modest, when taking hold of affairs to observe honest procedure.
[If one is to distinguish the kung1 fram the ching4 I think we must take it as between statsi'S and kinesis, . the ching co;ntaining the radical for beat, and gaing back, I take it, ta beating on the earth to pr. opitiate the grain spirits (grass on top left, and various meanings of the chii (1541, a, b)-both >terms given in dictionary as reverent. ]
With sincerity in what you give men, even among the
wild tribes (bowmen, and with dogs at camp-fires) east and north, these qualities cannot be shed (cannot be wasted, leaf fallen, from tree rad/).
xx
1. Tze-kung asked for the definition of an officer. He said : He has a sense of shame, if you send him to the last corner of the realm, he will carry out the prince's decrees and not disgrace himself.
2. Said: What's the next thing to that? [Or as L. : What category next? ] Said: His own temple group weigh him and find him filial, folk in his own village knowing his weight find him brotherly.
*P. A/ors uous ne les comprendr. ez bien. 83
XIV
1. To Zan-tze, coming from court, he said : Why so late?
Answered : There was official business. He said : May have been business affaires du prince, but if it were government business, even though I'm not in office, been very hard for me not to hear of it.
xv
1. Duke Ting asked if there were one sentence that could bring prosperity to a state. l(ung-tze answered : One sentence could hardly put all that in motion.
[cf/Great Learning, Mature Study IX. 3, semina motuum. ]
2. 1'here is a saying : it is difficult to be a prince, not easy to be a minister.
3. l(nowing it is difficult to be prince, this one sen- tence might nearly bring prosperity _to a state.
4. Said : Is there one sentence than can ruin a state? l(ung-tze answered : Hardly, but there's a saying: no pleasure in being prince save that no one can go counter to what I say.
5. If good and unopposed that's all right? But if evil and no one oppose, that's almost enough to ruin a state? N'est-ce pas!
XVI
1. The Duke of Sheh asked about government.
2. He said : Those near, happy; those afar, attracted
and come.
XVII
1. Tze-Hsia, being governor of Chu-fu, asked about government. He said : Not want things rushed, and not on the look-out for small profits; if you want things rushed they won't go through to the end;* looking for small profits, the big jobs won't be done right.
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3. Said : May I ask what next? Said : When he speaks he must stick to his word; acts must be conse- quent; water-on-stone, water-on-stone (persistent) little men, mebbe they constitute the next lot.
4. Said : What about the lot now in government? He said: Pint-pots and bamboo baskets (or buckets, utensils), count 'em as that, it'll do. [E poi basta. ] (Aliter: They can use an abacus, Cc'llculate their own advantage, or simply "oll told. ")
XXI
1. He said: Not being able give to (be with) men who act on "what it is all about," I must (teach) the pushing and the cautious; the forward will go ahead and take hold; the cautious will stick to not doing what's not to be done. [P. s'abstienne11,t au mains de pratiquer ce qui dipasse leur raison. ]
XXII
1. He said : The people of the South have a saying: an unconstant (inconsistent, inconsequent) man can't rise to be a wizard or doctor (better : can neither invoke nor cure), that's a good one.
2. Inconsistent (incoherent) in carrying his inwit into act, likely to meet disgrace.
3. He said: Not observing the signs, and that's all. [ra si1nple inattention enough to bring his dozvnfall, or: he does not observe the signs, and that's all there is to be said about it; f. or the doctor it would be s31tnptoms, fails to diag- nose, thus defining the word heng2, consequent; pu heng, not consequent. One must insist on the nature of many verses as being set down in order to define particular words, as did Lorenzo Valla in his Elegantim. Also Kung's
laconism, highly pleasing to some readers. ]
84
BOOK T_HIRTEEN
XXIII
XXIY
I. Tzc-kung said : What about a fellow that everyone in the village likes? He said: Won't do.
" \i\That about a fellow everyone in his village hates? " He said: Won't do. Not up to the man whom the decent people in the village like and the wrong 'uns hate.
xxv
1. He said : 1~hc superior man is easy to serve and hard to please. Try to please him with something crooked and he won't be pleased. He employs men in accordance with their capacity. The mean man is easy to please and hard to work for. You can please him by doing wrong. He wants to get everything out of the same man.
XXVI
1. He said : The proper man is liberal and not high- horsey [The t'ai'. 6023 liberal, hand grip over water rad/ can also mean exalted, with the cross-light, lofty, high- m-inded and not proud] (honoured and not proud). The m. ean man is proud and not high-minded (honoured, honourable).
XXVII
1. He said : The firm-edge, the persistent, the tree- like, those who hold in their speech, come near to full manhood.
[Not, reticent. And to conibat anyone who thinks Karlgren a mere ocademic, cf/his note
85
He said: The proper n1an is pleasant spoken . but
, 1.
not just like everyone else.
The small man is identical but not agreeable.
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on "the impure t;ght of fire that shines out- ward, the pure light of water that shines in- ward. "]
XXVIII
l. Tze-lu said : What's the real definition of a scholar? He said: Urgent, quiet; [M. gives the three ? terms: earnest, pressing, pleased] standing by or looking at his own thought, his own mind-field or heart-field, easy to get on with (? ) cheerful. [I shd/ be inclined to add a spontaneous u to possible meanings of this i2. ] He can be called a scholar (-officer), earnest with his friends, and stimulating; cheerful and spontaneous with his elder and younger brothers.
XXIX
l. If a good man teach the people for seven years, they can go to war.
xxx
1. He said: To send an untrained people to war 1s to throw them away.
BOOK FOURTEEN
Hsien Wan Hsien asked
I
l. Hsien asked what is shameful? He said: When the country has a good government to be thinking only of salary; when the country has bad government, to be thinking only of salary: that is shameful.
II
1. "When the letch to get on, to make a show, when resentments and greeds aren't given way to; that makes manhood? "
2. He said : That constitutes doing what's difficult. As to its being full manhood (humanitas), I don't know.
III
l. He said : Loving comfort, cuddling domesticity, is not enough to make a scholar (scholar-officer, shih).
1. He said : When the country is decently governed : daring words; daring acts. When the country is not decently governed, daring acts and conventional speech.
[Sun in first tone, a grandson; in 4th: Prudent, doc1'le, reserved. ]
v
l. He said: He who has the virtu to act on his inwit must have words, but he who has words needn't neces- sarily act according to conscience. He who is manly must have courage, audacity, but he who is audacious needn't necessarily have full humanitas, manhood.
87
86
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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 1. Nan-kung Kuo said to Kung-tze: Yi was a good archer, Ao could drag a boat along on land, neither died a natural death. Yu and Chi did their own farm-work and rose to be emperors. The big n1an didn't reply. Nan-kung Kuo went out. He said : A proper man, that ! what a man ought to be like. Respects conscientious action as a man should.
VII
1. He said: Superior men aren't always complete; no mean man has manhood.
[The langitage is very close; . one might say,
a n1an can have the voice of his ancestry with- in him, without attaining complete h-umanitas. No mean n1an has humanitas. ]
VIII
1. I-Ie said: I. . . . ove exists, can it be other than exigent? Where there is sincerity (mid-mind, mid- heart) can it refrain from teaching?
["word-each. " 2338. hui4? Again it is in,- struction by sorting out terms. Can you get the centre of the mind, without terminology? ]
IX
I. He said : Drawing up the decrees (government orders) P'i Shan invented the straw (i. e. , made the rough drafts), Shih-shu inched the words* and discussed them with the Chef du Protocole (the Hsing jen, official in charge of trave11ing envoys), Tze-Yu combed 'em out and polished 'em, and Tze-Chan of Tung Li added the beauties.
1. Someone asked about (this) Tze-Chan. He said : A kind man.
2. Asked about Tze-Hsi. He said: That bloke! That one!
[If you accept Legge's interpretation, but the pi tsai might be perhaps taken as: "just another, uomo qualunque. " There just isn't enough in the text to indicate tone of voice: query, alas? or what will you! ]
3. Asked about Kwan Chung. He said: Jen yeh*, man who snatched from Po chief, P'ien, a city of three hundred (L. families), (L. the latter) ate coarse rice till his teeth were gone (L. and current, till death) without a grumbling word. [L. 's note, that the dispossessed respected Kwan to this extent. J
XI
1. He said: To be poor without grumbling or resent- ments is difficult; easy to be rich and not haughty.
XII
1. He said : Mang Kung-ch'o for being an elder (senex, senator) of the Chao or Wei, has it in abundance (easily more than fill the pattern requirements), couldn't
1nake it as Gr. eat Officer of Tang or Hsieh.
XIII
1. Tze-Lu asked about the perfect man (the man of perfect focus).
*Possibly wider reading wd/ enlighten as to bearing of Chinese equivalents of, Oh, ugh, and ali ! and any flavour that might have been kept in a strictly oral tradition as to tone of voice used. Here it seems to be approbative, and the tsai seems pejorative in verse 2.
89
*P . ( ? )
anciens.
! es ex(llnvinait
. attentiveim. ent
88
et
y
placait
les
dits
des
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VI x
BOOK FOURTEEN
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He said: As if he had Tsang Wu-chung's knowledge, Kung-ch'o's freedom from greed, Chwang of Pien's bravery, Zan Ch'iu's versatile talents, culture enough for the rites and music, he'd have the wherewithal for human perfection.
2. Said: At present why need we such perfect
humanity; to see chance of profit and consider equity, to see danger and be ready to accept one's fate, not to forget the level words of a compact made long ago, that also would make a focus'd man (a man brought to the point, perfect).
XIV
1. Asking about Kung shu Wan, he said to Kung- ming Chia : Do you stick by the statement that your big man doesn't talk, doesn't smile, doesn't accept anything?
2. Kung-ming Chia replied : That's from rumours (reports) overrunning the limit. My big man talks when it's the time, whereby he does not bore with his talking; smiles when pleased, thereby not boring with grins; when it is just to take, he accepts, thus he don't wear people
BOOK FOURTEEN
XVII
1. Tze-Lu said : Duke Hwan executed the Ducal-son (hls brother) Chiu; Shao Hu died [L. with his boss]. Kwan Chung did not die, say, is that inhumane (un-
manly)?
2. He said: Duke Hwan gathered the princes, not
with weapons and war cars : Kwan Chung's energy
(strength) that was; is that manly? It is manly. XVIII
1. Tze-Kung [not to be confused with Kung (fu) tze] said : I'd give it that Kwan Chung was lacking in humanity, Duke Hwan had his brother Chiu bumped off, and (Kwan Chung) couldn't die, but came back and worked with Hwan as (Prime Minister).
2. He said : Kwan Chung reciprocal'd, aided Duke
Hwan as prime minister, overruling the princes; unified
and rectified the empire, and people till today receive the benefits. But for Kwan Chung we'd be wearing our hair loose and buttoning our coats to the left.
3. You want him to behave like a comtnon man or woman, who could end in a creek or ditch without any- one's being the wiser?
XIX
1. Kung-shu Wan's minister, the Great Officer Hsien, rose shoulder to shoulder with Wan in this Duke's (court).
2. Confucius hearing this said: Wan's the name for him [Wan, accomplished, having real culture] on that count.
xx
1. He was speaking of the evil government of the Duke Ling of Wei (Nan-tze's husband). K'ang-tze said: A man like that, how come he don't lose (his state)?
91
out with taking.
He said : Yes, does he really do that?
xv
1. He said : Tsang Wu-chung flowing through Fang, asked Lu to appoint a successor; although you say this is not bringing pressure to bear on a prince, I won't stand by that definition.
XVI
1. He said: Duke Wan of Tsin was wily and not
correct, [chiieh2-5; wily from words and an arwl, clouds of three colours, hypocrite. P. admirably: un fourbe sans droiture. ]
Duke Hwan of Ch'i was correct and not wily. 90
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[Might almost say: goes far up, far down. All the way through, penetrates upward or downward. Covers the meaning: his mental penetration goes upward, or downward. ]
xxv
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2. Kung-tze said: The second brother Yu looks after guests and strangers; the ecclesiastic T'o looks after the dynastic temple; Wang-sun Chia looks after the army corps and regi1nents1 n1en like that, how lose his (state) ?
XXI
1. He said : If a man don't say what he means, it's difficult to shape business to it, action to it. [L and M, take the put se as mea. ning immodest. Pictogrammic interpretation at least as interesting. ]
XXII
L Chan Ch'ang murdered the Duke of Ch'i.
2. Confucius took a bath, went to court, and made formal announcement to the Duke Ai, in these words : Chan Ch'ang has murdered his prince; this invites
punish111ent.
3. The Duke said : Inform the Three Great.
4. Kung-tze said: Coming (in rank) just after the
Great Officers, I did not venture to leave my prince un- informed, (My prince) says inform the Three Great.
5. He announced it to the Three, (who pied) non possunius.
Kung-tze said : Con1ing just after the Great Officers, I did not dare omit the announcement.
XXIII
1. 'fze-lu asked about serving a prince. He said : Don't cheat him, stand up to him [L. withstand him to his face].
XXIV
L He said : A proper man progresses upward (far), a mean man progresses downward (far).
92
L He said : In the old days men studied to make themselves, IlO\V they study to in1press others.
XXVI
1. Chu Po-yu sent a man to Confucius.
2. l(ung-tze sat v. 1ith him and questioned him: What's your boss doing?
Replied : " My big man wants to diminish the number of his errors, and cannot. " The messenger went out.