No More Learning

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. Kung-tze said : Some inessenger, isn't he?
XXVII
1. He said: Not in a particular government office, don't plan to run it.
XXVIII
L Tsang-tze (his son-in-law) said: A proper man's thoughts do not go outside (the sphere of) his office. fYi King diaigrant 52, eight characters, here seven, omit-
ting one. J
XXIX
L He said : A proper man is ashamed of words [L. modest in speech], and goes beyond (them) in action,
[Also: ashamed of words that exceed his action. ] 93
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? CONFUCIAN ANALECTS
xxx
1. He said : A proper man's mode of life is three- ply. I can't make it : manhood without regrets; know- ing, he is without suspicion; courageous and therefore without anxiety.
2: Tze-Kung said: Boss, that's the way you go on yourself.
XXXI
1. Tze-Kung square-measur. ed men (one by another).
Confucius said : Tze, you must have heavy talents, n'est- ce past Anyhow, I haven't got the spare time.
XXXII
1
1. He said : Not worried that others don t know me,
worried by my incapacities.
XXXIII
1. He said : Not anticipating deceit or calculating on infidelity [L. anticipate attempts to deceive him, nor think beforehand of not being believed. Might even be: don't oppose deceit (to deceit) or calculate on a man's lies, or lying], but to be quick to spot a hoax when it happens, man who can do this must have solid sense?
XXXIV
1. In course of conversation (old) Wei-shang Mau, said to him: Hummock, my boy, how do you manage to roost when there's a roost going, do you manage it by an oily tongue?
2. He said : I don't dare oil the tongue, but I hate stick-in-a-rut-ness (hate being boxed in with frowst).
94
BOOK FOURTEEN
xxxv
1. He said: A horse is grade A not because of strength but from a balance of qualities (proportionate ensemble).
[This is another definit;on, directing thought to the composition of the ideogram itself. A "separate differences horse," extraordinary, yes, defined by the ch'eng, with se. nse of weighing of the grain, good grain, agreeable, etc. (383) vid. also alternations (3067). ]
XXXVI
Someone said what about returning straight good-
1.
ness for injury [L. kindness for injury]?
2. He said: What do you do to repay someone who acts straight with you?
3. See straight when someone injures you, and return good deeds by good deeds.
[L. has the old: justice for injury, kindness for kindness. This does not exhaust the con- tents of the ideograms. Yiian (4th) : murmur, harbour resentment. Allay resentment by straightness, watch a man who harbours re- sentmernt against you. Give frank act for frank act. Understanding of Confucius has been retarded by wanting to fit his tho"ght inf. a gross ? Occidental clichts. ]
XXXVII
1. He said : The extent to which no one understands
me!
2. Tze-kung said: How do you make out no one
understands you (knows you)?
He said : I do not harbour resentment against heaven,
I study what is below and my thought goes on, penetrates
upward. Is it heaven that knows me? Aristotle: generals FROM pa~ticulars. ]
95
[Not id. but cf/
? ? ? ? ? ? --- ------~--- -- --------------------
? CONFUCIAN ANALECTS
XXXVIII
1. Kung-po Liao slandered [curre. ntly "smeared "] Tze-Lu to Chi-sun [ed. be: definitely brought formal charge against him, or: laid an information, pejorative, or definitely false]. Tze-fu Ching-po told of it, saying: The big 1nan is certainly having his intentions misled
(direction of his will deflected) by Kung-po Liao, I have
strength enough to have him executed in the market place or in court. [i. e. , as common criminal or great officer]. 2. He said : If my mode of living is to make head- way, or if iny process is to go to waste, it is destined [seal and mouth ? Of heaven] ; what can Kung-po Liao do
about that decree?
XXXIX
1. He said : Some with solid talents get away from
their generation.
2. Those nearest (that solidity) retire from a par- ticular locality.
3. The next grade get away from dazzle (display).
4. Those next get away from words [the dominion of catch phrases. Cd/ even be: stop talking].
[5172, in various c-onnotations. (i): look down upon. rad/ 160. "bitter. " A cross under rad/ 117. looks no? t unlike a graph of a sp? inning-whorl. ]
XL
1. He said: Seven men started this [L. have done
this].
XLI
1. Tze-Lu was passing the night at Stone Gate, the gate guard said : Where from?
Tze-Lu said : The Kung clan.
Said : He's the man who knows there's nothing to be
done, yet sticks with it (keeps on trying). 96
BOOK FOURTEEN
XLII
J. He was dru1nming on the musical stone in Wei, a man with a straw hamper on his back passed th. e door of the Kung family house, and said : What a mind he's got beating that stone, n'est-ce pas?
2. That was that, then he said : How vulgar ! Per- sistent, water on stone, vvater on stone. When one is not recognised that's the end of it, end it. " Over deep with your clothes on, pick 'em up when the water is shallow. " (Odes I. iii. 9. )
3. He said : Certainly, no difficulty about that.
[The text does not give one sufficient to insist on the bearing of the kuo, 3732, fruft. ]
XLIII
In the History, Tze-chang said: What's the mean- ing of the statement : Kao-tsung observing the imperial rnourning did not speak for three years?
2. He said : Why drag in Kao-tsung, in the old days everyone did. When the sovereign died, the hundred officers carried on, getting instructions from the prime minister for three years.
XLIV
1. He said : When men high up love the rites the
people are easily governed.
XLV
1. Tze-Lu asked about "right 'uns. " He said: (The
proper man) disciplines himself with reverence for the forces of vegetation.
Said : Is that all there is to it?
Said : Disciplines himself and quiets others (rests them, considers their quiet).
Said : Disciplines himself and brings tranquillity to the hundred clans. Discipline self and quiet the hundred
D
1.
97
? ? ? ? ? ? ? CONFUCIAN ANALECTS
clans Yao and Shun were almost in agony over that (alm~st painfully anxious to do that).
XLVI
l. Yuan Zang remained squatting on his heels as
Kung approached. .
He said: Young and not deferentially (holdmg . the
line) fraternal, come to manhood a~d not transm_ittu~g, old and not dying, exactly a burglarious bum. Hit him over the shin with his cane.
XLVII
1. A young Ch'ueh villager ran errands for him,
. ?
someone said : Up and coming . .
2. He said: I see him sit in men's chairs, ;vatk ~breast of his elders, he's not trying to fill up, hes trymg to finish in a hurry.
BOOK FIFTEEN
Wei Ling Kung Duke Ling of Wei
I
l. Duke Ling of Wei asked Kung-tze about tactics. Kung-tze replied : I have heard a bit about sacrificial stands and dishes, I have not studied the matter of army arrangements. He left next morning.
2. In Chan, provisions cut off, those following him
sickened so no one could get up.
3. Tze-Lu showing his irritation said: Does a gentle-
man have to put up with this sort of thing? He said : A gentleman gets obstinate when he has to; a small man dissolves (when he's up against it).
II
l. He said: Tz'u ("Grant"), you think I make a lot of studies and commit things to memory?
Replied : Aye, ain't it so?
Said: No, I one, through, string-together, sprout [that is: unite, flow through, connect, put forth leaf]. For me there is one thing that flows through, holds things to- gether, germinates.
III
l. He said : Sprout, few know how to carry their
inwit straight into acts.
IV
l. He said : Shun governed without working. How did he do it? He soberly corrected himself and sat look- ing to the south (the sovereign sat on a throne looking south), that's all.
99
? ? ? ? ? ? CONFUCIAN ANALECTS
v
1. Tzc-chang asked about conduct.
2. He said : Speak from the plumb centre of your mind, and keep your word; bamboo-horse your acts [that is, have this quality of surface hardness, and s~ppleness] with reverence for the vegetative powers, even if you are among the wild men of the South and North _(Man an_d Mo), that is the way to act. If you speak _without this candour, and break your word; if you act without polish
(honour) and reverence, how will it go even in your own
bailiwick (department [and] neighbourhood)?
3. Standing (stablishing, building up a heap) let him form a triad looking at those two powers before hin1
(either facing him, or existing there before him).
[1Vote the three "arms. trongs," bent artns with biceps, in upper part of the ts'an ideo- gram, and use of same in The Pivot XXII,
last line. ]
In his carriage let him see them hitched to the yoke [from rad 144, as traces or reins.
Contrast: "like a carriage with no place to hitch the traces"], then he can
proceed.
4. Tze-chang wrote these (words) on his belt.
VI
1. He said : Straight, and how ! the historian Yu.
Country properly governed, he was like an arrow; coun- try in chaos he was like an arrow.
2. Some gentleman, Chu Po-yu! Country decently
governed, he is in office; when the government is rotten he rolls up and keeps the true process inside him.
VII
1. He said : When you should talk to a man, and
don't, you lose the man; when it's no use talkin? to . a man, and you talk to him, you waste words. An tntelh- gent man 'vastes (loses) neither men nor words.
100
BOOK FIFTEEN
VIII
He said: An officer (scholar) ruling his mind, a humane man (man of full manhood) will not try to live by damaging his manhood; he will even die to perfect his hu1nanitas.
[There are probably earlier expressions of
this C? Oncept; I ha! Ve not ,yet found an earlier
statement as to abolition of the death penalty.
\Tide supra XIII, xi. ]
IX
1. Tze-kung asked about this business of manhood.
He said : The craftsman wanting to perfect his craft
must first put an edge on his tools (take advantage of
implements already there, the containers). Living in a country, take service with the big men who have solid merit, make friends with the humane scholar-officers.
x
1. Yen Yuan asked about governing.
2. He said : Go along with the seasons of Hsia [the
Hsia calendar, but probably including the dates for the markets, however computed].
3. L. and M. both say: Use Yin state carriages. [I think it may refer to the gauge, the wheel-spread, cf/ ref/ to uniform gauge of wheel-ruts. ]
4. Wear the Chou coronation cap [mortar board with
friinge:
I suppose this is related to four-squareness,
~?
Urzahl].
5. Music patterned to the Shao pantomimes.
6. Banish the ear-noise* of Chang, and clear out the
flatterers. The tonalities of Chang are slushy, and double-talkers a danger (diddling, debauching).
XI
1. He said : Man who don't think of the far, will
have trouble near.
101
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? CONFUCIAN ANALECTS
XII
l. He said: Can't get beyond the fact; I have not seen anyone who loves acting from inwit as they_ love a beautiful person.
XIII
l. He said: Tsang Wan-chung like a man who has purloined his position, he knew the solid merit of Hui of Lin-hsia, and did not get him for colleague.
XIV
l. He said: Requiring the solid from oneself and
the trifling from others, will keep one far from resent- ments.
xv
l. He said: When a man don't say, "What's it like, what's it like? " I don't (bother to) compare him to any- thing, and that's that (aliter: I don't ! mow where he'll end up).
XVI
l. He said : Gabbling all day without getting to a discussion of equity (ethics, justice), in love with being clever in a small way; hard to do anything with 'em.
XVII
l. He said : The proper man gives substance (makes the substance of his acts equity) to his acts by equity.
[Cf/ final words of the Ta S'eu: The treasure of a state is its equity, or, better, as all Confucian statements treat 'of process not stasis: What profits a state is its honesty. ]
*P. (excellently): modulations. 102
BOOK FIFTEEN
He proceeds according to the rites, puts them forth modestly, and makes them perfect by sticking to his word. That's the proper man (in wham's the voice of his fore- bears).
XVIII
1. He said : The proper man is irritated by his in-
capacities, not irritated by other people not recognising him.
XIX
l. He said : The gentleman is irritated if his genera- tion die without weighing the worth of his name.
[This sentence illustrates the inadequacy of
"gent" as in current parlance of the last cen-
tury, to translate chun tzu. cf/ Dial essay 25 years ago. L. gives: name not mentioned after his death. v. weak for ch'eng 383. from grain rod/]
xx
l. The proper man seeks everything in himself, the small man tries to get everything from somebody else.
XXI
l. He said : The proper man is punctilious but not
quarre]some, he is for exchange, not provincial.
XXII
l. He said: The proper man does not promote a fellow for what he says; nor does he throw out a state- ment because of who says it.
XXIII
1. Tze-kung asked if there were a single verb that you could practise through life up to the end.
He said: Sympathy [L. reciprocity], what you don't want (done to) yourself, don't inflict on another.
103
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? CONFUCIAN ANALECTS
XXIV
). Hesaid:WhomhaveIrundownorpuffedup?
. If I've overpraised any one he had something worth examining.
2. This people had the stuff in 'em (the timber) which enabled the three dynasties to find the straight way and go along it (the timber whereby, the wherewithal).
xxv
1. Even I reach back to a time when historians left blanks (for what they didn't know), and when a man would lend a horse for another to ride; a forgotten era, lost.
XXVI
1. He said : Elaborate sentences, worked up words confuse the straightness of action from inwit, lack of forbearance in small things, messes up greater plans.
XXVII
1. He said: When the mob hate a man it must be
examined; when everybody likes a man, it must be examined, and how !
XXVIII
1. He said: A man can put energy into the process, not the process into the man. [Ovvero: a man . can practice the right system of conduct magnanimously, but the fact of there being a right way, won't make a man use it. ]
XXIX
1. He said: To go wrong and not alter (one's course) can be defined (definitely) as going wrong.
104
BOOK FIFTEEN
xxx
~'ve g~ne a whole day without eating, and a _whole mght without sleep, meditating without
pro~t, . it's_ not as useful as studying particular data (gnndmg rt up in the head).
XXXI
1. He said : The proper man plans right action, he does not scheme to get food : he can plough, and there be famme : ~e can study, and perhaps get a salary; the
proper man . 1s concerned with the right action, he is not
concerned with the question of (his possible) poverty.
XXXII
1. fie said: Intelligent enough to arrive, not man enough to hang onto; though he succeed, he will fail.
2. . Intelligent enough to get a job, man enough to keep rt, . not go through his work soberly, folk won't respect him.
3. In. telligent enough to get, man enough to hold,
regular 1n his work but not following the correct pro-
cedure, no glory.
XXXIII
L He said : You cannot know a proper man by small thmgs, but he can take hold of big ones, a small man cannot take hold of great things, but you can understand hrm by the small.
XXXIV
1. He said : The folk's humanity is deeper than fire or
water, I've seen people die from standing on fire or water.
I have seen no one die from taking a stand on his.
s~id :
(or even: Ive t. ned gomg a whole day without eating)
1;
H e
manho. od.
105
? ? ? ? --------. . . --
? CONFUCIAN ANALECTS
(Much of the raciness of Kung's remarks must lie in the click of a phrase, and the turning of different facets ? Of the word. ) Shen 5724, tao 6140, if in sense of violate, one can read the
remark as deep irony.
xxxv
1. He said: Manhood's one's own, not leavable to
teacher.
[Tang, 6087, has very interesting compfrx of mewnings, among which: undertake, fill an office. L. nearer meaning: functioning of man- hood cannot be handed over to teacher, more ironically: pedagogue. ]
XXXVI
1. He said : The proper man has a shell and a direc-
tion (chen').
This chen is a key word, . technical, from the "Changes" it is more t. han the ataraxia of stoics the insensitivity, ability to "take it. " It impli;s goitng somewhere. The Confucian will find most terms of Greek philosophy and most Greek aphorisms lacking in some essential~? they have three parts . of a necessary four, or four parts where five are needed, nice car, no carburetor, gearshift lacking.
He does not merely stick to a belief [pictogram: word and lofty, or capital].
XXXVII
1. He said : Serving a prince put reverence into the service, feeding comes second.
XXXVIII
1. He said : See that education has no snob divisions.
106
BOOK FIFTEEN
XXXIX
1. Those whose whole dispositions, whose whole
modes of thought and action are different, cannot plan
careers for each other.
XL
1. He said: Problem of style? Get the meaning across and then STOP.
XLI
1. Mien the (blind) musician called, when they reached the steps Confucius said: Steps; when they came to the mat, he said : Mat; when all were seated he said : So-and- so's there; so-and-so's over there.
2. Master Mien went out. Tze-chang asked : Is it
correct to speak to the music master in that way?
3.
He said : That is correct when helping the blind.
107
? ? ? ? ? ? ? BOOK SIXTEEN
Ke She
The Head of Chi
I
1. The head of the Chi clan was about to attack Chwan-yii.
2. Zan Yu and Chi-Ju went to see Kung-tze, saying: The Chi Boss is going to give Chwan-yii the works.
3. Kung-tze said : Ain't that your fault, Hook?
4. It's a long time since one of the earlier kings appointed the headman of Chwan-yu to hold the sacrifices in East Mang, and it is in the middle of our own territory, the man who officiates at its chthonian and grain rites is one of our state servants, how can one attack it?
5. Zan Yu said: Our big man wants to, we two ministers are both against it.
6. Kung-tze said : Hook, Chau Zan used to say : While using your power, keep line; when you cannot, retire. How can one serve as guide to a blind man, if he do not support him, or help him up when he falls?
7.