chapter 20
).]
If I lift one corner and the other three are left unturned, I say no more.
9. When eating beside a mourner the Master never ate his fill. On days when he had been wailing, he did not sing.
10. The Master said to Yen Yüan, To go forward when in office and lie quiet when not; only I and thou can do that.
Tzu-lu said, If ye had to lead three armies, Sir, whom would ye have with you?
No man, said the Master, that would face a tiger bare-fisted, or plunge into a river and die without a qualm; but one, indeed, who, fearing what may come, lays his plans well and carries them through.
11. The Master said, If shouldering a whip were a sure road to riches I should turn carter; but since there is no sure road, I tread the path I love.
12. The Master gave heed to abstinence, war and sickness.
13. When he was in Ch'i, for three months after hearing the Shao played, the Master knew not the taste of flesh.
I did not suppose, he said, that music could reach such heights.
14. Jan Yu said, Is the Master for the lord of Wei?[66]
[Footnote 66: The grandson of Duke Ling, the husband of Nan-tzu. His father had been driven from the country for plotting to kill Nan-tzu. When Duke Ling died, he was succeeded by his grandson, who opposed by force his father's attempts to seize the throne.]
I shall ask him, said Tzu-kung.
He went in, and said, What kind of men were Po-yi[67] and Shu-ch'i?
Worthy men of yore, said the Master.
Did they rue the past?
They sought love and found it; what had they to rue?
Tzu-kung went out, and said, The Master is not for him.
15. The Master said, Eating coarse rice and drinking water, with bent arm for pillow, we may be merry; but ill-gotten wealth and honours are to me a wandering cloud.
16. The Master said, Given a few more years, making fifty for learning the Yi,[68] I might be freed from gross faults.
[Footnote 67: See Book V, § 22.]
[Footnote 68: An abstruse, ancient classic, usually called the Book of Changes.]
17. The Master liked to talk of poetry, history, and the upkeep of courtesy. Of all these he liked to talk.
18. The Duke of She asked Tzu-lu about Confucius.
Tzu-lu did not answer.
The Master said, Why didst thou not say, He is a man that forgets to eat in his eagerness, whose sorrows are forgotten in gladness, who knows not that age draws near?
19. The Master said, I was not born to wisdom: I loved the past, and sought it earnestly there.
20. The Master never talked of goblins, strength, disorder, or spirits.
21. The Master said, Walking three together I am sure of teachers. I pick out the good and follow it; I see the bad and shun it.
22. The Master said, Heaven begat the mind in me; what can Huan T'ui[69] do to me?
23. The Master said, My two-three boys, do ye think I hide things? I hide nothing from you. I am a man that keeps none of his doings from his two-three boys.
24. The Master taught four things: art, conduct, faithfulness and truth.
25. The Master said, A holy man I shall not live to see; enough could I find a gentleman! A good man I shall not live to see; enough could I find a steadfast one! But when nothing poses as something, cloud as substance and want as riches, it is hard indeed to be steadfast!
26. The Master angled, but he did not fish with a net; he shot, but not at birds sitting.
27. The Master said, There may be men that do things without knowing why. I do not. To hear much, pick out the good and follow it; to see much and think it over; this comes next to wisdom.
28. To talk to the Hu village was hard. When a lad was seen by the Master, the disciples doubted.
The Master said, I allow his coming, not what he does later. Why be so harsh? If a man cleans himself to come in, I admit his cleanness, but do not warrant his past.
[Footnote 69: In 495 B.C., during Confucius's wanderings, Huan T'ui sent a band of men to kill him; but why he did so is not known.]
29. The Master said, Is love so far a thing? I long for love, and lo! love is come.
30. A judge of Ch'en asked whether Duke Chao[70] knew good form.
Confucius answered, He knew good form.
After Confucius had left, the judge beckoned Wu-ma Ch'i[71] to him, and said, I had heard that gentlemen are of no party, but do they, too, take sides? This lord married a Wu, whose name was the same as his, and called her Miss Tzu of Wu: if he knew good form, who does not know good form?
When Wu-ma Ch'i told the Master this he said, How lucky I am! If I go wrong, men are sure to know it!
31. When anyone sang to the Master, and sang well, he made him sing it again and joined in.
32. The Master said, I have no more reading than others; to live as a gentleman is not yet mine.
33. The Master said, How dare I lay claim to holiness or love? A man of endless craving, who never tires of teaching, I might be called, but that is all.
That is just what we disciples cannot learn, said Kung-hsi Hua.
34. When the Master was very ill, Tzu-lu asked leave to pray.
Is it done? said the Master.
[Footnote 70: Duke Chao of Lu (+ 510 B.C.) was the duke that first employed Confucius. It is against Chinese custom for a man to marry a girl whose surname is the same as his.]
[Footnote 71: A disciple of Confucius.]
It is, answered Tzu-lu. The Memorials say, Pray to the spirits above and to the Earth below.
The Master said, Long-lasting has my prayer been.
35. The Master said, Waste makes men unruly, thrift makes them mean; but they are better mean than unruly.
36. The Master said, A gentleman is calm and spacious; the small man is always fretting.
37. The Master's manner was warm yet dignified. He was stern, but not fierce; humble, yet easy.
## BOOK VIII
1. The Master said, T'ai-po[72] may be said to have carried nobility furthest. Thrice he refused all below heaven. Men were at a loss how to praise him.
2. The Master said, Without good form attentions grow into fussiness, heed becomes fearfulness, daring becomes unruliness, frankness becomes rudeness. When gentlemen are true to kinsfolk, love will thrive among the people; if they do not forsake old friends, the people will not steal.
3. When Tseng-tzu lay sick he called his disciples and said, Uncover my feet, uncover my arms. The poem says,
As if a deep gulf Were yawning below, As crossing thin ice, Take heed how ye go.
My little children, I have known how to keep myself unhurt until now and hereafter.[73]
4. When Tseng-tzu was sick Meng Ching[74] came to ask after him.
[Footnote 72: T'ai-po was the eldest son of the King of Chou. The father wished his third son to succeed him, so that the throne might pass later to his grandson, afterwards known as King Wen. To enable this plan to be carried out T'ai-po and his second brother went into exile.]
[Footnote 73: The Chinese say: 'The body is born whole by the mother; it should be returned whole by the son.']
[Footnote 74: Chief of the Meng clan, minister of Lu.]
Tseng-tzu said, When a bird is dying his notes are sad; when man is dying his words are good. Three branches of the Way are dear to a gentleman: To banish from his bearing violence and disdain; to sort his face to the truth, and to banish from his speech what is low or unseemly. The ritual of chalice and platter[75] has servitors to see to it.
5. Tseng-tzu said, When we can, to ask those that cannot; when we are more, to ask those that are less; having, to seem wanting; real, to seem shadow; when gainsaid, never answering back; I had a friend[76] once that could do thus.
6. Tseng-tzu said, A man to whom an orphan, a few feet high, or the fate of an hundred towns, may be entrusted, and whom no crisis can corrupt, is he not a gentleman, a gentleman indeed?
7. Tseng-tzu said, The knight had need be strong and bold; for his burden is heavy, the way is far. His burden is love, is it not a heavy one? No halt before death, is that not far?
8. The Master said, Poetry rouses us, we stand upon courtesy, music is our crown.
9. The Master said, The people may be made to follow, we cannot make them understand.
10. The Master said, Love of daring and hatred of poverty lead to crime; a man without love, if he is sorely harassed, turns to crime.
11. The Master said, All the comely gifts of the Duke of Chou,[77] coupled with pride and meanness, would not be worth a glance.
[Footnote 75: For sacrifice.]
[Footnote 76: Probably Yen Yüan.]
[Footnote 77: See Book VII, § 5.]
12. The Master said, A man to whom three years of learning have borne no fruit would be hard to find.
13. The Master said, A man of simple faith, who loves learning, who guards and betters his way unto death, will not enter a tottering kingdom, nor stay in a lawless land. When all below heaven follows the Way, he is seen; when it loses the Way, he is unseen. While his land keeps the Way, he is ashamed to be poor and lowly; but when his land has lost the Way, wealth and honours shame him.
14. The Master said, When out of place, discuss not policy.
15. The Master said, In the first days of the music-master Chih how the hubbub[78] of the Kuan-chü rose sea beyond sea! How it filled the ear!
16. The Master said, Of men that are zealous, but not straight; dull, but not simple; helpless, but not truthful, I will know nothing.
17. The Master said, Learn as though the time were short, like one that fears to lose.
18. The Master said, How wonderful were Shun[2] and Yü[2]! To have all below heaven was nothing to them!
19. The Master said, How great a lord was Yao[79]! Wonderful! Heaven alone is great; Yao alone was patterned on it. Vast, boundless! Men's words failed them. The wonder of the work done by him! The flame of his art and precepts!
[Footnote 78: The last part of the music, when all the instruments were played together.]
[Footnote 79: See Introduction.]
20. Shun had five ministers, and there was order below heaven.
King Wu[80] said, I have ten uncommon ministers.
Confucius said, 'The dearth of talent,' is not that the truth? When Yü[81] followed T'ang[82] the times were rich in talent; yet there were but nine men in all, and one woman. In greatness of soul we may say that Chou[83] was highest: he had two-thirds of all below heaven and bent it to the service of Yin.
21. The Master said, I see no flaw in Yü. He ate and drank little, yet he was lavish in piety to the ghosts and spirits. His clothes were bad, but in his cap and gown he was fair indeed. His palace buildings were poor, yet he gave his whole strength to dykes and ditches. No kind of flaw can I see in Yü.
[Footnote 80: See Introduction.]
[Footnote 81: Shun.]
[Footnote 82: Yao.]
[Footnote 83: King Wen, Duke of Chou.]
## BOOK IX
1. The Master seldom spake of gain, or love, or the Bidding.
2. A man of the village of Ta-hsiang said, The great Confucius, with his vast learning, has made no name in anything.
When the Master heard this, he said to his disciples, What shall I take up? Shall I take up driving, or shall I take up shooting? I shall take up driving.
3. The Master said, A linen cap is good form; now silk is worn. It is cheap, so I follow the many. To bow below is good form; now it is done above. This is arrogance, so, breaking with the many, I still bow below.
4. From four things the Master was quite free: by-ends and 'must' and 'shall' and 'I.'
5. When he was afraid in K'uang,[84] the Master said, Since the death of King Wen, is not the seat of culture here? If Heaven had meant to destroy our culture, a later mortal would have had no part in it. Until Heaven condemns our culture, what can the men of K'uang do to me?
6. A high minister said to Tzu-kung, The Master must be a holy man, he can do so many things!
[Footnote 84: During the Master's wanderings. K'uang is said to have been a small state near Lu which had been oppressed by Yang Huo. Confucius resembled him, and the men of K'uang set upon him, mistaking him for their enemy. The commentators say that the Master was not afraid, only 'roused to a sense of danger.' I cannot find that the text says so.]
Tzu-kung said, Heaven has, indeed, given him so much that he is almost holy, and he can do many things, too.
When the Master heard this, he said, Does the minister know me? Because I was poor when young, I can do many paltry things. But does doing many things make a gentleman? No, not doing many does.
Lao said, The Master would say, As I had no post I learned the crafts.
7. The Master said, Have I in truth wisdom? I have no wisdom. But when a common fellow emptily asks me anything, I tap it on this side and that, and sift it to the bottom.
8. The Master said, The phoenix comes not, the River gives forth no sign: all is over with me!
9. When the Master saw folk clad in mourning, or in cap and gown, or a blind man, he always rose--even for the young,--or, if he was passing them, he quickened his step.
10. Yen Yüan heaved a sigh, and said, As I look up it grows higher, deeper as I dig! I catch sight of it ahead, and on a sudden it is behind me! The Master leads men on, deftly bit by bit. He widens me with culture, he binds me with courtesy. If I wished to stop I could not until my strength were spent. What seems the mark stands near; but though I long to reach it, I find no way.
11. When the Master was very ill, Tzu-lu made the disciples act as ministers.
During a better spell the Master said, Yu has long been feigning. This show of ministers, when I have no ministers, whom will it take in? Will Heaven be taken in? And is it not better to die in the arms of my two-three boys than to die in the arms of ministers? And, if I miss a big burial, shall I die by the roadside?
12. Tzu-kung said, If I had here a fair piece of jade, should I hide it away in a case, or seek a good price and sell it?
Sell it, sell it! said the Master. I tarry for my price.
13. The Master wished to dwell among the nine tribes.[85]
[Footnote 85: In the east of Shantung.]
One said, They are low; how could ye?
The Master said, Wherever a gentleman lives, will there be anything low?
14. The Master said. After I came back from Wei to Lu the music was set straight and each song found its place.
15. The Master said, To serve dukes and ministers abroad and father and brothers at home; in matters of mourning not to dare to be slack; and to be no thrall to wine: to which of these have I won?
16. As he stood by a stream, the Master said, Hasting away like this, day and night, without stop!
17. The Master said, I have seen no one that loves mind as he loves looks.
18. The Master said, In making a mound, if I stop when one more basket would finish it, I stop. When flattening ground, if, after overturning one basket, I go on, I go ahead.
19. The Master said, Never listless when spoken to, such was Hui.[86]
20. Speaking of Yen Yüan, the Master said, The pity of it! I saw him go on, but I never saw him stop!
21. The Master said, Some sprouts do not blossom, some blossoms bear no fruit!
22. The Master said, Awe is due to youth. May not to-morrow be bright as to-day? To men of forty or fifty, who are still unknown, no awe is due.
23. The Master said, Who would not give ear to a downright word? But to mend is better. Who would not be pleased by a guiding word? But to think it out is better. With such as are pleased but do not think out, or who listen but do not mend, I can do nothing.
24. The Master said, Put faithfulness and truth first; have no friends unlike thyself; be not ashamed to mend thy faults.
25. The Master said, Three armies may be robbed of their leader, no wretch can be robbed of his will.
26. The Master said, Yu[87] is the man to stand, clad in a worn-out quilted gown, unashamed, amid robes of fox and badger!
Without hatred or greed, What but good does he do?
But when Tzu-lu was everlastingly humming these words, the Master said, This is the way towards it, but how much short of goodness itself!
[Footnote 86: Yen Yüan.]
[Footnote 87: Tzu-lu.]
27. The Master said, Erst the cold days show how fir and cypress are last to fade.
28. The Master said, Wisdom has no doubts; love does not fret; the bold have no fears.
29. The Master said, With some we can learn together, but we cannot go their way; we can go the same way with others, though our standpoint is not the same; and with some, though our standpoint is the same our weights and scales are not.
30.
The blossoms of the plum tree Are dancing in play; My thoughts are with thee, In thy home far away.
The Master said, Her thoughts were not with him, or how could he be far away?
## BOOK X
1. Among his own country folk Confucius wore a homely look, like one that has no word to say.
In the ancestral temple and at court his speech was full, but cautious.
2. At court he talked frankly to men of low rank, winningly to men of high rank. When the king was there, he looked intent and solemn.
3. When the king bade him receive guests, his face seemed to change and his legs to bend. He bowed left and right to those beside him, straightened his robes in front and behind, and swept forward, with arms spread like wings. When the guest had left, he brought back word, saying, The guest is no longer looking.
4. As he went in at the palace gate he stooped, as though it were too low for him. He did not stand in the middle of the gate, or step on the threshold.
When he passed the throne, his face seemed to change and his legs to bend: he spake with bated breath. As he went up the hall to audience, he lifted his robes, bowed his back, and masked his breathing till it seemed to stop. As he came down, he relaxed his face below the first step and looked pleased. From the foot of the steps he swept forward with arms spread like wings; and when he was back in his seat, he looked intent as before.
5. When he carried the sceptre, his back bent, as under too heavy a burden; he lifted it no higher than in bowing and no lower than in making a gift. His face changed, as it will with fear, and he dragged his feet, as though they were fettered.
When he offered his present his manner was formal; but at the private audience he was cheerful.
6. The gentleman was never decked in violet or mauve; even at home he would not wear red or purple.
In hot weather he wore an unlined linen gown, but always over other clothes.
With lamb-skin he wore black, with fawn, white, and with fox-skin, yellow. At home he wore a long fur gown, with the right sleeve short.
His nightgown was always half as long again as his body.
In the house he wore thick fur, of fox or badger.
When he was not in mourning there was nothing missing from his girdle.
Except for sacrificial dress, he was sparing of stuff.
He did not wear lamb's fur, or a black cap, on a mourning visit.
At the new moon he always put on court dress and went to court.
7. On his days of abstinence he always wore linen clothes of a pale colour; and he changed his food and moved from his wonted seat.
8. He did not dislike well-cleaned rice or hash chopped small. He did not eat sour or mouldy rice, bad fish, or tainted flesh. He did not eat anything that had a bad colour or that smelt bad, or food that was badly cooked or out of season. Food that was badly cut or served with the wrong sauce he did not eat. However much flesh there might be, it could not conquer his taste for rice. To wine alone he set no limit, but he did not drink enough to muddle him. He did not drink bought wine, or eat ready-dried market meat. He never went without ginger at a meal. He did not eat much.
After a sacrifice at the palace he did not keep the flesh over-night. He never kept sacrificial flesh more than three days. If it had been kept longer it was not eaten.
He did not talk at meals, nor speak when he was in bed.
Even at a meal of coarse rice, or herb broth, or gourds, he made his offering with all reverence.
9. If his mat was not straight, he would not sit down.
10. When the villagers were drinking wine, as those that walked with a staff left, he left too.
At the village exorcisms he put on court dress and stood on the east steps.
11. When sending a man with enquiries to another land, he bowed twice to him and saw him out.
When K'ang gave him some drugs, he bowed, accepted them, and said, I have never taken them; I dare not taste them.
12. On coming back from court after his stables had been burnt, the Master said, Is anyone hurt? He did not ask about the horses.
13. When the king sent him cooked meat, he put his mat straight, and tasted it first; when he sent him raw flesh, he had it cooked, and offered it to the spirits; when he sent him a live beast, he kept it alive.
When he ate in attendance on the king, the king made the offering, he tasted things first.
When he was sick and the king came to see him, he lay with his head to the east, with his court dress over him and his girdle across it.
When he was called by the king's bidding, he walked, without waiting for his carriage.
14. On going into the Great Temple he asked about everything.
15. When a friend died, who had no home to go to, he said, It is for me to bury him.
When friends sent him anything, even a carriage and horses, he never bowed, unless the gift was sacrificial flesh.
16. He did not sleep like a corpse. At home he unbent.
Even if he knew him well, his face changed when he saw a mourner. Even when he was in undress, if he saw anyone in full dress, or a blind man, he looked grave.
To men in deep mourning and to the census-bearers he bowed over the cross-bar.
Before choice meats he rose with changed look. At sharp thunder, or a fierce wind, his look changed.
17. When mounting his carriage he stood straight and grasped the cord. When he was in it, he did not look round, or speak fast, or point.
18. Seeing a man's face, she rose, flew round and settled. The Master said, Hen pheasant on the ridge, it is the season, it is the season.
Tzu-lu went towards her: she sniffed thrice and rose.[88]
[Footnote 88: This passage cannot belong here. It is corrupt and unintelligible.]
## BOOK XI
1. The Master said, Savages! the men that first went into courtesy and music! Gentlemen! those that went into them later! My use is to follow the first lead in both.
2. The Master said, Not one of my followers in Ch'en or Ts'ai comes any more to my door! Yen Yüan, Min Tzu-ch'ien, Jan Po-niu and Chung-kung were men of noble life; Tsai Wo and Tzu-kung were the talkers; Jan Yu and Chi-lu were statesmen; Tzu-yu and Tzu-hsia, men of arts and learning.
3. The Master said, I get no help from Hui.[89] No word I say but delights him!
4. The Master said, How good a son is Min Tzu-ch'ien! No one finds fault with anything that his father, or his mother, or his brethren say of him.
5. Nan Jung would thrice repeat _The Sceptre White_.[90] Confucius gave him his brother's daughter for wife.
6. Chi K'ang asked which disciples loved learning. Confucius answered, There was Yen Hui[91] loved learning. Alas! his mission was short, he died. Now there is no one.
[Footnote 89: Yen Yüan.]
[Footnote 90: The verse runs--
A flaw can be ground From a sceptre white; A slip of the tongue No man can right. ]
[Footnote 91: Yen Yüan.]
7. When Yen Yüan died, Yen Lu[92] asked for the Master's carriage to furnish an outer coffin.
The Master said, Brains or no brains, each of us speaks of his son. When Li[93] died he had an inner but not an outer coffin: I would not go on foot to furnish an outer coffin. As I follow in the wake of the ministers I cannot go on foot.
8. When Yen Yüan died the Master said, Woe is me! Heaven has undone me! Heaven has undone me!
9. When Yen Yüan died the Master gave way to grief.
His followers said, Sir, ye are giving way.
The Master said, Am I giving way? If I did not give way for this man, for whom should I give way to grief?
10. When Yen Yüan died the disciples wished to bury him in pomp.
The Master said, This must not be.
The disciples buried him in pomp.
The Master said, Hui treated me as his father. I have failed to treat him as a son. No, not I; but ye, my two-three boys.
11. Chi-lu[94] asked what is due to the ghosts of the dead?
The Master said, When we cannot do our duty to the living, how can we do it to the dead?
He dared to ask about death.
We know not life, said the Master, how can we know death?
[Footnote 92: The father of Yen Yüan.]
[Footnote 93: The Master's son.]
[Footnote 94: Tzu-lu.]
12. Seeing the disciple Min standing at his side with winning looks, Tzu-lu with warlike front, Jan Yu and Tzu-kung frank and free, the Master's heart was glad.
A man like Yu,[95] he said, dies before his day.
13. The men of Lu were building the Long Treasury.
Min Tzu-ch'ien said, Would not the old one do? Why must it be rebuilt?
The Master said, That man does not talk, but when he speaks he hits the mark.
14. The Master said, What has the lute of Yu[96] to do, twanging at my door?
But when the disciples looked down on Tzu-lu, the Master said, Yu has come up into hall, but he has not yet entered the inner rooms.
15. Tzu-kung asked, Which is the better, Shih[97] or Shang[98]?
The Master said, Shih goes too far, Shang not far enough.
Then is Shih the better? said Tzu-kung.
Too far, said the Master, is no nearer than not far enough.
16. The Chi was richer than the Duke of Chou; yet Ch'iu[99] became his tax-gatherer and made him still richer.
[Footnote 95: Tzu-lu. This prophecy came true. Tzu-lu and Tzu-kao were officers of Wei when troubles arose. Tzu-lu hastened to the help of his master. He met Tzu-kao withdrawing from the danger, and was advised to do the same. But Tzu-lu would not desert the man whose pay he drew. He plunged into the fight and was killed.]
[Footnote 96: Tzu-lu.]
[Footnote 97: The disciple Tzu-chang.]
[Footnote 98: The disciple Tzu-hsia.]
[Footnote 99: The disciple Jan Yu.]
He is no disciple of mine, said the Master. My little children, ye may beat your drums and make war on him.
17. Ch'ai[100] is simple, Shen[101] is dull, Shih[102] is smooth, Yu[103] is coarse.
18. The Master said, Hui[104] is almost faultless, and he is often empty. Tz'u[105] will not bow to the Bidding, and he heaps up riches; but his views are often sound.
19. Tzu-chang asked, What is the way of a good man?
The Master said, He does not tread the beaten track; and yet he does not enter the inner rooms.
20. The Master said, Commend a man for plain speaking: he may prove a gentleman, or else but seeming honest.
21. Tzu-lu said, Shall I do all I am taught?
The Master said, Whilst thy father and elder brothers live, how canst thou do all thou art taught?
Jan Yu asked, Shall I do all I am taught?
The Master said, Do all thou art taught.
Kung-hsi Hua said, Yu[106] asked, Shall I do all I am taught? and ye said, Sir, Whilst thy father and elder brothers live. Ch'iu[107] asked, Shall I do all I am taught? and ye said, Sir, Do all thou art taught. I am in doubt, and dare to ask you, Sir.
[Footnote 100: The disciple Kao Ch'ai]
[Footnote 101: The disciple Tseng-tzu.]
[Footnote 102: The disciple Tzu-chang.]
[Footnote 103: The disciple Tzu-lu.]
[Footnote 104: The disciple Yen Yüan.]
[Footnote 105: The disciple Tzu-kung.]
[Footnote 106: Tzu-lu.]
[Footnote 107: Jan Yu.]
The Master said, Ch'iu is bashful, so I egged him on; Yu is twice a man, so I held him back.
22. When the Master was in fear in K'uang, Yen Yüan fell behind.
The Master said, I held thee for dead.
He answered, Whilst my Master lives how should I dare to die?
23. Chi Tzu-jan[108] asked whether Chung Yu[2] or Jan Ch'iu[3] could be called a great minister.
The Master said, I thought ye would ask me a riddle, Sir, and ye ask about Yu[109] and Ch'iu.[110] He that holds to the Way in serving his lord and leaves when he cannot do so, we call a great minister. Now Yu and Ch'iu I should call tools.
Who are just followers then?
Nor would they follow, said the Master, if told to kill their lord or father.
24. Tzu-lu made Tzu-kao governor of Pi.
The Master said, Thou art undoing a man's son.
Tzu-lu said, What with the people and the spirits of earth and corn, must a man read books to become learned?
The Master said, This is why I hate a glib tongue.
25. The Master said to Tzu-lu, Tseng Hsi,[111] Jan Yu and Kung-hsi Hua as they sat beside him, I may be a day older than you, but forget that. Ye are wont to say, I am unknown. Well, if ye were known, what would ye do?
[Footnote 108: The younger brother of Chi Huan, the head of the Chi clan.]
[Footnote 109: Tzu-lu. He and Jan Yu had taken office under the Chi.]
[Footnote 110: Jan Yu.]
[Footnote 111: A disciple: the father of Tseng-tzu.]
Tzu-lu answered lightly. Give me a land of a thousand chariots, crushed between great neighbours, overrun by soldiers and searched by famine, and within three years I could put courage into it and high purpose.
The Master smiled.
What wouldst thou do, Ch'iu[112]? he said.
He answered, Give me a land of sixty or seventy, or fifty or sixty square miles, and within three years I could give the people plenty. As for courtesy and music, they would wait the coming of a gentleman.
And what wouldst thou do, Ch'ih[113]?
He answered, I do not speak of what I can do, but of what I should like to learn. At services in the Ancestral Temple, or at the Grand Audience, I should like to fill a small part.
And what wouldst thou do, Tien[114]?
Tien stopped playing, pushed his still sounding lute aside, rose and answered, My choice would be unlike those of the other three.
What harm in that? said the Master. Each but spake his mind.
In the last days of spring, all clad for the springtime, with five or six young men and six or seven lads, I would bathe in the Yi, be fanned by the wind in the Rain God's glade, and go back home singing.
The Master said with a sigh, I side with Tien.
Tseng Hsi stayed after the other three had left, and said, What did ye think, Sir, of what the three disciples said?
[Footnote 112: Jan Yu.]
[Footnote 113: Kung-hsi Hua.]
[Footnote 114: Tseng Hsi.]
Each but spake his mind, said the Master.
Why did ye smile at Yu,[115] Sir?
Lands are swayed by courtesy, but what he said was not modest. That was why I smiled. Yet did not Ch'iu speak of a state? Where would sixty or seventy, or fifty or sixty, square miles be found that are not a state? And did not Ch'ih too speak of a state? Who but great vassals are there in the Ancestral Temple, or at the Grand Audience? But if Ch'ih were to take a small part, who could fill a big one?
[Footnote 115: Tzu-lu.]
## BOOK XII
1. Yen Yüan asked, What is love?
The Master said, Love is to conquer self and turn to courtesy. If we could conquer self and turn to courtesy for one day, all below heaven would turn to love. Does love flow from within, or does it flow from others?
Yen Yüan said, May I ask what are its signs?
The Master said, To be always courteous of eye and courteous of ear; to be always courteous in word and courteous in deed.
Yen Yüan said, Though I am not clever, I hope to live by these words.
2. Chung-kung asked, What is love?
The Master said, Without the door to behave as though a great guest were come; to treat the people as though we tendered the great sacrifice; not to do unto others what we would not they should do unto us; to breed no wrongs in the state and breed no wrongs in the home.
Chung-kung said, Though I am not clever, I hope to live by these words.
3. Ssu-ma Niu[116] asked, What is love?
The Master said, Love is slow to speak.
To be slow to speak! Can that be called love?
The Master said, Can that which is hard to do be lightly spoken?
[Footnote 116: A disciple.]
4. Ssu-ma Niu asked, What is a gentleman?
The Master said, A gentleman knows neither sorrow nor fear.
No sorrow and no fear! Can that be called a gentleman?
The Master said. He searches his heart: it is blameless; so why should he sorrow, what should he fear?
5. Ssu-ma Niu cried sadly, All men have brothers, I alone have none!
Tzu-hsia said, I have heard that life and death are allotted, that wealth and honours are in Heaven's hand. A gentleman is careful and does not trip; he is humble towards others and courteous. All within the four seas are brethren; how can a gentleman lament that he has none?
6. Tzu-chang asked, What is insight?
The Master said, Not to be moved by lap and wash of slander, or by plaints that pierce to the quick, may be called insight. Yea, whom lap and wash of slander, or plaints that pierce to the quick cannot move may be called far-sighted.
7. Tzu-kung asked, What is kingcraft?
The Master said, Food enough, troops enough, and the trust of the people.
Tzu-kung said, If it had to be done, which could best be spared of the three?
Troops, said the Master.
And if we had to, which could better be spared of the other two?
Food, said the Master. From of old all men die, but without trust a people cannot stand.
8. Chi Tzu-ch'eng[117] said, It is the stuff alone that makes a gentleman; what can art do for him?
Alas! my lord, said Tzu-kung, how ye speak of a gentleman! No team overtakes the tongue! The art is no less than the stuff, the stuff is no less than the art. Without the fur, a tiger or a leopard's hide is no better than the hide of a dog or a goat.
9. Duke Ai said to Yu Jo,[118] In this year of dearth I have not enough for my wants; what should be done?
Ye might tithe the people, answered Yu Jo.
A fifth is not enough, said the Duke, how could I do with a tenth?
When all his folk have enough, answered Yu Jo, shall the lord alone not have enough? When none of his folk have enough, shall the lord alone have enough?
10. Tzu-chang asked how to raise the mind and scatter delusions.
The Master said, Put faithfulness and truth first, and follow the right; the mind will be raised. We wish life to what we love and death to what we hate. To wish it both life and death is a delusion.
Whether prompted by wealth, or not, Yet ye made a distinction.
[Footnote 117: Minister of Wei.]
[Footnote 118: A disciple of Confucius.]
11. Ching,[119] Duke of Ch'i, asked Confucius, What is kingcraft?
Confucius answered. For the lord to be lord and the liege, liege, the father to be father and the son, son.
True indeed! said the Duke. If the lord were no lord and the liege no liege, the father no father and the son no son, though the grain were there, could I get anything to eat?
12. The Master said, To stint a quarrel with half a word Yu[120] is the man.
Tzu-lu never slept over a promise.
13. The Master said, At hearing lawsuits I am no better than others. What is needed is to stop lawsuits.
14. Tzu-chang asked, What is kingcraft?
The Master said, To be tireless of thought and faithful in doing.
15. The Master said, Breadth of reading and the ties of courtesy will keep us, too, from false paths.
16. The Master said, A gentleman shapes the good in man, he does not shape the bad in him. The small man does the contrary.
17. Chi K'ang[121] asked Confucius how to rule.
Confucius answered, To rule is to set straight. If ye give a straight lead, Sir, who will dare not go straight?
[Footnote 119: Confucius was in Ch'i in 517 B.C. The duke was over-shadowed by his ministers and thought of setting aside his eldest son.]
[Footnote 120: Tzu-lu.]
[Footnote 121: On the death of Chi Huan, his brother Chi K'ang set aside Chi Huan's small son and made himself head of the clan.]
18. Chi K'ang being troubled by robbers asked Confucius about it.
Confucius answered, If ye did not wish it, Sir, though ye rewarded him no man would steal.
19. Chi K'ang, speaking of kingcraft to Confucius, said, To help those that follow the Way, should we kill the men that will not?
Confucius answered, Sir, what need has a ruler to kill? If ye wished for goodness, Sir, the people would be good. The gentleman's mind is the wind, and grass are the minds of small men: as the wind blows, so must the grass bend.
20. Tzu-chang asked, What must a knight be, for him to be called eminent?
The Master said, What dost thou mean by eminence?
Tzu-chang answered, To be famous in the state and famous in his home.
That is fame, not eminence, said the Master. The eminent man is plain and straight, and loves right. He weighs words and scans looks; he takes pains to come down to men. And he shall be eminent in the state and eminent in his house. The famous man wears a mask of love, but his deeds belie it. Self-confident and free from doubts, fame will be his in the state and fame be his in his home.
21. Whilst walking with the Master in the Rain God's glade Fan Ch'ih said to him, May I ask how to raise the mind, amend evil and scatter errors?
Well asked! said the Master. Rank thy work above success, will not the mind be raised? Fight the bad in thee, not the bad in other men, will not evil be mended? One angry morning to forget both self and kin, is that no error?
22. Fan Ch'ih asked, What is love?
The Master said, To love men.
He asked, What is wisdom?
The Master said, To know men.
Fan Ch'ih did not understand.
The Master said, Lift up the straight, put by the crooked, and crooked men will grow straight.
Fan Ch'ih withdrew, and seeing Tzu-hsia, said to him, The Master saw me and I asked him what wisdom is. He answered, Lift up the straight, put by the crooked, and crooked men will grow straight. What did he mean?
How rich a saying! said Tzu-hsia. When Shun[122] had all below heaven he chose Kao-yao from the many, lifted him up, and the men without love fled. When T'ang[123] had all below heaven, he chose Yi-yin[124] from the many, lifted him up, and the men without love fled.
[Footnote 122: An emperor of the golden age.]
[Footnote 123: The founder of the Shang, or Yin, dynasty.]
[Footnote 124: T'ang's chief minister. Yi-yin said, Whomsoever I serve, is he not my lord? Whomsoever I rule, are they not my people? He came in when there was order, and came in too when there were tumults. He said, When Heaven begat the people, the man that first understood was sent to waken those slow to understand, and the man that first woke was sent to waken those slow to wake. I am he that woke first among Heaven's people. With the help of the Way, I shall wake the people! For man or wife, of all the people below heaven, to have missed the blessings of Yao and Shun was the same, he thought, as if he himself had pushed him into the ditch. The burden he shouldered was the weight of all below heaven. (Mencius, Book X,