Chinese Cultures-The Confucian Analects(LunYu)-6

[1] THE MASTER said: !°Yung1 might fill the seat of a prince.! !°And might Tzu-sang Po-tzu?!± asked Chung-kun !°Yes,!± said the Master: !°but he is la !°To be lax in his claims on the people might be right,!± said Chung-kung, !°were he stern to self; bto be lax to self and lax to others must surely be over-lax.! The Master said: !°What Yung says is true
[2] Duke Ai asked which disciples were fond of learning. Confucius answered: !°Yen Hui2 loved learning. His anger fell not astray; he made no mistake twice. By ill-luck his life was cut short. Now that he is gone, I hear of no one who is fond of learning.!
[3] Tzu-hua 3 having been sent to Ch!ai, the disciple Jan asked for grain to give to his mother The Master said: !°Give her a bushel. He asked for more. The Master said: !°Give her half a quarter. Jan gave her twenty-five quarters.4 was drawn by sleek horses, clad in fine furs. A The Master said: !°On his way to Ch!ai, Ch!agentleman, I have heard, helps the needy: he does not swell riches.!5 was governor his pay was nine hundred measures of grain. On his refusing it, When Y¨1an Ssuthe Master said: !°Not so. Why not take it and give it to thy neighbours and country-folk.
[4] Of Chung-kung the Master said: !°If the calf of a brindled cow be red and horned, though men beshy to offer him, will the hills and streams disdain him?!
[5] The Master said: !°For three months together Hui!ˉ6 heart never sinned against love. The others may hold out for a day, or a month; but no more.!
[6] Chi K!aang7 asked whether Chung-yu 8 were fit for power.8 has character; what would governing be to him?! The Master said: !°Yu9 is he fit for power?! !°And Tz!au !°Tz!au is intelligent; what would governing be to hi10 is he fit for power?! !°And Ch!aiu !°Ch!aiu has ability; what would governing be to him
[7] The Chi sent to make Min Tzu-ch!aien11 governor of Pi. Min Tzu-ch!aien said: !°Make some good excuse for me. If he send again, I must be across thWen.!
[8] When Po-niu 12 was ill the Master went to ask after him. Grasping his hand through the window, he said: !°He is dying. It is our lot. But why this man of such an illness? why this man of such anillness?!
[9] The Master said: !°What a man was Hui!13 A dish of rice, a gourd of water, in a low alleyway; no man can bear such misery! Yet Hui never fell from mirth. What a man he was!![10] Jan Ch!aiu14 said: !°Pleasure in the Master!ˉs path I do not lack: I lack strength The Master said: !°Who lacks strength faints by the way; thou puttest a curb upon thee.
[11] The Master said to Tzu-hsia: !°Read to become a gentleman; do not read as the vulgar do.[12] When Tzu-yu was governor of Wu-ch!aeng,15 the Master said: !°Hast thou gotten any men? He answered: !°I have Tan-t!aai Mieh-ming. When walking he will not take a short-cut; he has nevecome to my house except on business.!
[13] The Master said: !°Meng Chih-fan never bragged. He was covering the rear in a rout; but when thegate was reached, he whipped up his horse and cried; !(R)Not courage kept me behind; my horse won!ˉgo!!ˉ
[14] The Master said: !°Unless glib as the reader T!ao, and handsome as Chao of Sung, escape is hard ithe times that be!!
[15] The Master said: !°Who can go out except by the door? Why is it no one keeps to the way?[16] The Master said: !°Nature outweighing art begets roughness; art outweighing nature begetspedantry. Art and nature well blent make a gentleman.!
[17] The Master said: !°Man is born upright. If he cease to be so and live, he is lucky to escape![18] The Master said: !°Who knows does not rank with him who likes, nor he who likes with him who isglad therein.!
[19] The Master said: !°To men above the common we may speak of things above the common. To menbelow the common we must not speak of things above the common.!
[20] Fan Ch!aih16 asked, What is wisdom? The Master said: !°To foster right amongst the people; to honour the ghosts of the dead, whilstkeeping aloof from them, may be called wisdom.! He asked, What is love? The Master said: !°To rank the effort above the prize may be called love.
[21] The Master said: !°Wisdom delights in water; love delights in hills. Wisdom is stirring; love isquiet. Wisdom enjoys life; love grows old.!
[22] The Master said: !°By one revolution Ch!ai might grown as Lu: by one revolution Lu might win ttruth.!
[23] The Master said: !°A drinking horn that is no horn! What a horn! What a drinking horn![24] Tsai Wo 17 said: !°Were a man who loves told that there is a man in a well, would he go in afterhim?!
The Master said: !°Why should he? A gentleman might be brought to the well, but not entrappedinto it. He may be cheated; he is not to be fooled.!
[25] The Master said: !°By breadth of reading and the ties of courtesy a gentleman will also keep fromerror!ˉs path.
[26] The Master saw Nan-tzu. 18 Tzu-lu was displeased. The Master took an oath, saying: !°If therewere sin in me may Heaven forsake me, may Heaven forsake me!!
[27] The Master said: !°The highest goodness is to hold fast the golden mean. Amongst the people it haslong been rare.!
[28] Tzu-kung said: !°To treat the people with bounty and help the many, how were that? Could it becalled love?!19 The Master said: !°What has this to do with love? Would it not be holiness? Both Yao and Shunstill yearned for this. In seeking a foothold for self, love finds a foothold for others; seeking light for itself, it enlightens others also. To learn from the near at hand may be called the key to love.!

Note 1. The disciple Chung-kung.
Note 2. The disciple Yen Y¨1an.
Note 3. The disciple Kung-hsi Hua, or Kung-hsi Ch!aih.
Note 4. The disciple Kung-hsi Hua, or Kung-hsi Ch!aih.
Note 5. A disciple.
Note 6. The disciple Yen Y¨1an.
Note 7. Head of the Chi clan after the death of Chi Huan.
Note 8. The disciple Tzu-lu.
Note 9. The disciple Tzu-kung.
Note 10. The disciple Jan Yu.
Note 11. A disciple.
Note 12. A disciple.
Note 13. The disciple of Yen Y¨1an.
Note 14. The disciple Jan Yu.
Note 15. A town in Lu, belonging to the Chi.
Note 16. A disciple
Note 17. A disciple.
Note 18. The dissolute wife of Duke Ling of Wei.
Note 19. Two emperors of the golden age.