Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy Part 4

After Zai Wo left, the Master remarked, "This shows how lacking in Goodness this Zai Wo is! A child is completely dependent upon the care of his parents for the first three years of his life-this is why the three-year mourning period is the common practice throughout the world. Did Zai Wo not receive three years of care from his parents?"

17.23 Zilu asked, "Does the gentleman admire courage?"

The Master said, "The gentleman admires rightness above all. A gentleman who possessed courage but lacked a sense of rightness would create political disorder, while a common person who possessed courage but lacked a sense of rightness would become a bandit."

17.25 The Master said, "Women and servants are particularly hard to manage: if you are too familiar with them, they grow insolent, but if you are too distant, they grow resentful."153 Book Eighteen.

18.6 Kongzi pa.s.sed Chang Ju and Jie Ni, who were yoked together pulling a plow through a field. He sent Zilu to ask them where the ford was to be found.154 Chang Ju inquired, "That fellow holding the reins there-who is he?"

Zilu answered, "That is Kongzi."

"Do you mean Kongzi of Lu?"

"The same."

"Then he should know where the ford is."155 Zilu then asked Jie Ni.

Jie Ni also replied with a question: "Who are you?"

"I am Zilu."

"The disciple of Kongzi of Lu?"

"Yes."

"The whole world is as if engulfed in a great flood, and who can change it? Given this, instead of following a scholar who merely avoids the bad people [of this age],156 wouldn't it be better for you to follow scholars like us, who avoid the age itself?" He then proceeded to cover up his seeds with dirt and did not pause again.

Zilu returned and reported this conversation to Kongzi. The Master was lost in thought for a moment, and then remarked, "A person cannot flock together with the birds and the beasts. If I do not a.s.sociate with the followers of men, then with whom would I a.s.sociate? If the Way were realized in the world, then I would not need to change anything."157 18.7 Zilu was traveling with Kongzi, but had fallen behind. He encountered an old man carrying a wicker basket suspended from his staff. Zilu asked, "Have you seen my Master?"

The old man answered, "

'Won't soil his dainty hands Can't tell millet from barley.'

Who, then, might your master be?" He then planted his staff in the ground and began weeding. [Not knowing how to reply], Zilu simply remained standing with his hands clasped as a sign of respect.

The old man subsequently invited Zilu back to his house to stay the night. After killing a chicken and preparing some millet for Zilu to eat, he presented his two sons to him. On the next day Zilu caught up to Kongzi and told him what had happened.

"He must be a scholar recluse," the Master said. He sent Zilu back to the old farmer's house to meet with him again, but by the time Zilu got there the man had already disappeared. Zilu then remarked, " To avoid public service is to be without a sense of what is right. Proper relations between elders and juniors cannot be discarded-how, then, can one discard the rightness that obtains between ruler and minister?159 To do so is to wish to keep one's hands from getting dirty at the expense of throwing the great social order into chaos. The gentleman takes office in order to do what is right, even though he already knows that the Way will not be realized."160 18.8 Those men who went into seclusion include Bo Yi, Shu Qi, Yu Zhong, Yi Yi, Zhu Zhang, Liuxia Hui, and Shao Lian.161 The Master said, "Unwilling to lower their aspirations or bring disgrace upon their persons-such were Bo Yi and Shu Qi."

Of Liuxia Hui and Shao Lian he said, "Although they lowered their aspirations and brought disgrace upon their persons, at least their speech was in accord with their status and their actions were in accord with their thoughts."

Of Yu Zhong and Yi Yi he said, "Living in seclusion and freely speaking their minds, their persons remained pure and their resignations from office were well-considered."

He concluded, "I, however, am different from all of them in that I have no preconceived notions of what is permissible and what is not."162 Book Nineteen163.

19.6 Zixia said, "Learning broadly and firmly retaining what one has learned, being incisive in one's questioning and able to reflect upon what is near at hand-Goodness is to be found in this."

19.7 Zixia said, "The various artisans dwell in their workshops in order to perfect their crafts, just as the gentleman learns in order to reach the end of his Way."

19.11 Zixia said, "As long as one does not transgress the bounds when it comes to important Virtues, it is permissible to cross the line here and there when it comes to minor Virtues."164 19.12 Ziyou said, "Among the disciples of Zixia, the younger ones are fairly competent when it comes to tasks such as mopping and sweeping, answering summons, and entering and retiring from formal company, but these are all superficialities.165 They are completely at a loss when it comes to mastering the basics. Why is this?"

When Zixia heard of this, he remarked, "Alas! Ziyou seems to have missed the point. Whose disciples will be the first to be taught the Way of the gentleman, and then in the end grow tired of it? It is like the gra.s.s and the trees: you make distinctions between them according to their kind.166 The Way of the gentleman, how can it be slandered so? Starting at the beginning and working through to the end-surely this describes none other than the sage!"

19.14 Ziyou said, "Mourning should fully express grief and then stop at that."167 19.21 Zigong said, "A gentleman's errors are like an eclipse of the sun or the moon: when he errs, everyone notices it, but when he makes amends, everyone looks up to him."

Book Twenty.

20.3 Kongzi said, "One who does not understand fate lacks the means to become a gentleman. One who does not understand ritual lacks the means to take his place.168 One who does not understand words lacks the means to evaluate others."

SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Translations.

Ames, Roger T., and Henry Rosemont, Jr.

1998 The a.n.a.lects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. New York: Ballan-tine Books. (Includes the Chinese text, extensive introduction, and bibliography, and notes upon recent archaeological finds related to the a.n.a.lects.) Brooks, E. Bruce, and A. Taeko Brooks 1998 The Original a.n.a.lects: Sayings of Confucius and His Successors. New York: Columbia University Press. (Follows the Brookses' radical reorganization of the text and includes commentary on individual pa.s.sages; the translation is at times awkward, but is perhaps the most precise and scholarly one available in English.) Lau, D. C.

1979 Confucius: The a.n.a.lects. New York: Penguin Books. (The cla.s.sic and most commonly read translation.) Slingerland, Edward 2003 Confucius: a.n.a.lects. Indianapolis: Hackett Publis.h.i.+ng Company. (Complete translation of the a.n.a.lects with selections from traditional commentaries.) Waley, Arthur 1989 The a.n.a.lects of Confucius. New York: Vintage Books. (Originally published in 1938, this is perhaps the smoothest and most literary of a.n.a.lects translations.) Secondary Works Eno, Robert 1990 The Confucian Creation of Heaven: Philosophy and the Defense of Ritual Mastery. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. (Portrays the early Ru-ist [Confucian] school as a tight-knit community concerned solely with the details of ritual practice.) Fingarette, Herbert 1972 Confucius: The Secular as Sacred. New York: Harper Torchbooks. (Emphasizes the communal and const.i.tutive nature of the rites.) Hall, David L., and Roger T. Ames 1987 Thinking Through Confucius. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. (Emphasizes the creative aspects of the Confucian tradition.) Ivanhoe, Philip J.

"The 'Golden Rule' in the a.n.a.lects." In Contemporary Encounters with Confucius, David Jones, ed. (La Salle, IL: Open Court Press, forthcoming).

Kupperman, Joel 1968 "Confucius and the Problem of Naturalness." Philosophy East & West 18: 17585. (Discusses the question of how conscious, artificial practice can ever produce "natural," spontaneous behavior.) Lin Yu-sheng 1924 "The Evolution of the Pre-Confucian Meaning of Jen and the Confucian Concept of Moral Autonomy." Monumenta Serica 31: 172204. (Cla.s.sic discussion of the evolution of the term ren.) Nivison, David S.

1998 The Ways of Confucianism: Investigations in Chinese Philosophy. Bryan Van Norden, ed. Chicago and La Salle, IL: Open Court Press. (A collection of essays on Confucianism.) Roetz, Heiner 1993 Confucian Ethics of the Axial Age. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. (Argues for the convention-transcending nature of the Confucian project and the autonomy of the Confucian moral agent.) Shun, Kwong-loi 1993 "Jen and Li in the a.n.a.lects." Philosophy East & West 43.3: 45779. (On the relations.h.i.+p between the virtue of ren and li , "ritual practice.") Taylor, Rodney 1990 The Religious Dimensions of Confucianism. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. (Emphasizes the oft-overlooked religious nature of the Confucian tradition.) Tu, Wei-ming 1979 Humanity and Self Cultivation: Essays in Confucian Thought. Berkeley, CA: Asian Humanities Press. (Includes essays on ren and li , "ritual practice.") Van Norden, Bryan W., ed.

2001 Confucius and the a.n.a.lects: New Essays. New York: Oxford University Press. (Wide-ranging anthology on various aspects of the a.n.a.lects) 1Some scholars have questioned the traditional view of the text as a unified work, arguing that it represents many different chronological strata and even incompatible viewpoints. The Chinese have nevertheless read it as a coherent whole for thousands of years, and this is the perspective on the text that we adopt here. This said, the reader will note that our selection gives greater weight to those portions of the text generally agreed to be earlier and most authoritative, books 19.

2By the time of the a.n.a.lects, the term ming had taken on the additional meaning of "fate" or "destiny," but was thought to be similarly decreed by Heaven. For a discussion of this term, see Edward Slingerland, "The Conception of Ming in Early Chinese Thought," Philosophy East & West 46.4: 56781.

3See Important Terms and a.n.a.lects 6.13 for Kongzi's criticism of the "petty Ru."

4Part of Goodness is caring for or love of others (a.n.a.lects 12.22). Later philosophers emphasized this aspect of Goodness, so in later chapters the same character is translated "benevolence." See also ren under Important Terms.

5Although the term "nonaction" is often a.s.sociated with "Daoism," it is found in the a.n.a.lects (15.5) and is arguably an important concept for many early thinkers. See Edward Slingerland, Effortless Action: Wu-wei as Conceptual Metaphor and Spiritual Ideal in Early China (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003).

6A disciple of Kongzi.

7Cf. 15.11 and 16.4 below. A suspicion of those who are overly glib or outwardly pleasing is a common theme in the a.n.a.lects, which is very much concerned with distinguis.h.i.+ng genuine virtue from "counterfeit virtue"-that is, the outward appearance of virtue without the inner substance.

8A disciple of Kongzi.

9Both disciples of Kongzi.

10That is, Kongzi does not actively pry or seek out information but rather is so perfected in Virtue that what he seeks comes to him unbidden.

11In the standard received edition of the Odes, this poem is # 55. Zigong's point is that this Ode seems to describe metaphorically a person who has been shaped and perfected by a long, arduous process of self-cultivation.

12Odes (Mao # 297). The original reference is to powerful war horses bred to pull chariots, who are trained not to swerve from the desired path. The metaphorical meaning is that one committed through study to the Odes-"yoked" to them, as it were-will not be led astray.

13That is, through mastery of the rites; cf. a.n.a.lects 8.8, 16.13, and 20.3.

14Cf. a.n.a.lects 9.29.

15Cf. a.n.a.lects 16.8, 20.3.

16A disciple of Kongzi.

17A disciple of Kongzi.

18Kongzi's favorite disciple, who tragically died at an early age (cf. a.n.a.lects 5.9, 6.3, 6.7, 6.11, and 11.9).

19Cf. a.n.a.lects 4.2.

20Qi , literally a ritual vessel designed to serve a particular function, is also used by extension to refer to officials who are specialized in one particular task. The gentleman is not a narrow specialist (cf. a.n.a.lects 5.4, 6.13, 9.2, 9.6, 13.4, and 19.7).

21Lit., "doing government" (weizheng ). The reference is to Kongzi's lack of an official position.

22See Legge, The Shoo King, p. 535.

23The Ji Family had usurped power from the rightful authorities in Kongzi's home state of Lu and was for Kongzi representative of the ritual, moral, and political improprieties of his age. Later ritual texts describe the "eight rows of dancers" as a ritual prerogative of the emperor; presumably in Kongzi's time it was viewed as the prerogative of the Zhou kings. In either case, the Ji Family's use of eight rows of dancers is obviously an egregious violation of ritual propriety.

24Cf a.n.a.lects 3.12 and 17.11. a.n.a.lects 3.3 is probably also directed at the head of the Ji Family criticized in 3.1.

25Lin Fang is usually identified as a man of Lu and presumably shares Kongzi's concern that his fellow countrymen were neglecting the "roots" and attending to the superficial "branches" of ritual practice.

26The first two lines appear in the present version of the Odes (Mao # 57) while the third does not.

27That is, the adornment provided by the rites is meant to build upon appropriate native emotions or tendencies. Just as all the cosmetics in the world are of no avail if the basic lines of the face are not pleasing, so is the refinement provided by ritual practice of no help to one lacking in zhi , "native substance." Cf. a.n.a.lects 3.4, 5.10, and 6.18.

28An important sacrifice to the earliest known ancestor of the reigning dynasty, the performance of which was the prerogative of the presiding ruler. By Kongzi's time, the performance of this rite had degenerated to the point that he could no longer bear to look upon it.

29Although some commentators take "not fully present" in the literal sense (i.e., not being physically present at the sacrifice, and sending a proxy in one's stead), the preceding comment would suggest that what is at issue is psychological or spiritual presence.

30That is, the Xia and Shang dynasties.

31Apparently this sacrifice had originally been part of a larger ritual to welcome the new moon. By Kongzi's time the ritual itself had fallen into disuse in Lu, whereas the sacrifice-being the responsibility of a particular government office-had survived. Zigong does not see the point of continuing this vestigial, materially wasteful practice in the absence of its original ritual context.

32Ritual practice had so degenerated by Kongzi's age that a proper ritual pract.i.tioner was viewed with suspicion or disdain.

33The first of the Odes, and sometimes used to refer to the Odes as a whole.

34Music thus serves as a model or metaphor for the process of self-cultivation: starting in confusion, pa.s.sing through many phases, and culminating in a state of perfection.

35That is, to wake up the fallen world. Some commentators believe that the bell referred to is the kind used by itinerant collectors and transmitters of folk songs, and that the border official's point is thus that Heaven has deliberately caused Kongzi to lose his official position so that he might wander throughout the realm, spreading the teachings of the Way.

36Other translators would give the sense as, "With regard to neighborhoods, it is the presence of those who are Good that makes them desirable. How could someone who does not choose to dwell in Goodness be considered wise?"

37The word rendered here as "teach" (dao also means "the Way," and a double entendre is almost certainly intended: "all that I teach" is also "my Way."

38To be zhong, "loyal" or "dutiful," involves fulfilling the duties and obligations proper to one's ritually defined role (see a.n.a.lects 5.19 below for a description of someone deemed zhong by Kongzi). This virtue is to be tempered by the virtue of shu, "sympathetic understanding": the ability, by means of imaginatively putting oneself in the place of another, to know when it is appropriate or yi, "right," to bend or suspend the dictates of role-specific duty. (This interpretation is developed in Philip J. Ivanhoe, "The 'Golden Rule'in the a.n.a.lects." In Contemporary Encounters with Confucius, David Jones, ed. (Open Court Press, forthcoming). Cf a.n.a.lects 5.12, 6.30, 12.2, 15.3, and 15.24.

39The length of the mourning period for parents, equivalent to twenty-five months by Western reckoning. Cf. a.n.a.lects 17.21 and the note to that pa.s.sage.

40The reference is to the attractive power of Virtue.

41The social stigma attached to former criminals in early China was enormous and inescapable, since criminals were prominently branded or tattooed. In giving his daughter in marriage to a former criminal, Kongzi is flouting conventional mores and making a powerful statement concerning the independence of true morality from conventional social judgments.

42Cf. a.n.a.lects 2.12 and see the note to that pa.s.sage.

43The son of a minister of Lu, who also appears in a.n.a.lects 2.6 (not in this volume). The three figures he asks about-Zilu, Ran Qiu, and Zihua-are all disciples of Kongzi.

44That is, Zai Wo, a disciple of Kongzi, obviously lacks the zhi , "native substance" (see a.n.a.lects 6.18), that serves as the background upon which the "color" of Confucian self-cultivation is to be applied (see a.n.a.lects 3.8).

45Zigong's aspiration-what has been referred to as the "negative Golden Rule"-is a formulation of the virtue of shu, "sympathetic understanding": the ability to temper the strict dictates of loyalty to one's zhong, "duty" by imaginatively placing oneself in another's place. See a.n.a.lects 4.15. Zigong's aspiration to the virtue of shu is particularly amusing to Kongzi because Zigong is the most unimaginative and rigid of all the disciples. In a.n.a.lects 5.4, for instance, his fastidious adherence to the rites leads Kongzi to dub him a "ritual vessel" of limited capacity, and in a.n.a.lects 14.29 he is criticized by Kongzi for being too strict and judgmental with others (i.e., for not moderating his duty-defined demands upon others with understanding). Zigong thus functions in the a.n.a.lects as an excellent example of how the virtue of loyalty goes awry when not tempered with sympathetic understanding, and this is perhaps why Kongzi singles out Zigong in a.n.a.lects 15.24 for his message that "sympathetic understanding" is the one teaching that can serve as a lifelong guide.

46That is, in his teachings Kongzi did not concern himself much with such theoretical, esoteric subjects as human nature or the Way of Heaven, but rather tried to focus his disciples'attention upon the task at hand, acquiring the cultural refinement necessary to become gentlemen.

47A disciple of Kongzi.

48A prime minister of the state of Chu who was renowned for his integrity and devotion to the state.

49Cuizi and Chen Wenzi were both officials in the state of Qi. The former is said to have a.s.sa.s.sinated Lord Zhuang of Qi in 548 B.C.E.

50Cf. Mengzi 7B37.

51 Cf. the more elaborate version of a similar conversation in a.n.a.lects 11.26.

52 Duke Ai (r. 494468 B.C.E.) was the nominal ruler of Lu, which was in fact controlled by the Ji Family.

53In light of the many injunctions against seeking office for the sake of material benefit that are found in Kongzi's teachings, the disciple Yuan Si no doubt expected to be praised by the Master for declining to be paid a salary. Kongzi's response reflects the fact that the proper course of action cannot be determined by a simple formula but should rather be the result of careful reflection and consideration of the needs of others. The Master may also have detected a note of spiritual pride in Yuan Si's grandiose gesture and seen the need to deflate his feeling of self-importance.

54A disciple of Kongzi.

55The latter half of the sentence is not present in the received text of the a.n.a.lects but is present in the Dingzhou version, and it is also part of the Record of the Historian version of this story.

56That is, Ran Qiu has already decided he cannot do it, and so he does not even try.

57The term "petty Ru" refers to someone content to serve as a narrow technician or "vessel" (a.n.a.lects 2.12) or to a moral hypocrite such as the "village worthy" (a.n.a.lects 17.13). See also Ru under Important Terms.

58"It" is presumably the Way.

59One of Kongzi's younger disciples.

60This is a famously cryptic pa.s.sage. Perhaps the most plausible interpretation is provided by the Han dynasty commentator Bao Xian : "The wise take joy in actively exercising their talent and wisdom in governing the world, just as water flows on and on and knows no cease. The Good take joy in the sort of peace and stability displayed by mountains, which are naturally inactive and yet give birth to all of the myriad things."

61A gu was a ritual drinking vessel, and commentators generally agree that Kongzi's sigh of displeasure was provoked by the fact that the sort of gu being used by his contemporaries was not a proper gu (i.e., not in accordance with Zhou dynasty standards), although there is disagreement over the question of what precisely was wrong-some claiming that the offending gu was not of the proper shape, others that it was not of the proper size. In any case, this pa.s.sage serves to ill.u.s.trate Kongzi's strict adherence to ancient practices, his dissatisfaction with the practices of his contemporaries, and his concern for the proper use of names (cf a.n.a.lects 13.3). For an image of a gu, see the web page for this volume.

62Nanzi was the wife of Lord Ling of Wei, and a woman of bad repute. Zilu is not pleased that Kongzi would seek an audience with such a person. As many commentators point out, however, it is likely that ritual dictated that when arriving in a state one request an audience with certain minor local officials. In having an audience with Nanzi upon arriving in Wei, Kongzi was therefore merely observing the dictates of ritual propriety, which is more important than avoiding unsavory company. Zilu might thus-like Chen Wenzi in a.n.a.lects 5.19 above-be characterized as "pure," but such rigid fastidiousness falls rather short of Goodness.