who does his duty to the king, and withdraws rather than do wrong, is called a statesman. As for Yu and Ch'iu, I should call them tools." "Who would do one's bidding then?" "Neither would they do your bidding," said the Master, "if bidden slay king or father." [24] Tzu-lu had Tzu-kao made governor of Pi. The Master said: "Thou art undoing a man's son." Tzu-lu said: "What with the people and the guardian spirits must a man read books to come by knowledge?" The Master said: "This is why I hate a glib tongue." [25] The Minister said to Tzu-lu, Tseng Hsi," 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, had ye a name, what would ye do?" Tzu-lu lightly answered: Give me charge of a land of a thousand chariots, crushed between great neighbours, overrun by soldiery and searched by famine, in three years' time I could put courage into the people and high purpose." The Master smiled. 66 "What wouldst thou do, Ch'iu?"" he said. He answered: "Had I charge of sixty or seventy square miles, or from fifty to sixty square miles, in three years' time I would give the people plenty. As for courtesy, music, and the like, they would wait the rise of a gentleman.” "And what wouldst thou do, Ch'ih? " 25 He answered: "I speak of the things I fain would learn, not of what I can do. At service in the Ancestral Temple, or at the Grand Audience, clad in black robe and cap, I fain would fill a small part." "And what wouldst thou do, Tien?" 26 66 Tien ceased to play, 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 season, with five or six grown men and six or seven lads, I would bathe 28 A disciple: the father of Tseng-tzu. 25 Kung-hsi Hua. 26 Tseng Hsi. in the Yi, be fanned by the breeze in the Rain God's glade, and wander home with song." 66 The Master sighed and said: "I hold with Tien." Tseng Hsi stayed after the other three had left, and said: What did ye think of what the others said, Sir?" "Each but spake his mind," said the Master. 66 Why did ye smile at Yu," Sir?" "Lands are swayed by courtesy, but what he said was not modest. That was why I smiled." "But did not Ch'iu, too, speak of a state?" "Where could sixty or seventy square miles be found, or from fifty to sixty, that are not a state?" “And did not Ch'ih, too, speak of a state?” "Who but great vassals would there be in the Ancestral Temple, or at the Grand Audience? But if Ch'ih were to play a small part, who could fill a big one?" XII [1] Yen Yüan asked, What is love? The Master said: "Love is to conquer self and turn to courtesy. Could we conquer self and turn to courtesy for but one day, all mankind would turn to love. Does love flow from within, or does it flow from others?" 66 Yen Yüan said: May I ask what are its signs?" The Master said: "To be ever courteous of eye and ever courteous of ear; to be ever courteous in word and ever courteous in deed." Yen Yüan said: "Dull as I am, 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 high 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: "Dull as I am, I hope to live by these words." 27 Tzu-lu. [3] Ssu-ma Niu' 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: "That which is hard to do, can it be lightly spoken?" [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 finds no sin in his heart, 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 mourn his lack of them?" [6] Tzu-chang asked, What is insight? The Master said: "To be unmoved 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 a trusting people." Tzu-kung said: "Were there no help for it, which could best be spared of the three?" "Troops," said the Master. 66 'And were there no help for it, 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 said: "A gentleman is all nature: what can art do for him?" 66 "Alas! my lord," said Tzu-kung, "how ye speak of a gentleman! No team overtakes the tongue! more than art; art is no more than nature. 1 A disciple. 2 Minister of Wei. Nature is no Without the fur, a tiger or a leopard's hide is as the hide of a dog, or goat." [9] Duke Ai said to Yu Jo': "In this year of dearth I have not enough for my wants; what should be done?" 66 Ye might tithe the people," answered Yu Jo. 66 "A fifth is all too little," said the duke; how could a tenth avail?” 66 'When the people all live in plenty," answered Yu Jo, "will the king alone be in want? If the people are all in want, can the king alone live in plenty?" [10] Tzu-chang asked how to raise the mind and scatter delusions. The Master said: "Make faithfulness and truth thy masters, and follow the right; the mind will be raised. We wish life to things we love, death to things we hate. To wish them both life and death is a delusion. 'Whether prompted by wealth, [11] Ching, Duke of Ch'i asked Confucius, What is kingcraft? Confucius answered: When the king is king and the minister is minister; when the father is father and the son is son." 66 'True indeed!" said the duke. "Were the king no king and the minister no minister, were the father no father and the son no son, could I get aught to eat, though the grain were there?" [12] The Master said: "To stint a quarrel with half a word Yu is the man." Tzu-lu never slept over a promise. [13] The Master said: "At hearing lawsuits I am no better than another. What is needed is to stay lawsuits." [14] Tzu-chang asked, What is kingcraft? The Master said: "To be tireless of spirit and faithful at work." [15] The Master said: "Breadth of reading and the ties of courtesy will also keep a man from error's path." A disciple of Confucius. Confucius was in Ch'i in B.C. 517. The duke was overshadowed by his ministers, and contemplated setting aside his eldest son. Tzu-lu. [16] The Master said: "A gentleman shapes the good in man; he does not shape the bad in him. Contrariwise the vulgar." [17] Chi K'ang asked Confucius how to rule. Confucius answered: "To rule is to set straight. If we give an upright lead, sir, who will dare walk crooked?" [18] Chi K'ang being vexed by robbers spake of it to Confucius. Confucius answered: "But for your greed, sir, though ye rewarded thieves, no man would steal." [19] Chi K'ang, speaking of kingcraft, said to Confucius: "To help the good, should we kill the bad?" Confucius answered: "Sir, what need has a ruler to kill? Were ye set on good, sir, your people would do good. The king's mind is the wind, and grass are the minds of the people: whither the wind blows, thither the grass bends.” [20] Tzu-chang asked, When may a scholar 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." The Master said: "That is fame, not eminence. The eminent man is plain and straight. He loves right, weighs men's words, and scans their looks. At pains to step down to them, he will be eminent in the state, and eminent in his home. The famous man wears a mask of love, but his deeds belie it. He knows no misgivings, and fame will be his in the state and fame be his in his home." [21] Whilst wandering through the Rain God's glade with the Master, Fan Ch'ih said to him: "May I ask how to raise the mind, amend evil, and scatter errors?" The Master said: "A good question! Rate the task above the prize; will not the mind be raised? Fight thine own faults, not the faults of others; 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 mankind." On the death of Chi Huan, Chi K'ang set aside his infant nephew and made himself head of the clan. |