# The Sayings of Confucius; a New Translation of the Greater Part of the Confucian Analects/Confucius as seen by Others

Tzǔ Ch'in asked Tzǔ Kung, saying: Whenever our Master comes to any new country, he is sure to find out all about its method of government. Does he seek this information himself, or is it voluntarily proffered?—Tzǔ Kung replied: Our Master gains his information because he is so genial and good, so full of deference, modesty and regard for others. In seeking information, how differently does he behave from ordinary men!
The Master having gone up into the Grand Temple, asked questions about everything. Some one remarked: Who says that the son of the citizen of Tsou has any knowledge of ceremonial observances? He comes to the Temple and asks about everything he sees.—Hearing the remark, the Master said: This in itself is a ceremonial observance.
The prefect of the frontier in the town of I asked to be introduced to Confucius, saying: I ​have never failed to obtain an audience of any sage who has visited these parts.—He was thereupon introduced by the Master's followers, and on coming out he said: My sons, why grieve at your Master's fall from power? The Empire has long been lying in evil ways, but now God is going to make Confucius his herald to rouse the land.
The Master said: Shên, a single principle runs through all my teaching.— Tsêng Tzǔ answered, Yes.—When the Master had gone out, the disciples asked, saying: What principle does he mean?—Tsêng Tzǔ said: Our Master's teaching simply amounts to this: loyalty to oneself and charity to one's neighbour. ​Yen Yüan heaved a deep sigh and said: The more I look at our Master's teaching, the higher it seems. The more I test it, the more reliable it appears. I am gazing at it in front of me, when lo! it is suddenly behind me. Our Master knows how to draw men after him by regular steps. He broadens our outlook by means of polite learning, and restrains our impulses by means of inward self-control. Even if I wished to stop, I could not do so; yet after I have exhausted all my efforts in pursuit of the goal, there still remains something inaccessible rising up beyond; and though I would fain make towards it, I cannot find the way.
Tzǔ Lu once passed the night in Shih-mên, where the gate-keeper said to him: Where do you come from? Tzǔ Lu replied: From the school of Confucius.—Oh, is he not the man, said the other, who is trying to do what he knows to be impossible? ​Ch'ên K'ang asked Po Yü, saying: Have you ever received any secret teaching from your father?—He replied: No. But once, when I was passing hurriedly through our hall, I met my father standing alone, and he said: Have you studied the Odes?—I replied, Not yet.—He said: If you do not study the Odes, you will have no conversation.—Thereupon I withdrew and studied the Odes. Another day I met him again standing alone as I hastened through the hall, and he said: Have you studied the Book of Rites?—I replied: Not yet.—He said: If you do not study the Book of Rites, you will hare no stability of character—I withdrew and studied the Book of Rites. These are the two pieces of instruction I have received.—Ch'ên K'ang went away rejoicing and said: I asked about one thing and have learned three—some​thing about the Odes, something about the Rites, and also that the higher type of man has no secrets even with his own son.
Yang Huo wished to have an interview with Confucius, but Confucius would not go to see him. He therefore sent Confucius a sucking-pig as a present. Confucius, however, chose a time when the other was out, to go and pay his respects. But he happened to fall in with him on the road. Thereupon Yang Huo addressed Confucius, saying: Come with me. I have something to say to you. Can he be called truly benevolent, who hugs his jewel to his bosom and allows his country to drift into confusion?—He cannot, was the reply.—Can he be called truly wise, who wishes to engage in public affairs, yet loses several opportunities of doing so?—He cannot.—Well, rejoined Yang Huo, the days and months are fleeting by, and the years will not wait for us.—True, replied Confucius; I will presently take office.
​The eccentric Chieh Yü of the Ch'u State passed Confucius' carriage, singing: O phœnix! O phœnix! How has thy virtue fallen! The past need no longer be a subject of reproof, but against the future it is still possible to provide. Desist, desist! Great is the danger of those who now engage in government.—Confucius alighted, wishing to speak with him, but Chieh Yü hastened rapidly away, and he was unable to get speech of him.
Ch'ang Chü and Chieh Ni a were working together in the fields when Confucius passed by and sent Tzǔ Lu to ascertain from them the whereabouts of the ford. Ch'ang Chü asked: Who is that man holding the reins?—That is Confucius, replied Tzǔ Lu.—Is it Confucius of the Lu State?—Yes.—Then surely he is the man to know where the ford is.—Tzǔ Lu then questioned Chieh Ni. Chieh Ni said: Who are you, Sir?—I am Chung Yu.—Are you a disciple of Confucius of the Lu State?—He replied: I am.—The whole Empire, said Chieh Ni, is rushing headlong to destruction, and who is there that will reform it? As for you, instead of following a ​man who withdraws from prince after prince in succession, would it not be better to follow a man who has withdrawn from the world altogether?—And he went on hoeing without a pause. Tzǔ Lu went back and reported these remarks, whereupon the Master looked surprised and said: We cannot join the company of birds and beasts. If I am not to associate with these men of the ruling class, with whom am I to associate? If right principles prevailed in the Empire, then indeed there would be no need for me to reform it.
Shu-sun Wu-shu, speaking to the ministers at Court, said: Tzǔ Kung is a greater sage than Confucius.—Tzǔ-fu Ching-po repeated this to Tzǔ Kung, who said: Let me use the simile of a house surrounded by a wall. My wall rises only to the height of a man's shoulders, so that any one can look over and see the excellence of ​the building within. But my Master's wall is many fathoms in height, so that one who fails to find the gate of entry cannot see the beauties of the temple nor the rich apparel of the officiating priests. It may be that only a few will succeed in finding the gate. Need we, then, be surprised at His Excellency's remark?
Shu-sun Wu-shu was disparaging Confucius. Tzǔ Kung said: It is no good. Confucius is proof against detraction. The wisdom of other men is like hills and mountain-peaks, which however high can still be scaled. But Confucius is like the sun or the moon, which can never be reached by the foot of man. A man may want to cut himself off from their light, but what harm will that do to the sun or the moon? It only shows very plainly that he has no notion of the measurement of capacity.
* ↑ This was on the borders of the Wei State, whither Confucius, with a small band of disciples, was retiring, heavy of heart, after his discomfiture in Lu.
* ↑ Literally, "is going to use him as a bell with a wooden clapper"—this being the instrument used in making announcements or to call the people together. The friendly prefect's prophecy was to be fulfilled more wonderfully than ever he could have imagined. Never, perhaps, in the history of the human race has one man exerted such an enormous influence for good on after generations.
* ↑ Legge's rendering, "My doctrine is that of an all-pervading unity," is quite untenable, and no other translator has followed him here. The logic of the passage obviously requires the meaning given above.
* ↑ This saying should be compared with those on pp. 91 and 69. It is generally acclaimed as the best epitome of Confucian teaching, yet it was reserved for Mr. Ku Hung-ming, a Chinaman, to give the first correct translation of it in English. The two important words are chung and shu, "conscientiousness" and "charity," for which see notes on pp. 58 and 69. Legge's version, "To be true to the principles of our nature and the benevolent exercise of them to others," though ponderous, would seem to have hit the true meaning, had he not spoilt it by a note to the effect that shu is "duty-doing on the principle of reciprocity." It has nothing on earth to do with reciprocity, being in fact that disinterested love of one's neighbour which was preached five hundred years later in Palestine. The other precept, embodied in the word chung, is exactly Shakespeare's "To thine own self be true"—a noble moral conception for which, obscured as it has been by bungling translators, Confucius has never yet received full credit.
* ↑ The age which Confucius lived was so given over to the forces of disorder, militarism and intrigue, and the chances of a moral reformer were regarded as so hopeless, that it was a common thing for men of principle to retire from public affairs altogether, and either lead the sequestered life of a hermit or take to soma mean employment for a living. The gate-keeper here is said to have been one of this class. Conucius, however, was made of sterner stuff, and it may be claimed that he did ultimately, through sheer force of character, succeed in achieving the "impossible."
* ↑ The "style" or familiar name of K'ung Li, the only son of Confucius.
* ↑ Li here is obviously the name of a book, and not "the rules of propriety" or even "the arts," as Legge and Mr. Ku Hung-ming respectively take it. At the same time, we must be careful not to identify it with the now existing Li Chi or Book of Rites, which did not take shape until a much later period.
* ↑ Because etiquette would require an acknowledgment of the gift at the donor's house.
* ↑ This episode is probably to be referred to the year 502 B.C., when Yang Huo, the nominal subordinate of Chi Huan Tzǔ (himself of usurping tendencies, see Introduction, p. 15), was in open rebellion and seemed likely to become master of the whole state of Lu. He was anxious to enlist the prestige of a man like Confucius on his side, but the latter steadily refused to countenance his schemes. In the following year, Yang Huo was ejected from the state, and gratitude impelled the Duke to offer a governorship to Confucius.
* ↑ Apparently a Taoist, who pinned his faith to Lao Tzu's newly enunciated doctrine of inaction.
* ↑ Also Taoist recluses.
* ↑ This is said to be a sneer at the restlessness which kept Confucius wandering all over the country, so that no place could be unfamiliar to him.
* ↑ The idea is, "Every man to his own trade. Why should I not then busy myself with government—the subject to which I have devoted my life?" I do not agree with Legge that the compiler of this chapter could not have been a disciple of the sage. Confucius successfully refutes the laisser-faire argument of the hermit, who would dissuade him from reform on the strange and unsatisfactory ground that the world's affairs were in a thoroughly bad state. To any one but a Taoist it would be evident that this was the very time for reform.
* ↑ A leading member of one of the three great families in the Lu State.
* ↑ A high official.