739
Am I a bitter gourd? How can I be
hung up out of the way of being eaten?
740
The Master said, "Yu, have you heard the six words to which are
attached six becloudings?" Yu replied, "I have not."
741
"Sit down, and I will tell them to you.
742
"There is the love of being benevolent without the love of
learning;-the beclouding here leads to a foolish simplicity.
There is the love of knowing without the love of learning;-the
beclouding here leads to dissipation of mind. There is the love
of being sincere without the love of learning;-the beclouding
here leads to an injurious disregard of consequences. There is
the love of straightforwardness without the love of
learning;-the beclouding here leads to rudeness. There is the
love of boldness without the love of learning;-the beclouding
here leads to insubordination. There is the love of firmness
without the love of learning;-the beclouding here leads to
extravagant conduct."
743
The Master said, "My children, why do you not study the Book of
Poetry?
744
"The Odes serve to stimulate the mind.
745
"They may be used for purposes of self-contemplation.
746
"They teach the art of sociability.
747
"They show how to regulate feelings of resentment.
748
"From them you learn the more immediate duty of serving one's
father, and the remoter one of serving one's prince.
749
"From them we become largely acquainted with the names of birds,
beasts, and plants."
750
The Master said to Po-yu, "Do you give yourself to the Chau-nan
and the Shao-nan. The man who has not studied the Chau-nan and
the Shao-nan is like one who stands with his face right against
a wall. Is he not so?" The Master said, "'It is according to the
rules of propriety,' they say.-'It is according to the rules of
propriety,' they say. Are gems and silk all that is meant by
propriety? 'It is music,' they say.-'It is music,' they say. Are
hers and drums all that is meant by music?"
751
The Master said, "He who puts on an appearance of stern
firmness, while inwardly he is weak, is like one of the small,
mean people;-yea, is he not like the thief who breaks through,
or climbs over, a wall?"
752
The Master said, "Your good, careful people of the villages are
the thieves of virtue."
753
The Master said, To tell, as we go along, what we have heard on
the way, is to cast away our virtue."
754
The Master said, "There are those mean creatures! How impossible
it is along with them to serve one's prince!
755
"While they have not got their aims, their anxiety is how to get
them. When they have got them, their anxiety is lest they should
lose them.
756
"When they are anxious lest such things should be lost, there is
nothing to which they will not proceed."
757
The Master said, "Anciently, men had three failings, which now
perhaps are not to be found.
758
"The high-mindedness of antiquity showed itself in a disregard
of small things; the high-mindedness of the present day shows
itself in wild license. The stern dignity of antiquity showed
itself in grave reserve; the stern dignity of the present day
shows itself in quarrelsome perverseness. The stupidity of
antiquity showed itself in straightforwardness; the stupidity of
the present day shows itself in sheer deceit."
759
The Master said, "Fine words and an insinuating appearance are
seldom associated with virtue."
760
The Master said, "I hate the manner in which purple takes away
the luster of vermilion. I hate the way in which the songs of
Chang confound the music of the Ya. I hate those who with their
sharp mouths overthrow kingdoms and families."
761
The Master said, "I would prefer not speaking."
762
Tsze-kung said, "If you, Master, do not speak, what shall we,
your disciples, have to record?"
763
The Master said, "Does Heaven speak? The four seasons pursue
their courses, and all things are continually being produced,
but does Heaven say anything?"
764
Zu Pei wished to see Confucius, but Confucius declined, on the
ground of being sick, to see him. When the bearer of this
message went out at the door, the Master took his lute and sang
to it, in order that Pei might hear him.
765
Tsai Wo asked about the three years' mourning for parents,
saying that one year was long enough.
766
"If the superior man," said he, "abstains for three years from
the observances of propriety, those observances will be quite
lost. If for three years he abstains from music, music will be
ruined. Within a year the old grain is exhausted, and the new
grain has sprung up, and, in procuring fire by friction, we go
through all the changes of wood for that purpose. After a
complete year, the mourning may stop."
767
The Master said, "If you were, after a year, to eat good rice,
and wear embroidered clothes, would you feel at ease?" "I
should," replied Wo.
768
The Master said, "If you can feel at ease, do it. But a superior
man, during the whole period of mourning, does not enjoy
pleasant food which he may eat, nor derive pleasure from music
which he may hear. He also does not feel at ease, if he is
comfortably lodged. Therefore he does not do what you propose.
But now you feel at ease and may do it."
769
Tsai Wo then went out, and the Master said, "This shows Yu's
want of virtue. It is not till a child is three years old that
it is allowed to leave the arms of its parents. And the three
years' mourning is universally observed throughout the empire.
Did Yu enjoy the three years' love of his parents?"
770
The Master said, "Hard is it to deal with who will stuff himself
with food the whole day, without applying his mind to anything
good! Are there not gamesters and chess players? To be one of
these would still be better than doing nothing at all."
771
Tsze-lu said, "Does the superior man esteem valor?" The Master
said, "The superior man holds righteousness to be of highest
importance. A man in a superior situation, having valor without
righteousness, will be guilty of insubordination; one of the
lower people having valor without righteousness, will commit
robbery."
772
Tsze-kung said, "Has the superior man his hatreds also?" The
Master said, "He has his hatreds. He hates those who proclaim
the evil of others. He hates the man who, being in a low
station, slanders his superiors. He hates those who have valor
merely, and are unobservant of propriety. He hates those who are
forward and determined, and, at the same time, of contracted
understanding."
773
The Master then inquired, "Ts'ze, have you also your hatreds?"
Tsze-kung replied, "I hate those who pry out matters, and
ascribe the knowledge to their wisdom. I hate those who are only
not modest, and think that they are valorous. I hate those who
make known secrets, and think that they are straightforward."
774
The Master said, "Of all people, girls and servants are the most
difficult to behave to. If you are familiar with them, they lose
their humility. If you maintain a reserve towards them, they are
discontented."
775
The Master said, "When a man at forty is the object of dislike,
he will always continue what he is."
776
The Viscount of Wei withdrew from the court. The Viscount of Chi
became a slave to Chau. Pi-kan remonstrated with him and died.
777
Confucius said, "The Yin dynasty possessed these three men of
virtue."
778
Hui of Liu-hsia, being chief criminal judge, was thrice
dismissed from his office. Some one said to him, "Is it not yet
time for you, sir, to leave this?" He replied, "Serving men in
an upright way, where shall I go to, and not experience such a
thrice-repeated dismissal? If I choose to serve men in a crooked
way, what necessity is there for me to leave the country of my
parents?"
779
The duke Ching of Ch'i, with reference to the manner in which he
should treat Confucius, said, "I cannot treat him as I would the
chief of the Chi family. I will treat him in a manner between
that accorded to the chief of the Chil and that given to the
chief of the Mang family." He also said, "I am old; I cannot use
his doctrines." Confucius took his departure. |