411
The disciples did bury him in
great style.
412
The Master said, "Hui behaved towards me as his father. I have
not been able to treat him as my son. The fault is not mine; it
belongs to you, O disciples."
413
Chi Lu asked about serving the spirits of the dead. The Master
said, "While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve
their spirits?" Chi Lu added, "I venture to ask about death?" He
was answered, "While you do not know life, how can you know
about death?"
414
The disciple Min was standing by his side, looking bland and
precise; Tsze-lu, looking bold and soldierly; Zan Yu and Tsze-kung,
with a free and straightforward manner. The Master was pleased.
415
He said, "Yu, there!-he will not die a natural death."
416
Some parties in Lu were going to take down and rebuild the Long
Treasury.
417
Min Tsze-ch'ien said, "Suppose it were to be repaired after its
old style;-why must it be altered and made anew?"
418
The Master said, "This man seldom speaks; when he does, he is
sure to hit the point."
419
The Master said, "What has the lute of Yu to do in my door?"
420
The other disciples began not to respect Tszelu. The Master
said, "Yu has ascended to the hall, though he has not yet passed
into the inner apartments."
421
Tsze-kung asked which of the two, Shih or Shang, was the
superior. The Master said, "Shih goes beyond the due mean, and
Shang does not come up to it."
422
"Then," said Tsze-kung, "the superiority is with Shih, I
suppose."
423
The Master said, "To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short."
424
The head of the Chi family was richer than the duke of Chau had
been, and yet Ch'iu collected his imposts for him, and increased
his wealth.
425
The Master said, "He is no disciple of mine. My little children,
beat the drum and assail him."
426
Ch'ai is simple. Shan is dull. Shih is specious. Yu is coarse.
427
The Master said, "There is Hui! He has nearly attained to
perfect virtue. He is often in want.
428
"Ts'ze does not acquiesce in the appointments of Heaven, and his
goods are increased by him. Yet his judgments are often
correct."
429
Tsze-chang asked what were the characteristics of the good man.
The Master said, "He does not tread in the footsteps of others,
but moreover, he does not enter the chamber of the sage."
430
The Master said, "If, because a man's discourse appears solid
and sincere, we allow him to be a good man, is he really a
superior man? or is his gravity only in appearance?"
431
Tsze-lu asked whether he should immediately carry into practice
what he heard. The Master said, "There are your father and elder
brothers to be consulted;-why should you act on that principle
of immediately carrying into practice what you hear?" Zan Yu
asked the same, whether he should immediately carry into
practice what he heard, and the Master answered, "Immediately
carry into practice what you hear." Kung-hsi Hwa said, "Yu asked
whether he should carry immediately into practice what he heard,
and you said, 'There are your father and elder brothers to be
consulted.' Ch'iu asked whether he should immediately carry into
practice what he heard, and you said, 'Carry it immediately into
practice.' I, Ch'ih, am perplexed, and venture to ask you for an
explanation." The Master said, "Ch'iu is retiring and slow;
therefore I urged him forward. Yu has more than his own share of
energy; therefore I kept him back."
432
The Master was put in fear in K'wang and Yen Yuan fell behind.
The Master, on his rejoining him, said, "I thought you had
died." Hui replied, "While you were alive, how should I presume
to die?"
433
Chi Tsze-zan asked whether Chung Yu and Zan Ch'iu could be
called great ministers.
434
The Master said, "I thought you would ask about some
extraordinary individuals, and you only ask about Yu and Ch'iu!
435
"What is called a great minister, is one who serves his prince
according to what is right, and when he finds he cannot do so,
retires.
436
"Now, as to Yu and Ch'iu, they may be called ordinary
ministers."
437
Tsze-zan said, "Then they will always follow their chief;-win
they?"
438
The Master said, "In an act of parricide or regicide, they would
not follow him."
439
Tsze-lu got Tsze-kao appointed governor of Pi.
440
The Master said, "You are injuring a man's son."
441
Tsze-lu said, "There are, there, common people and officers;
there are the altars of the spirits of the land and grain. Why
must one read books before he can be considered to have
learned?"
442
The Master said, "It is on this account that I hate your
glib-tongued people."
443
Tsze-lu, Tsang Hsi, Zan Yu, and Kunghsi Hwa were sitting by the
Master.
444
He said to them, "Though I am a day or so older than you, do not
think of that.
445
"From day to day you are saying, 'We are not known.' If some
ruler were to know you, what would you like to do?"
446
Tsze-lu hastily and lightly replied, "Suppose the case of a
state of ten thousand chariots; let it be straitened between
other large cities; let it be suffering from invading armies;
and to this let there be added a famine in corn and in all
vegetables:-if I were intrusted with the government of it, in
three years' time I could make the people to be bold, and to
recognize the rules of righteous conduct." The Master smiled at
him.
447
Turning to Yen Yu, he said, "Ch'iu, what are your wishes?" Ch'iu
replied, "Suppose a state of sixty or seventy li square, or one
of fifty or sixty, and let me have the government of it;-in
three years' time, I could make plenty to abound among the
people. As to teaching them the principles of propriety, and
music, I must wait for the rise of a superior man to do that."
448
"What are your wishes, Ch'ih," said the Master next to Kung-hsi
Hwa. Ch'ih replied, "I do not say that my ability extends to
these things, but I should wish to learn them. At the services
of the ancestral temple, and at the audiences of the princes
with the sovereign, I should like, dressed in the dark
square-made robe and the black linen cap, to act as a small
assistant."
449
Last of all, the Master asked Tsang Hsi, "Tien, what are your
wishes?" Tien, pausing as he was playing on his lute, while it
was yet twanging, laid the instrument aside, and "My wishes," he
said, "are different from the cherished purposes of these three
gentlemen." "What harm is there in that?" said the Master; "do
you also, as well as they, speak out your wishes." Tien then
said, "In this, the last month of spring, with the dress of the
season all complete, along with five or six young men who have
assumed the cap, and six or seven boys, I would wash in the I,
enjoy the breeze among the rain altars, and return home
singing." The Master heaved a sigh and said, "I give my approval
to Tien."
450
The three others having gone out, Tsang Hsi remained behind, and
said, "What do you think of the words of these three friends?"
The Master replied, "They simply told each one his wishes."
451
Hsi pursued, "Master, why did you smile at Yu?" |