452
He was answered, "The management
of a state demands the rules of propriety. His words were not
humble; therefore I smiled at him."
453
Hsi again said, "But was it not a state which Ch'iu proposed for
himself?" The reply was, "Yes; did you ever see a territory of
sixty or seventy li or one of fifty or sixty, which was not a
state?"
454
Once more, Hsi inquired, "And was it not a state which Ch'ih
proposed for himself?" The Master again replied, "Yes; who but
princes have to do with ancestral temples, and with audiences
but the sovereign? If Ch'ih were to be a small assistant in
these services, who could be a great one?
455
Yen Yuan asked about perfect virtue. The Master said, "To subdue
one's self and return to propriety, is perfect virtue. If a man
can for one day subdue himself and return to propriety, an under
heaven will ascribe perfect virtue to him. Is the practice of
perfect virtue from a man himself, or is it from others?"
456
Yen Yuan said, "I beg to ask the steps of that process." The
Master replied, "Look not at what is contrary to propriety;
listen not to what is contrary to propriety; speak not what is
contrary to propriety; make no movement which is contrary to
propriety." Yen Yuan then said, "Though I am deficient in
intelligence and vigor, I will make it my business to practice
this lesson."
457
Chung-kung asked about perfect virtue. The Master said, "It is,
when you go abroad, to behave to every one as if you were
receiving a great guest; to employ the people as if you were
assisting at a great sacrifice; not to do to others as you would
not wish done to yourself; to have no murmuring against you in
the country, and none in the family." Chung-kung said, "Though I
am deficient in intelligence and vigor, I will make it my
business to practice this lesson."
458
Sze-ma Niu asked about perfect virtue.
459
The Master said, "The man of perfect virtue is cautious and slow
in his speech."
460
"Cautious and slow in his speech!" said Niu;-"is this what is
meant by perfect virtue?" The Master said, "When a man feels the
difficulty of doing, can he be other than cautious and slow in
speaking?"
461
Sze-ma Niu asked about the superior man. The Master said, "The
superior man has neither anxiety nor fear."
462
"Being without anxiety or fear!" said Nui;"does this constitute
what we call the superior man?"
463
The Master said, "When internal examination discovers nothing
wrong, what is there to be anxious about, what is there to
fear?"
464
Sze-ma Niu, full of anxiety, said, "Other men all have their
brothers, I only have not."
465
Tsze-hsia said to him, "There is the following saying which I
have heard-'Death and life have their determined appointment;
riches and honors depend upon Heaven.'
466
"Let the superior man never fail reverentially to order his own
conduct, and let him be respectful to others and observant of
propriety:-then all within the four seas will be his brothers.
What has the superior man to do with being distressed because he
has no brothers?"
467
Tsze-chang asked what constituted intelligence. The Master said,
"He with whom neither slander that gradually soaks into the
mind, nor statements that startle like a wound in the flesh, are
successful may be called intelligent indeed. Yea, he with whom
neither soaking slander, nor startling statements, are
successful, may be called farseeing."
468
Tsze-kung asked about government. The Master said, "The
requisites of government are that there be sufficiency of food,
sufficiency of military equipment, and the confidence of the
people in their ruler."
469
Tsze-kung said, "If it cannot be helped, and one of these must
be dispensed with, which of the three should be foregone first?"
"The military equipment," said the Master.
470
Tsze-kung again asked, "If it cannot be helped, and one of the
remaining two must be dispensed with, which of them should be
foregone?" The Master answered, "Part with the food. From of
old, death has been the lot of an men; but if the people have no
faith in their rulers, there is no standing for the state."
471
Chi Tsze-ch'ang said, "In a superior man it is only the
substantial qualities which are wanted;-why should we seek for
ornamental accomplishments?"
472
Tsze-kung said, "Alas! Your words, sir, show you to be a
superior man, but four horses cannot overtake the tongue.
Ornament is as substance; substance is as ornament. The hide of
a tiger or a leopard stripped of its hair, is like the hide of a
dog or a goat stripped of its hair."
473
The Duke Ai inquired of Yu Zo, saying, "The year is one of
scarcity, and the returns for expenditure are not
sufficient;-what is to be done?"
474
Yu Zo replied to him, "Why not simply tithe the people?"
475
"With two tenths, said the duke, "I find it not enough;-how
could I do with that system of one tenth?"
476
Yu Zo answered, "If the people have plenty, their prince will
not be left to want alone. If the people are in want, their
prince cannot enjoy plenty alone."
477
Tsze-chang having asked how virtue was to be exalted, and
delusions to be discovered, the Master said, "Hold faithfulness
and sincerity as first principles, and be moving continually to
what is right,-this is the way to exalt one's virtue.
478
"You love a man and wish him to live; you hate him and wish him
to die. Having wished him to live, you also wish him to die.
This is a case of delusion. 'It may not be on account of her
being rich, yet you come to make a difference.'"
479
The Duke Ching, of Ch'i, asked Confucius about government.
Confucius replied, "There is government, when the prince is
prince, and the minister is minister; when the father is father,
and the son is son."
480
"Good!" said the duke; "if, indeed, the prince be not prince,
the not minister, the father not father, and the son not son,
although I have my revenue, can I enjoy it?"
481
The Master said, "Ah! it is Yu, who could with half a word
settle litigations!"
482
Tsze-lu never slept over a promise.
483
The Master said, "In hearing litigations, I am like any other
body. What is necessary, however, is to cause the people to have
no litigations."
484
Tsze-chang asked about government. The Master said, "The art of
governing is to keep its affairs before the mind without
weariness, and to practice them with undeviating consistency."
485
The Master said, "By extensively studying all learning, and
keeping himself under the restraint of the rules of propriety,
one may thus likewise not err from what is right."
486
The Master said, "The superior man seeks to perfect the
admirable qualities of men, and does not seek to perfect their
bad qualities. The mean man does the opposite of this."
487
Chi K'ang asked Confucius about government. Confucius replied,
"To govern means to rectify. If you lead on the people with
correctness, who will dare not to be correct?"
488
Chi K'ang, distressed about the number of thieves in the state,
inquired of Confucius how to do away with them. Confucius said,
"If you, sir, were not covetous, although you should reward them
to do it, they would not steal."
489
Chi K'ang asked Confucius about government, saying, "What do you
say to killing the unprincipled for the good of the principled?"
Confucius replied, "Sir, in carrying on your government, why
should you use killing at all? Let your evinced desires be for
what is good, and the people will be good. The relation between
superiors and inferiors is like that between the wind and the
grass. The grass must bend, when the wind blows across it."
490
Tsze-chang asked, "What must the officer be, who may be said to
be distinguished?"
491
The Master said, "What is it you call being distinguished?"
492
Tsze-chang replied, "It is to be heard of through the state, to
be heard of throughout his clan." |