CHAP. I. 1. 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,
all under heaven will ascribe perfect virtue to him. Is the practice
of perfect virtue from a man himself, or is it from others?'
2. 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 vigour, I
will make it my business to practise this lesson.'
CHAP. II. 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 vigour, I will make it my business to
practise this lesson.'
CHAP. III. 1. Sze-ma Niu asked about perfect virtue.
2. The Master said, 'The man of perfect virtue is cautious and
slow in his speech.'
3. '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?'
CHAP. IV. 1. Sze-ma Niu asked about the superior man. The
Master said, 'The superior man has neither anxiety nor fear.'
2. 'Being without anxiety or fear!' said Nui;-- 'does this
constitute what we call the superior man?'
3. The Master said, 'When internal examination discovers
nothing wrong, what is there to be anxious about, what is there to
fear?'
CHAP. V. 1. Sze-ma Niu, full of anxiety, said, 'Other men all
have their brothers, I only have not.'
2. Tsze-hsia said to him, 'There is the following saying which I
have heard:--
3. '"Death and life have their determined appointment; riches
and honours depend upon Heaven."
4. '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?'
CHAP. VI. 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.'
CHAP. VII. 1. 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.'
2. 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.
3. 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 all men; but if the people have no
faith in their rulers, there is no standing for the state.'
CHAP. VIII. 1. 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?'
2. Tsze-kung said, 'Alas! Your words, sir, show you to be a
superior man, but four horses cannot overtake the tongue.
3. 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.'
CHAP. IX. 1. 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?'
2. Yu Zo replied to him, 'Why not simply tithe the people?'
3. 'With two tenths, said the duke, 'I find it not enough;-- how
could I do with that system of one tenth?'
4. 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.'
CHAP. X. 1. 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.
2. '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.
3. '"It may not be on account of her being rich, yet you come
to make a difference."'
CHAP. XI. 1. The Duke Ching, of Ch'i, asked Confucius about
government.
2. 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.'
3. 'Good!' said the duke; 'if, indeed; the prince be not prince,
the minister not minister, the father not father, and the son not son,
although I have my revenue, can I enjoy it?'
CHAP. XII. 1. The Master said, 'Ah! it is Yu, who could with
half a word settle litigations!'
2. Tsze-lu never slept over a promise.
CHAP. XIII. 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.'
CHAP. XIV. Tsze-chang asked about government. The Master
said, 'The art of governing is to keep its affairs before the mind
without weariness, and to practise them with undeviating
consistency.'
CHAP. XV. 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.'
CHAP. XVI. 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.'
CHAP. XVII. 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?'
CHAP. XVIII. 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.'
CHAP. XIX. 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.'
CHAP. XX. 1. Tsze-chang asked, 'What must the officer be, who
may be said to be distinguished?'
2. The Master said, 'What is it you call being distinguished?'
3. Tsze-chang replied, 'It is to be heard of through the State,
to be heard of throughout his clan.'
4. The Master said, 'That is notoriety, not distinction.
5. 'Now the man of distinction is solid and straightforward,
and loves righteousness. He examines people's words, and looks at
their countenances. He is anxious to humble himself to others. Such
a man will be distinguished in the country; he will be distinguished
in his clan.
6. 'As to the man of notoriety, he assumes the appearance of
virtue, but his actions are opposed to it, and he rests in this
character without any doubts about himself. Such a man will be
heard of in the country; he will be heard of in the clan.'
CHAP. XXI. 1. Fan Ch'ih rambling with the Master under the
trees about the rain altars, said, 'I venture to ask how to exalt
virtue, to correct cherished evil, and to discover delusions.'
2. The Master said, 'Truly a good question!
3. 'If doing what is to be done be made the first business, and
success a secondary consideration;-- is not this the way to exalt
virtue? To assail one's own wickedness and not assail that of
others;-- is not this the way to correct cherished evil? For a
morning's anger to disregard one's own life, and involve that of his
parents;-- is not this a case of delusion?'
CHAP. XXII. 1. Fan Ch'ih asked about benevolence. The Master
said, 'It is to love all men.' He asked about knowledge. The Master
said, 'It is to know all men.'
2. Fan Ch'ih did not immediately understand these answers.
3. The Master said, 'Employ the upright and put aside all the
crooked;-- in this way the crooked can be made to be upright.'
4. Fan Ch'ih retired, and, seeing Tsze-hsia, he said to him, 'A
Little while ago, I had an interview with our Master, and asked him
about knowledge. He said, 'Employ the upright, and put aside all the
crooked;-- in this way, the crooked will be made to be upright.'
What did he mean?'
5. Tsze-hsia said, 'Truly rich is his saying!
6. 'Shun, being in possession of the kingdom, selected from
among all the people, and employed Kao-yao, on which all who
were devoid of virtue disappeared. T'ang, being in possession of the
kingdom, selected from among all the people, and employed I Yin,
and all who were devoid of virtue disappeared.'
CHAP. XXIII. Tsze-kung asked about friendship. The Master
said, 'Faithfully admonish your friend, and skillfully lead him on. If
you find him impracticable, stop. Do not disgrace yourself.'
CHAP. XXIV. The philosopher Tsang said, 'The superior man
on grounds of culture meets with his friends, and by their
friendship helps his virtue.'