The Analects of Confucius by Confucius (ebooks children's books free .TXT) 📖

whole
day, and he has not made any objection to anything I said;— as if
he were stupid. He has retired, and I have examined his conduct
when away from me, and found him able to illustrate my teachings.
Hui!— He is not stupid.'
        CHAP. X. 1. The Master said, 'See what a man does.
        2. 'Mark his motives.
        3. 'Examine in what things he rests.
        4. 'How can a man conceal his character?
        5. How can a man conceal his character?'
        CHAP. XI. The Master said, 'If a man keeps cherishing his old
knowledge, so as continually to be acquiring new, he may be a
teacher of others.'

CHAP. XII. The Master said, 'The accomplished scholar is not a utensil.' CHAP. XIII. Tsze-kung asked what constituted the superior man. The Master said, 'He acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his actions.' CHAP. XIV. The Master said, 'The superior man is catholic and no partisan. The mean man is partisan and not catholic.' CHAP. XV. The Master said, 'Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous.' CHAP. XVI. The Master said, 'The study of strange doctrines is injurious indeed!'

CHAP. XVII. The Master said, 'Yu, shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it;— this is knowledge.' CHAP. XVII. 1. Tsze-chang was learning with a view to official emolument. 2. The Master said, 'Hear much and put aside the points of which you stand in doubt, while you speak cautiously at the same time of the others:— then you will afford few occasions for blame. See much and put aside the things which seem perilous, while you are cautious at the same time in carrying the others into practice:— then you will have few occasions for repentance. When one gives few occasions for blame in his words, and few occasions for repentance in his conduct, he is in the way to get emolument.'

CHAP. XIX. The Duke Ai asked, saying, 'What should be done in order to secure the submission of the people?' Confucius replied, 'Advance the upright and set aside the crooked, then the people will submit. Advance the crooked and set aside the upright, then the people will not submit.' CHAP. XX. Chi K'ang asked how to cause the people to reverence their ruler, to be faithful to him, and to go on to nerve themselves to virtue. The Master said, 'Let him preside over them with gravity;— then they will reverence him. Let him be filial and kind to all;— then they will be faithful to him. Let him advance the good and teach the incompetent;— then they will eagerly seek to be virtuous.' CHAP. XXI. 1. Some one addressed Confucius, saying, 'Sir, why are you not engaged in the government?'

2. The Master said, 'What does the Shu-ching say of filial piety?— "You are filial, you discharge your brotherly duties. These qualities are displayed in government." This then also constitutes the exercise of government. Why must there be THAT— making one be in the government?' CHAP. XXII. The Master said, 'I do not know how a man without truthfulness is to get on. How can a large carriage be made to go without the cross-bar for yoking the oxen to, or a small carriage without the arrangement for yoking the horses?' CHAP. XXIII. 1. Tsze-chang asked whether the affairs of ten ages after could be known. 2. Confucius said, 'The Yin dynasty followed the regulations of the Hsia: wherein it took from or added to them may be known. The Chau dynasty has followed the regulations of Yin: wherein it took from or added to them may be known. Some other may follow the Chau, but though it should be at the distance of a hundred ages, its affairs may be known.'

        CHAP. XXIV. 1. The Master said, 'For a man to sacrifice to a
spirit which does not belong to him is flattery.
        2. 'To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.'

BOOK III. PA YIH.

CHAP. I. Confucius said of the head of the Chi family, who had eight rows of pantomimes in his area, 'If he can bear to do this, what may he not bear to do?'

CHAP. II. The three families used the YUNG ode, while the vessels were being removed, at the conclusion of the sacrifice. The Master said, '"Assisting are the princes;— the son of heaven looks profound and grave:"— what application can these words have in the hall of the three families?' CHAP. III. The Master said, 'If a man be without the virtues proper to humanity, what has he to do with the rites of propriety? If a man be without the virtues proper to humanity, what has he to do with music?' CHAP. IV. 1. Lin Fang asked what was the first thing to be attended to in ceremonies. 2. The Master said, 'A great question indeed! 3. 'In festive ceremonies, it is better to be sparing than extravagant.

In the ceremonies of mourning, it is better that there be deep sorrow than a minute attention to observances.' CHAP. V. The Master said, 'The rude tribes of the east and north have their princes, and are not like the States of our great land which are without them.' CHAP. VI. The chief of the Chi family was about to sacrifice to the T'ai mountain. The Master said to Zan Yu, 'Can you not save him from this?' He answered, 'I cannot.' Confucius said, 'Alas! will you say that the T'ai mountain is not so discerning as Lin Fang?'

CHAP. VII. The Master said, 'The student of virtue has no contentions. If it be said he cannot avoid them, shall this be in archery? But he bows complaisantly to his competitors; thus he ascends the hall, descends, and exacts the forfeit of drinking. In his contention, he is still the Chun-tsze.' CHAP. VIII. 1. Tsze-hsia asked, saying, 'What is the meaning of the passage— "The pretty dimples of her artful smile! The well- defined black and white of her eye! The plain ground for the colours?"' 2. The Master said, 'The business of laying on the colours follows (the preparation of) the plain ground.' 3. 'Ceremonies then are a subsequent thing?' The Master said, 'It is Shang who can bring out my meaning. Now I can begin to talk about the odes with him.'

CHAP. IX. The Master said, 'I could describe the ceremonies of the Hsia dynasty, but Chi cannot sufficiently attest my words. I could describe the ceremonies of the Yin dynasty, but Sung cannot sufficiently attest my words. (They cannot do so) because of the insufficiency of their records and wise men. If those were sufficient, I could adduce them in support of my words.' CHAP. X. The Master said, 'At the great sacrifice, after the pouring out of the libation, I have no wish to look on.' CHAP. XI. Some one asked the meaning of the great sacrifice. The Master said, 'I do not know. He who knew its meaning would find it as easy to govern the kingdom as to look on this;— pointing to his palm.

CHAP. XII. 1. He sacrificed to the dead, as if they were present. He sacrificed to the spirits, as if the spirits were present. 2. The Master said, 'I consider my not being present at the sacrifice, as if I did not sacrifice.' CHAP. XIII. 1. Wang-sun Chia asked, saying, 'What is the meaning of the saying, "It is better to pay court to the furnace than to the south-west corner?"' 2. The Master said, 'Not so. He who offends against Heaven has none to whom he can pray.'

CHAP. XIV. The Master said, 'Chau had the advantage of viewing the two past dynasties. How complete and elegant are its regulations! I follow Chau.' CHAP. XV. The Master, when he entered the grand temple, asked about everything. Some one said, 'Who will say that the son of the man of Tsau knows the rules of propriety! He has entered the grand temple and asks about everything.' The Master heard the remark, and said, 'This is a rule of propriety.' CHAP. XVI. The Master said, 'In archery it is not going through the leather which is the principal thing;— because people's strength is not equal. This was the old way.'

CHAP. XVII. 1. Tsze-kung wished to do away with the offering of a sheep connected with the inauguration of the first day of each month. 2. The Master said, 'Ts'ze, you love the sheep; I love the ceremony.' CHAP. XVII. The Master said, 'The full observance of the rules of propriety in serving one's prince is accounted by people to be flattery.' CHAP. XIX. The Duke Ting asked how a prince should employ his ministers, and how ministers should serve their prince. Confucius replied, 'A prince should employ his minister according to according to the rules of propriety; ministers should serve their prince with faithfulness.' CHAP. XX. The Master said, 'The Kwan Tsu is expressive of enjoyment without being licentious, and of grief without being hurtfully excessive.'

CHAP. XXI. 1. The Duke Ai asked Tsai Wo about the altars of the spirits of the land. Tsai Wo replied, 'The Hsia sovereign planted the pine tree about them; the men of the Yin planted the cypress; and the men of the Chau planted the chestnut tree, meaning thereby to cause the people to be in awe.' 2. When the Master heard it, he said, 'Things that are done, it is needless to speak about; things that have had their course, it is needless to remonstrate about; things that are past, it is needless to blame.' CHAP. XXII. 1. The Master said, 'Small indeed was the capacity of Kwan Chung!' 2. Some one said, 'Was Kwan Chung parsimonious?' 'Kwan,' was the reply, 'had the San Kwei, and his officers performed no double duties; how can he be considered parsimonious?' 3. 'Then, did Kwan Chung know the rules of propriety?' The

Master said, 'The princes of States have a screen intercepting the view at their gates. Kwan had likewise a screen at his gate. The princes of States on any friendly meeting between two of them, had a stand on which to place their inverted cups. Kwan had also such a stand. If Kwan knew the rules of propriety, who does not know them?' CHAP. XXXII. The Master instructing the grand music-master of Lu said, 'How to play music may be known. At the commencement of