The Sayings Of Confucius Part 8

[Footnote 68: An abstruse, ancient cla.s.sic, usually called the Book of Changes.]

17. The Master liked to talk of poetry, history, and the upkeep of courtesy. Of all these he liked to talk.

18. The Duke of She asked Tzu-lu about Confucius.

Tzu-lu did not answer.

The Master said, Why didst thou not say, He is a man that forgets to eat in his eagerness, whose sorrows are forgotten in gladness, who knows not that age draws near?

19. The Master said, I was not born to wisdom: I loved the past, and sought it earnestly there.

20. The Master never talked of goblins, strength, disorder, or spirits.

21. The Master said, Walking three together I am sure of teachers. I pick out the good and follow it; I see the bad and shun it.

22. The Master said, Heaven begat the mind in me; what can Huan T'ui[69] do to me?

23. The Master said, My two-three boys, do ye think I hide things? I hide nothing from you. I am a man that keeps none of his doings from his two-three boys.

24. The Master taught four things: art, conduct, faithfulness and truth.

25. The Master said, A holy man I shall not live to see; enough could I find a gentleman! A good man I shall not live to see; enough could I find a steadfast one! But when nothing poses as something, cloud as substance and want as riches, it is hard indeed to be steadfast!

26. The Master angled, but he did not fish with a net; he shot, but not at birds sitting.

27. The Master said, There may be men that do things without knowing why. I do not. To hear much, pick out the good and follow it; to see much and think it over; this comes next to wisdom.

28. To talk to the Hu village was hard. When a lad was seen by the Master, the disciples doubted.

The Master said, I allow his coming, not what he does later. Why be so harsh? If a man cleans himself to come in, I admit his cleanness, but do not warrant his past.

[Footnote 69: In 495 B.C., during Confucius's wanderings, Huan T'ui sent a band of men to kill him; but why he did so is not known.]

29. The Master said, Is love so far a thing? I long for love, and lo!

love is come.

30. A judge of Ch'en asked whether Duke Chao[70] knew good form.

Confucius answered, He knew good form.

After Confucius had left, the judge beckoned Wu-ma Ch'i[71] to him, and said, I had heard that gentlemen are of no party, but do they, too, take sides? This lord married a Wu, whose name was the same as his, and called her Miss Tzu of Wu: if he knew good form, who does not know good form?

When Wu-ma Ch'i told the Master this he said, How lucky I am! If I go wrong, men are sure to know it!

31. When anyone sang to the Master, and sang well, he made him sing it again and joined in.

32. The Master said, I have no more reading than others; to live as a gentleman is not yet mine.

33. The Master said, How dare I lay claim to holiness or love? A man of endless craving, who never tires of teaching, I might be called, but that is all.

That is just what we disciples cannot learn, said Kung-hsi Hua.

34. When the Master was very ill, Tzu-lu asked leave to pray.

Is it done? said the Master.

[Footnote 70: Duke Chao of Lu (+ 510 B.C.) was the duke that first employed Confucius. It is against Chinese custom for a man to marry a girl whose surname is the same as his.]

[Footnote 71: A disciple of Confucius.]

It is, answered Tzu-lu. The Memorials say, Pray to the spirits above and to the Earth below.

The Master said, Long-lasting has my prayer been.

35. The Master said, Waste makes men unruly, thrift makes them mean; but they are better mean than unruly.

36. The Master said, A gentleman is calm and s.p.a.cious; the small man is always fretting.

37. The Master's manner was warm yet dignified. He was stern, but not fierce; humble, yet easy.

BOOK VIII

1. The Master said, T'ai-po[72] may be said to have carried n.o.bility furthest. Thrice he refused all below heaven. Men were at a loss how to praise him.

2. The Master said, Without good form attentions grow into fussiness, heed becomes fearfulness, daring becomes unruliness, frankness becomes rudeness. When gentlemen are true to kinsfolk, love will thrive among the people; if they do not forsake old friends, the people will not steal.

3. When Tseng-tzu lay sick he called his disciples and said, Uncover my feet, uncover my arms. The poem says,

As if a deep gulf Were yawning below, As crossing thin ice, Take heed how ye go.

My little children, I have known how to keep myself unhurt until now and hereafter.[73]

4. When Tseng-tzu was sick Meng Ching[74] came to ask after him.

[Footnote 72: T'ai-po was the eldest son of the King of Chou. The father wished his third son to succeed him, so that the throne might pa.s.s later to his grandson, afterwards known as King Wen. To enable this plan to be carried out T'ai-po and his second brother went into exile.]

[Footnote 73: The Chinese say: 'The body is born whole by the mother; it should be returned whole by the son.']

[Footnote 74: Chief of the Meng clan, minister of Lu.]

Tseng-tzu said, When a bird is dying his notes are sad; when man is dying his words are good. Three branches of the Way are dear to a gentleman: To banish from his bearing violence and disdain; to sort his face to the truth, and to banish from his speech what is low or unseemly. The ritual of chalice and platter[75] has servitors to see to it.

5. Tseng-tzu said, When we can, to ask those that cannot; when we are more, to ask those that are less; having, to seem wanting; real, to seem shadow; when gainsaid, never answering back; I had a friend[76]

once that could do thus.