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Read Ebook: The Sayings of Confucius by Confucius BCE BCE Lyall Leonard Arthur Translator
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Ebook has 349 lines and 25566 words, and 7 pages
-ming. He will not take a short cut when walking, and he has never come to my house except on business.
The Master said, To foster right among the people; to honour ghosts and spirits, and yet keep aloof from them, may be called wisdom.
He asked, What is love?
The Master said, To rank the effort above the prize may be called love.
The Master said, Why should he? A gentleman might be got to the well, but not trapped into it, He may be cheated, but not fooled.
The Master took an oath, saying, If I have done wrong, may Heaven forsake me, may Heaven forsake me!
The Master said, What has this to do with love? Must it not be holiness? Yao and Shun still yearned for this. Seeking a foothold for self, love finds a foothold for others; seeking light for itself, it enlightens others too. To learn from the near at hand may be called the clue to love.
If I lift one corner and the other three are left unturned, I say no more.
Tzu-lu said, If ye had to lead three armies, Sir, whom would ye have with you?
No man, said the Master, that would face a tiger bare-fisted, or plunge into a river and die without a qualm; but one, indeed, who, fearing what may come, lays his plans well and carries them through.
I did not suppose, he said, that music could reach such heights.
I shall ask him, said Tzu-kung.
He went in, and said, What kind of men were Po-yi and Shu-ch'i?
Worthy men of yore, said the Master.
Did they rue the past?
They sought love and found it; what had they to rue?
Tzu-kung went out, and said, The Master is not for him.
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?
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.
Confucius answered, He knew good form.
After Confucius had left, the judge beckoned Wu-ma Ch'i 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!
That is just what we disciples cannot learn, said Kung-hsi Hua.
Is it done? said the Master.
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.
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.
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 has servitors to see to it.
King Wu said, I have ten uncommon ministers.
Confucius said, 'The dearth of talent,' is not that the truth? When Y? followed T'ang the times were rich in talent; yet there were but nine men in all, and one woman. In greatness of soul we may say that Chou was highest: he had two-thirds of all below heaven and bent it to the service of Yin.
When the Master heard this, he said to his disciples, What shall I take up? Shall I take up driving, or shall I take up shooting? I shall take up driving.
Tzu-kung said, Heaven has, indeed, given him so much that he is almost holy, and he can do many things, too.
When the Master heard this, he said, Does the minister know me? Because I was poor when young, I can do many paltry things. But does doing many things make a gentleman? No, not doing many does.
Lao said, The Master would say, As I had no post I learned the crafts.
During a better spell the Master said, Yu has long been feigning. This show of ministers, when I have no ministers, whom will it take in? Will Heaven be taken in? And is it not better to die in the arms of my two-three boys than to die in the arms of ministers? And, if I miss a big burial, shall I die by the roadside?
Sell it, sell it! said the Master. I tarry for my price.
One said, They are low; how could ye?
The Master said, Wherever a gentleman lives, will there be anything low?
Without hatred or greed, What but good does he do?
But when Tzu-lu was everlastingly humming these words, the Master said, This is the way towards it, but how much short of goodness itself!
The blossoms of the plum tree Are dancing in play; My thoughts are with thee, In thy home far away.
The Master said, Her thoughts were not with him, or how could he be far away?
BOOK X
In the ancestral temple and at court his speech was full, but cautious.
When he passed the throne, his face seemed to change and his legs to bend: he spake with bated breath. As he went up the hall to audience, he lifted his robes, bowed his back, and masked his breathing till it seemed to stop. As he came down, he relaxed his face below the first step and looked pleased. From the foot of the steps he swept forward with arms spread like wings; and when he was back in his seat, he looked intent as before.
When he offered his present his manner was formal; but at the private audience he was cheerful.
In hot weather he wore an unlined linen gown, but always over other clothes.
With lamb-skin he wore black, with fawn, white, and with fox-skin, yellow. At home he wore a long fur gown, with the right sleeve short.
His nightgown was always half as long again as his body.
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