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Chapter 17
Yang Ho wished to see Confucius, but Confucius would not go to see him. On this,
he sent a present of a pig to Confucius, who, having chosen a time when Ho was
not at home went to pay his respects for the gift. He met him, however, on the
way.
Ho said to Confucius, "Come, let me speak with you." He
then asked, "Can he be called benevolent who keeps his jewel in his
bosom, and leaves his country to confusion?" Confucius replied, "No."
"Can he be called wise, who is anxious to be engaged in public
employment, and yet is constantly losing the opportunity of being so?"
Confucius again said, "No." "The days and months are passing away; the
years do not wait for us." Confucius said, "Right; I will go into
office."
The Master said, "Yes, I did use these words. But is it not said, that, if a
thing be really hard, it may be ground without being made thin? Is it not said,
that, if a thing be really white, it may be steeped in a dark fluid without
being made black? |
The Master said, "Does Heaven speak? The four seasons pursue their courses, and
all things are continually being produced, but does Heaven say anything?"
Zu Pei wished to see Confucius, but Confucius declined, on the ground of being
sick, to see him. When the bearer of this message went out at the door, the
Master took his lute and sang to it, in order that Pei might hear him.
Tsai Wo asked about the three years' mourning for parents, saying that one year
was long enough.
"If the superior man," said he, "abstains for three years from the observances
of propriety, those observances will be quite lost. If for three years he
abstains from music, music will be ruined. Within a year the old grain is
exhausted, and the new grain has sprung up, and, in procuring fire by friction,
we go through all the changes of wood for that purpose. After a complete year,
the mourning may stop."
The Master said, "If you were, after a year, to eat good rice, and wear
embroidered clothes, would you feel at ease?" "I should," replied Wo.
The Master said, "If you can feel at ease, do it. But a superior man, during the
whole period of mourning, does not enjoy pleasant food which he may eat, nor
derive pleasure from music which he may hear. He also does not feel at ease, if
he is comfortably lodged. Therefore he does not do what you propose. But now you
feel at ease and may do it."
Tsai Wo then went out, and the Master said, "This shows Yu's want of virtue. It
is not till a child is three years old that it is allowed to leave the arms of
its parents. And the three years' mourning is universally observed throughout
the empire. Did Yu enjoy the three years' love of his parents?"
The Master said, "Hard is it to deal with who will stuff himself with food the
whole day, without applying his mind to anything good! Are there not gamesters
and chess players? To be one of these would still be better than doing nothing
at all."
Tsze-lu said, "Does the superior man esteem valor?" The Master said, "The
superior man holds righteousness to be of highest importance. A man in a
superior situation, having valor without righteousness, will be guilty of
insubordination; one of the lower people having valor without righteousness,
will commit robbery."
Tsze-kung said, "Has the superior man his hatreds also?" The Master said, "He
has his hatreds. He hates those who proclaim the evil of others. He hates the
man who, being in a low station, slanders his superiors. He hates those who have
valor merely, and are unobservant of propriety. He hates those who are forward
and determined, and, at the same time, of contracted understanding."
The Master then inquired, "Ts'ze, have you also your hatreds?" Tsze-kung
replied, "I hate those who pry out matters, and ascribe the knowledge to their
wisdom. I hate those who are only not modest, and think that they are valorous.
I hate those who make known secrets, and think that they are straightforward."
The Master said, "Of all people, girls and servants are the most difficult to
behave to. If you are familiar with them, they lose their humility. If you
maintain a reserve towards them, they are discontented."
The Master said, "When a man at forty is the object of dislike, he will always
continue what he is."
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