BOOK XII. YEN YÜAN. 敏勿勿子哉為已 請動R聽 1.顏仁復復 顏顏 事非 已復禮爲仁一 斯禮禮日己天為問 語旦勿勿請而 言視問由歸 仁仁。 雖非非其人仁日 日 不禮禮目。乎焉克克 淵第十二 CHAPTER I. I. Yen Yüan 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 Yüan 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 Yüan then said, 'Though I am deficient in intelligence and vigour, I will make it my business to practise this lesson. HEADING OF THIS BOOK.顔淵第十身而存,故謂私為已,已 here 'The twelfth Book, beginning with "Yen is not exactly selfishness, but selfishness is what abides by being attached to the body, and Yüan.” It contains 24 chapters, conveying| lessons on perfect virtue, government, and other hence it is said that selfishness is 'And questions of morality and policy, addressed in again, 克已非克去其已,乃克 conversation by Confucius chiefly to his dis ciples. The different answers, given about the 去已中之私欲也克已 is not same subject to different questioners, show well subduing and putting away the self, but subhow the sage suited his instructions to the characters and capacities of the parties with duing and putting away the selfish desires in the whom he had to do. self.' This ' selfishness in the self' is of a three 1. How ToO ATTAIN TO PERFECT VIRTUE:–A |fold character:first, 氣禀, said by Mor 6 6 CONVERSATION WITH YEN YUAN. 1. In Ho Yen, rison to be a person's natural constitution and 克已 is explained by 約身, to restrain disposition of mind : it is, I think, very much by, the fuxirds aveparos or animal man; second, the body.' Chû Hsi defines 克by勝cto耳目口鼻之欲, the desires of tho overcome,' and 已by身之私欲 ears, the eyes, the mouth, the nose;' i. e. the 'the dominating influences of the senses; and third, selfish desires of the body. In the 合講,it 爾我, Thou and I,' i.e. the lust of supeis said−已非卽是私,但私卽附riority. More concisely, the 已 is said, in the 請弓怨 賓日 祭賓 日司事日在於已使 仁馬斯雍家人所民門 者牛語雖無在不如 如 問矣。不怨欲 見 仲弓問仁子 敏仲無勿大大子 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-mâ Niû asked about perfect virtue. 2. The Master said, " The man of perfect virtue is cautious and slow in his speech.' 2. 翼註, to be the 人心 as opposed to the that every man may attain to this virtue for 道心, the mind of man' in opposition to himself, 而 is equivalent to our ‘or,' and "the mind of reason;'-see the Shû-ching, II. ii. implies a strong denial of what is asked. I5. This refractory mind of man,' it is said, 其 refers to克己復禮目=條件, 與生俱生, is innate,'or, perhaps, con- a list of particulars.’事 is used as an active nate.’ In all these statements there is an verb;-'I beg to make my business these words.' the influence of the senses-which Confucius reverence (敬) and reciprocity(恕), on the specially intended. 復禮—see noteon 禮民' ordering the people,' is apt to be done with haughtiness. This part of the answer VIII. ii. It is not here ceremonies. Chû Hsî may be compared with the apostle's precept defines it一天理之節文, the specific (Honour all men,' only the ‘all men’is much divisions and graces of heavenly principle or more comprehensive there. 已所云云 reason.' This is continually being departed from, on the impulse of selfishness, but there -comparev.xi. 在那在家,=‘abroad,' is an ideal of it as proper to man, which is to be ‘at home.' Pao Hsien, in Ho Yen, however, sought-‘returned to' by overcoming that. takes the former as denoting 'the prince of a 歸 is explained by Chû Hsi by 與, to allow. State,'and the latter,‘thechief of a great officer's establishment.' This is like the interpretation The gloss of the 備合 is-稱其仁,‘will of歸 in last chapter. The answer, the same praise his perfect virtue. Perhaps T as that of Hûi in last chapter, seems to betray is only = our ‘everybody,' or 'anybody. Some the hand of the compiler. editors take kcei in the sense of 'to return,' 'the empire will return to perfect virtue ; 3. CAUTION IN SPEAKING A CHARACTERISTIC OF PERFECT VIRTUE:-A CONVERSATION WITH TSZE supposing the exemplifier to be a prince. In NIÊ. I. Tsze-uiù was the designation of Sze the next sentence, which is designed to teach ma Kăng, alias Li Kăng (犂耕), whose 有兄弟我獨亡子百 我牛 獨憂 亡。旦懼。 子人 夏皆 謂之仁矣乎子日 也訒日,其言也謗斯 日斯憂 不君曰子乎。為斯 3. Cautious and slow in his speech !' said Niû; '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. I. Sze-mâ Nid asked about the superior man. The Master said, 'The superior man has neither anxiety nor fear.' 2. ' Being without anxiety or fear!’said Niû; tute what we call the superior man?' does this consti 3. The Master said, 'When internal examination discovers nothing wrong, what is there to be anxious about, what is there to fear ?’ CHAP. V. I. Sze-mâ Niû, full of anxiety, said, " Other men all have their brothers, I only have not.’ 2. Tsze-hsiâ said to him, 'There is the following saying which I have heard:— tablet is now the 7th east in the outer ranges | illness;' here it is understood with reference of the disciples. He belonged to Sung, and to the mind, that displaying no symptom of was a brother of Hwan Tûi, VII. xxii. Their disease. ordinary surname was Hsiang(向), but that of Hwan could also be used by them, as they were descended from the duke so called. The office of ‘Master of the horse'(司馬) had long been in the family, and that title appears here as if it were Niû's surname. 訒言 難出,‘the words coming forth with dificulty.’3. 為之言之-comp.on in the note on VII. x, et al. Doing being difficult, can speaking be without difficulty of utterance.' 4. How THE CHUN-TSZE HAS NEITHER ANXIETY NOR FEAR, AND CONSCIOUS RECTITUDE FREES FROM THESE. I. coming troubles; is our ‘anxiety,' trouble about is 'fear,' when the 状 is ‘a chronic 6 5. CONSOLATION OFFERED BY TSZE-HSIA TO TSZENIÛ, ANXIOUS ABOUT THE WAYS OF HIS BROTHER. I. Tsze-niû's anxiety was occasioned by the conduct of his eldest brother Hwan Tûi, who, he knew, was contemplating rebellion, which would probably lead to his death. 兄弟 elder brothers' and ‘younger brothers,' but The phrase simply = "brothers.’“All have their Tsze-niû was himself the youngest of his family. brothers,i. e. all can rest quietly without anxiety in their relation. 2. It is naturally supposed that the author of the observation was Confucius. Tsze-hsia, see I. vii. 4. The 翼 says that the expression, 'all within the four seas are brothers,' 不是通天譜, does not mean that all under heaven have the same genealogical register.' Chú Hsi's inter pretation is that, when a man so acts, other 替可 之 患之失富 明 膚張無皆 與 受問兄兄恭 矣。愬 之明。弟弟而 謂遠也已矣 潛膚受之愬不行焉可 3. 不矣 矣子也。 浸不 行浸 可之焉潤 君 禮敬 子 何海無命 "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 far-seeing.' men will love and respect him as a brother. | DRESSED TO TSZE-CHANG. Tsze-chang (II. xvii), This, no doubt, is the extent of the saying. I it is said, was always seeking to be wise about have found no satisfactory gloss on the phrase things lofty and distant, and therefore Con‘the four seas.' It is found in the Shû-ching, fucius brings him back to things near at hand, the Shih-ching, and the Li Chi. In the, which it was more necessary for him to attend a sort of Lexicon, very ancient, which was once to. 浸潤之譖,‘soaking, moistening, (soaking,moistening, reckoned among the Ching, it is explained as a slander,' which unperceived sinks into the territorial designation, the name of the dwell great Yü is represented as having made the ing-place of all the barbarous tribes. But the mind. 膚受之愬(=and interchanged four seas as four ditches, to which he drained with), 'statements of wrongs which startle the waters inundating 'the Middle Kingdom.' like a wound in the flesh,' to which in the surPlainly, the ancient conception was of their prise credence is given. He with whom these ,–are ‘no go,' is intelligent,一 own country as the great habitable tract, north, things 不行,一 south, east, and west of which were four seas or oceans, between whose shores and their own yea, far-seeing. 遠=明之至. So Chû borders the intervening space was not very great, and occupied by wild hordes of inferior Hsî. The old interpreters differ in their view races. See the 四書釋地續, II. xxiv. of膚受之愬 The 註疏 says. The -Commentators consider Tsze-hsia's attempt skin receives dust which gradually accumu. at consolation altogether wide of the mark. lates.' This makes the phrase synonymous 6. WHAT CONSTITUTES INTELLIGENCE-AD-with the former. 何成不自斯 不民問 以日立古二必 必何 得信政。 皆者不先已之子 文君 為子 有何得日而日 死先已去去子足 子質 CHAP. VII. I. 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'ăng said, In a superior man it is only the substantial qualities which are wanted;-why should we seek for ornamental accomplishments?' 7. REQUISITES IN GOVERNMENT:–A CONVERSA- | faith in their ruler, and will not leave him or rebel.’On the 3rd paragraph he says, ' If the 兵 primarily means TION WITH TSZE-KUNG. I. | people be without food, they must die, but ‘weapons.’‘A soldier,' the bearer of such death is the inevitable lot of men. If they are weapons, is a secondary meaning. There were no standing armies in Confucius's time. The without, though they live, they have not term is to be taken here, as = military equip- wherewith to establish themselves. It is better ment,’‘preparation for war: 信之一之 refers to其上,‘their ruler.’3. The diff culty here is with the concluding clause 信不立:Transferring the meaning of信 for them in such case to die, Therefore it is better for the ruler to die, not losing faith to his people, so that the people will prefer death rather than lose faith to him.' 8. SUBSTANTIAL QUALITIES AND ACCOMPLISH MENTS IN THE CHÜN-TSZE. I. Tsze-ch'ăng was an officer of the State of Wei, and, distressed from paragraph 1, we naturally render as in the by the pursuit in the times of what was merely translation, and 不立=國不立,(the State will not stand.' This is the view, more external, made this not sufficiently well-con sidered remark, to which Tsze-kung replied, over, of the old interpreters. Chû Hsi and his in, according to Chû Hsi, an equally one-sided followers, however, seek to make much more manner. I. 何以文為 is thus expanded 信: On the 1st paragraph he comments, in the 註疏一何用文章乃為君 (The granaries being full, and the military preparation complete, then let the influence of, 'why use accomplishments in order to instruction proceed. So shall the people have make a Chin-tsze?’ 2. We may interpret this |