Politics, Character, and Human Nature — The Analects

Yang Ho wants Confucius but cannot get a visit. He sends a pig; Confucius pays respects when Ho is out and meets him anyway. Ho asks whether a man is benevolent who hides his jewel while the country falls apart, or wise who wants public work yet keeps missing chances. The years do not wait. Confucius says right, I will go into office. Then the book turns fast. By nature people are nearly alike; by practice they grow far apart. Only the wisest and stupidest extremes cannot change. At Wu-ch'ang Confucius hears music and jokes about using an ox knife on a fowl; Tsze-yu quotes his teaching that instruction works at every level; Confucius admits he spoke in sport. Rebellious Kung-shan Fu-zao and Pi Hsi both invite him; Tsze-lu objects. Confucius asks whether he could not build an eastern Zhou if employed, and calls himself a bitter gourd that cannot hang out of the way of being eaten. The middle is a stress test on character plus learning. Perfect virtue is gravity, generosity, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness practiced everywhere. Six loves without study becloud into foolish simplicity, dissipation, reckless disregard, rudeness, insubordination, and extravagance. Study the Book of Poetry, Confucius tells his disciples: it wakes the mind, teaches reflection and sociability, regulates resentment, and trains duty to father and prince. Po-yu must master Chau-nan and Shao-nan or stand facing a wall. Propriety is not gems and silk; music is not bells and drums. Stern outside and weak inside resembles a wall-breaking thief. The good careful people of villages steal virtue. Repeating roadside gossip casts virtue away. Mean court climbers are impossible to serve. Antiquity's high-mindedness ignored small things; today's runs wild. Old dignity was reserve; today's is quarrelsome. Old stupidity was plain; today's is deceit. Closing is sharper and more personal. Fine words and insinuating faces rarely hold virtue. Confucius hates purple dimming vermilion, Chang songs confounding Ya music, and sharp mouths overthrowing houses. He would prefer not speaking; Heaven does not speak yet seasons turn and things grow. He declines Zu Pei as sick, then plays lute so Pei hears. Tsai Wo argues one year of mourning is enough; Confucius lets him stop if he feels at ease, then marks Yu's want of virtue for forgetting parents' three-year hold. All-day eating without good work is worse than games. Righteousness outranks valour; master and disciple trade lists of what they hate. Girls and servants lose humility if familiar and sulk if kept distant. Book XVII ends on a cold line: when a man at forty is disliked, he will always continue what he is.