The Master gives his own daughter to Kung-ye Ch'ang. The man has been in bonds, but no crime sat behind them. He gives his brother's daughter to Nan Yung, who will hold office in a well-governed state and escape disgrace in a badly governed one. Tsze-chien's virtue, he says, is proof that Lu still has virtuous men. When Tsze-kung asks what he is, the answer is a utensil, a gemmed sacrificial one. Ready speech is no proof of virtue. Those who meet men with smartnesses of the tongue mostly procure hatred. Ch'i-tiao K'ai will not take office until he can rest in the assurance of the teaching. The Master is pleased. When his doctrines make no way, he jokes about a raft on the sea, and names Yu as the one who would come. Yu is glad, and is told he is fonder of daring than of judgment. Mang Wu asks whether Tsze-lu, Ch'iu, and Ch'ih are perfectly virtuous. Each has a use: levies, a city, the court. The Master will not call any of them perfectly virtuous. Tsze-kung is not equal to Hui. Hui hears one point and knows the subject. Tsze-kung hears one point and knows a second.
Tsai Yu sleeps in the daytime. Rotten wood cannot be carved. A wall of dirty earth will not receive the trowel. The Master then changes his own method. At first he heard men's words and gave them credit for their conduct. Now he hears their words and looks at their conduct. He learned that from Yu. He has not seen a firm and unbending man. Shan Ch'ang is under his passions. Tsze-kung says he does not wish to do to men what he does not wish them to do to him. He has not attained to that. When Tsze-lu hears a thing, if he has not yet practised it, he is afraid to hear another. Kung-wan earned the title Wan by loving learning and asking even of his inferiors. Tsze-ch'an has four marks of the superior man: humble in himself, respectful to superiors, kind in nourishing the people, just in ordering them. Yen P'ing keeps the same respect in a long acquaintance as at first. Tsze-wan is loyal. Ch'an Wan is pure. The Master still will not call them perfectly virtuous. Chi Wan thinks thrice, then acts. Twice, the Master says, may do.
In Ch'an he wants to return. The children of his school are accomplished and hasty, and do not know how to restrict and shape themselves. Po-i and Shu-ch'i do not keep former wickednesses in mind, so resentments against them stay few. Wei-shang Kao is called upright, then is caught borrowing vinegar from a neighbour rather than saying he has none. Fine words, an insinuating appearance, and hidden resentment dressed as friendship: Tso Ch'iu-ming was ashamed of them. The Master is ashamed of them too. Asked his wishes, he names rest for the aged, sincerity with friends, and tenderness for the young. It is all over. He has not yet seen one who could perceive his faults and inwardly accuse himself. In a hamlet of ten families there may be one as honourable and sincere as he is, but not so fond of learning.
Coming Up in Chapter 6
The Master says Yung might occupy the place of a prince. Chung-kung asks about a man who does not mind small matters, then draws the line: ease in the work is allowed; ease in the self is too much. The Master says Yung's words are right. Asked who loved to learn, he names Yen Hui, who did not transfer his anger or repeat a fault.
