The Master calls himself a transmitter and not a maker. He believes in the ancients and compares himself with old P'ang. What occasions him solicitude is leaving virtue uncultivated, not discussing what is learned, not moving toward a righteousness already known, and not changing what is not good. From the man bringing a bundle of dried flesh upward, he has never refused instruction. He does not open the truth to one who is not eager. When he has presented one corner, and the other three do not come, he does not repeat the lesson. He never eats to the full beside a mourner. He does not sing on a day he has been weeping. Called to office, undertake it. Not called, lie retired. Only he and Yen Yuan have attained to this. He will not take as associate the man who attacks a tiger unarmed or crosses a river without a boat, dying without regret. His associate proceeds full of solicitude, adjusts his plans, then acts. If the search for riches were sure, he would become a groom with a whip to get them. As it may not be successful, he follows what he loves. The things in which he exercises the greatest caution are fasting, war, and sickness.
In Ch'i he hears the Shao and for three months does not know the taste of flesh. Asked whether he is for the ruler of Wei, Tsze-kung tests him through Po-i and Shu-ch'i. They sought to act virtuously and they did so. What was there to repine about. Our Master is not for him. With coarse rice, water, and a bended arm for a pillow, he still has joy. Riches and honours acquired by unrighteousness are a floating cloud. The Duke of Sheh asks Tsze-lu about him, and Tsze-lu does not answer. Why did you not say he is a man who in eager pursuit forgets his food, who in the joy of attainment forgets his sorrows, and who does not perceive that old age is coming on. He was not born in the possession of knowledge. He is fond of antiquity and earnest in seeking it there. He does not talk of extraordinary things, feats of strength, disorder, or spiritual beings. When he walks with two others, they may serve as teachers. He will follow their good qualities and avoid their bad. Heaven produced the virtue that is in him. What can Hwan T'ui do to him. He conceals nothing.
A sage it is not his to see. A man of constancy would satisfy him. Having not and yet affecting to have, empty and yet affecting to be full: it is difficult with such characteristics to have constancy. He angles, but does not use a net. He shoots, but not at birds perching. A lad of Hu-hsiang is received. The disciples doubt. He admits people's approach without committing himself as to what they may do when they have retired. If a man purify himself to wait, he receives him so purified, without guaranteeing his past. Is virtue a thing remote. He wishes to be virtuous, and lo, virtue is at hand. Asked whether duke Chao knew propriety, he says that he did. The minister points to a same-surname marriage. The Master says he is fortunate: if he has any errors, people are sure to know them. In letters he is perhaps equal to other men. Carrying out in his conduct what he professes is what he has not yet attained. How dare he rank himself with the sage. It may be said that he strives to become such without satiety, and teaches without weariness. When he is very sick, Tsze-lu asks leave to pray. His praying has been for a long time. He was mild, and yet dignified; majestic, and yet not fierce; respectful, and yet easy.
Coming Up in Chapter 8
T'ai-po declines the kingdom three times, and the people cannot praise what they do not understand. Respect without propriety becomes laborious bustle. Tsang, ill, has his hands and feet uncovered and says the course stops only at death.
