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And how would ye meet good? said the Master. Meet evil with justice; meet good with good.
37. The Master said, Alas! no man knows me! Tzu-kung said, Why do ye say, Sir, that no man knows you?[73]
The Master said, Never murmuring against Heaven, nor finding fault with men; learning from the lowest, cleaving the heights. I am known but to one, but to Heaven.
38. Liao, the duke's uncle, spake ill of Tzu-lu to Chi-sun.[134]
Tzu-fu Ching-po told this to Confucius, saying, My master's mind is surely being led astray by the duke's uncle, but I have still the strength to expose his body in the market-place.
The Master said, If the Way is to be kept, that is the Bidding, and if the Way is to be lost, this is the Bidding. What can the duke's uncle do against the Bidding?
39. The Master said, Men of worth flee the world; the next best flee the land. Then come those that go at a look, then those that go at words.
40. The Master said, Seven men did so.
41. Tzu-lu spent a night at Shih-men.
The gate-keeper asked him, Whence comest thou?
From Confucius, answered Tzu-lu.
The man that knows it is no good and yet must still be doing? said the gate-keeper.
42. When the Master was chiming his sounding stones in Wei, a basket-bearer said, as he passed the door, The heart is full that chimes those stones! But then he said, For shame! What a tinkling sound! If no one knows thee, have done!
The Master said, Where there's a will, that is nowise hard.
43. Tzu-chang said, What does the Book mean by saying that Kao-tsung[135] in his mourning shed did not speak for three years?
Why pick out Kao-tsung? said the Master. The men of old were all thus. For three years after their lord had died, the hundred officers did each his duty and hearkened to the chief minister.
44. The Master said, When those above love courtesy, the people are easy to lead.
45. Tzu-lu asked, What makes a gentleman?
The Master said, To be bent on becoming better.
Is that all? said Tzu-lu.
By becoming better to bring peace to men.
And is that all?
By becoming better to bring peace to all men, said the Master. Even Yao and Shun were still struggling to become better, and so bring peace to all men.
46. Yüan Jang awaited the Master squatting.
Unruly when young, unmentioned as man, undying when old, spells good-for-nothing! said the Master, and he hit him on the leg with his staff.
47. When a lad from the village of Ch'üeh was made messenger, someone asked, saying, Is it because he is doing well?
The Master said, I have seen him sitting in a man's seat, and seen him walking abreast of his elders. He does not try to do well: he wishes to be quickly grown up.
[128] The disciple Yüan Ssu.
[129] Yi was killed by his best pupil, who said to himself, In all the world no one but Yi shoots better than I do. So he killed him.
[131] Chiu and Huan were brothers, sons of the Duke of Ch'i. When their father died, their uncle seized the throne. To preserve the rightful heir, Shao Hu and Kuan Chung fled with Chiu to Lu, whilst Huan escaped to another state. Later on the usurper was murdered, and Huan returned to Ch'i and secured the throne. He then required the Duke of Lu to kill his brother and deliver up to him Shao Hu and Kuan Chung. This was done. But on the way to Ch'i Shao Hu killed himself. Kuan Chung, on the other hand, took service under Duke Huan, became his chief minister, and raised the state to greatness. (See note to Book III, § 22.)
[132] Chi K'ang.
[133] 481 b.c., two years before the death of Confucius, who was not at the time in office. Chien was Duke of Ch'i, a state bordering on Lu. The three chiefs were the heads of the three great clans that were all-powerful in Lu.
[134] The head of the Chi clan, in whose service Tzu-lu was.
[135] An emperor of the Yin dynasty.
1. Ling, Duke of Wei, asked Confucius about the line of battle.
Confucius answered. Of the ritual of dish and platter[136] I have heard somewhat: I have not learnt warfare.
He left the next day.
In Ch'en grain ran out. His followers were too ill to rise. Tzu-lu showed that he was put out.
Has a gentleman to face want too? he said.
Gentlemen have indeed to face want, said the Master. The small man, when he is in want, runs to excess.
2. The Master said, Tz'u,[137] dost thou not take me for a man that has learnt much and thought it over?
Yes, he answered: is it not so?
No, said the Master. I string all into one.
3. The Master said, Yu,[138] how few men know great-heartedness!
4. The Master said, To rule doing nothing, was what Shun did. For what is there to do? Self-respect and to set the face to rule, is all.
5. Tzu-chang asked how to get on.
The Master said, Be faithful and true of word, plain and lowly in thy walk; thou wilt get on even in tribal lands. If thy words be not faithful and [76]true, thy walk not plain and lowly, wilt thou get on even in thine own town? Standing, see these words ranged before thee; driving, see them written upon the yoke. Then thou wilt get on.
Tzu-chang wrote them on his girdle.
6. The Master said, Straight indeed was the historian Yü! Like an arrow whilst the land kept the Way; and like an arrow when it lost the Way! What a gentleman was Ch'ü Po-yü! Whilst the land kept the Way he took office, and when the land had lost the Way he rolled himself up in thought.
7. The Master said, Not to speak to him that has ears to hear is to spill the man. To speak to a man without ears to hear is to spill thy words. Wisdom spills neither man nor words.
8. The Master said, A high will, or a loving heart, will not seek life at cost of love. To fulfil love they will kill the body.
