The Analects
Book 7 · Transmitting the Tradition
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Transmitting the Tradition · 7.1
The Master said, “I transmit rather than create, trust and love antiquity, and venture to compare myself with our Old Peng.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.2
The Master said, “To retain things quietly, learn without growing weary, and teach others without tiring—what difficulty do these present for me?”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.3
The Master said, “Failing to cultivate virtue, failing to discuss what I learn, hearing what is right but being unable to move toward it, and having faults but being unable to correct them—these are my worries.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.4
When the Master was at leisure, his manner was relaxed and his expression cheerful.
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.5
The Master said, “How far I have declined! It has been a long time since I again saw the Duke of Zhou in a dream.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.6
The Master said, “Set your purpose on the Way, take your stand in virtue, rely on humaneness, and find free enjoyment in the arts.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.7
The Master said, “From anyone who came of his own accord with even a bundle of dried meat, I have never withheld instruction.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.8
The Master said, “I do not open the way for someone who is not struggling to understand, or give expression to someone who is not struggling to speak. If I point out one corner and the learner cannot return with the other three, I do not repeat the lesson.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.9
When the Master ate beside someone in mourning, he never ate his fill. On a day when he had wept, he did not sing.
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.10
The Master said to Yan Yuan, “When employed, put the Way into practice; when set aside, remain hidden. Only you and I can do this!” Zilu said, “If you led the armies, whom would you take with you?” The Master said, “I would not take someone who would fight a tiger barehanded, cross a river on foot, and die without regret. I would certainly take someone who approaches affairs with apprehension, likes to plan carefully, and brings things to completion.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.11
The Master said, “If wealth could properly be sought, I would do even the work of a whip-bearing attendant to obtain it. If it cannot be sought, I will follow what I love.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.12
The things about which the Master was especially careful were ritual purification, warfare, and illness.
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.13
While in Qi, the Master heard the Shao music and for three months did not notice the taste of meat. He said, “I never imagined that music could reach such heights!”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.14
Ran You said, “Is our Master supporting the ruler of Wei?” Zigong said, “Yes, I will ask him.” Entering, he asked, “What sort of people were Bo Yi and Shu Qi?” The Master said, “Worthy people of antiquity.” “Did they resent their situation?” “They sought humaneness and obtained it. What was there to resent?” Coming out, Zigong said, “Our Master does not support him.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.15
The Master said, “Eating coarse food, drinking water, and bending my arm for a pillow—there is joy even in these things. Wealth and rank obtained through what is not right are to me like drifting clouds.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.16
The Master said, “Give me a few more years, so that I may study the Changes at fifty, and I could avoid major faults.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.17
The Master used the standard language when reciting the Odes and Documents and when conducting ritual. In all these matters he used the standard language.
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.18
The Duke of She asked Zilu about Confucius, but Zilu did not reply. The Master said, “Why did you not say, ‘He is someone who becomes so intent on understanding that he forgets to eat, and so joyful that he forgets his worries, unaware that old age is approaching’?”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.19
The Master said, “I am not someone born with knowledge. I love antiquity and am diligent in seeking it.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.20
The Master did not speak about strange phenomena, feats of force, disorder, or spirits.
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.21
The Master said, “When three people walk together, there must be someone from whom I can learn. I choose what is good in them and follow it, and take what is not good as a reason to correct myself.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.22
The Master said, “Heaven has given rise to virtue in me. What can Huan Tui do to me?”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.23
The Master said, “Do you disciples think I conceal something? I conceal nothing from you. There is nothing I do that I do not share with you. That is how I, Qiu, am.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.24
The Master taught four things: cultural learning, conduct, wholeheartedness, and trustworthiness.
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.25
The Master said, “I cannot hope to meet a sage. If I could meet an exemplary person, that would be enough.” The Master said, “I cannot hope to meet someone wholly good. If I could meet someone constant, that would be enough. Having nothing yet pretending to have something, being empty yet pretending to be full, being poor yet pretending to be affluent—it is difficult to have constancy in such circumstances!”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.26
The Master fished with a line rather than a large net, and shot birds with a corded arrow but did not shoot them at roost.
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.27
The Master said, “There may be those who act without knowing; I am not one of them. To hear much, choose what is good and follow it; to see much and remember it—this is the next best thing to knowledge.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.28
People from Huxiang were difficult to speak with. When a youth from there was received, the disciples were puzzled. The Master said, “I approve his coming forward, not his turning back. Why be so severe? If someone cleanses himself in order to come forward, I approve that cleansing; I do not vouch for his past.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.29
The Master said, “Is humaneness far away? If I desire humaneness, it is here.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.30
The judicial officer of Chen asked, “Did Duke Zhao understand ritual?” Confucius replied, “He did.” After Confucius withdrew, the officer bowed to Wuma Qi and invited him forward, saying, “I have heard that an exemplary person is not partisan. Is he partisan too? Our ruler married a woman from Wu who shared his clan surname, and called her Wu Mengzi. If the ruler understood ritual, who would not?” Wuma Qi reported this. The Master said, “I, Qiu, am fortunate. If I make a mistake, someone is sure to know of it.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.31
When the Master sang with someone who sang well, he always asked the person to repeat the song before joining in.
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.32
The Master said, “In cultural learning, perhaps I am like other people. But as for personally living as an exemplary person, I have not yet attained it.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.33
The Master said, “As for being a sage or humane, how would I dare claim that? But to work at it without growing weary and teach others without tiring—that much may be said of me.” Gongxi Hua said, “That is precisely what we disciples cannot manage to learn!”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.34
The Master was gravely ill, and Zilu asked permission to offer prayers. The Master said, “Is there such a practice?” Zilu replied, “There is. The prayer text says, ‘We pray for you to the spirits above and below.’” The Master said, “I, Qiu, have been praying for a long time.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.35
The Master said, “Extravagance leads to lack of deference; frugality leads to narrowness. Rather than lack of deference, I would prefer narrowness.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.36
The Master said, “The exemplary person is open and at ease; the petty person is constantly anxious.”
Transmitting the Tradition · 7.37
The Master was warm yet firm, dignified without ferocity, and respectful yet at ease.
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