15. Duke Ling of Wei

Translation: Duke Ling of Wei asked Confucius about arranging troops for battle. Confucius replied, ‘I have heard something about the rites of sacrificial vessels, but I have never studied military affairs.’ The next day, he departed.

Reading note: Here chen means a battle formation, while zu and dou are ritual vessels and thus stand for ceremonial practice. Confucius contrasts ritual order with warfare and declines to advise the duke on war.

Translation: While in Chen, the group ran out of provisions. The followers grew weak, and none could rise. Zilu came to Confucius in resentment and asked, ‘Can a noble person also be reduced to such straits?’ Confucius said, ‘A noble person holds firm in adversity; once a petty person is in adversity, he abandons all restraint.’

Reading note: “Holding firm in adversity” means preserving one’s principles under hardship, not simply accepting poverty. The passage treats adversity as the test that reveals moral character.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘Si, do you take me for someone who has learned a great many things and retained them all?’ Zigong replied, ‘Yes. Is that not so?’ Confucius said, ‘No. I bind them together with a single guiding principle.’

Reading note: Si was Zigong’s personal name, and shi here means to retain in memory. “One thread running through it” presents Confucius’s learning as an integrated moral vision rather than an accumulation of facts.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘You, how few there are who truly understand virtue!’

Reading note: You was Zilu’s personal name. To “understand virtue” is more than knowing moral doctrines; it suggests a genuine recognition of virtue that shapes one’s conduct.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘Was Shun not the one who governed through non-coercive action? What did he have to do? He simply kept himself reverent and properly seated, facing south as ruler.’

Reading note: A ruler traditionally faced south when holding court. “Non-coercive action” does not mean neglect: it describes rule grounded in personal rectitude and the proper employment of worthy people, so that order does not depend on constant intervention.

Translation: Zizhang asked how one might make one’s way wherever one goes. Confucius said, ‘If your words are loyal and trustworthy and your conduct is earnest and respectful, you will make your way even among distant peoples. If your words lack loyalty and trust and your conduct lacks earnestness and respect, will you make your way even in your own neighborhood? When standing, see these qualities before you; when riding, see them resting against the crossbar of the carriage. Only then will you make your way.’ Zizhang wrote these words on his sash.

Reading note: To “make one’s way” means to gain trust and act effectively among others. The image of the maxim always in view turns moral principles into constant practical reminders; writing it on his sash makes Zizhang’s resolve concrete.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘How upright Shi Yu was! When the state followed the Way, he was straight as an arrow; when the state lost the Way, he was still straight as an arrow. How noble Qu Boyu was! When the state followed the Way, he took office; when the state lost the Way, he could roll up his abilities and keep them within.’

Reading note: Shi Yu and Qu Boyu were officials of Wei. The passage honors two responses to changing political conditions: unwavering candor in Shi Yu, and discerning withdrawal in Qu Boyu when public service could no longer accord with the Way.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘To fail to speak with someone who is fit to be spoken with is to lose the person. To speak with someone who is not fit to be spoken with is to waste one’s words. A wise person neither loses the person nor wastes the words.’

Reading note: “Losing the person” means missing someone receptive and worthy of engagement; “wasting the words” means speaking without regard for the listener or occasion. Good judgment requires discernment both about people and about speech.

Translation: Confucius said, “Resolute persons and humane persons do not preserve their lives at the cost of humaneness; they may give up their lives to fulfill it.”

Reading note: “Fulfilling humaneness” places moral integrity above personal survival when a fundamental ethical choice is at stake.

Translation: Zigong asked how to practice humaneness. Confucius said, “A craftsman who wishes to do his work well must first sharpen his tools. When living in a state, serve the worthy among its high officials and befriend the humane among its learned men.”

Reading note: Sharpening tools is a metaphor for preparing the conditions of moral practice. Association with worthy and humane people helps cultivate one’s character.

Translation: Yan Yuan asked how to govern a state. Confucius said, “Use the calendar of the Xia, ride in carriages of the Yin style, wear the ceremonial cap of the Zhou, and use the Shao music and dance. Banish the tunes of Zheng and keep flatterers at a distance. The tunes of Zheng are licentious, and flatterers are dangerous.”

Reading note: Confucius selects exemplary institutions and rites from earlier dynasties. His warning joins cultural discipline with political vigilance against seductive music and ingratiating courtiers.

Translation: Confucius said, “If a person gives no thought to what lies far ahead, trouble will surely be close at hand.”

Reading note: Looking ahead means anticipating consequences and changes, not indulging in vague anxiety. Without such foresight, immediate difficulties readily arise.

Translation: Confucius said, “It is hopeless! I have yet to see anyone who loves virtue as intensely as beauty.”

Reading note: The sharp comparison laments that devotion to virtue is often weaker than sensual attraction and invites an honest examination of what one truly desires.

Translation: Confucius said, “Was Zang Wenzhong not someone who usurped the benefits of office? He knew Liu Xiahui was worthy, yet did not enable him to take his place in government.”

Reading note: The charge concerns holding office without fulfilling the duty to advance worthy people. Public position carries responsibility beyond the officeholder’s own status.

Translation: Confucius said, “Demand much of yourself and little of others, and you will keep resentment at a distance.”

Reading note: The phrase means judging oneself rigorously, not treating oneself indulgently. Self-discipline joined with forbearance toward others reduces blame and conflict.

Translation: Confucius said, “With someone who never asks, ‘What am I to do? What am I to do?’ I no longer know what to do.”

Reading note: The repeated question signals active reflection and a search for a way forward. Even a teacher cannot help someone who makes no effort to consider the problem.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘When people spend the whole day together, never speaking of what is right, but delighting in displays of petty cleverness, there is little hope for them!’

Reading note: ‘What is right’ refers to fitting moral principles, while ‘petty cleverness’ means ingenuity detached from character. The passage criticizes idle talk and clever posturing that lack an ethical center.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘A noble person takes what is right as the foundation, puts it into practice through ritual propriety, expresses it with humility, and brings it to completion through trustworthiness. Such is a noble person!’

Reading note: The foundation is an inner moral standard; ritual, humility, and trustworthiness govern how it becomes action. The saying joins sound principle to fitting and credible conduct.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘A noble person is troubled by lacking ability, not by the failure of others to recognize him.’

Reading note: Here ‘troubled’ means genuinely concerned. The focus shifts away from reputation and toward self-cultivation and real competence.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘A noble person dreads reaching the end of life without a name worthy of mention.’

Reading note: The ‘name’ here is not empty fame but a reputation grounded in character and worthy achievement. The concern is to live so that one’s life has genuine merit.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘A noble person seeks it in himself; a petty person seeks it in others.’

Reading note: What is sought may include the means to succeed, the source of responsibility, or the way to improve. The contrast is between self-examination and placing demands or blame on others.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘A noble person is dignified but not contentious, sociable but not partisan.’

Reading note: Dignity here means disciplined self-respect; being sociable does not mean forming a clique for private advantage. The noble person combines independence of principle with openness to others.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘A noble person does not recommend someone merely because of fine words, nor reject worthy words merely because of the person who spoke them.’

Reading note: A speaker should not be judged by words alone, and a statement should not be dismissed solely because of its speaker. The saying calls for separate and fair judgments of people and ideas.

Translation: Zigong asked, ‘Is there one word that can be practiced throughout one’s life?’ Confucius said, ‘Perhaps reciprocity: do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.’

Reading note: The key term means extending awareness of one’s own wishes to the situation of others. Presented as a single lifelong principle, it sets a basic limit on how one should treat people.

Translation: Confucius said, “In dealing with others, whom have I condemned and whom have I praised? If I have praised anyone, it was only after putting that person to the test. It was through such people that the Three Dynasties followed the straight Way.”

Reading note: “Condemn” and “praise” concern judgments of character. Confucius insists that approval must rest on tested evidence rather than personal preference, linking fair judgment with upright government.

Translation: Confucius said, “I still lived to see historians leave a blank when the record was uncertain, and people who owned horses lend them to others to drive. Now such practices have disappeared, have they not?”

Reading note: Leaving a gap in a record shows restraint in the face of uncertainty; lending a horse suggests mutual trust. Confucius laments the decline of both intellectual honesty and social confidence.

Translation: Confucius said, “Clever words unsettle virtue; failure to endure a small vexation can ruin a great plan.”

Reading note: Persuasive talk can blur moral judgment, while “endurance” means restraining a passing impulse or bearing a minor difficulty. The saying joins moral steadiness with practical foresight.

Translation: Confucius said, “When everyone dislikes someone, you must examine the matter; when everyone likes someone, you must examine it as well.”

Reading note: Public opinion deserves attention but cannot replace independent judgment. Whether the crowd condemns or admires, the facts still require careful scrutiny.

Translation: Confucius said, “People can enlarge the Way; it is not the Way that enlarges people.”

Reading note: To “enlarge” is to develop and bring into fuller expression. The Way becomes effective through human understanding and practice, so the saying places responsibility on the moral agent.

Translation: Confucius said, “To make a mistake and not correct it—this is truly a mistake.”

Reading note: An initial error need not define a person; refusing to amend it makes the fault enduring. Self-examination matters only when it leads to correction.

Translation: Confucius said, “I once spent a whole day without food and a whole night without sleep, thinking. It brought no benefit; I would have done better to study.”

Reading note: The point is not to reject reflection but to reject speculation cut off from learning and experience. Study supplies the material, method, and tests that make thought fruitful.

Translation: Confucius said, “The exemplary person seeks the Way, not food. Even in farming, hunger may be found; even in learning, an official stipend may be found. The exemplary person worries about the Way, not poverty.”

Reading note: Seeking the Way means treating moral cultivation and practice as the primary aim, not denying material needs. Farming does not guarantee security, and study may bring office, but profit and salary do not govern the exemplary person’s priorities.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘If intelligence is sufficient to attain a position but benevolence cannot preserve it, then even if the position is gained, it will surely be lost. If intelligence attains it and benevolence preserves it, yet the ruler does not govern with dignity, the people will show no respect. If intelligence attains it, benevolence preserves it, and dignity marks the government, yet the people are mobilized without regard for ritual propriety, the result is still not good.’

Reading note: The passage builds a sequence of requirements for sound government: ability, humane character, dignified bearing, and observance of ritual. “Mobilized” refers to calling the people into service.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘A noble person may not be fully known through minor abilities, but can be entrusted with great responsibilities. A petty person cannot be entrusted with great responsibilities, though he may display competence in minor matters.’

Reading note: The contrast is between moral capacity for major responsibility and talent limited to particular tasks. Small accomplishments are not a sufficient measure of a person fit for weighty duties.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘The people need benevolence even more urgently than they need water and fire. I have seen people die by stepping into water or fire, but I have never seen anyone die by stepping into benevolence.’

Reading note: Water and fire are necessities that can also be dangerous. By contrast, entering upon the practice of benevolence is presented as necessary without carrying that inherent peril; the comparison urges courage in doing what is humane.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘When faced with a duty of benevolence, do not yield even to your teacher.’

Reading note: Respect for a teacher does not require standing aside when humane action is called for. The saying stresses personal initiative and responsibility in doing what is right.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘A noble person is steadfast in what is right, but not bound by inflexible fidelity to every promise.’

Reading note: “Steadfast” means firm adherence to what is right, while the rejected kind of trustworthiness is rigid promise-keeping without regard to moral judgment. Principle, not mere consistency, is decisive.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘In serving one’s ruler, attend respectfully to the work and put the salary afterward.’

Reading note: “Salary” refers to the material support attached to office. Public service should be guided first by conscientious performance of duty, not by personal reward.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘In education, make no distinctions among classes of people.’

Reading note: “Classes” can refer to differences of background or social standing. The saying presents teaching as open to those willing to learn rather than restricted in advance by status.

Translation: Confucius said, ‘Those who follow different ways cannot make plans together.’

Reading note: “Ways” means fundamental principles and aims. When these conflict, joint deliberation lacks a shared basis; the saying need not imply refusing discussion over every minor difference of opinion.

Translation: Confucius said, “Words need only convey their meaning clearly.”

Reading note: “Convey” here means making one’s intent intelligible. The saying treats clear communication as the essential aim of language, without making verbal ornament an end in itself.

Translation: When the music master Mian came to see Confucius and reached the steps, Confucius said, “Here are the steps.” When he reached the mat, Confucius said, “Here is the mat.” After everyone was seated, Confucius told him, “So-and-so is here; so-and-so is here.” After Master Mian had left, Zizhang asked, “Is this the proper way to speak with a music master?” Confucius replied, “Yes. This is indeed the proper way to guide a music master.”

Reading note: Master Mian was a blind musician, so Confucius identified the steps, the seat, and the people present. The key term means guiding or assisting someone; the episode presents attentive respect through practical courtesies.