17. Yang Huo

Translation: Yang Huo wished to see Confucius, but Confucius would not meet him, so he sent Confucius a steamed suckling pig. Confucius chose a time when Yang Huo was away to pay his thanks, but met him on the road. Yang Huo said, “Come, let me speak with you. Can one be called benevolent who keeps his gifts to himself while his state goes astray?” Confucius replied, “No.” “Can one be called wise who is eager to take part in public affairs yet repeatedly misses the proper time?” Confucius replied, “No.” “The days and months are passing; the years do not wait for us.” Confucius said, “Very well. I shall take office.”

Reading note: Yang Huo uses a gift and pointed questions to press Confucius into a commitment. The reply acknowledges a cultivated person’s public responsibility while leaving room to judge when and how service is proper.

Translation: Confucius said, “By nature people are close to one another; through acquired habits they grow far apart.”

Reading note: “Nature” refers to basic inborn dispositions, while “habituation” covers learning, practice, and environmental influence. The saying stresses how strongly later cultivation shapes human differences.

Translation: Confucius said, “Only those of the highest wisdom and those of the lowest folly do not change.”

Reading note: The two expressions mark opposite extremes, and “do not change” suggests exceptional resistance to education or habituation. The saying qualifies the preceding claim about human malleability.

Translation: Confucius went to Wucheng and heard the sound of strings and singing. He smiled and said, “Why use an ox-cleaver to kill a chicken?” Ziyou replied, “Formerly I heard you say, Master, ‘When a gentleman learns the Way, he comes to care for others; when common people learn the Way, they become easier to guide and employ.’” Confucius said, “You disciples, what Yan says is right. My earlier remark was only a jest.”

Reading note: Ziyou governed a small town through ritual and music. The joking image suggests using grand means for a modest task, but Confucius then affirms that moral education is necessary regardless of the scale of government or the status of the people.

Translation: Gongshan Furao rebelled from Bi and summoned Confucius, who wished to go. Zilu was displeased and said, “If there is nowhere to go, let that be the end of it. Why must you go to the Gongshan clan?” Confucius said, “Would the man who summons me be doing so for nothing? If someone were to employ me, might I not establish a Zhou order here in the east?”

Reading note: “A Zhou in the east” is commonly understood as reviving Zhou ritual and government in the eastern lands. The passage conveys Confucius’s urgency to realize his political ideal while leaving tension around whether such a summons could properly be accepted.

Translation: Zizhang asked Confucius about benevolence. Confucius said, “To be able to practice five qualities throughout the world is benevolence.” Asked what they were, he said, “Respectfulness, generosity, trustworthiness, diligence, and beneficence. With respectfulness one avoids insult; with generosity one wins the people; with trustworthiness others place confidence in one; with diligence one achieves results; with beneficence one is able to employ others.”

Reading note: Benevolence is presented here as five practicable virtues, each linked to a social consequence. The final point makes the capacity to direct others depend on first benefiting and caring for them.

Translation: Bi Xi summoned Confucius, who wished to go. Zilu said, “Formerly I heard you say, Master, ‘A gentleman does not enter the company of one who personally does wrong.’ Bi Xi has rebelled from Zhongmou, yet you intend to go. How can this be?” Confucius said, “Yes, I did say that. Is it not said that what is truly hard cannot be ground thin? Is it not said that what is truly white cannot be dyed black? Am I a gourd? How could I merely hang there and never be eaten?”

Reading note: The images of hardness and whiteness express confidence that moral integrity can withstand a corrupt setting. The hanging gourd conveys the countervailing conviction that ability should be put to use, bringing withdrawal and public service into tension.

Translation: Confucius said, “You, have you heard of the six qualities and the six failings that obscure them?” Zilu replied, “I have not.” Confucius said, “Sit down, and I shall tell you. To love benevolence without loving learning leads to foolishness; to love wisdom without loving learning leads to aimless excess; to love trustworthiness without loving learning leads to harm; to love directness without loving learning leads to harshness; to love courage without loving learning leads to disorder; to love firmness without loving learning leads to recklessness.”

Reading note: The six valued qualities are benevolence, wisdom, trustworthiness, directness, courage, and firmness. Each turns into a fault when it is not disciplined by learning; the point is that education gives virtue judgment and proportion.

Translation: The Master said, ‘My young students, why do none of you study the Odes? The Odes can stir the feelings, sharpen observation, foster fellowship, and give voice to grievance. Near at hand, they help one serve one’s parents; farther afield, they help one serve one’s ruler. They also teach many names of birds, beasts, plants, and trees.’

Reading note: Confucius presents poetry as moral, social, and practical education. The four functions—stimulation, observation, fellowship, and remonstrance—join cultivated feeling to ethical conduct and knowledge of the world.

Translation: The Master said to Boyu, ‘Have you studied the “Zhou Nan” and the “Shao Nan”? If a person has not studied the “Zhou Nan” and the “Shao Nan,” is he not like someone standing with his face pressed to a wall?’

Reading note: Boyu was Confucius’s son. Facing a wall suggests being hemmed in by ignorance and unable to move forward; these opening sections of the Odes are treated as basic training for self-cultivation and social life.

Translation: The Master said, ‘Rites, rites—do they mean no more than jade and silk? Music, music—does it mean no more than bells and drums?’

Reading note: Jade, silk, bells, and drums are outward implements. The questions insist that ritual rests on reverence and proper order, while music rests on harmony and the shaping of feeling; neither is fulfilled by display alone.

Translation: The Master said, ‘Fierce in appearance but weak within—among petty men, is such a person not like a thief who breaks through a wall?’

Reading note: The phrase describes toughness used to conceal inner timidity. A burglar may act boldly yet remain fearful and furtive; the comparison exposes bluster unsupported by genuine character.

Translation: The Master said, ‘The village worthy is a thief of virtue.’

Reading note: The “village worthy” is agreeable to everyone and outwardly respectable but refuses to distinguish right from wrong. Such counterfeit goodness wins approval while obscuring genuine moral judgment.

Translation: The Master said, ‘To hear something on the road and repeat it along the road is to cast virtue aside.’

Reading note: The criticism targets information passed on before it has been examined or inwardly understood. Learning that becomes mere talk, rather than reflection and practice, contributes nothing to moral cultivation.

Translation: The Master said, ‘Can a base-minded man be joined in the service of a ruler? Before he gains a position, he worries about gaining it; once he has gained it, he worries about losing it. If he is set on not losing it, there is nothing he will not do.’

Reading note: The target is an official life ruled by status and advantage. Anxiety over gain and loss erodes principle, until preserving one’s position becomes an excuse for any conduct.

Translation: The Master said, ‘People of old had three faults, but today perhaps even those forms have disappeared. The high-spirited of old were unrestrained; the high-spirited today are licentious. The proud of old were sternly principled; the proud today are angry and perverse. The simple of old were straightforward; the simple today are merely deceitful.’

Reading note: Here “faults” means excesses of temperament. Confucius is not praising the older defects; he laments that each once retained a redeeming quality, whereas its contemporary form has become less restrained and more damaging.

Translation: The Master said: Clever words and a pleasing appearance seldom go together with humaneness.

Reading note: The warning is against performed virtue. Ren is tested less by charm than by sincerity and durable conduct.

Translation: The Master said, “I detest purple for displacing vermilion; I detest the music of Zheng for confounding proper music; and I detest glib talkers who overturn states and noble houses.”

Reading note: Vermilion and proper music stand for accepted standards, while purple and Zheng music represent attractive substitutes that blur them. The three examples warn against the false passing itself off as the true, especially in public affairs.

Translation: The Master said, “I wish to speak no more.” Zigong said, “If you do not speak, what will we disciples have to transmit?” The Master said, “What does Heaven ever say? The four seasons proceed, and the myriad things come to life. What does Heaven ever say?”

Reading note: Heaven’s wordless fostering of life serves as an analogy. Teaching is conveyed not only in statements but also through enduring order, lived practice, and example.

Translation: Ru Bei wished to see Confucius, but Confucius declined on the grounds of illness. As soon as the messenger had gone out, he took up his se, played, and sang, making sure that Ru Bei heard him.

Reading note: By letting Ru Bei know that the illness was not literal, Confucius made the refusal deliberate and unmistakable. The text gives no reason, emphasizing instead an indirect but pointed form of correction.

Translation: Zai Wo asked, “Three years of mourning is too long; one full year is enough. If a gentleman goes three years without practicing ritual, ritual will surely decay; if he goes three years without making music, music will surely collapse. The old grain has been used up, the new grain has ripened, and the woods used in drilling for fire have completed their cycle. Mourning may end after one year.” The Master said, “Would you feel at ease eating fine rice and wearing brocade?” He replied, “I would.” The Master said, “If you feel at ease, then do it. While a gentleman is in mourning, tasty food gives him no pleasure, music gives him no joy, and comfortable quarters bring him no ease; that is why he does not enjoy such things. Since you feel at ease, go ahead.” After Zai Wo had left, the Master said, “How lacking in humaneness Yu is! Only after a child is three years old does it leave its parents’ arms. Three years of mourning is the mourning custom observed throughout the world. Did Yu not receive three years of love from his parents?”

Reading note: “One full year” is Zai Wo’s proposed term, and changing the firewood refers to a seasonal cycle of fire-making. Zai Wo argues from the preservation of institutions; Confucius asks what the heart can bear, grounding mourning in a genuine response to parental care.

Translation: The Master said, “It is difficult indeed to do anything with someone who eats his fill all day and never applies his mind. Are there not games of bo and chess? Even playing them would be better than doing nothing.”

Reading note: Bo and chess were ancient board games. The Master is not chiefly praising games; he uses them to rebuke a life of comfort, idleness, and complete mental disengagement.

Translation: Zilu asked, “Does the gentleman prize courage?” The Master said, “The gentleman places rightness above all. A person of rank who has courage without rightness will cause disorder; a common person who has courage without rightness will become a bandit.”

Reading note: Courage is not a supreme value by itself; rightness must direct it. Its consequences differ with one’s social position, but in either case courage without moral restraint becomes destructive.

Translation: Zigong asked, “Does the gentleman also have things he detests?” The Master said, “He does. He detests those who broadcast the faults of others; those in a lower position who slander their superiors; those who are bold but disregard ritual; and those who act decisively but are closed to reason.” He then asked, “Ci, do you too have things you detest?” Zigong replied, “I detest passing off borrowed ideas as wisdom, taking insolence for courage, and exposing another person’s private faults in the name of candor.”

Reading note: Both lists condemn faults masquerading as virtues. The key terms distinguish stubborn obstruction from resolve, appropriation from intelligence, and malicious exposure from genuine forthrightness.

Translation: Confucius said, “It is women and petty people alone who are difficult to deal with: if you become familiar with them, they grow disrespectful; if you keep them at a distance, they become resentful.”

Reading note: Here “to manage” means to associate or deal with someone, while “sun” means deferential or respectful. The saying concerns the difficulty of maintaining proper closeness and distance. Its generalization about women reflects the social and household order of its time and should not be treated as a universal judgment about women today.

Translation: Confucius said, “If at the age of forty a person is still disliked, that is likely the end of him.”

Reading note: “Is disliked” points to a settled bad reputation, and “the end of him” suggests little prospect of moral achievement or reform. Forty marks an age by which character should have matured; the warning is to examine and cultivate oneself before faults harden into a lasting reputation.