CONFUCIAN ANALECTS

“When our master comes to any country, he does not fail to learn all about its government. Does he ask his information? or is it given to him?”

2. Tsze-kung said, “Our master is benign, upright, courteous, temperate, and complaisant, and thus he gets his information. The master’s mode of asking information!—is it not different from that of other men?”

CHAPTER XI. The Master said, “While a man’s father is alive, look at the bent of his will; when his father is dead, look at his conduct. If for three years he does not alter from the way of his father, he may be called filial."

of Chén Kàng original: 陳亢, one of the minor disciples of Confucius. His tablet occupies the twenty-eighth place, on the west, in the outer part of the temples. On the death of his brother, his wife and major-domo wished to bury some living persons with him to serve him in the regions below. Tsze-ch‘in proposed that the wife and steward should themselves submit to the immolation, which made them stop the matter. Tsze-kung, with the double surname Duānmù original: 端木 and named Cì original: 賜, occupies a higher place in the Confucian ranks. He is conspicuous in this work for his steadiness and smartness in reply and displayed practical and political ability on several occasions. original: 夫 is a general designation for males, meaning “a man.”

original: 夫子 is a common designation for a teacher or master. original: 是邦, “this country,” means “any country.” original: 必, “must,” signifies “does not fail to.” The antecedent to both uses of original: 之 is the whole clause original: 聞其政. original: 與, with no tone marked, means “to give to,” “with,” or “to”; original: 與 is used as in Chapter II, 2. The force of original: 其諸 is well enough expressed by the dash in English, the previous original: 也 indicating a pause in the discourse, which the original: 其 (“it”) resumes. See Wáng Yǐnzhī’s Treatise, Chapter IX.

11. ON FILIAL DUTY. original: 行, in the fourth tone, is explained by original: 行迹, “traces of walking,” meaning “conduct.” It is understood that the way of the father had not been very bad. An old interpretation, that the three years are to be understood of the period of mourning for the father, is now rightly rejected. The meaning should not be confined to that period.