Analects 1.10: 學而 (Xue Er)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 1 presents learning as a way of acting with others: practicing what one learns, serving parents, keeping faith with friends, governing with care, and accepting correction. Its voices return to the relation between inward character and outward conduct. Devotion to parents and respect for elder brothers are called the root of practicing humaneness; ritual gives harmony its measure. The dialogue about poverty, wealth, and poetry shows a learner carrying a lesson further. The book begins with bearing a lack of recognition and ends by asking whether we know other people.
Analects 1.10
子禽問於子貢曰、夫子至於是邦也、必聞其政、求之與、抑與之與。子貢曰、夫子溫､良､恭､儉､讓、以得之、夫子之求之也、其諸異乎人之求之與。
Ziqin asked Zigong, “Whenever the Master comes to a state, he always hears about its government. Does he seek this out, or is it offered to him?” Zigong said, “The Master gains it by being warm, kind, respectful, restrained, and willing to yield. Isn’t the Master’s way of seeking it rather different from other people’s?”
Commentary
ethics How knowledge is invited Ziqin asks Zigong whether the Master seeks political knowledge or receives it freely. Zigong keeps the word “seek” but changes its meaning: the Master’s seeking works through these five qualities. The answer suggests that a way of approaching people changes the kind of access one gains. “Restrained” reads 儉 as modesty of bearing here, alongside respect and willingness to yield.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium