Analects 10.17: 鄉黨 (Xiang Dang)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 10 presents Confucius through the details of his conduct: how he speaks among neighbors and officials, receives guests, moves through a ruler’s court, dresses, prepares for ritual, and eats. Clothing, gesture, pace, and expression change with the occasion. The later scenes include gifts, illness, a fire, a friend’s death, and encounters calling for respect. Ease at home and readiness to respond both belong to the portrait. The final, difficult scene turns to a pheasant’s flight and a repeated praise of timeliness.
Analects 10.17
升車、必正立、執綏。車中、不內顧、不疾言、不親指。
When mounting his carriage, he always stood upright and grasped the supporting cord. In the carriage he did not look back, speak hastily, or point with his hand.
Commentary
ritual Movement in a carriage Standing upright and taking hold of the supporting cord precede three restraints on movement and expression. 不內顧 is taken as not turning to look back; 不親指 concerns direct pointing. The details continue the book’s description of a body attentive to its setting.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium