Analects 10.3: 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 10.3
君召使擯、色勃如也、足躩如也。揖所與立、左右手、衣前後、檐如也。趨進、翼如也。賓退、必復命曰、賓不顧矣。
When the ruler summoned him to help receive a guest, his expression grew solemn and his steps careful. He bowed to those standing with him, turning his clasped hands left or right; his robe hung evenly front and back. He hurried forward as though on wings. When the guest withdrew, he always reported, “The guest no longer looks back.”
Commentary
ritual Receiving a guest through movement The account follows face, feet, hands, robe, and pace before ending in a spoken report. The bows acknowledge the people standing beside him; the final report confirms that the guest’s departure is complete. The image of wings gives quick movement a controlled lightness.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium
source variant The hanging robe The Chinese here prints 檐, the character for eaves, in the description of the robe. The Chinese comparison text has 襜, a clothing character. Legge takes the front and back of the robe to remain evenly arranged. “Hung evenly” follows the garment context and that comparison; the displayed Chinese retains 檐.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium