Analects 11.21: 先進 (Xian Jin)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 11 studies the people around the Master through remembered companionship, distinct abilities, rebukes, and grief. The death of Yan Yuan brings intense mourning beside disputes over what a fitting burial requires. Other exchanges test how to judge character, when to act, and what limits service to a ruler must keep. The same advice cannot serve every temperament: one student needs encouragement, another restraint. In the long final conversation, four wishes reveal different ways of imagining a life. The Master’s approval of Dian’s spring outing remains beside his judgment that governing requires ritual and a willingness to yield.
Analects 11.21
子路問聞斯行諸。子曰、有父兄在、如之何其聞斯行之。冉有問聞斯行諸。子曰、聞斯行之。公西華曰、由也問聞斯行諸、子曰、有父兄在、求也問聞斯行諸、子曰、聞斯行之、赤也感、敢問。子曰、求也退、故進之、由也兼人、故退之。
Zilu asked, “Should I act on what I hear straightaway?” The Master said, “Your father and elder brothers are still living. How could you act on what you hear straightaway?” Ran You asked, “Should I act on what I hear straightaway?” The Master said, “Act on what you hear straightaway.” Gongxi Hua said, “You’s question was, ‘Should I act on what I hear straightaway?’ and your answer was, ‘Your father and elder brothers are still living.’ Qiu’s question was, ‘Should I act on what I hear straightaway?’ and your answer was, ‘Act on what you hear straightaway.’ I am puzzled. May I ask why?” The Master said, “Qiu hangs back, so I urge him forward. As for You, he tries to outdo others, so I hold him back.”
Commentary
ethics Opposite answers to the same question The question is repeated so that the difference in the replies cannot be missed. Gongxi Hua makes the apparent contradiction explicit, and the Master explains it through the questioners’ tendencies: one hangs back, the other presses ahead. 進 and 退 recur as both traits and corrective actions. Mention of father and elder brothers gives Zilu a reason to pause; the Chinese leaves the exact act of consultation implicit.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high
philology The names in the explanation The dialogue itself pairs Zilu with You, 由, and Ran You with Qiu, 求. Gongxi Hua names himself 赤, Chi, when asking for an explanation; the English gives this self-reference as “I.” 兼人 literally suggests exceeding or combining the strength of others; “tries to outdo others” brings out the forwardness that the Master restrains.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium
source variant The questioner’s perplexity The printed 赤也感 has 感, feeling or being moved. The Chinese comparison witness reads 惑, perplexity, and Legge likewise presents the speaker as perplexed. “I am puzzled” follows that supported reading of the questioner’s response to the two answers. The displayed 感 is retained.
Basis: sourced
Confidence: high