Analects 11.23: 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 11.23
李子然問仲由冉求、可謂大臣與。子曰、吾以子為異之問、曾由與求之問。所謂大臣者、以道事君、不可則止。今由與求也、可謂具臣矣。曰、然則從之者與。子曰、弒父與君、亦不從也。
Ji Ziran asked, “Can Zhong You and Ran Qiu be called great ministers?” The Master said, “I thought you were going to ask something quite different, and here you ask only about You and Qiu! A great minister serves a ruler according to the Way and withdraws when that cannot be done. As for You and Qiu, they can be called ministers who fill a post.” “Then will they simply do as they are told?” The Master said, “Even they would not go along with the murder of a father or a ruler.”
Commentary
politics Service governed by the Way A great minister’s service is conditional on the Way; withdrawal is required when such service is impossible. Calling You and Qiu people who “fill a post” sets a lower standard than this definition. Yet their refusal to join in killing a father or ruler establishes a limit even to that lesser service. The final question tests the limits of obedience.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high
source variant Ji Ziran and the ministers he names The printed 李子然 corresponds to 季子然 in the Chinese comparison witness and Chi Tsze-zan in Legge. “Ji Ziran” follows that reading, leaving the displayed Chinese intact. His question names 仲由 and 冉求; the reply shortens these to You and Qiu, keeping the two men distinct from the Master.
Basis: sourced
Confidence: high