Analects 12.14: 顏淵 (Yan Yuan)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 12 asks how humaneness takes shape in conduct: self-mastery and ritual, care toward others, and words answerable to action. Its political exchanges test government through trust, the people’s livelihood, and the example of those who lead. Questions about clear sight and genuine accomplishment make understanding people more demanding than knowing their reputation. The account of promoting the upright brings that judgment into public service, while Zixia’s examples place the distancing of the inhumane beside the claim of reform. The closing sayings return to friendship as a practice of advice, restraint, learning, and support for humaneness.
Analects 12.14
子張問政。子曰、居之無倦、行之以忠。
Zizhang asked about government. The Master said, “Be tireless in holding office, and carry out its duties wholeheartedly.”
Commentary
politics Staying with the work 居之 concerns remaining in the governing position; 行之 concerns carrying its work through. The answer joins sustained attention with 忠, wholehearted effort. This sense links government to the same word’s use in elevating virtue and advising friends, while letting the object of that effort differ.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium