Analects 12.6: 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 12.6
子張問明。子曰、浸潤之譖、膚受之愬、不行焉、可謂明也已矣、浸潤之譖、膚受之愬、不行焉、可謂遠也已矣。
Zizhang asked about clear sight. The Master said, “When slander that seeps in and accusations that cut to the skin make no headway with someone, they may be called clear-sighted. When slander that seeps in and accusations that cut to the skin make no headway with someone, they may be called far-sighted.”
Commentary
translation Two ways an accusation takes hold 浸潤 pictures slow soaking; 膚受 brings an appeal close to the skin. Legge develops the second image as statements that startle like a flesh wound. “Accusations that cut to the skin” similarly gives it an immediate, personal force, against the first image’s gradual influence. The repeated wording stays intact: resisting both kinds of pressure makes sight clear and then far-reaching.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium