Analects 13.4: 子路 (Zi Lu)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 13 asks what makes government effective and what qualifies someone to serve. Leading by example, appointing capable people, setting names right, creating prosperity, and teaching all place demands on the ruler. Short claims about conduct stand beside long exchanges about speech, judgment, and the time needed for change. The book also tests uprightness, reputation, reliability, and harmony through particular relationships, sometimes leaving a difficult tension visible, as when family concealment is praised. Its closing sayings make preparation for war a responsibility toward the people who must fight.
Analects 13.4
樊遲請學稼。子曰、吾不如老農。請學為圃。曰、吾不如老圃。樊遲出。子曰、小人哉、樊須也。上好禮、則民莫敢不敬、上好義、則民莫敢不服、上好信、則民莫敢不用情、夫如是、則四方之民、襁負其子而至矣、焉用稼。
Fan Chi asked to learn farming. The Master said, “I am no match for an old farmer.” He asked to learn gardening. The Master said, “I am no match for an old gardener.” After Fan Chi left, the Master said, “What a petty person Fan Xu is! If those above love ritual, none of the people will dare fail in reverence. If those above love what is right, none of the people will dare refuse obedience. If those above love trustworthiness, none of the people will dare be insincere. When this is so, people from every quarter will come with their children strapped to their backs. What need, then, to farm?”
Commentary
politics The question the Master wants asked Fan Chi seeks instruction in farming and gardening; the Master first acknowledges the experience of practitioners, then judges the question after Fan Chi leaves. The Master now calls Fan Chi by the name Fan Xu. 小人, “petty person,” is a rebuke whose force here also depends on the distinction between agricultural work and the work of those who govern. The reply assumes that good rule attracts people who will sustain the community.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium
ethics Three forms of example Ritual, rightness, and trustworthiness each draw a different response: reverence, obedience, and sincerity. The repeated “none will dare” gives the expected response a force stronger than free admiration. Carrying children on their backs makes the final attraction a movement of families, not just an abstract increase in followers.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high