Analects 14.31: 憲問 (Xian Wen)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 14 tests ethical judgment in public life. Salary, courage, accomplished speech, and a reputation for virtue each prove incomplete measures of a person. The arguments about Guan Zhong ask how benefits to many people should weigh against a demand for personal fidelity. Accounts of officeholders, messengers, and failed appeals make responsibility concrete: competent service can sustain a flawed ruler, and a duty to speak can survive refusal. Short sayings turn from judging others toward learning, ability, and the relation between words and deeds. The later encounters press the choice between persistence and withdrawal when others offer no recognition. The dialogue with Zilu gives self-cultivation an expanding aim, ending in peace for all the people; the closing scenes test conduct through bodily bearing and the desire to seem grown before the work is done.
Analects 14.31
子貢方人、子曰、賜也賢乎哉、夫我則不暇。
Zigong was comparing people. The Master said, “Has Ci become so worthy? As for me, I have no time for that.”
Commentary
ethics Who has time to rank others? 方人 is comparing or assessing people. The Master’s question about Ci, the name used for Zigong here, exposes the confidence such a habit requires. His own lack of leisure shifts attention toward work on oneself. The question’s praise can therefore be heard as ironic.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium