Analects 14.42: 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 14.42
子擊磬於衛、有荷蕢、而過孔氏之門者、曰、有心哉、擊磬乎。既、而曰、鄙哉、硜硜乎、莫己知也、斯已而已矣、深則厲、淺則揭。子曰、果哉、末之難矣。
The Master was striking a stone chime in Wei. Someone carrying a basket passed the Kong household’s gate and said, “Whoever is striking that chime has something on their mind!” Then he said, “How narrow, that stubborn clanging! If no one recognizes you, just stop. When the water is deep, wade through with your clothes on; when it is shallow, lift your hem.” The Master said, “How decisive! That would present no difficulty.”
Commentary
philology A listener hears a moral stance The basket carrier first hears commitment in the chime, then calls its insistence narrow. 硜硜 lets the hardness of the sound suggest stubbornness. His advice ties continued effort to recognition by others, directly challenging the refusal to give that recognition decisive weight elsewhere in the book.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium
translation Crossing according to the water The contrast between wading clothed and lifting the hem supplies an image of adapting to conditions. Legge expands the preceding advice into giving up the search for public employment; the Chinese says only to stop. The English keeps that openness. The Master’s final remark can concede the speaker’s decisiveness while implying that withdrawal is the easy choice; its tone remains uncertain.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium