Analects 14.43: 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 14.43
子張曰、書云、高宗諒陰三年不言、何謂也。子曰、何必高宗、古之人皆然、君薨、百官總己、以聽於冢宰、三年。
Zizhang said, “The Documents say, ‘Gaozong mourned for three years without speaking.’ What does that mean?” The Master said, “Why single out Gaozong? The people of old all did this. When a ruler died, all the officers attended to their duties and took their orders from the chief minister for three years.”
Commentary
ritual Silence and the work of government Zizhang asks about a statement in the Documents. The Master explains the three years through duties continuing under a chief minister after a ruler’s death. His answer places the successor’s silence within an arrangement of mourning and delegated government. It also treats Gaozong as an instance of a wider ancient practice, rather than an isolated marvel.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high