Analects 14.8: 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 14.8
子曰、愛之、能勿勞乎、忠焉、能勿誨乎。
The Master said, “If you love someone, can you spare them effort? If you give them your best, can you fail to teach them?”
Commentary
translation Care can make demands 勞 can mean putting someone to effort or laboring on their behalf. The translation takes the first direction: love can require something of its recipient. Legge similarly makes love issue in strictness. In the parallel clause, 忠 is giving someone one’s best, and 誨 is teaching them. No ruler is named, so “loyalty” would narrow the relationship.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium