Analects 18.6: 微子 (Wei Zi)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 18 places different responses to failed public life beside one another. Withdrawal, continued service, and fatal protest can all receive praise, while Confucius himself leaves when employment fails or court duties are neglected. The long encounters with a singer, two plowmen, and an old farmer turn departure into an argument: can personal integrity be preserved by leaving the human world behind? Confucius insists on human company, and Zilu defends duty even without the prospect of success. The later judgments distinguish kinds of withdrawal; a dispersal of musicians and advice about employing people return the question to the relationships that sustain public life.
Analects 18.6
長沮桀溺耦而耕。孔子過之、使子路問津焉。長沮曰、夫執輿者為誰。子路曰、為孔丘。曰、是魯孔丘與。曰、是也。曰、是知津矣。問於桀溺。桀溺曰。子為誰。曰、為仲由。曰、是魯孔丘之徒與。對曰、然。曰、滔滔者、天下皆是也、而誰以易之、且而與其從辟人之士也、豈若從辟世之士哉。耰而不輟。子路行以告、夫子憮然曰、鳥獸不可與同群、吾非斯人之徒與而誰與、天下有道、丘不與易也。
Changju and Jieni were plowing together. Confucius passed by and sent Zilu to ask where the ford was. Changju asked, “Who is that holding the reins?” Zilu said, “Kong Qiu.” “Is that Kong Qiu of Lu?” “Yes.” “Then he knows where the ford is.” Zilu asked Jieni, who said, “Who are you?” “I am Zhong You.” “Are you a disciple of Kong Qiu of Lu?” “Yes.” Jieni said, “A surging flood—the whole world is like this. Who will you join with to change it? And rather than follow a man who avoids certain people, would you not do better to follow men who avoid the world?” He kept covering the seed without stopping. Zilu went back and reported this. The Master looked distressed and said, “I cannot take birds and beasts as my companions. If I am not to keep company with these people, then with whom? If the world had the Way, I would not be trying to change it.”
Commentary
philology The names in the exchange Zilu answers the question about himself with 仲由, Zhong You. The name 由 belongs to the disciple asking for directions. 孔丘, Kong Qiu, names Confucius, who later calls himself 丘 in his reply; the English renders that self-reference as “I.” Changju speaks first, Jieni gives the longer refusal, and Zilu carries their words back to the Master.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high
translation Whom can you join to change the world? In 而誰以易之, “Who will you join with?” takes 而 as “you” and 誰以 as asking with whom change could be attempted. Legge instead asks who will change the world for the addressee. Either construction makes the flood image a challenge to the prospect of political change. The English preserves the question about possible partners.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium
politics Avoiding people or avoiding the world Jieni distinguishes leaving particular people from withdrawing from the human world altogether. The Master answers the second proposal: birds and beasts cannot replace human companions. His final conditional gives the world’s lack of the Way as the reason to try to change it. The refusal to give directions has become a dispute about whether human society can be abandoned.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium