Analects 19.15: 子張 (Zi Zhang)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Zizhang, Zixia, Ziyou, Master Zeng, and Zigong speak about learning, friendship, mourning, and public responsibility. Their judgments sometimes conflict: who should be welcomed as a friend, how teaching reaches the root, and whether impressive achievement amounts to humaneness. The final sayings turn to reputation and the limits of judging another person. Zigong defends the Master through images of hidden interiors, the sun and moon, and rule that would draw a response from the people.
Analects 19.15
子游曰、吾友張也、為難能也、然而未仁。
Ziyou said, “My friend Zhang can do what is hard to do, but he is not yet humane.”
Commentary
ethics Difficult achievement and humaneness Ziyou calls Zhang his friend and credits him with difficult achievements before withholding the judgment of humaneness. 仁 keeps the same ethical term as in the learning saying and in Master Zeng’s next remark. The contrast makes unusual ability insufficient evidence of being humane.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high