Analects 19.18: 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 19.18
曾子曰、吾聞諸夫子、孟莊子之孝也、其他可能也、其不改父之臣、與父之政、是難能也。
Master Zeng said, “I have heard the Master say, ‘Other aspects of Meng Zhuangzi’s devotion to his parents could be matched. But keeping his father’s ministers and his father’s government unchanged—that is hard to do.’”
Commentary
ethics A father’s government continued The example makes devotion to parents, 孝, visible in retaining a father’s ministers and policies. Other aspects could be matched; this continuity is singled out as hard to achieve. The saying gives no account of the policies themselves or a test for which ones should be kept.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high