Analects 19.24: 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 19.24
叔孫武叔毀仲尼。子貢曰、無以為也、仲尼不可毀也、他人之賢者、丘陵也、猶可踰也、仲尼、日月也、無得而踰焉、人雖欲自絕、其何傷於日月乎、多見其不知量也。
Shusun Wushu spoke ill of Zhongni. Zigong said, “There is no point in that. Zhongni cannot be brought down by slander. Other people’s worth is like hills and mounds: you can still climb over them. Zhongni is the sun and moon: there is no way to climb beyond them. Though someone wants to cut themselves off, what harm does that do to the sun and moon? It only shows that they do not know their own measure.”
Commentary
ethics From walls to the sun and moon The image now exceeds the tallest wall: other people can be surpassed as hills can be crossed, while Zhongni is beyond that scale. Cutting oneself off changes one’s own relation to the sun and moon without diminishing them. Zigong’s defense exposes the critic’s lack of measure through the comparison.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high