Analects 2.9: 為政 (Wei Zheng)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 2 connects government with the character and practices of those who govern. The pole-star image and the contrast between punishment and ritual give two ways of thinking about how people respond to authority. Four answers about filial devotion move through ritual, parental concern, reverence, and demeanor. Sayings on learning then test how knowledge appears in thought, conduct, and honest acknowledgment of limits. The closing exchanges return to public authority, trustworthiness, inherited ritual, and the courage to act on what is right. The collection repeatedly asks what gives outward action its substance.
Analects 2.9
子曰、吾與回言終日、不違、如愚。退兒省其私、亦足以發、回也不愚。
The Master said, “I talk with Hui all day, and he never challenges me, as if he were a fool. When he withdraws, I examine what he does on his own: it is quite enough to bring out the teaching. Hui is no fool.”
Commentary
ethics Understanding beyond assent Hui listens to the Master for a whole day without opposing him. That first looks like foolishness; what he does away from the conversation changes the judgment. 發 leaves its object implicit: “bring out the teaching” reads his conduct as making the meaning of the earlier words visible.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium
source variant The character after withdrawal The Chinese prints 退兒, with 兒, “child,” where the English follows the connective 而, “and,” in 退而. Legge likewise reads a sequence in which Hui withdraws and the Master examines his conduct away from him.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium