Analects 3.16: 八佾 (Ba Yi)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 3 examines what gives ritual its authority and meaning. Household displays borrow the forms of rulers, while humaneness, restraint, grief, and reverence test what those forms can express. Questions about poetry, inherited rites, sacrifice, and music show understanding at work: a learner carries an image further, the Master asks about everything, and a musical whole holds its parts together. Rulers and ministers each receive a standard of conduct. The book ends by distinguishing beauty from goodness and by asking what high office, ritual, and mourning are worth without the qualities they require.
Analects 3.16
子曰、射不主皮、為力不同科、古之道也。
The Master said, “In archery, piercing the hide is not what counts most: people do not all have the same strength. That was the ancient way.”
Commentary
ritual Strength is not the whole measure 皮, hide, is read as the hide target, and the mention of unequal strength supports understanding the feat as piercing it. Legge makes that action explicit too. The saying distinguishes the power of a shot from the wider standard for archery. The earlier scene of bowing, yielding, and drinking shows what else a contest can display.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium