Analects 5.22: 公冶長 (Gongye Chang)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 5 tests judgments of people against their conduct. The Master praises particular abilities and virtues while repeatedly withholding the larger judgment of humaneness. Marriage choices, public service, friendship, speech, and learning supply different kinds of evidence. Several exchanges expose a distance between what someone says or wants and what they can do; Zai Yu’s conduct even changes the Master’s way of judging. Near the end, the teacher and his companions state their own aspirations. The closing sayings turn assessment inward, toward recognizing faults and continuing to love learning.
Analects 5.22
子曰、伯夷叔齊、不念舊惡、怨是用希。
The Master said, “Boyi and Shuqi did not dwell on old wrongs, so resentment was rare.”
Commentary
translation Whose resentment becomes rare? The saying connects Boyi and Shuqi’s refusal to dwell on old wrongs with a scarcity of resentment. Legge makes this the resentment others direct at them. The Chinese does not name its bearer: their own resentment may also be in view. “Resentment was rare” preserves that open direction while retaining the causal connection.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium