Analects 5.9: 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 5.9
宰予晝寢。子曰、朽木不可雕也、糞土之牆、不可朽也、於予與何誅。子曰、始吾於人也、聽其言而信其行、今吾於人也、聽其言而觀其行、於予與改是。
Zai Yu was sleeping during the day. The Master said, “Rotten wood cannot be carved. A wall of filthy earth cannot be plastered. What use is there in reproaching Yu?” The Master said, “At first, when dealing with people, I listened to their words and trusted their conduct. Now I listen to their words and observe their conduct. It was because of Yu that I changed this.”
Commentary
source variant The verb in the wall image The wall clause prints 朽, “rot,” the same character used for rotten wood. Legge’s facing English instead speaks of applying a trowel, matching 杇, “plaster,” a different character. “Cannot be plastered” follows that reading; the Chinese here retains 朽.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium
ethics Conduct changes the teacher’s method The carving and plastering images make the rebuke unusually harsh: the material seems unable to receive improvement. The second saying then describes a change in the Master’s own practice. He now compares speech with conduct, and identifies Zai Yu as the reason. The episode makes observation a check on trust.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high