Analects 6.12: 雍也 (Yong Ye)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 6 asks how character becomes visible in governing, learning, giving, and answering other people. Judgments of practical ability sit beside a refusal of office. Yan Hui’s love of learning, steadiness in humaneness, and joy under hardship are framed by grief at his early death. The short sayings test relations between substance and refinement, knowledge and delight, reverence and distance. The closing exchange moves from the achievement of helping the people on a vast scale to a nearby method of humaneness: using one’s own desire for a firm footing and progress to help others find theirs.
Analects 6.12
子游為武城宰、子曰、女得人焉耳乎。曰、有澹臺滅明者、行不由徑、非公事、未嘗至於偃之室也。
Ziyou was administrator of Wucheng. The Master said, “Have you found anyone worthwhile there?” He replied, “There is someone called Tantai Mieming. He takes no shortcuts when he walks, and he has never come to my quarters except on public business.”
Commentary
ethics How Ziyou judges a person Ziyou answers the question about finding someone worthwhile with two observable habits. Tantai Mieming takes the regular route when walking and comes to the administrator’s quarters only for public business. The literal shortcut can also suggest an indirect judgment about seeking advantages. 偃 is Ziyou’s self-reference in the answer, rendered “my” in English.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium