Analects 6.20: 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 6.20
樊遲問知。子曰、務民之義、敬鬼神而遠之、可謂知矣。問仁。曰、仁者先難而後獲、可謂仁矣。
Fan Chi asked about wisdom. The Master said, “Attend to what is right in dealing with people; revere ghosts and spirits, but keep them at a distance. This may be called wisdom.” He asked about humaneness. The Master said, “A humane person puts the hard work first and the rewards afterward. This may be called humaneness.”
Commentary
ethics Reverence and distance Fan Chi’s first question is about wisdom. The answer joins attention to obligations among people with both reverence for spirits and distance from them. 敬 and 遠 remain together: distance does not cancel respect. “What is right in dealing with people” takes 民之義 as duties in human affairs, keeping the practical task in the foreground.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium
ethics The hard part comes first The answer about humaneness turns on 先 and 後, first and afterward. Difficult action takes priority over the gain it may bring. The saying orders effort and reward; it does not promise that every difficult act will receive a reward.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high