Analects 6.22: 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 6.22
子曰、齊一變、至於魯、魯一變、至於道。
The Master said, “One change would bring Qi to the level of Lu; one change would bring Lu to the Way.”
Commentary
politics Two changes toward the Way Qi and Lu are placed in an ordered relation: a change could bring Qi to Lu’s level, while Lu still needs a change to reach the Way. The praise of Lu is therefore comparative and incomplete. The saying does not specify the reforms that would accomplish either step.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high