Analects 6.27: 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 6.27
子曰、中庸之為德也、其至矣乎、民鮮久矣。
The Master said, “Steadfast balance—surely this is the highest virtue! It has long been rare among the people.”
Commentary
translation A lasting measure 中 supplies a middle or balanced measure; 庸 is taken in its constant sense, carried by “steadfast,” rather than as merely ordinary. Legge calls the virtue the Constant Mean. The English treats it as a sustained quality of conduct. Its rank as the highest virtue and its rarity among the people give the brief praise its demanding force.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium