Analects 7.10: 述而 (Shu Er)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 7 builds a portrait of the Master through self-descriptions, conversations, and observations of his conduct. He loves the ancient tradition, learns through sustained attention, and teaches by asking learners to carry an indication further. Music, mourning, plain food, and illness show how these commitments enter daily life. Political judgment calls for knowing when to act or withdraw and for accepting criticism. Repeated disclaimers about his own attainment sit beside confidence in Heaven and the nearness of humaneness. The closing portrait holds warmth, firmness, respect, and ease together.
Analects 7.10
子謂顏淵曰、用之則行、舍之則藏、惟我與爾有是夫。子路曰、子行三軍則誰與。子曰、暴虎馮河、死而無悔者、吾不與也、必也臨事而懼、好謀而成者也。
The Master said to Yan Yuan, “When employed, act; when set aside, withdraw. Only you and I have this, surely.” Zilu said, “If you commanded the three armies, whom would you take with you?” The Master said, “I would not take someone who would attack a tiger barehanded or cross a river on foot and die without regret. I would take someone who faces the task with caution, is fond of planning, and carries it through.”
Commentary
politics Acting and withdrawing Yan Yuan receives the Master’s praise for being able both to act when employed and to withdraw when set aside. Zilu then asks whom the Master would choose for military command. The change of question turns a judgment about fitting action into a test of the qualities needed in a dangerous task.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium
ethics Courage that can finish the task The tiger and river examples make recklessness concrete. The preferred companion feels caution, values planning, and brings the undertaking to completion. The answer places judgment and execution beside courage; dying without regret is not by itself a qualification for command.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high