Analects 7.30: 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 7.30
陳司敗問昭公知禮乎。孔子曰、知禮。孔子退、揖巫馬期而進之、曰、吾聞君子不黨、君子亦黨乎、君取於吳為同姓、謂之吳孟子、君而知禮、孰不知禮。巫馬期以告。子曰、丘也幸、苟有過、人必知之。
Chen’s officer of justice asked whether Duke Zhao understood ritual. Confucius said, “He understood ritual.” After Confucius withdrew, the officer bowed to Wuma Qi, invited him forward, and said, “I have heard that an exemplary person does not take sides. Does an exemplary person take sides after all? The ruler married a woman from Wu who had the same surname as he did, and called her Wu Mengzi. If the ruler understood ritual, who does not?” Wuma Qi reported this. The Master said, “I, Qiu, am fortunate. Whenever I have a fault, someone is sure to know it.”
Commentary
ritual The official’s charge of partiality The officer’s example makes a marriage within the same surname the test of ritual understanding, then draws attention to what the wife was called. His argument implies that the naming obscures the difficulty. The dialogue supplies enough for the accusation of taking sides, while leaving the naming convention itself unexplained.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium
ethics How Qiu receives the criticism Wuma Qi carries the officer’s criticism back to the Master. The reply calls exposure of a fault good fortune. It allows the criticism to reach him without an explicit retraction of his answer about Duke Zhao; the text leaves that tension in place.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium