Analects 7.37: 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 7.37
子溫而厲、威而不猛、恭而安。
The Master was warm yet stern, commanding yet never fierce, respectful yet at ease.
Commentary
ethics Qualities held together Each pair brings qualities into relation: warmth with sternness, authority with restraint, respect with ease. The final 安 recalls the relaxed bearing described near the beginning of the book. The closing portrait gathers these qualities into a single manner of meeting others.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium