Analects 7.6: 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 7.6
子曰、志於道。據於德。依於仁。游於藝。
The Master said, “Set your purpose on the Way. Stand firm in virtue. Rely on humaneness. Range freely through the arts.”
Commentary
philology Four different ways of engaging 志, 據, 依, and 游 move through purpose, firm footing, reliance, and free movement. The English keeps those verbs distinct, as well as the Way, virtue, humaneness, and the arts. 游 gives the last instruction room and ease alongside the preceding firmness; the arts themselves are not listed here.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium