Analects 8.15: 泰伯 (Tai Bo)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 8 places personal conduct beside the use and relinquishment of power. Taibo’s yielding opens the book; praise of Shun, Yu, Yao, and Zhou closes it. Between these stands a sequence in Master Zeng’s voice, beginning in illness and extending to the lifelong burden of humaneness. Ritual gives qualities their measure, while poetry and music form a person’s response. Learning is tested against talent, salary, public service, and withdrawal. The book ends with Yu’s choices: little for personal comfort, full care for ritual and waterworks.
Analects 8.15
子曰、師摯之始、關睢之亂、洋洋乎盈耳哉。
The Master said, “Music Master Zhi’s opening and the finale of ‘Guanju’—how richly they filled the ears!”
Commentary
translation An opening and a finale The English takes 始 and 亂 as parts of a musical performance: an opening under Music Master Zhi and a concluding movement of “Guanju.” Here 亂 has an ordering or concluding musical sense, unlike the disorder condemned earlier. Legge takes 始 as Zhi’s beginning in office instead. The Chinese leaves the relation compressed; the translation chooses the audible opening-and-ending pair.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium
source variant The title Guanju The title is printed 關睢 here. Chinese Wikisource reads 關雎, and Legge’s romanized title corresponds to “Guanju.” The English uses that title; it follows the 雎 reading rather than treating 睢 as the same character. The same printed form occurs in the earlier saying about the poem’s joy and sorrow.
Basis: sourced
Confidence: medium