Analects 8.16: 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 8.16
子曰、狂而不直、侗而不愿、悾悾而不信、吾不知之矣。
The Master said, “Ambitious yet not upright; naive yet not careful; earnest yet not trustworthy—I do not understand such people.”
Commentary
commentarial tradition Qualities that fail to balance The classical glosses pair ambition with uprightness, an unformed disposition with care, and earnestness with trustworthiness. In the saying, each disposition lacks the virtue expected to accompany it. 悾悾 is earnestness, not a pretense of it; the final bafflement concerns these missing companions.
Basis: sourced
Confidence: medium