Analects 8.18: 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 8.18
子曰、巍巍乎、舜禹之有天下也、而不與焉。
The Master said, “How towering were Shun and Yu, holding all under Heaven yet taking no part in it!”
Commentary
commentarial tradition Holding without taking part 不與 leaves the scope of nonparticipation unstated. Legge reads it as detachment from possessing the realm. The collected classical commentary instead explains it as receiving the realm without seeking it. That reading connects this praise with Taibo’s yielding. Governing through others is another possible scope, suggested by the nearby ministers. “Taking no part in it” leaves these scopes open.
Basis: sourced
Confidence: medium