Analects 8.4: 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 8.4
曾子有疾、孟敬子問之。曾子言曰、鳥之將死、其鳴也哀、人之將死、其言也善。君子所貴乎道者三、動容貌、斯遠暴慢矣、正顏色、斯近信笑、出辭氣、斯遠鄙倍矣、籩豆之事、則有司存。
Master Zeng was ill, and Meng Jingzi came to ask after him. Master Zeng said, “When a bird is about to die, its cry is sorrowful; when a person is about to die, their words are good. For a person in high position, three things matter in the Way: carry yourself so as to keep violence and disrespect at a distance; set your expression right so as to draw near to sincerity; speak in words and tones that keep vulgarity and impropriety at a distance. As for the baskets and bowls of sacrifice, there are officials to attend to those.”
Commentary
ritual Conduct and the work of officials Meng Jingzi comes as a visitor to the ill Master Zeng. The approach of death gives weight to Zeng’s advice about bearing, expression, and speech. As in the saying about kin and old friends, 君子 is read as someone in high position. Such a person must attend to conduct personally; the baskets and bowls belong to ritual duties that officials can handle. The distinction sets personal responsibility beside specialized work.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium
source variant The character after sincerity The Chinese here prints 近信笑, with 笑, “laugh,” where Chinese Wikisource reads 近信矣, with a closing particle. Legge’s English also ends the thought at sincerity. “Draw near to sincerity” follows the 矣 reading. The difference matters because the printed 笑 could otherwise suggest an instruction about smiling.
Basis: sourced
Confidence: medium