Analects 9.19: 子罕 (Zi Han)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 9 presents the Master through questions about his learning, skills, character, and place in the cultural tradition. His own accounts of ordinary work and unfinished attainment stand beside his students’ admiration. Ritual decisions distinguish useful change from arrogant display, while the jade exchange joins willingness to serve with waiting for someone who recognizes worth. Images of flowing water, earthworks, growing plants, and winter trees give passing time, effort, and tested character concrete form. Praise of learners sits beside regret and warnings about unfinished growth. The later sayings ask for correction, resolve, and the ability to weigh circumstances after learning to stand firm.
Analects 9.19
子曰、語之而不惰者、其回也與。
The Master said, “The one who never slackens when I speak to him—that must be Hui.”
Commentary
ethics A learner who does not slacken Hui is the hearer singled out in this saying. 不惰 describes an absence of slackness in response to being spoken to; it can include sustained effort after the words are heard. The emphatic closing identification fixes the praise on Hui’s active response.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium