Sign in to follow this  
ChiDragon

Analect One - Natural flow of conduct

Recommended Posts

Classic Text:

子曰:「學而時習之,不亦說乎?有朋自遠

方來,不亦樂乎?人不知而不慍,不亦君子

乎?」

Modern native translation:

孔子說:“學習知識并按一定的時間去溫習它,不也是很高興的嗎?有同學從遠方來,不也是很快樂的嗎?不被別人了解而不抱怨,不也是很有君子風度的嗎?”

 

English translation:

Confucius said: "To obtain new knowledge by following a regular schedule, isn't it very happy...??? There were school mates visited from long distance, isn't it very pleasant....??? Others do not understand me and I wasn't muttered, isn't it an elegance of a gentleman.

Edited by ChiDragon

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I really like this opening verse of the Analects. A couple thoughts/questions:

 

Would it be forcing something onto the text to look for a classification of virtues in these three (seemingly rhetorical) questions? I'm seeing something like this:

  1. "To obtain new knowledge...": Knowledge or wisdom
  2. "There were school mates...": Care for others or hospitality (or maybe just friendship?)
  3. "Others do not understand me...": Humility or self-reliance/self-determination

I'm wondering if these could be grouped according to intellect, emotion, will (mind, heart, gut)... but this might be a huge stretch and also might overlook some ideas about the unity of heart and mind in xin.

 

My other thought was about trying to find a "Confucian" wu wei in this passage (the first question about knowledge coming through a regular schedule). It seems like there is something in that about ritual (or at least a habitual or ritualistic approach to life) and possibly about something I've heard called a "carving and polishing" approach to non-action from Edward Slingerland. It's a behaviorist-sounding approach to ingraining proper action into oneself until it becomes effortless, if I understand it correctly. Maybe this is one way of approaching knowledge? Anyways, I want to give that some more thought before saying any more... it feels all over the place.

Edited by Turner

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Here is a video that explains the "carving and polishing" idea of wu wei I referenced above:

.

 

Maybe there's something about that in this verse, maybe not. I think it also came to mind when I recently posted Analect Ten, which talks about Confucius obtaining information without even trying to get it; his character simply led others to share it. Seemed very wu wei, although in a way that involved a lot of prior effort (self-cultivation).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Sign in to follow this