The Master
said, 'To subdue one's self and return to propriety, is perfect virtue.
If a man can for one day subdue himself and return to propriety,
all under heaven will ascribe perfect virtue to him. Is the practice
of perfect virtue from a man himself, or is it from others?'
2. Yen Yuan said, 'I beg to ask the steps of that process.' The
Master replied, 'Look not at what is contrary to propriety; listen not
to what is contrary to propriety; speak not what is contrary to
propriety; make no movement which is contrary to propriety.' Yen
Yuan then said, 'Though I am deficient in intelligence and vigour, I
will make it my business to practise this lesson.'
CHAP. II. Chung-kung asked about perfect virtue. The Master
said, 'It is, when you go abroad, to behave to every one as if you
were receiving a great guest; to employ the people as if you were
assisting at a great sacrifice; not to do to others as you would not
wish done to yourself; to have no murmuring against you in the
country, and none in the family.' Chung-kung said, 'Though I am
deficient in intelligence and vigour, I will make it my business to
practise this lesson.'
CHAP. III. 1. Sze-ma Niu asked about perfect virtue.
2. The Master said, 'The man of perfect virtue is cautious and
slow in his speech.'
3. 'Cautious and slow in his speech!' said Niu; - 'is this what is
meant by perfect virtue?' The Master said, 'When a man feels the
difficulty of doing, can he be other than cautious and slow in
speaking?'
CHAP. IV. 1. Sze-ma Niu asked about the superior man. The
Master said, 'The superior man has neither anxiety nor fear.'
2. 'Being without anxiety or fear!' said Nui; - 'does this
constitute what we call the superior man?'
3. The Master said, 'When internal examination discovers
nothing wrong, what is there to be anxious about, what is there to
fear?'
CHAP. V. 1. Sze-ma Niu, full of anxiety, said, 'Other men all
have their brothers, I only have not.'
2. Tsze-hsia said to him, 'There is the following saying which I
have heard: -
3. '"Death and life have their determined appointment; riches
and honours depend upon Heaven."
4. 'Let the superior man never fail reverentially to order his
own conduct, and let him be respectful to others and observant of
propriety: - then all within the four seas will be his brothers. What
has the superior man to do with being distressed because he has no
brothers?'
CHAP. VI. Tsze-chang asked what constituted intelligence. The
Master said, 'He with whom neither slander that gradually soaks
into the mind, nor statements that startle like a wound in the flesh,
are successful, may be called intelligent indeed. Yea, he with whom
neither soaking slander, nor startling statements, are successful,
may be called farseeing.'
CHAP.
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