Final exam

THE ANALECTS

THE ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY OF CHINESE CLASSICS

The Illustrated Library of Chinese Classics brings together a series of immensely appealing
and popular graphic narratives about traditional Asian philosophy and literature, all written and
illustrated by C. C. Tsai, one of East Asia’s most beloved cartoonists. Playful, humorous, and
genuinely illuminating, these unique adaptations offer ideal introductions to the most influential
writers, works, and schools of ancient Chinese thought.

Confucius

THE ANALECTS
Adapted and illustrated by

C. C. Tsai
Translated by Brian Bruya

Foreword by Michael Puett

Copyright © 2018 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press
41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press,
6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TR
press.princeton.edu
Cover art provided by C. C. Tsai
All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cai, Zhizhong, 1948– adapter, illustrator. | Bruya, Brian,
1966– translator. | Confucius. Lun yu. English.

Title: The analects / adapted and illustrated by C.C. Tsai ; translated
by Brian Bruya ; foreword by Michael Puett.

Other titles: Lun yu. English
Description: Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2018] | Series:

The illustrated library of Chinese classics | In English with classical
Chinese original. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017039858 | ISBN 9780691179759 (pbk. : acid-
free paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Confucius. Lun yu—Comic books, strips, etc. |
Confucius—Adaptations. | Graphic novels.

Classification: LCC PL2471.Z7 C3413 2018 | DDC 181/.112—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017039858

British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in News Gothic and Adobe Fangsong
Printed on acid- free paper. ♾
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

https://lccn.loc.gov/2017039858

Contents

The Sacrificial Goat 66
Sovereigns and Ministers 67
A Benevolent Neighborhood 68
Residing in Benevolence 69
Liking People 70
Mindful Benevolence 71
The Way in the Morning 72
The Way of Self- Respect 73
Do the Right Thing 74
Self- Interest 75
What It Takes 76
Understanding What’s Right 77
Seeing Yourself in Others 78
Traveling 79
Careless Words 80
The Draw of Virtue 81
Better Than Yan Hui 82
Zai Yu and the Filthy Wall 83
Shen Cheng’s Infirmity 84
The Meaning of “Cultured” 85
Zichan the Gentleman 86
Grudge Not 87
Contriving Appearances 88
Wishes 89
Owning Up 90
A Town of Ten Families 91
Yan Hui’s Learning 92
Yan Hui 93
Peasants and Pedants 94
Delight Is Best 95

Map of China in the Time of Confucius viii

Foreword by Michael Puett ix

Introduction by Brian Bruya xi

THE LIFE OF CONFUCIUS 2

THE ANALECTS 45
Pleasure and Dignity 46
The Root of Benevolence 47
Self- Critique 48
Leading a Large Country 49
The Fine Young Man 50
The Gentleman 51
Virtue among the People 52
Recognizing Others 53
Like the North Star 54
Feeling Bad 55
Stages of Life 56
Feeling Filial 57
Becoming a Teacher 58
Words and Actions 59
Non- Partisan 60
Study and Reflection 61
The Cult Figure 62
True Understanding 63
How a Gentleman Contends 64
Proper Ceremony 65

v i c o n t e n t s

The Wise and the Benevolent 96
The Gentleman’s Way 97
The Secret to Benevolence 98
Transmitting Ideas 99
A Scholar’s Ease 100
A Gentleman’s Worries 101
Dreaming of the Duke of Zhou 102
The Foundation of Good Conduct 103
Universal Education 104
Teaching Good Students 105
Wealth or Enjoyment 106
Simple Pleasures 107
Knowledge and Study 108
Learning from Others 109
Fair Play 110
Extravagance and Thrift 111
A Gentleman’s Freedom 112
Dying Men Tell No Lies 113
The Burden of Youth 114
Good Students Fear Forgetting 115
Personal Advantage, Fate, Benevolence 116
The River of Time 117
Age and Respect 118
Unbreakable Will 119
Never 120
Fire in the Stable 121
Spirits and Death 122
Overdoing It 123
Chai is Naïve 124
Benevolence 125
The Golden Rule 126
Brothers 127
The People’s Trust 128
Supporting the Good 129
Moral Leadership 130
Giving Advice to Friends 131
Making Friends 132
Leadership from Behind 133
The Moral Leader 134

Governing Oneself to Govern Others 135
Patience and Prescience 136
Fan Chi Asks about Benevolence 137
Harmonize 138
A Contented Person 139
Working for a Corrupt Government 140
Poor without Complaint 141
The Complete Person 142
Immodest Words 143
Study for the Sake of Learning 144
Extravagant in Deeds 145
Throwing Stones 146
A Good Horse 147
How to Treat One’s Enemies 148
Understanding Confucius 149
Stubborn 150
A Wasted Life 151
Conditional Service 152
Misspeaking 153
Cultivating Benevolence 154
Thinking Ahead 155
The Difficult Ones 156
Judging People and Words 157
Be Thoughtful 158
Patience and Discretion 159
Be Skeptical 160
The Dao 161
The Real Transgression 162
Thinking vs. Studying 163
Yield to No One 164
The Proper Way 165
Making Friends 166
Three Vices 167
Natural Understanding 168
The Nine Considerations 169
Praising Deeds 170
Nature vs. Nurture 171
The Six Defects 172
The Brazen Burglar 173

c o n t e n t s v i i

The Hometown Bandit 174
Gossip 175
The Corrupt Official 176
Detestable Changes 177
Indirect Communication 178
Play Games 179
Maids and Valets 180
An Immature Forty 181
Speaking Truth to Power 182
Crazy Jieyu 183
The Two Recluses 184
Be Mindful 187
Love of Learning 188
Benevolence Realized 189
Earning Trust 190
Crossing the Line 191
Being an Example 192

AFTER CONFUCIUS 193

THE STUDENTS OF CONFUCIUS 199
Yan Hui 201
Min Sun 202
Ran Yong 203
Zhong You 204
Zai Yu 205
Duanmu Si 206
Bu Shang 207
Tantai Mieming 208
Zeng Shen 209
You Ruo 210
Nangong Kuo 211
Gongxi Chi 212

Pronunciation Index 213

0 100 200 300 400 500 km

0 50 100 150 200 250 miles

Tai
Mountain Jiagu

Ye
llo

w
R

iv
er

Yellow
River

Yong

Ying

Linzi

Xintian

Luoyang

Wanqiu
Shangqiu

Gusu

Kuaiji

QufuZhongdu

Pu
Diqiu

Kuang

Xinzheng

Wu
BiZou

Taoqiu

State
Capital city
City/town
Mountain
Pass

M
o d ern coastline

M
odern coastline

Ji

QIN

JIN

CHU

YAN
ZHONGSHAN

LAI

JU

QI

ZHENG
She

CAI
CHEN

SONG

WU

YUE

LUWEI
CAO

CHINA
IN THE TIME

OF
CONFUCIUS

ZH
OU

CHU

Foreword
M I C H A E L P U E T T

It may seem odd at first to think of illustrating a truly great
work of philosophy. Would this not reduce the brilliant philos-
ophy found therein to a caricature? Would we ever think of
illustrating, for example, Kant’s second critique? Well, no, we
wouldn’t. But the answer to the previous question is no as
well. The Analects is indeed a truly great philosophical work.
But it is not a philosophical text in the way that we often use
that term. The philosophy is provided through a series of
dialogues between Confucius and his disciples. It portrays
Confucius as a figure striving to be good, trying to educate
his disciples, and hoping to create a better world. It is a
philosophy focused on the art of living. The degree to which
the Analects works as a philosophical text is tied directly to
the degree to which we can picture this art of living in every-
day practice— the situations in which Confucius will speak in
certain ways to a particular disciple, the way Confucius will
hold his body as he offers advice, the expressions Confucius
will have when he utters a statement— the ways in which, in
short, Confucius can sense those around him and sense what
he can say or do that will inspire them to alter their lives for
the better.

And what better way to help us envision this philosophy than
by allowing us to see it in practice? Chih- chung “C. C.” Tsai
captures this perfectly; his illustrations bring the dialogues and
conversations of the Analects to life. When we read Chih- chung
Tsai’s text, we avoid the danger that so many modern read-
ers of the text fall into— the danger of simply looking for a

statement here or there that sounds philosophically profound,
pulling it out of the context in which it appears, and ignoring
the way the situation is portrayed. For the way to read the text
and gain a full understanding of it is to focus precisely on the
whole of it— the situations, the moods, the expressions of the
utterances. The Confucius as portrayed in this text wants us to
change for the better, but the change begins in the seemingly
mundane ways we lead our everyday lives. Such a key lesson
is lost when we fail to pay attention to the fact that the text
itself is fully rooted in the everyday, in how Confucius will alter
a situation for the better through, say, an expression or tone of
voice. Chih- chung Tsai’s rendering makes this wonderfully alive
and accessible.

His illustrations also replicate, in a delightful manner, a way
of reading the Analects that would have been common in ear-
lier times. No one in pre- twentieth century China would have
simply read the passages of the Analects one after the other
without any contextualizing explication. The passages would
have always been read through a web of commentaries pro-
viding key details concerning the situation and key pieces of
background information, thus making it possible for the reader
to understand the reasons Confucius speaks as he does to a
certain disciple in a certain situation and to grasp the emotions
and moods elicited by Confucius’ utterances. Chih- chung Tsai’s
illustrations are based on these commentaries and do much
the same work that the commentaries did— but in a very whim-
sical way.

x f o r e w o r d

And, precisely thanks to this whimsy, Chih- chung Tsai cap-
tures another aspect of the text that is so often lost on contem-
porary readers: the Analects is a wonderfully humorous text.
Confucius is often described as a joyous figure, and among the
traits his disciples are learning in the art of living is how to ex-
perience the joy that Confucius radiates. Unlike so many recent
portraits of Confucius as a boring reciter of platitudes, Chih-
chung Tsai captures the playful character of Confucius as por-
trayed in the text, the humor of Confucius’ statements, the self-
mocking annoyance that Confucius will express towards a lazy
disciple before quoting some lines of poetry with a captivating
smile. Far from reducing the brilliant philosophy of the Analects
to a caricature, Chih- chung Tsai’s rendering helps bring it to life.

The text is also superbly translated by Brian Bruya. Not only
do Bruya’s translations capture the nuanced language of the
text beautifully, he also provides key pieces of background in-
formation on particular characters mentioned in the text so that
Confucius’ allusions make sense— thus giving us one bit of the
information the commentaries would have provided to a reader
that the illustrations alone cannot convey.

In short, Chih- chung Tsai has provided an illustrated version
of the Analects that both replicates the contextualizing work of
the commentarial apparatus and conveys the whimsy, humor,
and joyousness of the text. This is a philosophy to be lived, a
philosophical text to learn from and laugh with, and a version
that captures such a sensibility delightfully.

Introduction
B R I A N B R U Y A

I. THE BATTLE OF THE HUNDRED SCHOOLS

The Imperial Period in China began in 221 BCE, when the First
Emperor, hailing from the far western state of Qin, completed
his conquest of China. From that time until 1911, there were
six subsequent major dynasties: the Han, Tang, Song, Yuan,
Ming, and Qing. But what about before the Qin? For 789 years,
from 1045 to 256 BCE (much longer than any subsequent
dynasty), a single lineage held the throne as Son of Heaven,
ruler of China. This dynasty’s name is Zhou (pronounced joe—
see the Pronunciation Index in the back of the book for how
to pronounce other Chinese names and terms). The period of
the Zhou that concerns us is the second half, when traditional
order had broken down.

The traditional order was unique among world civilizations.
The Zhou Dynasty begins with the victors over the preceding
Shang Dynasty fanning out across the country, taking control
of key cities and towns— over 150 in total. We can think of
each of these newly formed states as a fief, loyal to the Zhou
king. Each enfeoffed ruler had local control but served at the
pleasure of the king: visiting the king regularly to renew bonds
of fealty, sending tribute to the king, and doing the king’s bid-
ding when necessary. Each fief was handed down to the ruler’s
eldest son. In the beginning, these fiefs were close, either in
terms of familial relationships or in terms of military loyalty,
and the relationship between king and vassal was viewed as
like that between father and son. Over time, however, disputes
arose, loyalties frayed, and battles occurred. 250 years in,
and ties were stretched to the breaking point.

A traditional story (perhaps apocryphal) is often used to il-
lustrate a key turning point in the dynasty. In 773 BCE, the
king had just divorced his primary wife and replaced her with
his favorite, who was difficult to please. In order to entertain
her, the king arranged for a large feast on the outskirts of the
capital, and at nightfall he had the warning beacons on the city
wall lit. The beacons went up in flame one after another in a
spectacular display that reached to the horizon, and after sev-
eral hours, troops from neighboring states arrived breathless
at the capital to bring aid to the king, whom they thought was
in grave danger from invasion. The spectacle delighted the
queen, but of course the generals and soldiers who had rushed
to help were not amused. This happened more than once.

Not long after, the state of Shen, which nursed a grudge
against the king, allied with the Quan Rong tribe and attacked
the Zhou capital. When the Zhou warning beacons were lit, the
neighboring states ignored them. The capital was laid waste,
and the king was killed. The Zhou lineage was allowed to con-
tinue, but it was forced to move its capital east, its area of
direct control was reduced, and it lost the fealty of the major
vassals. From that point on, the various states quickly realized
it was every state for itself. For the next five and a half cen-
turies the states gradually swallowed each other up until only
seven major states remained at the end of the Spring & Autumn
Period (770– 481 BCE). As armies increased in size during the
Warring States Period (481– 221 BCE), the disruption of war-
fare increased as well. The battle for ultimate supremacy con-
tinued until Qin was the last state standing.

x i i i n t r o d u c t i o n

In this battle for ultimate supremacy it would no longer do
for a ruler to simply rely on his circle of close nobility to act as
generals and ministers. Every ruler needed the most capable
people around. And so an intellectual ferment began. Not only
did rulers look beyond the nobility for brains and talent but peo-
ple of brains and talent began to promote their own views about
how best to govern— theories that blossomed to include all
kinds of associated philosophical concerns. Over time, similar
lines of thinking coalesced into a variety of schools of thought,
such as Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism, Daoism, and so on.
The Chinese refer to it as the period of the contending voices
of a hundred schools of thought.

The first major Confucian text was the Analects of Confucius,
a handbook for creating a flourishing society through cultural ed-
ucation and strong moral leadership. Mencius, a student of Con-
fucius’ grandson, Zisi, was the second major Confucian thinker.
His influential book, The Mencius, uses memorable analogies
and thought experiments (such as the child on the edge of a
well) to drive home subtle points about the goodness of human
nature and effective governing. Two short pieces that were im-
portant to the revival of Confucianism in the Song Dynasty were
also products of this time. They are Advanced Education (Da
Xue) and The Middle Path (Zhong Yong), traditionally attributed
to Confucius’ student Zengzi and to Zisi, respectively. Advanced
Education offers a pithy formula for the self- development of car-
ing, world- class leaders, while The Middle Path discusses how
to achieve balance both internally and externally.

While the Confucians concentrated on creating moral lead-
ers, others, known to us now as Daoists, preferred to concen-
trate on becoming as close as possible to the natural way of
things. The major Daoist texts from this period are the Zhuangzi
and Laozi’s Daodejing. The Zhuangzi is one of the great works
of world literature, simultaneously a profound philosophical
study of metaphysics, language, epistemology, and ethics. It’s
also seriously fun to read for its colorful characters and para-
doxical stories. Laozi’s Daodejing echoes many themes of the
Zhuangzi, with an emphasis on the sage as leader, non- action,
and emptying the mind. Its poetic language and spare style
stand it in stark contrast to the Zhuangzi but also allow for a

richness of interpretation that has made it an all- time favorite
of contemplative thinkers across traditions. A third Daoist from
this time period, Liezi, had his name placed on a book a few
centuries later. The Liezi adopts the style and themes of the
Zhuangzi and continues the whimsical yet profound tradition.

Other thinkers concentrated on ruthless efficiency in govern-
ment and came to be known as Legalists. One major Legalist
thinker was Han Feizi. His book, the Han Feizi, condemns ideas
from other schools of thought that had devolved into practices
that were considered wasteful, corrupt, and inefficient. In re-
sponse, he speaks directly to the highest levels of leadership,
using Daoist terminology and fable- like stories to make his
points, advising rulers on how to motivate people, how to orga-
nize the government and the military, and how to protect their
own positions of power.

Still other thinkers concentrated their theories on military
strategy and tactics. The major representative of this genre
is, of course, Sunzi, and his classic Art of War, a text that so
profoundly and succinctly examines how to get the greatest
competitive advantage with the least harm done that it is still
read today by military leaders and captains of industry.

The political, military, and intellectual battles continued
throughout the Warring States Period in a complex interplay
until Han Feizi’s version of Legalism seemed to tip the balance
for the Qin. But the victory was short- lived, and soon a version
of Confucianism would rise to the top as the preferred philos-
ophy of political elites. But Daoism, and later Buddhism, had
their own periods of dominance and influenced many aspects
of Chinese culture over the centuries.

II. CONFUCIUS AND HIS IDEAS

As social roles were changing during the Spring & Autumn Pe-
riod and rulers were turning to talent outside the nobility, there
arose a need for teachers to instruct aspiring leaders. Con-
fucius was, himself, an aspiring leader, but he made his mark
as an edu cator and as a philosopher of education. C. C. Tsai
opens this book with the story of Confucius’ life, where we see
Confucius commonly interacting with his students.

i n t r o d u c t i o n x i i i

As for his ideas, there are two foundational ideas in Con-
fucius that are prerequisites for understanding and contextual-
izing all other ideas in the book— one is perfectly familiar to a
citizen of a modern liberal democracy like ours and one is quite
the opposite. They are culture and hierarchy.

First, culture. In general terms, culture is whatever gets
passed down to the next generation. We often narrow the mean-
ing, however, either to something like high art or to touristic
caricatures associated with ethnic minorities, like performance
of hula dance or Native American drumming. Both of these
conceptions of culture are distant from everyday life. For Con-
fucius, culture is a set of practices and traditions that enrich
everyday life and engender stability and harmony in society.

Does culture really provide stability and engender harmony?
Think about shared holidays, family dinners, birthdays, wed-
dings, funerals, and norms of behavior. What does more in our
society to provide stability and engender harmony than the pat-
terns of shared activities that structure our lives? Confucius
had a word for this aspect of culture. He called it li 禮, which is
translated in the book variously as ceremony, propriety, ritual,
proper behavior, or sacrifice, depending on the context. It also
includes basic etiquette, such as bowing, handshakes, saying
“please” and “thank you,” and so on. Li enriches our lives by
providing meaning (think weddings, baptisms, birthday parties),
and other aspects of culture (in which li is embedded) provide
subtle ways of understanding current events and our place in
the world (think novels, TV dramas, satirical comedy, songs,
etc.). These customs and forms of art and entertainment are
avenues of emotional involvement in our world, without which
we would be at a loss to both understand our world and ex-
press ourselves in it. Our established forms of etiquette are
also like this. Imagine if you went to a job interview in a foreign
country, and didn’t know how to express the good will that is ex-
pressed in our society through a common handshake. It would
be awkward, and trying to figure out what to do or say would
sap your energy and distract you from more important things.
Li gives us these forms for expression and understanding.

Just like we require our children to read novels or poetry to
expand their minds and foster a moral sensibility, so Confucius

thought that a primary goal of education was creating a moral
person. You can see the emphasis he places on li, culture, and
education by the number of times they appear in this book.
In 7:5, Confucius shows a fervent nostalgia for the Duke of
Zhou, whom he understood to be the founder of the cultural
forms he espouses. 5:15 gives a definition of “culture” based
on inquiry and a love of learning. In 6:20, Confucius shows the
necessity of an emotional connection to learning— mere inter-
est is not enough; the best kind of learning is a joyful process.
And through learning, one can accomplish great things (14:35),
such as creating a moral society. In our society today, we may
look to the law for order in society, but Confucius was leery of
extrinsic motivation and preferred that each of us do the right
thing because we want to, not because we have to. His prefer-
ence for li over law is clear in 2:3. Li limits what we’re willing to
do (6:27, 12:1) and also provides opportunities and avenues
for appropriate behavior (3:15, 12:5). More than anything, li en-
genders the kind of humble and deferential behavior that keeps
a hierarchical society functioning smoothly.

In our society, we favor equality across the board, so we
might expect that a philosophy that favors hierarchy will be
about getting power and preserving it. In fact, we see just
that in the work of Han Feizi (coming later in this series). For
Confucius, though, humility and deference are paramount, no
matter where one is in the hierarchy (13:1, 13:19). On top of
this, Confucius views hierarchies as dynamic, not static. Just
as an infant daughter eventually moves her way up through the
hier archy of a family from dependent child to wife, mother, and
aunt, and eventually matriarch, so a commoner can eventually
make his way up through the hierarchy of society to become a
government official who looks after others. We would think of it
today as social mobility.

Social mobility depends on a more fundamental political
idea: meritocracy— rule by the able. The idea is simple: The
best person for the job is the person best able to do the job.
As familiar as this idea is to us today, it has taken a frightfully
long time for it to take root in our society. In fact, it really is only
since the Civil Rights movement that we have stopped explicitly
excluding people based on characteristics unrelated to ability.

x i v i n t r o d u c t i o n

The Greeks favored wealth as a criterion of inclusion. Later
Europeans favored blood lineage. Other exclusionary criteria
have been race, religion, and gender. Although the Chinese
long excluded one whole gender from political power, begin-
ning well before the time of Confucius they started the process
of elevating men of ability over men of good birth.

Confucius was fully on board with the idea of meritocracy
among men. He promoted it through educating all who came to
him (7:7), giving them a shot at improving themselves to take
on a large role of responsibility in society— one that would have
been closed to them in other major cultures around the world,
including the early democracies of Greece and Rome. Later,
the idea of educating the next generation of leaders was insti-
tutionalized in China, and after European contact it contributed
to our own institutions of entry into civil service via a process
of institutional learning and uniform examination.

So we shouldn’t be put off by Confucius’ emphasis on hier-
archy. Hierarchy is all around us, whether we like it or not. In
the sense that you may be a better piano player than me or
know more about politics or science, you are higher up the
ladder of ability in that respect than I am, and so are in a posi-
tion to teach me. I am in a position to learn from you. That’s a
hierarchical relationship in Confucius’ eyes, and each of us, if
we wish to exploit that differential, should act in certain ways.
You should treat me with the care of a mentor and generously
guide me. I should treat you with respect while humbly and
assiduously learning from you. When these roles are fulfilled,
great strides are made. In 6:30, Confucius says, “A benevo-
lent person wishes to establish himself by establishing others
and to achieve through helping others achieve.” Teachers are
mentors. On the other side, students mustn’t slack off. In 7:8,
Confucius says, “If a student doesn’t feel troubled in his stud-
ies, I don’t enlighten him. If a student doesn’t feel frustrated in
his studies, I don’t explain to him. If I point out one corner, and
he can’t point out the other three, I don’t repeat myself.”

According to Confucius, the main virtue guiding the behav-
ior of the mentor/leader is ren 仁, translated here as benev-
olence. The first step in benevolence is developing yourself
(12:1, 12:17, 15:10). There are many episodes in this book

where Confucius refers to the junzi 君子 (translated here as
“gentleman”), by which he means the person who is so fully de-
veloped in character and virtue that he can act as a model and
guide for others: “a gentleman supports the good in people”
(12:16). “Gentleman” isn’t a perfect translation because in our
day it refers to a pretty minimal set of virtues, like holding the
door open for others, and it is also gender specific. Junzi, on
the other hand, is gender neutral and involves well- developed
virtues and leadership abilities. A gentleman in Confucius’
sense is the kind of person worth looking up to, who has culti-
vated a genuine concern for others and has the ability to make
good on it. Think of someone in your own life who, through kind
and patient guidance along with steadfast integrity, has had a
strong positive influence on your life, like a coach, a teacher,
a grandparent, or a supervisor at work. This is what Confucius
meant by a junzi. In 6:30, a benevolent leader is someone who
spreads kindness to the people, and in 18:1, he goes so far as
to sacrifice himself speaking truth to power.

Before one can get to such a high level of moral and social
achievement, one must begin at the bottom of the hierarchy
and learn the virtues of the follower. The ideal of behavior at
the bottom rung is xiao 孝, translated here as filial virtue or
thoughtfulness toward one’s parents. This ideal begins in the
home, the most natural hierarchy in Confucius’ eyes and the hi-
erarchy that, in its ideal form, should act as a model for the rest
of society. In the home, the child is xiao to the parents, obeying
them and treating them with respect and thoughtfulness when
young (1:2) and taking care of them through feelings of re-
spect and gratitude when older (2:7, 4:19). By exercising xiao
at home, one learns to serve others, which can be naturally
extended when one steps onto the bottom rung of the ladder
out in society. While working one’s way up the ladder, one con-
centrates on being zhong 忠, conscientious (3:19).

Out in society, there will always be temptations to act im-
morally, to choose one’s own short- term interests over the
right thing to do more broadly. The term in Chinese for doing
the right thing is yi 義. We see the idea clearly in 4.16, 9.1,
and 14.12. Confucius also reminds us that the right thing to do
is often dependent on circumstances and cannot be decided

i n t r o d u c t i o n x v

ahead of time according to unbending principles (4.10). There
is no final …