{77} Lesson 9
9.1. Readings: Analects 5.13 and the Commentary by Zhū Xī
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天 道 則 夫 子 罕 言 之 而 學 者 有 不 得 聞 者 。 |
之 文 章 。 日 見 乎 外 。 固 學 者 所 共 聞 。 至 於 性 與 |
天 道 者 天 理 自 然 之 本 體 。 其 實 一 理 也 。 言 夫 子 |
外 者 。 威 儀 文 辭 皆 是 也 。 性 者 人 所 受 之 天 理 。 |
性 與 天 道 。 不 可 得 而 聞 也 。 文 章 。 德 之 見 乎 |
子 貢 曰 。 夫 子 之 文 章 。 可 得 而 聞 也 。 夫 子 之 言 |
{78} 9.2. Vocabulary
(Twenty-four new characters, four new uses)
文章 wénzhāng (see the Chinese commentary within the reading for this lesson)
聞 (闻) wén t.v., to hear
言 yán n., words, maxim; t.v., to put into words, to create maxims; t.v., to mean
天 tiān n., Heaven (an impersonal higher power); s.v., to be of Heaven, Heavenly
德 dé n., virtue, political charisma generated by a good character1
見 (见) xiàn s.v., to be visible (look under jiàn in Kroll, p. 199)
乎 hū prep., on, from, of; g.p. (comes at the end of a sentence, transforming it into a question; roughly like 嗎 ma in Modern Chinese); g.p. (vocative particle; follows name of person addressed)
外 wài n., the outside
威儀 (威仪) wēiyí n., august bearing
文辭 wéncí n., eloquent words
皆 jiē adv., all
者 zhě g.p. (marks expression being defined or characterized); g.p. (follows a verbal phrase, transforming it into a nominal phrase describing the subject of the verbal phrase: “those who . . .” or “that which . . .”); g.p. (transforms verbal phrase, V, into a gerund, V-ing)
受 shòu t.v., to receive
{79} 理 lǐ n., Pattern, Principle (technical term in Confucian metaphysics for the underlying structure of the universe, fully complete in each thing that exists, but manifested differently due to the concrete embodiment of each thing)
自然 zìrán s.v., to be natural (literally, “self-so”); n., naturalness
本 běn n., root, basis; s.v., to be fundamental
體 (体) tǐ n., Substance (technical term in Confucian metaphysics; roughly, the 體 is what something is in itself, while its 用 yòng, Function, is how it manifests itself in action; the eye is 體, seeing is its 用; water is 體, waves are its 用)
實 (实) shí n., reality (as opposed to appearance or manifestation)
日 rì adv., daily2
固 gù adv., definitely
共 gòng adv., jointly, as a group
至於 (至于) zhìyú exp., When it comes to . . .
則 (则) zé g.p. (contrastive topic marker)
罕 hǎn adv., seldom
Nouns as Adjectives, Topic Marker 者 zhě, Dropping of
Final 也 yě, Contrastive Topic Marker 則 zé, the Expression
學者有 xuézhě yǒu . . ., 得 dé + Verb Construction
This lesson is the text of Analects 5.13 and the commentary on that passage by 朱熹 Zhū Xī (1130–1200 CE).3 The format you see in this lesson, {80} classic text in large characters and commentary in small characters, is traditional. Recall that “Classical Chinese” refers to the dialect (really a group of dialects) of written Chinese from around the time of Kǒngzǐ (Confucius) up to the end of the Han dynasty (220 CE), while “Literary Chinese” refers to all the styles of written Chinese up to the beginning of the widespread use of vernacular Chinese in the twentieth century. So the Analects is written in Classical Chinese, while Zhū Xī’s commentary is written in a later form of Literary Chinese.
The grammar and vocabulary of Analects 5.13 and Zhū Xī’s commentary on it are not especially difficult. However, there are many challenging concepts and issues involved.4 In particular, you need to learn a little bit about Confucian metaphysics.5 For Confucians, everything in the universe has two aspects: Pattern (理 lǐ) and 氣 qì. Pattern is the structure of the universe. It is fully present and identical in each and every thing that exists. Because we all share the same Pattern, we are part of a potentially harmonious whole that comprises other humans, animals, plants, and the rest of the natural world. One who fully understands the Pattern will be spontaneously compassionate and righteous.
Although the underlying Pattern is the same in everything, it manifests itself differently because each thing has a distinct endowment of氣 qì. Unfortunately, there is no good English equivalent for 氣. People have proposed “ether,” “material force,” “psychophysical stuff,” and “vital {81} fluid,” among others, but none of those is really a translation because those phrases don’t mean anything in English. Basically, 氣 is like a fluid that can condense to form concrete things. How “turbid” or “clear” the 氣 is determines the way in which the Pattern manifests itself. (Imagine the different ways in which sunlight filters through water that is clear, or a little hazy, or almost mud.) (See also Kroll, p. 358.)
A further illustration of the flexibility of grammatical classes in Classical Chinese is that one noun can sometimes precede another noun and act as an adjective. We can think of this construction as being elliptical for (short for) the subordinating construction using 之:
Pattern:
N1 之 N2 
N1 N2
The N2 of N1
Example:
人之性 人性
human nature
We have seen 者 zhě used (1) to change a verbal phrase into a description of the subject of that phase (that which V’s) or (2) into a gerund (V-ing), which refers to the activity described by the verb. A third use of 者 is simply (3) to emphasize the topic of a sentence.6 A common instance of this use is to mark a word or phrase that is being defined or characterized. Zhū Xī often uses the word 者 like this to mark expressions from the classical text that he is explaining in his commentary.
{82} In its first occurrence in this lesson, 者 is being used in the first way (that which is 見於外 xiàn yú wài). In its next two occurrences, 者 is being used in the third way, marking the expression Zhū Xī is defining.
Pattern:
N1 者 N2 也。
N1 is N2
The expression “N1” means N2.
Example:
仁者愛人也。
Benevolence is loving others.
“Benevolence” means loving others.
We see several examples in Zhū Xī’s commentary of the fact that the 也 yě can drop out of an N1 N2 也 construction. In some dialects of Classical or Literary Chinese this is quite rare (e.g., in the Analects), while in others it is more common (e.g., in the Wáng Bì version of the Classic of the Way and Virtue). The style of Zhū Xī’s commentary is very concise, so he tends to drop the 也 when he feels that the syntax of the sentence is clear without it.
9.3.4. 則 zé as Contrastive Topic Marker
As a conjunction, 則 zé can mark the then-clause of an “if . . . then . . .” sentence. (It is sometimes found in combination with 如 rú, which we saw in Lesson 5: 如 . . . . . . 則 . . . . . ., “if . . . then . . .”.) Here in Lesson 9, though, 則 marks a topic that is being commented on by the rest of the sentences. When used like this, 則 suggests that the topic is being contrasted with something else.7
{83} Pattern:
N1 則 S
As for N1 [as opposed to N2], S.
Example:
性則善。習不然。
His nature is good, but his practices are not so.
As for his nature, that is good, but his practices are not.
9.3.5. The Expression 學者有. . . . . . xuézhě yǒu . . .
This phrase is easy to misinterpret. 學者 xuézhě, “those who study,” is the topic of the sentence: it is not the subject of the following verb, 有 yǒu. The rest of the sentence is a comment on this topic. The verb here means “there are.” So, in effect, the initial 學者 tells you where or among whom there are the things described in the rest of the sentence.8
You can probably guess this one, but just in case you can’t: 得 dé + V is the same as 得而 + V, which we encountered way back in Lesson 5 (“to succeed in V-ing”)
9.4.1. The Expression 罕言 hǎn yán
There is nothing grammatically challenging about the ADV+V expression 罕言 hǎn yán, “seldom spoke of,” in Zhū Xī’s commentary. However, Zhū Xī’s original audience would have immediately recognized this as a {84} phrase from Analects 9.1: “The Master seldom spoke of profit and fate and humaneness” (子罕言利與命與仁 Zǐ hǎn yán lì yǔ mìng yǔ rén).9 Zhū Xī is implicitly suggesting that 9.1 is evidence that there were some topics of which the Master “seldom spoke.” In other words, Zhū Xī thinks that Kǒngzǐ had esoteric teachings that he only revealed to his most advanced disciples.10 (Notice how Zhū Xī presents a textual argument in a subtle way by just quoting a text in passing.) So Zhū Xī understands Zǐgòng’s comments here in 5.13 as an exclamation of joy when the Master has finally begun to teach Zǐgòng his esoteric teachings about human nature and the Way of Heaven.
9.4.2. Zhū Xī and “Neo-Confucianism”
Zhū Xī is perhaps the third most influential Confucian philosopher (after Kǒngzǐ himself and 孟子 Mèngzǐ, whom we’ll read in Lesson 12). Part of the reason for his immense importance is that he devised a new Confucian educational curriculum grouped around the Four Books: Great Learning, Analects, Mengzi, and Mean. In addition, he wrote Collected Commentaries on the “Four Books,” which is the source of the commentary in today’s lesson. In 1313, the Four Books along with Zhū Xī’s commentaries on them became the basis of the civil service examinations, which were one of the primary routes to power, prestige, and pelf in imperial China. Consequently, generations of scholars had to literally memorize all of the Four Books and Zhū Xī’s commentary on them. Although the examinations {85} were eliminated in 1905, Zhū Xī’s interpretations continue to color the way many people read the Four Books, even today.11
Zhū Xī is a figure in the movement known in the West as “Neo-Confucianism.” Neo-Confucianism, which came to intellectual maturity during the Song dynasty (960–1279 CE), sought to revive and reinvigorate the teachings of Confucianism after centuries of Buddhist dominance in the Six Dynasties Period (220–581 CE) and the Tang dynasty (618–906 CE). Although the Neo-Confucians were officially anti-Buddhist, they absorbed many concepts from Buddhism and unconsciously reinterpreted their own tradition in the light of these concepts. I like to say that Neo-Confucianism is Confucianism seen through Buddhist lenses.12
9.4.3. A More Prosaic Interpretation of Analects 5.13
Zhū Xī accepts a tradition that Kǒngzǐ wrote the “Appended Remarks” to the Classic of Changes (易經 Yìjīng, often called the I Ching in English, following the Wade-Giles romanization). The “Appended Remarks” sketches a metaphysics based on 陰 yīn and 陽 yáng, complementary aspects of the Pattern of the universe. Yin is manifested in things that {86} are dark, passive, falling, moist, feminine, etc., while yang is manifested in things that are light, active, rising, dry, masculine, etc. The “Appended Remarks” explains that “the alternation of yin and yang is called the ‘Way.’ That which ensues from it is goodness, and that which realizes it completely is human nature.”13
Now, discussions of yin-yang metaphysics are conspicuously absent from the Analects. Analects 7.17 is the only passage that makes even a passing reference to the Classic of Changes, and Kǒngzǐ does not claim there to have written any part of the Changes.14 Furthermore, the only passage in the Analects where Kǒngzǐ himself says anything about human nature is the one we read in Lesson 1, and he was pretty vague there. Zhū Xī explains this inconsistency by claiming that Kǒngzǐ had esoteric teachings that were only recorded for posterity in the “Appended Remarks” to the Changes. Consequently, when Zǐgòng says in 5.13 that “One cannot get to hear the Master discuss [human] nature and the Way of Heaven!” Zhū Xī interprets this as Zǐgòng’s exclamation of joy when he finally has gotten to hear the topics the master “seldom spoke of.” (As an analogy, imagine someone eating a perfectly prepared cut of filet mignon and exclaiming, “You cannot get steaks this good anymore!” Well, obviously you can get steaks that good, because you’re eating one now, but we know what you mean.)
Zhū Xī’s interpretation is brilliant (as always), but there is a simpler explanation. Maybe the reason why the content and style of the “Appended Remarks” seem so different from the Analects is that former does not record Kǒngzǐ’s own teachings. There is actually no real evidence that Kǒngzǐ wrote the “Appended Remarks.” If we take this possibility seriously, Zǐgòng’s comments in 5.13 can be read in a much more straightforward way. When he says, “One cannot get to hear the Master discuss {87} [human] nature and the Way of Heaven,” he means that one cannot get to hear the Master discuss human nature and the Way of Heaven—because those were topics the Master was not particularly interested in and did not talk about.
Free practice materials—including quizzes and additional readings—are available at www.hackettpublishing.com/chinese-for-everyone-support.
1. Nerd note: For the meaning and historical development of the concept of 德 dé, “virtue,” see David S. Nivison, The Ways of Confucianism (LaSalle, IL: Open Court, 1996), especially pp. 15–58.
2. Nerd note: Remember way back in Lesson 1 when I told you that we would learn a character, 日 rì, that looks superficially like 曰 yuē, and you should learn to distinguish them?
3. For an English translation of Analects 5.13, see Ivanhoe and Van Norden, Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, p. 15. There is no complete English translation of Zhū Xī’s commentary, but for the complete Chinese text see https://ctext.org/si-shu-zhang-ju-ji-zhu.
4. Nerd note: For an accessible yet scholarly introduction to the issues, read Philip J. Ivanhoe, “Whose Confucius? Which Analects?” in Van Norden, Confucius and the “Analects,” pp. 119–33.
5. Nerd note: Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that addresses the questions: What are the most fundamental kinds of things that exist? How are those things related to one another? The “Confucian metaphysics” I describe here is really the metaphysics of the “Neo-Confucians” and not necessarily the metaphysics that Kǒngzǐ himself would have assumed. See supplement 9.4.2 to this lesson.
6. For more, see Pulleyblank, VIII.5c, p. 74.
7. Nerd note: 則 was probably originally a demonstrative pronoun, “this,” which had a resumptive use, like 是 often does. Can you see how both its use as a contrastive topic marker and as a conjunction derived from this pronominal use? For more on 則 as a conjunction, see Pulleyblank, XV.2.c.i, pp. 154–55; for more on 則 as a contrastive topic marker, see Pulleyblank, VIII.3, pp. 72–73. See also Kroll, pp. 585–86.
8. For more, see Pulleyblank, IV.7, pp. 30–31.
9. Dawson, The Analects, p. 31.
10. Nerd note: Some religions, sects, and arguably even some philosophers have esoteric teachings that are different from their exoteric teachings. Exoteric teachings are what you tell the public and also beginners among your disciples. Esoteric teachings are doctrines that are hidden from most people and only revealed to advanced students or initiates. Typically, teachings are treated as esoteric because they are so subtle or so shocking that one cannot understand them without deep training or a spiritual gift.
11. Nerd note: When I say “literally memorize all of the Four Books and Zhū Xī’s commentary on them,” you probably assume I mean “memorize lots of” them. I do not. By “literally memorize all” I mean literally memorize all. If this seems impossible for you to believe, it is because you have been raised in a culture whose attitude toward the written word has changed due to the printing press, then radio, then television, and now the internet. On Zhū Xī’s educational revolution, see Daniel Gardner, The Four Books: The Basic Teachings of the Later Confucian Tradition (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2007), especially pp. xiii–xxx, 131–47.
12. For readings from Chinese Buddhist and Neo-Confucian texts, see Justin Tiwald and Bryan W. Van Norden, eds., Readings in Later Chinese Philosophy (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2011). “Neo-Confucianism” is not a direct translation of any one Chinese expression. In Chinese, the movement is known by various expressions with different connotations, including 道學 Dàoxué, “Learning of the Way,” and 宋明儒學 Sōng-Míng Rúxué, “Song-Ming [Dynasties] Confucianism.”
13. Tiwald and Van Norden, Readings in Later Chinese Philosophy, pp. 46–47.
14. There is also an alternative interpretation of the passage according to which it does not refer to the Changes at all. See Ivanhoe and Van Norden, Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, p. 22.