dis-ciples that serve to illustrate general points about virtue and self-cultivation.
11.1 The Master said, “Those of my disciples who were first to enter into study of ritual and music with me were simple rustics, whereas those who entered later were aristocrats (junzi ). If I had to employ them [in public office], I would prefer the first.”
There are several ways to understand this passage. Many commentators take “first” and
“after” to refer to historical ages—usually the Shang and the Zhou—and understand junzi in its ordinary Confucian sense of cultural and moral exemplar. On this interpre-tation, the people of earlier ages were not as culturally refined as those later ages, but had a kind of rough, simple honesty that recommended them. Considering that 11.2 and the rest of Book Eleven mostly concerns disciples of Confucius, however, it is more plausible to follow Xing Bing (following Bao Xian) in seeing “first” and “last” as refer-ring to generations of disciples, the former being preferable because they “possessed something of the [unaffected] style of the ancients.” In this understanding, the issue is the distinction between disciples from the lower, common classes, and those from the aristocratic classes, which involves reading junzi in its original sense of “aristocrat,” in which case the point would be that Confucius preferred those from humble and even crude beginnings who rose through their own effort and ability over those who were born into their elite status. This accords well with passages such as 6.6 and 7.7.
11.2 The Master said, “None of those who followed me in Chen and Cai managed to attain official position there.”
This is a difficult passage that has inspired much commentarial ingenuity. To “attain official position” is a loose rendering of the literal to “reach the gate,” and much of the debate has centered around what is meant by “gate.” Beginning with Han Yu, some have read this passage together with 11.15, taking “gate” to refer to the metaphorical entranceway into Confucius’ Way. On this reading, Confucius’ point is that none of the disciples who were with him in Chen and Cai (when he, along with some disci-ples, encountered the “difficulties” mentioned in 15.2, becoming trapped without food by troops from Chen) have made much progress in their learning. This seems strange, though, considering that—at least according to the Record of the Historian—Yan Hui, Zigong, and Zilu were among the disciples with him at that time. Zheng Xuan takes
“gate” to refer to the metaphorical gateway to public office and influence: “The point is that none of the disciples who followed me and thus encountered difficulties in Chen and Cai had been able to attain public office.” Liu Baonan, elaborating on Zheng Xuan, connects 11.2 to Mencius 7:B:18, which reads: “The
111
gentleman [Confucius] encountered difficulties between Chen and Cai because he had no connections with those in power.” Liu comments, “ ‘Having no connections with those in power’ is precisely what is meant here [in 11.2] by ‘none of them reached the gate’ . . . When the Master traveled around, he relied upon connections acquired through his various disciples attaining official positions, and the point here is that he was brought to such difficulties because none of his disciples had attained a post in Chen or Cai.” This seems to make the best sense of the passage.
11.3 Those known for virtuous conduct: Yan Hui, Min Ziqian, Boniu, and Zhonggong. Those known for eloquence: Zai Wo and Zigong. Those known for administrative skill: Ran Qiu and Jilu. Those known for cultural learning: Ziyou and Zixia.
The version of this passage found in the Record of the Historian is presented as a direct quotation from Confucius, who prefaces it by noting, “Those who personally received instruction from me numbered seventy-seven, and they were all exceptionally talented scholars.” We are to assume that the ten then mentioned by name were either extraor-dinarily talented or representative of the various types of talents to be found among the disciples.
11.4 The Master said, “Yan Hui is of no help to me—he is pleased with every-thing that I say.”
As Zhu Xi remarks, the comment seems to be meant ironically: the Master is in fact quite happy that Yan Hui “silently comprehends” everything that he hears (cf. 2.9).
The Discourses on the Mean comments, “Yan Hui comprehended the essence of the sage, and therefore expressed no exhaustion or difficulties. This is why he alone achieved such an exalted reputation, and ranked at the top of the seventy disciples.”
11.5 The Master said, “How filial is Min Ziqian! No one can gainsay the praise lavished upon him by both parents and brothers.”
Several early texts have stories concerning the filiality of Min Ziqian. All present a filial respectful son dealing selflessly with a classically evil stepmother and two perni-cious stepbrothers. Min Zijian apparently lost his mother early in life, whereupon his father remarried and had two more sons with his new wife. The new wife hated Min Zijian and treated him poorly, favoring her own two sons. One cold winter day, Zijian was out driving for his father when the reins of the carriage fell from his hands; on examination, the father discovered that Zijian’s hands had frozen because he was wearing only thin, unlined gloves. Returning home and inspecting the hands of his new wife and her two sons, he discovered that they were clad in warm, padded gloves, and in his anger he wished to dismiss her and disown her children. Zijian then inter-ceded, saying, “While she is here, one son must go cold, but were she to be dismissed, three sons would be out in the cold”—i.e., without the stepmother, both Zijian and his two stepbrothers would be bereft of a mother’s love. The father relented, and according to some versions the stepmother, shamed by Zijian’s selflessness, reformed herself and became an exemplary parent. Hu Anguo comments, “His parents and brothers all praised him for his filiality and brotherliness, and others believed this praise without a hint of doubt. Probably this is because he accumulated the substance of filiality and brotherliness on the inside until it manifested itself on the outside, and this is why the master sighs in praise of him.”
11.6 Nan Rong often recited the ode that mentioned the white jade tablet. Con-fucius gave the daughter of his elder brother to him in marriage.
The ode referred to is number 256, which reads:
A flaw in the white jade tablet Can still be polished out;
A flaw in these words of mine, Can never be undone.
Confucius presumably sees Nan Rong’s constant recitation of this ode as evidence of his carefulness in both speech and practice. As Fan Ziyu notes, “Speech is the outward manifestation of action, and action provides the substance for speech. There has never been one who was careless in his speech and still able to be cautious in his action.
The fact that Nan Rong wished so intensely to be careful about his speech means that he would certainly be able to be careful with regard to his behavior.” A slightly dif-ferent interpretation is presented in Dai’s Record: “One who thinks upon Goodness when in private will speak of rightness when in public. After hearing the ode, Nan Rong three times in one day repeated the lines about ‘a flaw in the white jade tablet’—
such was Nan Rong’s behavior. The Master therefore believed in his Goodness and accepted him as an in-law.” Cf. 5.2, where an alternate explanation for the Master’s decision to accept Nan Rong is given.
11.7 Ji Kangzi asked, “Who among your disciples could be said to love learning?”
The Master replied, “There was one named Yan Hui who loved learning, but unfortunately he was fated to live a short life, and has since passed away. Now there are none who really love learning.”
This is a shorter version of 6.3, where Duke Ai is the interlocutor. Some commenta-tors see significance in the fact that different answers are given to the two different rulers, attributing it to differences in moral or political status (Duke Ai, as a legitimate ruler, merits a fuller answer than the usurper Ji Kangzi), understanding (Ji Kangzi is not capable of understanding as much as the Duke), or pedagogical needs (the extra line concerning “misdirecting anger” in 6.3 is meant as a corrective to the Duke’s par-ticular faults). Most likely, though, the discrepancy is a result of alternate transmis-sions of the same story, the basic point of which is to honor Yan Hui.
11.8 When Yan Hui died, Yan Lu, his father, requested the Master’s carriage, so that it could be used for Yan Hui’s coffin enclosure.
The Master replied, “Everyone recognizes his own son, whether he is talented or not. When Bo Yu, my own son, passed away, he had a coffin, but no enclo-sure. I did not go on foot in order to provide him with an encloenclo-sure. Having held rank below the ministers, it is not permissible for me to go on foot.”
As Brooks and Brooks note, “chariots in Warring States graves . . . proclaim the power and wealth of the deceased” (1998: 71). Yan Lu is asking that Yan Hui be accorded funerary honors that were normally reserved only for high-ranking officials. Confu-cius’ response is kind, but firm: he acknowledges Yan Lu’s desire to honor his son, as well as the fact that his own son, Bo Yu, was not as talented as Yan Hui. Nonetheless, Confucius managed to refrain from according his son funerary honors to which he was not ritually entitled, and he is urging Yan Lu to do the same—although gently,
and couched in terms of Confucius’ own need to maintain the trappings of his rank.
A long line of commentators, beginning with Kong Anguo, claim that Yan Lu, being a poor man, is asking that the Master sell his carriage in order to raise money for the purchase of a guo , which most take in the standard, possibly later, sense of “outer coffin”: a secondary coffin surrounding the inner coffin that actually holds the corpse.
Alternately, Huan Maoyong cites various Han ritual texts that he sees as evidence that Yan Lu is asking that Confucius provide his carriage to serve as a specially-draped hearse for Yan Hui’s coffin, a request that is denied because Yan Hui, as a mere scholar (shi ), does not ritually merit the use of a hearse. The second half of the passage, however, indicates that Confucius is expecting to be deprived of the use of a carriage for longer than the duration of a funeral procession if he accedes to Yan Lu’s request, which suggest that Yan Lu is asking that Confucius’ chariot actually be buried with the corpse or sold.
11.9 When Yan Hui passed away, the Master lamented, “Oh! Heaven has bereft me! Heaven has bereft me!”
A touching comment on the importance of Yan Hui for the Master and the affection with which he was viewed. As He Yan notes, “[The Master laments] ‘Heaven has bereft me!’ because losing Yan Hui was like losing himself, and the repetition emphasizes the depth of the Master’s pain and sorrow.” Beginning with Han Dynasty commentators, we also find the theory that Heaven provided Yan Hui as a helper and companion to the sage Confucius, which makes his loss particularly poignant and disturbing.