Against the Confucians, Part Three非儒下
儒者曰：「親親有術，尊賢有等。」言親疏尊卑之異也。其禮曰：「喪父母三年，妻、後子三年，伯父、叔父、弟兄、庶子其，戚族人五月。」若以親疏爲歲月之數，則親者多而疏者少矣，是妻、後子與父同也。若以尊卑爲歲月數，則是尊其妻子與父母同，而親伯父、宗兄而卑子也。逆孰大焉？其親死，列尸弗斂，登屋，窺井，挑鼠穴，探滌器，而求其人焉。以爲實在，則戇愚甚矣。如其亡也，必求焉，僞亦大矣。
The Confucians say, "In treating kin as kin there are degrees, and in honoring the worthy there are ranks." This speaks of the differences of near and distant, high and low.
Their rites say, "Mourning for father and mother is three years. For the wife and the eldest son it is also three years. For uncles on the father's side, for younger and elder brothers, and for the sons of concubines it is the next degree. For clansmen it is five months."
If years and months are set by nearness and distance, then those who are near should be many and those who are distant few. Yet here the wife and the eldest son are made equal to the father. If years and months are set by high and low, then this honors one's own wife and child as much as one's father and mother, and treats an uncle and an elder cousin as kin while ranking them below one's own son. What perversity is greater than this?
When their parent dies they lay out the corpse and do not coffin it. They climb onto the roof, peer into the well, poke into rat holes and search among the washed vessels, looking for the person there. If they truly believe the dead is there, their folly is deep. If the dead is gone and they must still search, their falseness is also great.
取妻身迎，祗褍爲僕，秉轡授綏，如仰嚴親。昏禮威儀，如承祭祀。顛覆上下，悖逆父母，下則妻子，妻子上侵。事親若此，可謂孝乎？儒者迎妻：妻之奉祭祀，子將守宗廟，故重之。應之曰：此誣言也。其宗兄守其先宗廟數十年，死，喪之其，兄弟之妻奉其先之祭祀，弗服。則喪妻子三年，必非以守奉祭祀也。夫憂妻子，以大負絫，有曰：「所以重親也。」爲欲厚所至私，輕所至重，豈非大姦也哉？
When a man takes a wife he goes in person to meet her. He puts on neat robes, becomes her driver, holds the reins and hands her the mounting cord, as if looking up to a stern parent. His bearing at the wedding is like the serving of a sacrifice. High and low are overturned, father and mother are defied, and wife and child are set below, so that wife and child encroach upon those above. When a parent is served like this, can it be called filial?
The Confucians say, when they take a wife, "The wife will uphold the sacrifices and the son will guard the ancestral temple, and so we hold them weighty."
To this I answer: This is a deceiving word. When a man's elder cousin of the same clan has guarded the ancestral temple of their forebears for some tens of years and dies, the mourning for him is one year. When a brother's wife upholds the sacrifices of their forebears, no mourning garb is worn for her. Then mourning three years for wife and son is surely not because they guard and uphold the sacrifices.
They fret over wife and child and lay a great burden on themselves, and then they say, "This is how we hold our parents weighty." They wish to make thick what is most private and to make light what is most weighty. Is this not great treachery?
有强執有命以說議曰：「壽夭貧富，安危治亂，固有天命，不可損益。窮達賞罰，幸否有極，人之知力，不能爲焉。」羣吏信之，則怠於分職；庶人信之，則怠於從事。不治則亂，農事緩則貧，貧且亂政之本，而儒者以爲道教，是賊天下之人者也。
They also hold fast to the doctrine that there is fate, and they urge it and argue for it, saying, "Long life and early death, poverty and wealth, safety and danger, order and disorder all have a fixed decree from Heaven, and nothing can be taken from it or added to it. Being blocked and getting through, reward and punishment, good fortune and ill all have their limit, and the knowledge and strength of man can do nothing about them."
If the many officers believe this, they grow idle in the duties allotted to them. If the common people believe this, they grow idle in their work. Where there is no governing there is disorder, and where farm work is slow there is poverty. Poverty and disorder run against the root of government. Yet the Confucians take this for their way and their teaching. This is to harm the people of all under heaven.
且夫繁飾禮樂以淫人，久喪僞哀以謾親，立命緩貧而高浩居，倍本棄事而安怠徹。貪於飲食，惰於作務，陷於飢寒，危於凍餒，無以違之。是苦人氣，𪕼鼠藏，而羝羊視，賁彘起。君子笑之，怒曰：「散人，焉知良儒！」夫夏乞麥禾，五穀既收，大喪是隨，子姓皆從，得厭飲食，畢治數喪，足以至矣。因人之家以爲翠，恃人之野以爲尊，富人有喪，乃大說喜，曰：「此衣食之端也。」
Moreover they dress up rites and music elaborately and make people excessive. They mourn long and feign grief and so deceive their parents. They set up fate and take poverty lightly, yet they sit high and haughty. They turn their backs on the root and cast off work, and they are content in their idleness.
They are greedy for food and drink and idle in labor, so they fall into hunger and cold and come to the danger of freezing and starving, and they have no way out of it. This torments a man's vital spirit. They hide like moles, they glare like rams, and they start up like boars. When a gentleman laughs at them they grow angry and say, "What does a dull fellow know of a good Confucian?"
In summer they beg for barley and grain. When the five grains have been gathered in, they follow the great funerals, and their sons and their kin all go along and eat and drink their fill. Once they have managed a few funerals they have enough. They grow fat on other men's households and make themselves great on other men's fields. When a rich man has a funeral they are greatly pleased and delighted, and they say, "This is the beginning of clothing and food."
儒者曰：「君子必古服言，然後仁。」應之曰：所謂古之服言者，皆嘗新矣，而古人服之、言之，則非君子也。然則必法非君子之服，言非君子之言，而後仁乎？
The Confucians say, "A gentleman must wear the dress of old and speak the words of old, and only then is he benevolent."
To this I answer: What are called the dress of old and the words of old were all new once. If the men of old wore them and spoke them, then those men were not gentlemen. Must one then model oneself on the dress of men who were not gentlemen, and speak the words of men who were not gentlemen, and only then be benevolent?
又曰：「君子循而不作。」應之曰：古者羿作弓，伃作甲，奚仲作車，巧垂作舟。然則今之鮑、函、車、匠皆君子也，而羿、伃、奚仲、巧垂皆小人邪？且其所循，人必或作之，然則其所循皆小人道也。
They also say, "A gentleman follows and does not make."
To this I answer: In antiquity Yi (羿) made the bow, Yu (伃) made armor, Xizhong made the cart and Qiao Chui made the boat. Then are the leatherworkers and armorers and cartwrights and carpenters of today all gentlemen, and were Yi and Yu and Xizhong and Qiao Chui all small men? And what they follow must have been made by someone. Then everything they follow is the way of small men.
又曰：「君子勝不逐奔，揜函弗射，强則助之胥車。」應之曰：若皆仁人也，則無說而相與。仁人以其取舍是非之理相告，無故從有故也，弗知從有知也，無辭必服，見善必遷，何故相與？若兩暴交爭，其勝者欲不逐奔，揜函弗射，施則助之胥車，雖盡能猶且不得爲君子也。意暴殘之國也，聖將爲世除害，興師誅罰，勝將因用儒術令士卒曰：「毋逐奔，揜函勿射，施則助之胥車。」暴亂之人也得活，天下害不除，是爲羣殘父母而深賊世也，不義莫大焉。
They also say, "A gentleman who wins does not chase the fleeing. He does not shoot at one who has covered himself with his armor. When their cart rolls, he helps them pull it."
To this I answer: If all were benevolent men, there would be no cause for them to contend with one another. Benevolent men tell one another the principle of what to take and what to leave, of right and wrong. The one who has no reason follows the one who has reason, and the one who does not know follows the one who knows. When a man has nothing left to say he surely yields, and when he sees the good he surely moves to it. For what cause would they contend with one another?
If two violent men contend with each other and the winner does not chase the fleeing, does not shoot at one who has covered himself with his armor, and helps pull the cart when it rolls, then even if he does all he can, he still cannot be a gentleman.
Suppose there is a violent and cruel state, and a sage is about to remove this harm for the world and raises an army to punish it. If, wanting to win, he uses the Confucian art and orders his soldiers, "Do not chase the fleeing. Do not shoot at one who has covered himself with his armor. When their cart rolls, help them pull it," then the violent and disorderly men live on and the harm of all under heaven is not removed. This is to band together to harm fathers and mothers and to injure the world deeply. No unrighteousness is greater than this.
又曰：「君子若鍾，擊之則鳴，弗擊不鳴。」應之曰：夫仁人事上竭忠，事親得孝，務善則美，有過則諫，此爲人臣之道也。今擊之則鳴，弗擊不鳴，隱知豫力，恬漠待問而後對，雖有君親之大利，弗問不言。若將有大寇亂，盜賊將作，若機辟將發也，他人不知，己獨知之，雖其君親皆在，不問不言，是夫大亂之賊也。以是爲人臣不忠，爲子不孝，事兄不弟，交遇人不貞良。夫執後不言之朝，物見利使，己雖恐後言，君若言而未有利焉，則高拱下視，會噎爲深，曰：「惟其未之學也。」用誰急，遺行遠矣。
They also say, "A gentleman is like a bell. Strike it and it sounds. Do not strike it and it does not sound."
To this I answer: A benevolent man serves those above with all his loyalty and gains filial devotion in serving his parents. He strives for the good and it is fair, and when there is a fault he remonstrates. This is the way of one who is a subject.
Now if he sounds when he is struck and does not sound when he is not struck, he hides his knowledge and spares his strength. He waits blankly for a question and only then answers. Even when there is great benefit for his lord and his parents, he does not speak unless he is asked.
Suppose a great raid and disorder are coming, robbers are about to rise and the trap is about to spring, and no one else knows it and he alone knows. Even with his lord and his parents both there, he does not speak unless he is asked. Such a man is the thief of great disorder.
In this way, as a subject he is not loyal, as a son he is not filial, in serving his elder brother he is not brotherly, and in meeting and dealing with men he is not upright and good.
In a court where men hold back and speak last, when profit shows in a thing and he is set to work, he fears to be late in speaking. Yet if his lord speaks and there is as yet no profit in it, he folds his hands high and looks down and makes as if something were caught deep in his throat, and he says, "I have simply not yet studied that." Whoever would use him in an urgent matter finds him far from the deed.
夫一道術學業，仁義也。皆大以治人，小以任官，遠用徧施，近以脩身，不義不處，非理不行，務興天下之利，曲直周旋，利則止，此君子之道也。以所聞孔丘之行，則本與此相反謬也。齊景公問晏子曰：「孔子爲人何如？」晏子不對，公又復問，不對。景公曰：「以孔丘語寡人者衆矣，俱以爲賢人也。今寡人問之，而子不對，何也？」晏子對曰：「嬰不肖，不足以知賢人。雖然，嬰聞所謂賢人者，入人之國，必務合其君臣之親，而弭其上下之怨。孔丘之荆，知白公之謀，而奉之以石乞，君身幾滅，而白公僇。嬰聞賢人得上不虛，得下不危，言聽於君必利人，教行下必於上，是以言明而易知也，行易而易從也，行義可明乎民，謀慮可通乎君臣。今孔丘深慮同謀以奉賊，勞思盡知以行邪，勸下亂上，教臣殺君，非賢人之行也。入人之國，而與人之賊，非義之類也。知人不忠，趣之爲亂，非仁義之也。逃人而後謀，避人而後言，行義不可明於民，謀慮不可通於君，臣嬰不知孔丘之有異於白公也，是以不對。」景公曰：「嗚呼！貺寡人者衆矣，非夫子，則吾終身不知孔丘之與白公同也。」
The one way, the one art, the one learning and work is benevolence and righteousness. In the large it governs men and in the small it holds office. Used far off it is spread everywhere, and used near at hand it cultivates the self. Where there is no righteousness he does not stay, and what is against reason he does not do. He works to raise up the benefit of all under heaven, bending and straightening and turning about, and where there is benefit he rests. This is the way of the gentleman.
By what is heard of the conduct of Kongqiu (孔丘), he is from the root contrary to this.
Duke Jing of Qi asked Yanzi, "What sort of man is Confucius?" Yanzi did not answer. The duke asked again, and again he did not answer.
Duke Jing said, "Many have spoken to me of Kongqiu, and all of them called him a worthy man. Now I ask you and you do not answer. Why is that?"
Yanzi answered, "I am unworthy and not fit to know a worthy man. Even so, I have heard that one who is called a worthy man, when he enters another man's state, must work to join his lord and his ministers in closeness and to quiet the resentment between those above and those below.
Kongqiu went to Chu. He knew the plot of Duke Bai (白公) and offered Shi Qi (石乞) to him. The lord in his own person was all but destroyed, and Duke Bai was put to death.
I have heard that a worthy man, when he gains those above, is not empty, and when he gains those below, is not in danger. When his words are heard by the lord they surely benefit men, and when his teaching is carried out below it surely reaches those above. Therefore his words are clear and easy to know, and his conduct is easy and easy to follow. The righteousness he does can be made clear to the people, and the plans he weighs can be made known to lord and minister.
Now Kongqiu weighed deeply and plotted together with another to serve a traitor. He wearied his thought and used up his knowledge to do what is crooked. He urged those below to throw those above into disorder, and he taught a subject to kill his lord. This is not the conduct of a worthy man.
He entered another man's state and joined with that man's traitor. This is not of the kind of righteousness. He knew the man was not loyal and urged him on to disorder. This is not benevolence and righteousness. He fled from men and then plotted, and he avoided men and then spoke. The righteousness he does cannot be made clear to the people, and the plans he weighs cannot be made known to the lord.
Your servant Ying (嬰) does not know that Kongqiu is any different from Duke Bai, and that is why I did not answer."
Duke Jing said, "Ah! Many have given me their words, but had it not been for you, to the end of my life I would not have known that Kongqiu is the same as Duke Bai."
孔丘之齊，見景公。景公說，欲封之以尼谿，以告晏子。晏子曰：「不可。夫儒，浩居而自順者也，不可以教下；好樂而淫人，不可使親治；立命而怠事，不可使守職；宗喪循哀，不可使慈民；機服勉容，不可使導衆。孔丘盛容脩飾以蠱世，弦歌鼓舞以聚徒，繁登降之禮以示儀，務趨翔之節以觀衆，博學不可使議世，勞思不可以補民，絫壽不能盡其學，當年不能行其禮，積財不能贍其樂，繁飾邪術以營世君，盛爲聲樂以淫遇民，其道不可以期世，其學不可以導衆。今君封之，以利齊俗，非所以導國先衆。」公曰：「善。」於是厚其禮，留其封，敬見而不問其道。孔丘乃志怒於景公與晏子，乃樹鴟夷子皮於田常之門，告南郭惠子以所欲爲，歸於魯。有頃，閒齊將伐魯，告子貢曰：「賜乎！舉大事於今之時矣。」乃遣子貢之齊，因南郭惠子以見田常，勸之伐吳，以教高、國、鮑、晏，使毋得害田常之亂，勸越伐吳。三年之內，齊吳破國之難，伏尸以言術數，孔丘之誅也。
Kongqiu went to Qi and saw Duke Jing. Duke Jing was pleased and wished to enfeoff him with Nixi (尼谿), and he told Yanzi of it.
Yanzi said, "It cannot be done. The Confucians sit high and haughty and follow their own will, so they cannot be used to teach those below. They love music and make people excessive, so they cannot be set to govern in person. They set up fate and are idle in their work, so they cannot be set to keep an office. They exalt mourning and dwell in grief, so they cannot be set to love the people. With strange dress and a made-up face, they cannot be set to lead the multitude.
Kongqiu makes his face grand and adorns himself to bewitch the age. With zither and song and drum and dance he gathers a crowd. He makes the rites of going up and coming down elaborate to display his bearing, and he works at the measures of hurrying and sweeping along to be watched by the crowd. He learns widely, yet he cannot be set to deliberate on the affairs of the age. He wearies his thought, yet he cannot help the people. A man could live many lifetimes and not exhaust his learning. He could use up his prime and not carry out his rites. He could pile up wealth and not have enough for his music.
He elaborately dresses up crooked arts to bewitch the lords of the age, and he makes sound and music grand to drown the people. His way cannot be looked to for the age, and his learning cannot lead the multitude. Now my lord would enfeoff him to benefit the customs of Qi. This is not the way to lead the state and put the multitude first."
The duke said, "Good."
So he made his courtesies to him thick but held back the fief, and he received him with respect but did not ask about his way.
Kongqiu then was angry in his heart at Duke Jing and Yanzi. He set Chiyi Zipi (鴟夷子皮) at the gate of Tian Chang (田常) and told Nanguo Huizi (南郭惠子) what he wished to do, and he went back to Lu.
After a while he heard that Qi was about to attack Lu, and he told Zigong, "Ci (賜), now is the time to raise a great affair." So he sent Zigong to Qi. Through Nanguo Huizi he saw Tian Chang and urged him to attack Wu, and he instructed the Gao, the Guo, the Bao and the Yan so that they could not hinder the disorder of Tian Chang, and he urged Yue to attack Wu.
Within three years Qi and Wu suffered the breaking of their states, and the fallen corpses were counted by the tally. This was the slaughter done by Kongqiu.
孔丘爲魯司寇，舍公家而於季孫，季孫相魯君而走，季氏與邑人爭門關，決植。
Kongqiu became minister of justice in Lu. He left the ducal house and went over to Jisun. When Jisun was aiding the lord of Lu and fled, the Ji clan fought with the townsmen over the bar of the gate and cut through the gatepost.
孔丘窮於蔡陳之閒，藜羹不糂。十日，子路爲享豚，孔丘不問肉之所由來而食。褫人衣以酤酒，孔丘不問酒之所由來而飲。哀公迎孔丘，席不端弗坐，割不正弗食。子路進，請曰：「何其與陳蔡反也？」孔丘曰：「來，吾語女。曩與女爲苟生，今與女爲苟義。」夫飢約則不辭妄取以活身，贏飽則僞行以自飾。汙邪詐僞，孰大於此？
Kongqiu was in straits between Cai and Chen, and his pigweed soup had not a grain in it. After ten days Zilu boiled a pig, and Kongqiu ate it without asking where the meat came from. Zilu stripped a man of his clothes and bought wine with them, and Kongqiu drank it without asking where the wine came from.
When Duke Ai received Kongqiu, he would not sit if the mat was not straight and would not eat if the meat was not cut straight. Zilu came forward and asked, "Why is this the opposite of what you did in Chen and Cai?" Kongqiu said, "Come, I will tell you. In those days I was with you merely to stay alive. Now I am with you merely for righteousness."
When a man is hungry and pressed, he does not refuse to take wrongly in order to keep himself alive, and when he has plenty and is full he adorns himself with false conduct. What foulness and crookedness and deceit and falsehood is greater than this?
孔丘與其門弟子閒坐，曰：「夫舜見瞽叟就然，此時天下圾乎！周公旦非其人也邪？何爲舍亓家室而託寓也？」孔丘所行，心術所至也。其徒屬弟子皆效孔丘，子貢、季路輔孔悝亂乎衛，陽虎亂乎齊，佛肸以中牟叛，桼雕刑殘，莫大焉。夫爲弟子，後生其師，必脩其言，法其行，力不足、知弗及而後已。今孔丘之行如此，儒士則可以疑矣。
Kongqiu sat at leisure with the disciples of his gate and said, "When Shun saw Gusou he was at a loss. In that time all under heaven was in peril. Was the Duke of Zhou, Dan, not the man for it? Why did he leave his own house and lodge with others?"
What Kongqiu did is where the workings of his heart led him. His followers and his disciples all copied Kongqiu. Zigong and Jilu aided Kong Kui (孔悝) and threw Wei into disorder. Yang Hu threw Qi into disorder. Fo Xi rebelled with Zhongmou. Qidiao was maimed by punishment. Nothing is greater than these.
One who is a disciple, or one born later, surely cultivates his master's words and takes his conduct for a model, and stops only when his strength is not enough and his knowledge does not reach. Since the conduct of Kongqiu was such as this, the Confucian scholars may well be doubted.