Aigong — Duke Ai of Lu哀公篇
魯哀公問於孔子曰：「吾欲論吾國之士，與之治國，敢問如何取之邪？」孔子對曰：「生今之世，志古之道，居今之俗，服古之服，舍此而為非者，不亦鮮乎！」哀公曰：「然則夫章甫、絇屨、紳帶而搢笏者，此賢乎？」孔子對曰：「不必然。夫端衣、玄裳、絻而乘路者，志不在於食葷；斬衰、菅屨、杖而啜粥者，志不在於酒肉。生今之世，志古之道，居今之俗，服古之服，舍此而為非者，雖有，不亦鮮乎！」哀公曰：「善！」
Duke Ai of Lu asked Confucius, "I wish to choose out the scholars of my state and govern the state together with them. May I ask how I am to take them?"
Confucius answered, "If a man is born in the age of today and sets his will on the way of old, if he lives in the custom of today and wears the dress of old, then surely few such men go on to do what is wrong."
Duke Ai said, "Then is a man worthy when he wears the zhangfu cap and shoes with ornamented toes, ties the great sash and carries the tablet in his belt?"
Confucius answered, "Not necessarily. Now the man who wears the full robe and the dark skirt, who puts on the ceremonial cap and rides in the great carriage, has not set his will on eating strong-flavored food. The man in coarse mourning dress and straw sandals, who leans on a staff and sips gruel, has not set his will on wine and meat. If a man is born in the age of today and sets his will on the way of old, if he lives in the custom of today and wears the dress of old, then though such a man may go on to do what is wrong, surely they are few."
Duke Ai said, "Good."
孔子曰：「人有五儀：有庸人，有士，有君子，有賢人，有大聖。」哀公曰：「敢問何如斯可謂庸人矣？」孔子對曰：「所謂庸人者，口不道善言，心不知色色；不知選賢人善士託其身焉以為己憂，勤行不知所務，止立不知所定；日選擇於物，不知所貴；從物如流，不知所歸；五鑿為正，心從而壞：如此則可謂庸人矣。」哀公曰：「善！敢問何如斯可謂士矣？」孔子對曰：「所謂士者，雖不能盡道術，必有率也；雖不能徧美善，必有處也。是故知不務多，務審其所知；言不務多，務審其所謂；行不務多，務審其所由。故知既已知之矣，言既已謂之矣，行既已由之矣，則若性命肌膚之不可易也。故富貴不足以益也，卑賤不足以損也，如此，則可謂士矣。」哀公曰：「善！敢問何如斯可謂之君子矣？」孔子對曰：「所謂君子者，言忠信而心不德，仁義在身而色不伐，思慮明通而辭不争，故猶然如將可及者，君子也。」哀公曰：「善！敢問何如斯可謂賢人矣？」孔子對曰：「所謂賢人者，行中規繩而不傷於本，言足法於天下而不傷於身，富有天下而無怨財，布施天下而不病貧，如此，則可謂賢人矣。」哀公曰：「善！敢問何如斯可謂大聖矣？」孔子對曰：「所謂大聖者，知通乎大道，應變而不窮，辨乎萬物之情性者也。大道者，所以變化遂成萬物也；情性者，所以理然不、取舍也。是故其事大辨乎天地，明察乎日月，總要萬物於風雨，繆繆肫肫，其事不可循，若天之嗣，其事不可識，百姓淺然不識其鄰，若此，則可謂大聖矣。」哀公曰：「善！」
Confucius said, "Men have five bearings. There is the common man, there is the scholar, there is the gentleman, there is the worthy man, and there is the great sage."
Duke Ai said, "May I ask what a man must be like to be called a common man?"
Confucius answered, "The so-called common man does not speak good words with his mouth and does not know how to look into things with his heart. He does not know how to choose out worthy men and good scholars, entrust himself to them and make this his own care. He works hard and does not know what to work at. He stands still and does not know what to settle on. Day by day he picks among things and does not know what to hold precious. He follows things as if drifting and does not know where to return. The five openings play the master, and his heart follows and falls to ruin. A man like this may be called a common man."
Duke Ai said, "Good. May I ask what a man must be like to be called a scholar?"
Confucius answered, "The so-called scholar, though he cannot exhaust the Way and its arts, is sure to have something he follows. Though he cannot have every beauty and every good, he is sure to have somewhere he rests.
So in knowing he does not work at knowing much. He works at looking closely into what he knows. In speaking he does not work at speaking much. He works at looking closely into what he says. In acting he does not work at doing much. He works at looking closely into what he acts upon.
So when his knowing has already known it, when his speaking has already said it, when his acting has already gone by it, it is as though his nature and his life and his very skin could not be changed. Wealth and honor cannot add to him, lowness and meanness cannot take from him. A man like this may be called a scholar."
Duke Ai said, "Good. May I ask what a man must be like to be called a gentleman?"
Confucius answered, "The so-called gentleman speaks with loyalty and good faith and does not count it virtue in his heart. Benevolence and rightness are in his person and he makes no boast of them in his face. His thought is clear and goes through, and he does not wrangle with words. So the man who is at ease, as though one might catch up with him, is the gentleman."
Duke Ai said, "Good. May I ask what a man must be like to be called a worthy man?"
Confucius answered, "The so-called worthy man acts in accord with the compass and the marking line and yet does no harm to the root. His words are fit to be a law for all under heaven and yet do no harm to his own person. He is rich enough to hold all under heaven and yet has no goods hoarded up. He gives out to all under heaven and yet does not fret over being poor. A man like this may be called a worthy man."
Duke Ai said, "Good. May I ask what a man must be like to be called a great sage?"
Confucius answered, "The so-called great sage is one whose knowing goes through to the great Way, who answers change and is never used up, and who tells apart the feeling and the nature of the ten thousand things.
The great Way is that by which things change and turn and the ten thousand things are brought to completion. Feeling and nature are that by which what is so and what is not so, taking and letting go, are set in order.
So his work is told apart greatly in heaven and earth, and is seen more clearly than the sun and the moon, and gathers the ten thousand things together into wind and rain. Far off and deep, thick and sincere, his work cannot be followed after. It is as though heaven carried it on, and his work cannot be known. The hundred families are shallow and do not know even their own neighbor. A man like this may be called a great sage."
Duke Ai said, "Good."
魯哀公問舜冠於孔子，孔子不對。三問，不對。哀公曰：「寡人問舜冠於子，何以不言也？」孔子曰：「古之王者，有務而拘領者矣，其政好生而惡殺焉，是以鳳在列樹，麟在郊野，烏鵲之巢可附而窺也。君不此問而問舜冠，所以不對也。」
Duke Ai of Lu asked Confucius about the cap of Shun. Confucius did not answer. He asked three times, and still he did not answer.
Duke Ai said, "I asked you about the cap of Shun. Why do you not speak?"
Confucius said, "Among the kings of old there was one who wore coarse cloth and a rounded collar, and his government loved to give life and hated to kill. So the phoenix was in the rows of trees and the unicorn was in the open fields, and one could go up to the nests of the crow and the magpie and look into them. My lord did not ask about this and asked about the cap of Shun, and that is why I did not answer."
魯哀公問於孔子曰：「寡人生於深宮之中，長於婦人之手，寡人未嘗知哀也，未嘗知憂也，未嘗知勞也，未嘗知懼也，未嘗知危也。」孔子曰：「君之所問，聖君之問也。丘，小人也，何足以知之？」曰：「非吾子無所聞之也。」孔子曰：「君入廟門而右，登自胙階，仰視榱棟，俛見几筵，其器存，其人亡，君以此思哀，則哀將焉而不至矣！君昧爽而櫛冠，平明而聽朝，一物不應，亂之端也，君以此思憂，則憂將焉而不至矣！君平明而聽朝，日昃而退，諸侯之子孫必有在君之末庭者，君以思勞，則勞將焉而不至矣！君出魯之四門以望魯四郊，亡國之虛則必有數蓋焉，君以此思懼，則懼將焉而不至矣！且丘聞之：君者舟也，庶人者水也。水則載舟，水則覆舟；君以此思危，則危將焉而不至矣！」
Duke Ai of Lu asked Confucius, "I was born deep within the palace and grew up in the hands of women, and I have never known sorrow, never known grief, never known toil, never known fear, never known danger."
Confucius said, "What my lord asks is the question of a sage ruler. I am a man of no account. How should I know enough to answer it?"
He said, "If not from you, I have nowhere to hear of it."
Confucius said,
"Let my lord enter the gate of the ancestral shrine and go to the right, and go up by the eastern steps. Let him look up at the rafters and the ridgepole and look down at the armrest and the mat. The vessels are there, but the men are gone. If my lord thinks of sorrow in this way, how should sorrow not come?
My lord combs his hair and puts on his cap at first light, and when the day is bright he hears the court. If even one thing goes unanswered, that is the beginning of disorder. If my lord thinks of grief in this way, how should grief not come?
My lord hears the court when the day is bright and withdraws when the sun leans westward. Among the sons and grandsons of the feudal lords there are sure to be some standing in the far corner of my lord's court. If my lord thinks of toil in this way, how should toil not come?
Let my lord go out by the four gates of Lu and look over the four wild lands of Lu. There are sure to be a few sites of states that have perished. If my lord thinks of fear in this way, how should fear not come?
And I have heard this. The ruler is the boat, and the common people are the water. The water carries the boat, and the water overturns the boat. If my lord thinks of danger in this way, how should danger not come?"
魯哀公問於孔子曰：「紳、委、章甫，有益於仁乎？」孔子蹴然曰：「君號然也！資衰、苴杖者不聽樂，非耳不能聞也，服使然也。黼衣、黼裳者不茹葷，非口不能味也，服使然也。且丘聞之：好肆不守折，長者不為市。竊其有益與其無益，君其知之矣。」
Duke Ai of Lu asked Confucius, "The great sash, the cap and the zhangfu cap, are these of any help to benevolence?"
Confucius drew back and said, "How can my lord speak so? The man in coarse mourning dress who leans on a hemp staff does not listen to music. It is not that his ears cannot hear. It is his dress that makes it so. The man who wears the embroidered coat and the embroidered skirt does not eat strong-flavored food. It is not that his mouth cannot taste. It is his dress that makes it so. And I have heard that a man who is fond of his shop does not hold on to what loses him money, and that an elder does not set up a market stall. Whether these things are of help or of no help, my lord will know."
魯哀公問於孔子曰：「請問取人？」孔子對曰：「無取健，無取詌，無取口啍。健，貪也；詌，亂也；口啍，誕也。故弓調而後求勁焉，馬服而後求良焉，士信愨而後求知能焉。士不信愨而有多知能，譬之其豺狼也，不可以身尒也。語曰：『桓公用其賊，文公用其盜。』故明主任計不信怒，闇主信怒不任計。計勝怒則彊，怒勝計則亡。」定公問於顏淵曰：「東野子畢之善馭乎？」顏淵對曰：「善則善矣。雖然，其馬將失。」定公不悅，入謂左右曰：「君子固讒人乎！。」三日而校來謁，曰：「東野畢之馬失。兩驂列，兩服入廄。」定公越席而起曰：「趨駕召顏淵！」顏淵至，定公曰：「前日寡人問吾子，吾子曰：『東野畢之馭，善則善矣。雖然，其馬將失。』不識吾子何以知之？」顏淵對曰：「臣以政知之。昔舜巧於使民而造父巧於使馬。舜不窮其民，造父不窮其馬，是以舜無失民，造父無失馬。今東野畢之馭，上車執轡，銜體正矣；步驟馳騁，朝禮畢矣；歷險致遠，馬力盡矣。然猶求馬不已，是以知之也。」定公曰：「善！可得少進乎？」顏淵對曰：「臣聞之：鳥窮則啄，獸窮則攫，人窮則詐。自古及今，未有窮其下而能無危者也。」
Duke Ai of Lu asked Confucius, "May I ask about taking men into service?"
Confucius answered, "Do not take the forceful. Do not take the overbearing. Do not take the man of many words. Force is greed. Overbearing is disorder. Many words are wild talk.
So a bow is first made even and then one looks for strength in it. A horse is first broken in and then one looks for quality in it. A scholar is first trustworthy and honest and then one looks for knowledge and ability in him. If a scholar is not trustworthy and honest and yet has much knowledge and ability, he is like the jackal and the wolf, and one cannot go near him.
The saying goes, 'Duke Huan used his brigand, and Duke Wen used his thief.' So the enlightened ruler trusts to reckoning and does not trust to anger, while the benighted ruler trusts to anger and does not trust to reckoning. When reckoning wins over anger, the state is strong. When anger wins over reckoning, the state perishes."
Duke Ding asked Yan Yuan, "Dongye Bi (東野畢) drives well, they say."
Yan Yuan answered, "He drives well enough. Even so, his horses are going to bolt."
Duke Ding was not pleased. He went in and said to those about him, "So even a gentleman slanders men."
Three days later the keeper of the stables came and reported, "Dongye Bi's horses have bolted. The two outer horses scattered, and the two inner horses came back into the stable."
Duke Ding stepped over his mat and rose, saying, "Drive quickly and call Yan Yuan!"
Yan Yuan came, and Duke Ding said, "The other day I asked you, and you said, 'Dongye Bi drives well enough. Even so, his horses are going to bolt.' I do not know how you knew it."
Yan Yuan answered, "I knew it from government. Long ago Shun was skilled at using the people and Zaofu was skilled at using horses. Shun did not use his people to the end of their strength, and Zaofu did not use his horses to the end of their strength. So Shun lost no people and Zaofu lost no horses.
Now in Dongye Bi's driving, he mounted the carriage and took the reins, and bit and body were straight. He walked them and trotted them and galloped them, and all the forms of the court were done. He went over rough ground and reached far places, and the horses' strength was spent. Even so he still did not stop asking more of the horses. That is how I knew it."
Duke Ding said, "Good. Can you go a little further?"
Yan Yuan answered, "I have heard that a bird brought to a stand will peck, a beast brought to a stand will claw, and a man brought to a stand will deceive. From old times down to now, there has never been one who brought those below him to a stand and was able to escape danger."