Book 8 · Tai Bo 泰伯
8.1
子曰：「泰伯其可謂至德也已矣。
三以天下讓，民無得而稱焉。」
The Master said, “Taibo1 can be called a man of the highest virtue.
Three times he yielded the world, and the people found nothing in it to praise him for.”
8.2
子曰：「恭而無禮則勞，慎而無禮則葸，勇而無禮則亂，直而無禮則絞。
君子篤於親，則民興於仁。
故舊不遺，則民不偷。」
The Master said, “Respect without ritual becomes toil; caution without ritual becomes timidity; courage without ritual becomes disorder; uprightness without ritual becomes harshness.
When the gentleman is devoted to his kin, the people will rise to humaneness.
When he does not forget old friends, the people will not be mean.”
8.3
曾子有疾，召門弟子曰：「啟予足！
啟予手！
詩云：『戰戰兢兢，如臨深淵，如履薄冰。』
而今而後，吾知免夫！
小子！」
Master Zeng was ill. He called his disciples and said, “Uncover my feet!
Uncover my hands!
The Songs say, ‘Fearful and trembling, as if on the brink of a deep abyss, as if treading on thin ice.’
From now on, I know I am spared!
My young friends!”2
8.4
曾子有疾，孟敬子問之。
曾子言曰：「鳥之將死，其鳴也哀；
人之將死，其言也善。
君子所貴乎道者三：動容貌，斯遠暴慢矣；
正顏色，斯近信矣；
出辭氣，斯遠鄙倍矣。
籩豆之事，則有司存。」
Master Zeng was ill, and Meng Jingzi3 went to ask after him.
Master Zeng spoke, saying, “When a bird is near death, its cry is sad;
when a man is near death, his words are good.
There are three things in the Way that the gentleman prizes: in his bearing and movements, to keep far from violence and insolence;
in setting his face, to come close to good faith;
in the words and tone he lets out, to keep far from what is vulgar and unreasonable.
As for the matter of the sacrificial vessels, there are officers in charge of that.”
8.5
曾子曰：「以能問於不能，以多問於寡，有若無，實若虛，犯而不校，昔者吾友，嘗從事於斯矣。」
Master Zeng said, “Able, yet asking those who are not able; having much, yet asking those who have little; having, as if he had nothing; full, as if he were empty; wronged, yet not contending: once I had a friend who lived like this.”4
8.6
曾子曰：「可以託六尺之孤，可以寄百里之命，臨大節而不可奪也，君子人與，君子人也。」
Master Zeng said, “One who can be entrusted with an orphan prince six feet tall,5 who can be given charge of a state a hundred li across, and who cannot be shaken when a great crisis comes: is he a gentleman? He is a gentleman.”
8.7
曾子曰：「士不可以不弘毅，任重而道遠。
仁以為己任，不亦重乎，死而後已，不亦遠乎。」
Master Zeng said, “The man of service must be broad and resolute, for his burden is heavy and his road is long.
He takes humaneness as his burden: is that not heavy? Only with death does it end: is that not long?”
8.8
子曰：「興於詩，立於禮，成於樂。」
The Master said, “Be roused by the Songs, take your stand on ritual, be completed by music.”
8.9
子曰：「民可使由之，不可使知之。」
The Master said, “The people can be made to follow it; they cannot be made to understand it.”
8.10
子曰：「好勇疾貧，亂也。
人而不仁，疾之已甚，亂也。」
The Master said, “One who loves courage and hates poverty will make disorder.
A man who is not humane, if hated too much, will make disorder.”
8.11
子曰：「如有周公之才之美，使驕且吝，其餘不足觀也已。」
The Master said, “Even if a man had talents as fine as those of the Duke of Zhou, were he arrogant and mean, the rest would not be worth looking at.”
8.12
子曰：「三年學，不至於穀，不易得也。」
The Master said, “One who has studied for three years without turning his mind to a salary is not easily found.”
8.13
子曰：「篤信好學，守死善道。
危邦不入，亂邦不居，天下有道則見，無道則隱。
邦有道，貧且賤焉，恥也，邦無道，富且貴焉，恥也。」
The Master said, “Be firm in good faith and love learning; hold fast till death to the good Way.
Do not enter a state in peril; do not live in a state in disorder. When the world has the Way, show yourself; when it is without the Way, stay hidden.
When the state has the Way, to be poor and of low station is a disgrace; when the state is without the Way, to be rich and honored is a disgrace.”
8.14
子曰：「不在其位，不謀其政。」
The Master said, “One who does not hold the office does not plan its government.”
8.15
子曰：「師摯之始，關雎之亂，洋洋乎盈耳哉。」
The Master said, “From the opening by Music Master Zhi6 to the finale of ‘The Ospreys,’ how the music swells and fills the ears!”
8.16
子曰：「狂而不直，侗而不愿，悾悾而不信，吾不知之矣。」
The Master said, “Wild but not straightforward, ignorant but not honest, simple but not trustworthy: I do not know what to do with such men.”
8.17
子曰：「學如不及，猶恐失之。」
The Master said, “Learn as if you could not catch up, and as if you feared to lose it.”
8.18
子曰：「巍巍乎，舜禹之有天下也，而不與焉。」
The Master said, “How lofty were Shun and Yu!7 They possessed the world and took no part in it for themselves.”
8.19
子曰：「大哉堯之為君也，巍巍乎，唯天為大，唯堯則之，蕩蕩乎，民無能名焉。
巍巍乎，其有成功也，煥乎，其有文章。」
The Master said, “How great was Yao as a ruler! How lofty! Heaven alone is great, and Yao alone took it as his model. How vast! The people could find no name for it.
How lofty were his achievements! How brilliant his culture and institutions!”
8.20
舜有臣五人，而天下治。
武王曰：「予有亂臣十人。」
孔子曰：「才難，不其然乎，唐虞之際，於斯為盛，有婦人焉，九人而已。
三分天下有其二，以服事殷，周之德，其可謂至德也已矣。」
Shun had five ministers, and the world was well governed.
King Wu said, “I have ten ministers who keep order.”
Confucius said, “Talent is hard to find. Is it not so? In the time of Tang and Yu,8 and in this one, it flourished most; and among those ten there was a woman, so there were only nine men.
With two thirds of the world in its hands, Zhou still served the Yin. The virtue of the Zhou can be called the highest virtue.”
8.21
子曰：「禹吾無間然矣，菲飲食，而致孝乎鬼神，惡衣服，而致美乎黻冕，卑宮室，而盡力乎溝洫，禹吾無間然矣。」
The Master said, “In Yu I find no fault. He ate and drank sparingly but was utterly filial to the spirits; he wore poor clothes but made his sacrificial robes and caps beautiful; he lived in a humble palace but spent all his strength on the ditches and canals. In Yu I find no fault.”
Notes
1. Eldest son of the Zhou ancestor Tai Wang. He withdrew to the south so that the succession could pass to his youngest brother and so to King Wen.
2. The body was received whole from one’s parents, and to keep it unharmed to the end was filial. Master Zeng shows his disciples that he has done so.
3. Zhongsun Jie, a high officer of Lu, son of Meng Wubo.
4. Tradition takes the friend to be Yan Hui.
5. The chi or foot of Zhou was about nine inches, so six feet means a boy of fourteen or fifteen. A li was about a third of a mile.
6. The Grand Music Master of Lu.
7. Shun received the throne from Yao, and Yu from Shun. Yu tamed the great flood and founded the Xia.
8. Tang and Yu are the reigns of Yao and Shun. King Wu’s ten ministers are said to have included his mother or his wife.