When Tzŭ-hsia had completed his reading of the Odes,[2]
the
Master asked him, "What can you say about the Odes?"[3]
Tzŭ-hsia replied, "In their treatment of situations, the Odes
are brilliant, with a radiant brightness[4]
like that of the sun and
moon; they are lustrous as the stars in their alternating progress.
On the one hand they contain the Way of Yao and Shun; on the
other they have the i of the Three Kings.[5]
What your disciple
[has learned from his Master, he has engraved on his heart and][6]
dares not forget. Even though I were dwelling in poverty,[7]
I
would sing to the accompaniment of the lute of the lessons of the
former kings. Were there others with me, I should enjoy them;
without company I would still enjoy them, and become so excited
as to forget food.[8]
The Ode says,[9]
Beneath the door made of cross pieces of wood,
I can rest at my leisure;
By the wimpling stream from my fountain,
It is easy to satisfy[10]
my desires.
The Master suddenly changed countenance and said "Ah sir,
now you can discuss the Odes.[11]
But as yet[12]
you have seen only
the externals and not what is within."
Yen Yüan said, "Having finished with the externals, what more
is there to see within?"
Confucius said, "If you peep through the door without entering,
how can you know where its hidden treasures are? But that they
are hidden is not what is difficult. I have entered[13]
into them [by
dint of] great effort and intense application. In front [it is as
though they were] a high cliff: behind, a deep valley, so that I
could only stand solemnly erect.[14]
One who does not see what
lies within cannot be called refined or profound [in his understanding
of the Odes]."
