University of Virginia Library

Chapter XXI.

HOW WAYS DIVERGE.

(a) The Lord Grand Secretary: It has been your
wont to tell us that the Seventy Disciples who received
in person instructions in the science of the Sage and
ranked so famous in the School of Confucius were all
of the caliber that fitted them to become ministers and
chancellors to the feudal lords, while several of them
were qualified to sit facing the south as rulers themselves.
For public administration, there were Jan Yu and Chi
Lu; for oratory and dialectics, Tsai Wo and Tzŭ Kung.[18]
Tsai Wo, who obtained hold over affairs and enjoyed so
great a favor in Ch'i, found, nevertheless, that his
principles could not be put into effect when T'ien Ch'ang
fomented trouble, and perished himself in the great
courtyard, while his patron, Duke Chien, was being
murdered in the T'an Tower.[19] Tzŭ Lu took up service in
Wei, but during the revolution provoked by K'uei he was
unable to save his prince, and while Ch'u[20] fled Tzŭ Lu's

body was embrined in Wei.[21] Tzŭ Kung and Tzŭ Kao
made their escape; they could not die for their prince in
the hour of his peril. They enjoyed handsome salaries
bestowed upon them, but were unable to requite their
benefactor, sat in the honorable offices conferred upon
them but proved themselves incapable to safeguard the
interests of their patron. Why, pray, did they put so
much stock in their own persons and so little in their
prince's. Fellow-students and confrères, all these men
thought themselves well-versed in the moral principles of
ancient and modern times and able to make illustrious the
decorous interdependence of prince and minister. Yet
while some fittingly died, others sought safety in flight.
These several gentlemen followed divergent roads.
Wherein lies this contumacy to principle?

(b) The Literati: Duke Shang[22] of Sung perished
himself because of his failure to employ K'ung Fu earlier
though he knew his great worth; Duke Chuang of Lu
likewise knew the ability of Chi Yu, but surrendered him
the administration too late to save his state from anarchy.
The prince of Wei surrounded himself with specious
flatterers and estranged men of talent; thus, Tzŭ Lu
remained at P'u, while K'ung K'u was in charge of the
government. Duke Chien paid no heed to Tsai Wo and
let the latter's secret plans leak out. Thus it came about
that the two princes suffered, one exile, the other death,
and the disaster encompassed their faithful ministers.
The other two gentlemen, though they had charges, yet
were not given an opportunity to participate in their
ruler's policies, they could die for him, but so could they
also choose to live: whether they stayed or departed, their
honor remained unimpaired. Yen Ying could not be
termed disloyal to his prince when he did not die in the
trouble of Ts'ui Ch'ing; and could Viscount Wei be said
to lack in humanity when he fled the anarchy of the Yin?

6 I.e. Tzŭ Kung and Tzŭ Kao.

(c) The Lord Grand Secretary: The unadulterated
simplicity of the supremely beautiful nothing can
embellish further; so no artificial elaboration can add a
thing to supreme worth which holds fast to its essence.
Thus a jade solitaire needs not be carved, nor a beautiful

pearl decorated with designs. Now, Chung Yu and Jan
Ch'iu had not the toughness of hance timber, nor was
the gem of their talent enclosed in a Sui Ho matrix; to
spend one's efforts to embellish them would be similar to
carving decayed wood or polishing a lead knife, to beautifying
Mo Mu or painting a clay figure. Such as the
latter though decorated with all the five colors would be
resplendant enough as a finished product, but let him
but come into contact with driving rain and raging waves
then he will turn to slush. To dote too much on ancient
principles with the Odes and the Documents for pillow
and mat would bring no peace in moments of danger or
good government in times of anarchy. You will find as
much company with such methods as field watchmen
chasing chickens.

7 Cf. Shuo Yüan (Confucius speaking): [OMITTED]
[OMITTED].

(d) The Literati: If it were not for Learning there
would be nothing wherewith to cultivate one's personality;
nothing would sustain Virtue, if it were not for
Propriety. The Empire's beautiful treasure was the
jade-matrix of Ho Shih, but its beauty became manifest
only after it underwent the skilled treatment of an expert
gem-cutter. The most winsome in all the Empire was
the Lady Mao, but her beauty become recognized only
after she had made use of fragrant ointments and rich
powder. The greatest Sage of the world was Chou Kung,
but even he had to pass through the hands of virtuous
teachers and a course of instruction before he became
perfect. But at the present time we see mediocrities
scarcely rising higher than the common level disdaining
study and instruction and relying exclusively upon their
stupid selves and yet taking upon their shoulders immense
responsibilities. This course of action can only be
compared with trying to cross river or sea without oar or
rudder only to be carried away by the first encountered
storm and sunk in an abyss a hundred fathoms deep or to
drift eastward to the shoreless Ocean. From such a
predicament do you expect to get away with only being a
little "squashed"?

(e) The Lord Grand Secretary: Things being
flexible and inflexible in their very nature, beautiful and
ugly in their permanent form, the sage man can only

follow the natural bent, he cannot hope to alter nature.[23]
Confucius succeeded only in changing the outward dress
of two or three of his disciples, he could not convert their
hearts. Thus Tzŭ Lu unbuckling his long sword and
doffing his bully's cap bent in low obeisance at the gate
of the Master, but in his treatment of teacher and friends
he continued in his boisterous ways and remained at
heart a rowdy. Tsai Yü slept in the daytime and wished
to shorten the three year long period of mourning. A
wall of dirt is unfit for plastering, thereupon exclaimed
Confucius, A man like Yu will not come to a natural
death.[24] Hence, attempting to learn culture outwardly
while lacking its essence within is like trying to paint on
grease and carve in ice—though one may have virtuous
teachers and excellent friends, it is nothing but a waste
of time and energy. Thus the best teacher cannot
improve upon Ch'i Shih, nor can most fragrant ointment
transform Mo Mu.

(f) The Literati: A country bumpkin would cover
his nose at the sight of beauty covered with filth, but the
homeliest man in gorgeous attire may serve in the
sacrifices to Shang Ti. If these two men, Tzŭ Lu and
Tsai Yü, had not passed through the school of the Sage,
they would never have escaped the lot of the beggar; how
would they have acquired their reputation as lords and
ministers? As the whetstone is the wherewithal by
which a blade is sharpened, so study is the means to bring
out all the possibilities of latent ability. Said Comfucius:
A Wassail-bowl that is not a bowl, what a bowl! what a
bowl![25] Thus if man apply himself to improve upon it,
it will come to serve as a vessel in the ancestral temple;
if not, then it must have an innate flaw in its grain. If
a sword forged in Kan Yüeh remain unsharpened, the
common man will disdain it, but after the craftsman has
applied his skill to it, the ruler of men will put it on to
appear at court. Now, an ugly hag under the impression
that she is beauteous, will not try to embellish herself; a
stupid fellow who deems himself wise will not study.
Unbeknown to themselves, they make of their persons a
laughing stock. Their fault lies in their disinclination to
use the services of others and in trusting unto themselves.