Detailed Analysis of "The Analects": For All Those Who Misinterpret Confucius (19)
2006/11/1 12:23:21
The Master said: Making people good and governing a state for a hundred years, can also overcome cruelty and eliminate killing. How true these words are!
Detailed Analysis: This chapter has been misinterpreted countless times throughout the ages. The most absurd of all is that virtually everyone interprets "善人" (shàn rén) as "good people," so "善人为邦百年" ends up being interpreted as "it takes good people a hundred years to govern a state" — an absolutely preposterous interpretation that doesn't even understand the most basic grammar of classical Chinese. Although Zhu Xi knew that "governing a state for a hundred years means continuous succession over a long period," he interpreted "去杀" as "the people, transformed by goodness, need not resort to punishment or killing." This completely misses the point, entirely confusing the parallel grammatical relationship between "善人" and "胜残去杀."
In fact, this chapter follows directly from the previous one: "The Master said: Those who are brave yet resent poverty — that is disorder. Those who are not humane, if you detest them excessively — that is also disorder." The chaotic conditions of "being brave yet resenting poverty" and "detesting the inhumane excessively" do not refer to ordinary disorder. "乱" (luàn, disorder), in music and literature, refers to the final movement of a musical piece or the concluding section of a rhapsody, extended to mean the final stage of chaos. For a nation, this final stage of chaos signifies the omen of its downfall. So how can one "not manifest" this omen of national ruin and instead "govern the state for a hundred years," achieving long-term peace and stability? One must both "make people good" and "overcome cruelty and eliminate killing." Only then is it "How true these words are!" — only then are these words genuinely without error.
The reason everyone has misinterpreted this passage is mainly that they failed to understand its grammatical structure. In "亦可以胜残去杀矣," "可以" is "可" (can) + "以" (by means of), where "以" is a preposition. The entire sentence is an inversion of "以胜残去杀亦可矣" (by overcoming cruelty and eliminating killing, it is also possible). The meaning of "善人为邦百年，亦可以胜残去杀矣" is that "善人" (making people good) can enable "governing a state for a hundred years," and "胜残去杀" (overcoming cruelty and eliminating killing) can likewise enable "governing a state for a hundred years." "胜残" and "去杀" both have a verb + noun structure, and so does "善人." The grammatical structure of these three terms is identical: "残" (cruelty) and "杀" (killing) are nominalized, while "善" (good) is verbalized. This kind of flexible usage of word classes is extremely common in classical Chinese.
"胜残" and "去杀" are two synonymous terms placed in parallel — simply put, "vanquish cruelty, cease killing." "善人" means "to make people good," where "善" means good. "亦" is the original character for "腋" (armpit); "可" means corresponding or matched. "亦可" means like a person's two armpits — integral and corresponding to each other. "善人" and "胜残去杀" are parallel as one body, like two armpits to a person, two wings to a bird, or two sides of a coin. "善人" and "胜残去杀" are essentially what was discussed in previous chapters as the "non-manifestation" of the "appearance of poverty and wealth." The "non-manifestation" of the chaotic conditions of "being brave yet resenting poverty" and "detesting the inhumane excessively" is also the "non-manifestation" of the "appearance of poverty and wealth." Only through "making people good" and "overcoming cruelty and eliminating killing" is it possible to "govern a state for a hundred years" and achieve long-term stability.
"Overcoming cruelty and eliminating killing" targets "detesting the inhumane excessively" — it targets the inhumane "wealthy," including tyrannical kings and despots, corrupt officials, unscrupulous merchants and local bullies, and so forth. As the saying goes, to slay one tyrant and save hundreds of millions is truly the greatest benevolence. "Making people good" targets the "poor" who are "brave yet resent poverty" — improving their living conditions, expanding their living space, enhancing their survival capabilities, and so on, all fall under "making people good." However, it must be emphasized that from the holistic perspective of humanity and society, no person is "wealthy" in every aspect, and no person is "poor" in every aspect. Yet for real-world nations, the "appearances of poverty and wealth" in terms of economics, social status, and power carry the most practical force — this point cannot be overlooked.
Confucius and The Analects, over two thousand years ago, already clearly proposed the six-character maxim for long-term national stability: "善人, 胜残去杀" — "Make people good, overcome cruelty and eliminate killing." These three word-groups are mutually complementary and interdependent. It is impossible to only "overcome cruelty and eliminate killing" without "making people good," nor to only "make people good" without "overcoming cruelty and eliminating killing." Regarding "overcoming cruelty and eliminating killing," only by "overcoming cruelty" can one "eliminate killing." As the saying goes, "Until Qingfu is removed, the troubles of Lu will not cease" — without "overcoming cruelty," it is impossible to "eliminate killing."
(To be continued)
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Replies
缠中说禅 2006/11/1 12:34:08
[Anonymous] 我都说
2006-11-01 12:28:34
The answer to learning lies within the question
The doubt in questioning lies outside of learning
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This is still the way of evading life and death. Learning cannot take your place in facing life and death. Confronting life and death directly — that is true learning.
缠中说禅 2006/11/1 12:50:53
[Anonymous] AK47
2006-11-01 12:45:13
The host is very punctual, posting at basically the same time every day.
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Yes, resting at noon. But the market is about to open, I need to go.
缠中说禅 2006/11/1 12:57:26
Punishment is also a form of killing — this will be discussed later in the "governing" sections.
Sorry, I need to go now. Goodbye.
缠中说禅 2006/11/2 12:17:59
[Anonymous] 路过
2006-11-01 12:50:02
Little miss, could you post your newly punctuated and reordered Analects online in batches so everyone can enjoy reading it? Please.
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It's best to just come read it here — isn't this "online"? With too many reposts, and reposts of reposts, things get messy and nobody knows who wrote it. Since publication has already been arranged, copyright is very important.
缠中说禅 2006/11/1 12:29:46
A friendly reminder
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