Detailed Explanation of the Lunyu: For All Those Who Misinterpret Confucius (31)
2006/11/17 12:02:12
The Master said: "Do not worry about others not understanding oneself; worry about not understanding others."
Yang Bojun: Confucius said: "Others don't understand me — I'm not anxious about that; what I'm anxious about is that I don't understand others."
Qian Mu: The Master said: "Don't fret that others don't know you; you should fret that you don't know others."
Li Zehou: Confucius said: "Don't be afraid that others don't know you; be afraid that you don't know others."
Detailed Explanation: All previous commentators on the Erta would get dizzy seeing the back-and-forth of "do not worry" and "worry" across these several chapters. Faced with nearly identical statements, everyone ultimately could only resort to one explanation — that these are repetitions, that Confucius must have made repeated exhortations, so the Lunyu recorded them multiple times. But this explanation is utterly absurd. Let me ask: did Confucius only utter these 500-odd sentences over several decades? Did he really repeat only these few sayings while saying everything else just once? Wouldn't the editors have noticed these passages were nearly identical and filtered them? In truth, the reason is simply that all previous commentators on the Lunyu were themselves confused — they couldn't figure it out, couldn't distinguish the differences, and desperately fabricated excuses to save face. Just like with this chapter, the three scholars above adopted the same attitude. In reality, there are no repetitions or superfluous words in the Lunyu. A silver bowl filled with snow — if you can't tell them apart, that's poor eyesight, and whom can you blame? If poor eyesight then fabricates stories to cover up, it's no longer just poor eyesight — it's a problem of the heart. If one doesn't have complete and flawless understanding of the Lunyu, what qualifications does one have to comment on it?
This chapter is not a repetition at all but follows directly from the previous chapter, expanding the discussion on a more specific issue. If the preceding two chapters approached the problem from fundamental and general perspectives of human society respectively, then this chapter reveals the "do not worry" and "worry" within the internal structure of human society. Within the internal structure of human society, "others not understanding oneself" is its "do not worry." Precisely because of the "do not worry" of "others not understanding oneself," there arises the "worry" of "not understanding others." "Others not understanding oneself" — within the structure of human society, this is without rank-order. Human society is necessarily composed of people, and as long as one is a person, one "does not understand oneself." Precisely because of the absence of rank-order in "not understanding oneself," the rank-order of "not understanding others" arises.
"Not understanding oneself" is the inevitable state of all people in society. If there truly were such a thing as "human nature," the only possible "human nature" would be "not understanding oneself." Any theory that violates this "not understanding oneself" is absurd and laughable. For example, there is a certain mainstream economics that was worshipped by countless people in the last century, premised on so-called human rationality — such economics can only be garbage economics. Because of "not understanding oneself," at the level of human rationality, "irrationality" is without rank-order, and human rationality gains its rank-order through the absence of rank-order of "irrationality." Those who trumpet human rationality have fundamentally always been "irrational."
"Not understanding others" is the same "people not knowing" repeatedly mentioned earlier. The "Way of the Sage" is to transform the world of "people not knowing" into the world of "people not being resentful." Why is this possible? Precisely because the absence of rank-order of "not understanding oneself" gives rise to the rank-order of "not understanding others," i.e., "people not knowing." Precisely because the rank-order of "people not knowing" exists, it becomes possible to transform the world of "people not knowing" into the world of "people not being resentful." But this transformation cannot be achieved by changing the state of "not understanding oneself," because "not understanding oneself" is without rank-order — anything involving changes to "not understanding oneself" is itself "not understanding oneself." "Not understanding oneself" is unchangeable within the structure of human society. In other words, all attempts to reform society by reforming people are absurd and laughable. Any movement hoping to achieve social transformation through revolution in the depths of the soul is absurd and laughable.
Over two thousand years ago, Confucius had already pronounced the inevitable failure of movements like those of the 1960s. From "people not knowing" to "people not being resentful," one cannot start from "not understanding oneself," because there is no starting point there. On this point, Marx and Confucius are in complete agreement. Marx never explored any question of reforming human thought, because the so-called rank-order of human thought fundamentally originates from the rank-order of society's "people not knowing." The only thing that needs reforming is the actual structure of the world of "people not knowing." But society's transformation must be determined by its rank-order; societies of different rank-orders have different forms and laws. There are no a priori, universally applicable remedies here. Everything must proceed from the actual logic and rank-order of each society's structure — this is what it means to know one's rank-order and act accordingly, and this is what makes it possible to transform the world of "people not knowing" into the world of "people not being resentful." Anything that departs from actual logic and rank-order is nothing but ulterior tricks.
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán's Vernacular Translation
The Master said: "Do not worry about others not understanding oneself; worry about not understanding others."
Confucius said: Do not worry about people not being clear about oneself; worry about the world of "people not knowing."
Note: "People not knowing" is a specialized term and is not translated further; see the preceding articles for its specific meaning.
(To be continued)
Strictly prohibit plagiarism, violators will be prosecuted
Replies
缠中说禅 2006/11/17 12:15:07
Regarding the stock market, when I have time I'll continue writing about how to "buy stocks" — note, not how to "select stocks," but after selection, "how to buy."
缠中说禅 2006/11/17 12:36:02
Liu Chuan
2006-11-17 12:23:12
So the host always posts at noon.
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Yes, resting at noon. Once the market opens there's no time, and afternoons and evenings often have social engagements.
缠中说禅 2006/11/17 12:42:20
[Anonymous] 波波
2006-11-17 12:27:23
Beautiful lady, keep it up! Write more about the stock market!
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Thanks. I'll write about the stock market when I have time, but I'll only write about methods — you'll have to experience the specific operations yourself.
缠中说禅 2006/11/17 12:43:38
Market's opening, heading off for now.
缠中说禅 2006/11/17 12:51:07
[Anonymous] Fate行不？
2006-11-17 12:45:24
Preferably Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic
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What a coincidence — I was just about to leave when I saw your post. Sure, Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic performing the Fate Symphony.
缠中说禅 2006/11/17 12:56:05
[Anonymous] nn
2006-11-17 12:49:53
First a word of support, then could the host please change the background back to the previous one? I'm getting old and my eyes are dim — reading text against this background is too strenuous. Maybe the host likes this background, but please accommodate the elderly and color-blind folks. After all, I'm one of your supporters. Thanks!
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It's never changed. Please try refreshing the page.
缠中说禅 2006/11/17 12:59:16
[Anonymous] nn
2006-11-17 12:58:03
Turns out it was my computer's problem, sorry
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Glad that's resolved. Market's opening, heading off. Goodbye.
缠中说禅 2006/11/17 12:06:47
Tomorrow is the weekend again. For the music session, let's listen to Beethoven. This ID has his complete works here — you can listen to whatever you want. If you have any suggestions, please post them.