CONFUCIAN ANALECTS

Confucius said, "Contemplating good, and pursuing it, as if they could not reach it; contemplating evil! and shrinking from it, as they would from thrusting the hand into boiling water:-I have seen such men, as I have heard such words. "Living in retirement to study their aims, and practicing righteousness to carry out their principles:-I have heard these words, but I have not seen such men." The Duke Ching of Ch'i had a thousand teams, each of four horses, but on the day of his death, the people did not praise him for a single virtue. Po-i and Shu-ch'i died of hunger at the foot of the Shau-yang mountains, and the people, down to the present time, praise them. "Is not that saying illustrated by this?" Ch'an K'ang asked Po-yu, saying, "Have you heard any lessons from your father different from what we have all heard?" Po-yu replied, "No. He was standing alone once, when I passed below the hall with hasty steps, and said to me, 'Have you learned the Odes?' On my replying 'Not yet,' he added, If you do not learn the Odes, you will not be fit to converse with.' I retired and studied the Odes. "Another day, he was in the same way standing alone, when I passed by below the hall with hasty steps, and said to me, 'Have you learned the rules of Propriety?' On my replying 'Not yet,' he added, 'If you do not learn the rules of Propriety, your character cannot be established.' I then retired, and learned the rules of Propriety.