Coming and Going in Analects 18.6 (NK)

 "[Look at the water], it keeps on moving forward.  Everywhere in the world is the same.  So why bother to seek another when you have given up this one?  Why change?  Moreover, why do you want to follow someone who keeps running away from men?  Why not follow those who have run away from the world altogether?"

This is Jie Ni speaking to Zilu about the perils of, and perhaps absurdity in, following Confucius, a man who is always "running away from men".  Zilu is encouraged instead to follow one who has "run away from the world", presumably someone like Jie Ni and Chang Ju, whom are "yoked together".

In reading this Analect I am suddenly aware of all the comings and goings in book 18.  Just as Book 7 was permeated by references to eating and, food Book 18 is simply swirling in movement.  So, for instance we hear of people "leaving", such as the Viscount of Wei in 18.1, and Confucius himself in 18.3 and 18.4, as well as Liuxia Hui's refusal to leave in 18.2.  So too are people "passing by" each other.  In 18.5 Jie Yu passes by Confucius' carriage singing as he goes and as Confucius tries to pursue him (to follow him?) Jie Yu "scampers away", then in 18.6 it is Confucius who passes by two yoked comedians and Zilu gets a lesson in following leaders.  Of course we all know from last weeks reading that Confucius is known to "hop around" from place to place in search employment.

Why does Jie Ni tell Zilu to "look at the water" and to see that "the world is the same"?  Is it it's one-directionality or it's continual flowing that contains the lesson?  Does it "pass by" you even if you are trying to "cross over" it?  One doesn't merely follow the man Confucius, but the Confucian Way.  Interesting to realize in the midst of these metaphors involving bodies of water and following Confucius that this is the same Zilu that was ready to jump in the boat and follow the master out to sea...


Comments

  1. Krishnan VenkateshMarch 29, 2022 at 9:41 AM

    Very interesting. The book as a whole is packed with comings and goings. "Come" and "go" may be the most common verbs after "say" or "ask." There's something deep here. The life of the Junzi is then peripatetic by nature -- but does it bear any resemblance to Zhuangzi's "wandering"? Where then is home, what is abiding?

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