Analects 19- The Transfigured Junzi

    In Analects 19.21, 19.23, and 19.24 we get a seemingly new idea of the Junzi, or more specifically Confucius, as a semi-divine figure. While most of the commentaries gloss these analects as a departure of the later Confucian tradition from the earlier, looking back to sages like Confucius during the Han dynasty with such great reverence that they formed something of a cult around his legacy. These commentaries argue that the analects themselves depict Confucius as a normal man who is simply completely devoted to the way of virtue, and to attribute any transcendence to him would take away from the accessibility of the Confucian tradition. I want to argue that both can be true. 

    In the beginning of the preceptorial, we reached a point in the discussion where we discussed the Junzi as an ontological possibility that seeks to elevate man from the normal way of man's being (xiaoren) to something greater than that through following the Tao. Well, if this is the case, wouldn't it make sense that one who attains the status of the Junzi would appear transfigured to men that are still stuck within the confines of xiaoren-ness? 

    In 19.21, Zigong says that "A gentleman's errors are like an eclipse of the sun or the moon: when he errs, everyone notices it, but when he makes amends, everyone looks up to him." The xiaoren look up to the Junzi not only because he probably has a leadership role, but because he tells them what is possible for a human being to attain. When he attains to Te, or virtue, then his influence is all encompassing, like the sun or the moon, and might have a luminosity resembling the divine. When the Junzi does not act with Te, then this luminosity disappears and leaves one shrouded in darkness. 

    In 19.23, Zigong is favorably compared to Confucius, and he repudiates this comparison by saying that "The walls of the Master's residence...are fifteen feet high. This means that, unless one is able to enter through the gate, one cannot see the fineness of the ancestral temples or the luxuriousness of the various offices." Here, in contradiction to 19.21, the Junzi is not luminous in that his Te is accessible to all xiaoren, rather there is something subtle to it. The Junzi, because he has been able to attain to a higher level of being than the xiaoren cannot always be seen in his fullness. One must follow the Tao in order to enter into the gate of his presence. However, there is no reason that this is not accessible to all, it is simply the case that few ever attempt this difficult way of life. 

    In 19.24, Zigong speaks about Confucius' worthiness: "Confucius cannot be disparaged. The worthiness of other people is like a hill or mound, in that one can still climb to the top of it. Confucius is like the sun or the moon- it is impossible to surmount him. Even if a person wished to cut himself off from their radiance, what harm could he do to the sun and the moon? All this would serve to show is that such a person did not know his limits." The Junzi is once again compared to the sun or the moon; clearly, when the way of virtue is followed with all of one's strength, then the human being becomes closer to a celestial form of being than a human way of being. Confucius, as the preacher of the Tao, is the epitome of the Junzi, and this is why Zigong shows him such deference, and even reverence. A cult around his legacy becomes understandable because other Junzi sees the conditions of possibility for their own attainment of virtue in the story of his life. Thus, there is good reason for this apparent "departure" from the rest of the analects to appear at the end of the book; it is not a departure at all, but instead the consummation of Confucianism.