On the Master's flexibility and nuanced understanding of things (RG)

 9.4 - The Master was entirely free of four faults: arbitrariness, inflexibility, rigidity, and selfishness. 

Reading the Analects, I am intrigued by Confucius's nuanced understandings of how to conduct oneself in different scenarios, in different contexts, and around different people. All conduct is centered by ritual, of course, but even so I'd say that Confucius's intuition that different contexts call for varied action amounts to a healthy kind of adaptability. This is exemplified in 11.22, where Confucius gives advice to two students of different temperaments: 

"Zilu asked whether he should immediately carry into practice what he heard. The Master said, "There are your father and elder brothers to be consulted - why should you act on that principle of immediately carrying into practice what you hear?" Ran Qiu asked the same, whether he should immediately carry into practice what he heard, and the Master answered, "Immediately carry into practice what you hear." Gong Xi Hua said, "You asked whether he should carry immediately into practice what he heard, and you said, 'There are your father and elder brothers to be consulted.' Qiu asked whether he should immediately carry into practice what he heard, and you said, 'Carry it immediately into practice.' I, Chi, am perplexed, and venture to ask you for an explanation." The Master said, "Qiu is retiring and slow; therefore I urged him forward. Zilu has more than his own share of energy; therefore I kept him back." (Translated by James Legge) 

If two different people are trying to get to the same place - that of acquiring a gentlemanly conduct - then it's likely that they will need different methods to get there. In the case of Zilu, his excitable personality was offered restraint, and in the case of Ran Qiu, his hesitancy was discouraged in favor of immediate action. Offering them the same advice might create less opportunity for them to properly cultivate their characters. It seems that this kind of flexibility is fostered by being observant and attentive to the needs of others - Confucius references their general nature when explaining why he offered his respective advice. 

I am also reminded of when one of Confucius's disciples remarked that a true gentleman would be someone who could both rule a state of a large size and raise a young orphan boy to manhood - applying virtuous principles to two different scenarios. 

The Analects also does not lay out any proper system of hard set rules, instead relying on a variety of anecdotes, descriptions of gentlemanly character, and dialogue pieces to reference from. We do, however, seem to have some guiding principles to center us (besides adherence to ritual): 

"The Master said, "Master Zeng! All that I teach can be string together on a single thread.

"Yes, sir." Master Zeng responded. 

After the Master left, the disciples asked, "What did he mean by that?" 

Master Zeng said, "All that the Master teaches amounts to nothing more than dutifulness (zhong 忠) tempered by understanding (shu 恕)."- 4.15, Slingerland

As we discussed in class, 忠 has indications of personal integrity, with it's combination of the character for "center"and the character for "heart," while 恕 is a combination of the heat radical and "ru" or "to be like" - making these two concepts a way to guide our motives and actions, and allowing for the kind of flexibility needed to conduct oneself appropriately, solve problems, and so on. Whatever scenario one is in might call for different actions - but shouldn't one be integral? Shouldn't one be understanding? 



Comments

  1. Krishnan VenkateshApril 6, 2022 at 10:25 PM

    The Chinese might be taken as a compound too, in which "zhongshu" is a single, new idea that surpasses its components. Also, Middlemarch, ch.61, has this: "There is no general doctrine which is not capable of eating out our morality if unchecked by the deep-seated habit of direct fellow-feeling with individual fellow-men."

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