Kǒngzǐ Jiàn Jì Huánzǐ 孔子見季桓子
Confucius Visits Ji Huanzi (modern editorial title, from the opening phrase)
(anonymous; excavated bamboo manuscript, no attributable author)
About the work
Kǒngzǐ Jiàn Jì Huánzǐ 孔子見季桓子 is one of the texts in 馬承源 Mǎ Chéngyuán ed., 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 vol. 6, Shànghǎi gǔjí chūbǎnshè 上海古籍出版社, 2007, comprising approximately 15 bamboo strips. The text is a Confucius dialogue narrative set in the court of Jì Huánzǐ 季桓子 (the Jì 季 clan head in Lǔ; d. 492 BCE), Confucius’s sometime employer and the figure implicated in his eventual departure from Lǔ. The central topic is the distinction between humane persons (rén rén 仁人) and deviant/wicked people (xié mín 邪民 / 邪偽之民), and the methods by which they may be distinguished in observation and practice.
Abstract
The text opens with Ji Huanzi declaring what he has heard: “The worthy are those capable of being close to humaneness (qīn rén 親仁); those close to humaneness are capable of following the way of the sages.” He adds, however, that he himself feels too lacking to aspire to such closeness — but he does wholeheartedly delight in “meeting people without tiring and asking about ritual without weariness.”
Confucius responds with a critique: “When those above are not close to humaneness but attach themselves to wealth, do you hear such talk from the hermit-scholars (yì rén 逸人)?” He elaborates: the gentleman flows in his observation of all things (pǐn wù 品物) — even if all things are complete, if there is no one who has achieved virtue, what is the use of dwelling with them and examining what they have studied?
Ji Huanzi asks: “Has the humane person not been examined? Can one know him by his appearance and conduct?” Confucius replies: “I have heard that only the humane person… has this appearance and [yet cannot be reduced to it].”
The central contrast (§§6–13): Confucius enumerates the distinguishing features of humane persons versus deviant and wicked people (xié wěi zhī mín 邪偽之民):
The humane person (rén rén 仁人): His clothing is necessarily appropriate (zhōng 中); his appearance does not seek to differ from others; he does not [seek] ostentatious clusters; he sighs, looking up at Heaven: “[He] does not offer [what is improper], does not relish wine and meat, does not eat the five grains, carefully chooses his dwelling — is this not difficult?”
The deviant and wicked people (xié wěi zhī mín): Their conduct has many faces. Their clothing and appearance seek everywhere to differ from others; they promote the Way and engage in licentiousness; their words do not match their station and all seek to align with [the powerful]; their appearances are rigid and false in their reverence and mourning; their faces are not sincere; their words are unbridled; before the gentleman they make grand displays without self-composure.
Confucius continues: “The gentleman constantly uses [the resources of] the multitude to bless; he bows in all four directions at rank-positions, to move the gentleman — spying on what he desires, knowing that [virtue] will not be put into practice.” And: “The gentleman’s way, when he wears his cap you do not see it; when he speaks you do not see it — I do not see [the deviant person either]. This is examined; seek it within. Hence he is not deceived, and the people turn to him.”
The surviving text closes with a recommendation that the gentleman appoint teacher-guardians (shī bǎo 師保), be careful about ritual and music, and guide [the people] — the gentleman has the Way; the transformation of the living people depends on it.
Relation to received texts. The received Lúnyǔ mentions Jì Huánzǐ in 18.3 (where the women musicians sent to the Duke cause Confucius to leave Lǔ) and 9.2 (where Dá Xiàng village asks if Confucius is a great man). The Shanghai Museum text provides a substantial philosophical dialogue with Ji Huanzi that has no parallel in the received Lúnyǔ, adding another strand to the pre-canonical Confucius dialogue tradition.
Translations and research
- 馬承源 ed., 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 vol. 6, Shànghǎi gǔjí chūbǎnshè, 2007 — editio princeps.
- Hunter, Michael. Confucius Beyond the Analects. Brill, 2017 — extensive treatment of the non-Lúnyǔ Confucius dialogue corpus.
- Pines, Yuri. Envisioning Eternal Empire. University of Hawai’i Press, 2009 — contextual background on Warring States political-moral discourse.
Links
- Wikipedia (Shanghai Museum bamboo texts): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Museum_bamboo_texts