Analects, book 3 · 23 of 26 chaptersBa yi (Book 3)

Each chapter gives the source text, the key words in the commentary, what other commentators say, and Yikonglu's reading, with the video.

1. 3.1Eight rows of dancers in his courtyardFour extra rows of dancers measure how hard a heart has become
2. 3.2The three families clear away to the YongThey didn't even understand the song they sang
3. 3.3A person without humaneness — what of ritual?Fill the eight rows, sing the emperor's ode — if the person is wrong, ritual and music can do nothing with him.
4. 3.4Lin Fang asks about the root of ritualWhen both sides are off, lean towards the root
5. 3.5The Yi and Di have rulersThe rebuke is aimed not at the Yi and Di but at his own people
6. 3.6The Ji sacrifice to Mount TaiIt was the Ji who needed saving, not Mount Tai
7. 3.7The gentleman does not competeThe target does not lie; what is contested is whether your own hand is steady.
8. 3.8The painting comes after the white groundIf the ground is not smooth, every colour you put on comes out blotchy.
9. 3.9Not enough recordsConfucius could tell it, but would not rest on his word alone
10. 3.10The di sacrifice after the libationLooking back, the records and the people are gone; looking around, the rite is there but the heart is not.
11. 3.11Someone asks about the di sacrificeSaying “I don't know” does not mean he didn't know.
12. 3.12Sacrifice as if presentThe form of the rite can be laid out by the book; the heart in it has to be brought by the one who sacrifices.
13. 3.13Better to court the stoveDo the thing right and everyone is easy to deal with; do it wrong and being on good terms with anyone won't help.
14. 3.14Zhou looked to the two dynastiesFollowing Zhou means following the work of improving on predecessors bit by bit
15. 3.15In the Grand Temple he asked about everythingThirty years in, you still double-check.
16. 3.16In archery, piercing the hide is not the pointThe contest is in what can be trained, not in what you were born with.
17. 3.17The sheep for announcing the new moonThe sheep marks the rite; keep the marker and the rite can still be recognised and restored
18. 3.18Serving one's lord with full ritualNot a bit extra — ritual simply requires this; Confucius says only “people take it for flattery”, with no insult back
19. 3.19The lord employs his ministers with ritualEach side looks only at its own end; Duke Ding was the ruler, and his question was answered with his own half
20. 3.20The Guanju: joy without excessNot too little feeling, but feeling full without going over
21. 3.21Duke Ai asks about the altar of the soilThe three “nots” are not “never mind” but a heavy rebuke, to make him careful in future
22. 3.22Guan Zhong's capacity was smallConfucius does not say outright where the smallness lies; it shows in the luxury and usurpation
23. 3.23The Master speaks of music to the Grand Music Master of LuFirst together, then harmonious, each part clear within the harmony, linked to the end