Post date: Oct 27, 2016 6:10:00 AM
This is the tenth post in a series for those who:
1- desire to read or teach Confucius' Analects as philosophy, but
2- lack knowledge about classical Chinese language, culture, history, philosophy.
(The translations from Chinese are my own; bear in mind, I'm still learning and practicing.)
| Part 1, On The Analects | Part 2, On Confucius | Part 3, On the Zhōu | Part 4, On Militarism and Legalism | Part 5, On Scholarly Learning |
| Part 6, The Central Argument | Part 7, On Nature and Culture | Part 8, On Nobility | Part 9, On Consummate Conduct |
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On Power
When sufficiently developed, the distinctive excellences of jūnzǐ—ritual propriety (禮 lǐ), knowledge through learning (zhì 智), appropriate responsiveness (義 yì), trustworthiness (信 xìn), consummate conduct (仁 rén)—support perhaps the most significant result of being jūnzǐ available to rulers, 德 dé.
These excellences support other significant results as well, such as joyful tranquility (乐 lè, Analects 6.11, 6.20, 6.23) calm composure (申申 shēn shēn, Analects 7.4, 7.37), and prestige (威 wēi, Analects 7.38). Consider these on your own. Some concern psychological attitudes; some concern, instead, social status. Of all the results, however, dé is most salient for the connection between living well and helping others to live well.
Dé
Dé (德) means charismatic power. This is a capacity to influence others by force of one’s presence, to be passively present as a role model that others deem worthy of respecting and imitating.[1] Analects 4.25 mentions this attractive aspect of dé:
子曰：「德不孤，必有鄰。」
Zǐ yuē: “Dé bù gū, bì yǒu lín.”
The Master said: “[Those with] charismatic power are never lonely, others are always nearby.”
(Also see Analects 2.1.) Edward Slingerland notes that having dé involves having a capacity “to engage in one-on-one interactions in a perfectly efficacious way.”[2] I prefer to think of this efficacious capacity as a condition for dé that does not, however, mark the nature of dé.
From Jūnzǐ to Dé
Roger Ames notes that those with charismatic power express “the “cumulative outcome of coordinating … shared experience effectively—both the achieved quality of the conduct of the particular person and the achieved ethos of the collective culture.”[3] The capacity for such expression flows from embodying the proper culture. Because the proper culture encodes the way of heaven, it follows that charismatic power flows from embodying the way of heaven. Whence Analects 7.23:
子曰：「天生德於予…」
Zǐ yuē: “Tiān shēng dé yú yú…”
The Master said, “Heaven gave birth to the charismatic power in me….”
Those who embody the way of heaven, of course, are the jūnzǐ. For the jūnzǐ, by virtue of mastering proper learning, ritual convention, and arts, come to embody proper culture.
However, just as being jūnzǐ does not suffice for consummate conduct, it does not suffice for charismatic power, either. Charismatic power flows only from those jūnzǐ on their way toward consummate conduct. For such conduct allows jūnzǐ to respond fluidly and appropriately no matter the context, and this is something charismatic power requires as well. Whence Analects 12.10:
子張問崇德…。子曰：「主忠信，徙義，崇德也。…」
Zǐ Zhāng wèn chóng dé…. Zǐ yuē: “Zhǔ zhōng xìn, xǐ yì, chóng dé yě….”
Zǐ Zhāng asked about reverence [associated with] charismatic power…. The Master said, “Prioritizing loyalty and trustworthiness, shifting to always occupy what is appropriate, this is [source of] the reverence [associated with] charismatic power.”
Jūnzǐ with charismatic power, accordingly, embody proper culture in a way that is neither too stilted nor too rigid. They are able to shift their responses to suit their context, and they do so without abandoning their various excellences such as loyalty and trustworthiness.
The Power of Dé
The reverence associated with excellently embodying proper culture allows those jūnzǐ with charismatic power to inspire others to better living. Consider, for example, Analects 8.2:
子曰：「…君子篤於親，則民興於仁；故舊不遺，則民不偷。」
Zǐ yuē: “…Jūnzǐ dǔ yú qīn, zé mín xīng yú rén; gù jiù bù yí, zé mín bù tōu.”
The Master said, “…When noblemen show devotion toward their intimate relations, the people rise toward consummate conduct. When he does not leave behind old friends, the people do not steal.”
The jūnzǐ’s devotion and care inspire others to better relationships, not because of the jūnzǐ’s heredity or the jūnzǐ’s power to inflict punishment, but instead because of the jūnzǐ’s charismatic power. Analects 9.14 makes this point more explicitly:
子欲居九夷。或曰：「陋，如之何！」子曰：「君子居之，何陋之有？」
Zǐ yù jū jiǔ yí. Huò yuē: “Lòu, rú zhī hé!” Zǐ yuē: “Jūnzǐ jū zhī, hé lòu zhī yǒu?
The Master desired to reside the nine barbarian tribes to the east. Someone said, “What about their inferiority?” The Master said, “With a jūnzǐ residing among them, what inferiority would there be?”
Barbarian tribes, presumably, harbor no reverence toward royalty from other tribes. Nor, for those foreigners choosing to live amongst them, do they fear military retribution. So a jūnzǐ living among barbarians would not reform them by virtue of heredity or force. Instead, the jūnzǐ’s excellent enculturation would confer charismatic power to inspire the barbarians in reforming themselves: the jūnzǐ would be a model for the barbarians to imitate, and they imitate they would.
[1] Here is entry 1223 in Shuōwén Jiězì:
德：升也。从彳聲。
Dé: Shēng yě. Cóng chì dé sheng.
Dé: Also rising in rank. Marching from the power of voice.
[2] Edward Slingerland, Trying Not to Try (New York: Broadway Books, 2014), 7-8.
[3] Ames 2011, 207.