Thinking Through the Notion of “Relatives Covering for Each Other” in Comparison with “Covering and Taking Responsibility for Their Faults”

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Notes

See various articles, on both sides, collected in Guo Qiyong, ed., Rujia lunli zhengmingji—Yi “qinqin huyin” wei zhongxin (Essays in the Debate on Confucian Ethics: Centered Around the Issue of Mutual Nondisclosure of Wrongdoings Among Family Members) (Hubei: Hubei jiaoyu chubanshe, 2004), and articles of the defenders of Confucian ethics in Guo Qiyong, ed., Rujia lunli xinpipan zhi pipan (A Critique of the New Critique of Confucian Ethics) (Wuhan: Wuhan daxue chubanshe, 2011).

Qian Mu, Lunyu xinjie (A New Interpretation of the Analects) (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 2002), p. 227.

I borrow this from a suggestion made by Liao Mingchun via e-mail.

Zhu Xi, Lunyu jizhu (Collected Interpretations of the Analects), in Sishu zhangju jizhu (Collected Interpretations of the Four Books) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2011), p. 147.

Qian Mu, A New Interpretation of the Analects, p. 408.

See Zhou Tianyou, Gudai fuchou mianmian guan (Varieties of Revenge in Ancient China) (Shanxi: Renmin jiaoyu chubanshe, 1992), pp. 7–8.

Some scholars believe that the zhi-like person Kong Zi refers to (i.e., a zhi person from the state of Lu) is not Kong Zi’s ideal. If seen from the perspective of the passage in the Analects that states, “with one change, the state of Qi could be like the state of Lu, and with one change the state of Lu could attain to the Way,” Kong Zi does not unquestionably approve of the zhi person from the state of Lu. He emphasizes that we should instead regulate such a notion of zhi with justice manifest in terms of ritual. See, for instance, Wan Guangjun, “Li yu zhi, Dao yu Lu: Kong Zi Weibi Zancheng Fuzi Huyin” (Principle and Uprightness and Dao and the State of Lu: Kong Zi not Necessarily Approving the Mutual Concealment Between Father and Son), Lunlixue yanjiu (Studies in Ethics) 5 (2009): 95–97.

Cai Yuanpei, Guomin xiuyang erzhong (Two Essays on Citizens’ Cultivation) (Shanghai: Shanghai wenyi chubanshe, 1999), pp. 38–39.

Zhuang Yaolang, “Lunyu lun ‘zhi’” (Zhi in the Analects), Jiaoxue yu yanjiu (Education and Research) 17 (1995): 16.

Li Zehou, Lunyu jindu (Reading the Analects Today) (Anhui: Anhui wenyi chubanshe, 1998), p. 315.

Ma Chengyuan, ed., Shanghai bowuguan cang zhanguo Chu zhu shu (Bamboo Scripts of the State of Chu Collected in the Shanghai Museum) (Shanghai: Shanghai guju chubanshe, 2004), vol. 4.

Li Xueqing, ed., Shisan jing zhushu (Annotations and Explanations of the Thirteen Classics) (Beijing: Beijing University Press, 1999), p. 169.

Hu Pingsheng, Xiaojing yizhu (Translation and Annotation of the Classic of Filial Piety) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2009), p. 32.

Wang Xianqian, Xunzi jijie (Collected Interpretations of Xunzi) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2012), p. 511.

In the silk manuscript of the Wuxing (Five Virtues), the character I translate as “make widely known” (xian [顯]) appears as han (罕), and in the bamboo manuscripts it appears as yan (晏). Zhou Fengwu reads it as xian (顯) on the basis that all three characters share the same ancient pronunciation. See Zhou Fengwu, “Jianbo Wuxing yiduan wenzi de jiedu” (A Reading of a Passage from the Text Five Virtues), presented at the conference “Jianbo wenxian dui sixiangshi yanjiu de fangfalun Qishi” (The Methodological Implication of the Bamboo and Silk Literature to the Studies of Intellectual History), Chinese University of Hong Kong, June 2012.

The term translated as “conceal” (yin [隱]) appears as zhen (軫) in the silk manuscript and as fang (訪) in the bamboo manuscript. Some interpreters believe that zhen is an error. Zhou Fengwu reads it as yin, stating that “the two characters’ pronunciations are close” in ancient Chinese. See his article referenced in endnote 15.

Li Xueqing, ed., Shisan jing zhushu (Annotations and Explanations of the Thirteen Classics) (Beijing: Beijing University Press, 1999), p. 411.

Li Xueqing, ed., Shisan jing zhushu (Annotations and Explanations of the Thirteen Classics) (Beijing: Beijing University Press, 1999), p. 236.

I have previously pointed out that the character translated as “right action” (xing [行]) in the phrase “If you are not sincerely harsh, then you will not take right action” is connected with justice. The “Bugou” (Nothing Indecorous) chapter of Xunzi says, “Justice means to take action.” The fact that the Wuxing (Five Virtues) goes on to state that “being sincerely harsh is a part of being just” attests to this point. See Liang Tao, “Jianbo Wuxing xintan—Jianlun Wuxing zai sixiangshishang de diwei” (A New Inquiry into the Text of Five Virtues), Kong Zi yanjiu (Kong Zi Studies), no. 5 (2002). See also the first section of the fourth chapter in Liang Tao, Guodian zhujian yu Si Meng xuepai (Guodian Bamboo Scripts and the Zisi-Meng Zi School) (Beijing: Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe, 2008).

Yang Haiwen, “Wenxianxue gongdi, quanshixue jiqiao he renwenxue guanhuai—Lun Zhongguo zhexueshi yanjiu de ‘yiban wenti yishi’” (Skills in Ancient Texts, Knacks in Hermeneutics, and Concerns with Humanities: On the General Issue-Consciousness in the Studies of Chinese Philosophy), in Guo Qiyong, ed., Debate on Confucian Ethics, pp. 501–517.

Wang Pingzhen, Da Dai liji jiegu (Explanations of the Senior Dai’s Book of Rites) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2003), p. 84.

See Liang Tao, “Ren yu xiao—Si Meng xuepai de yige quanshi xiangdu” (Humanity and Filial Piety), Rulin (Confucians), no. 1 (2005). See also the third section in chapter 8 of Liang Tao, Guodian Bamboo Scripts and the Zisi-Meng Zi School.

According to my research, the latest that Meng Zi’s theory of four sprouts took shape is 318 B.C.E.—his second visit to King Xuan in the state of Qi. See Liang Tao, “Mengzi ‘siduanshuo’ de xingcheng jiqi lilun yiyi” (The Formation of Meng Zi’s Theory of Four Sprouts and Its Theoretical Significance), Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan lishisuo xuekan (Journal of the Institute of History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) 1 (2001). See also the first section in chapter 6 of Liang Tao, Guodian Bamboo Scripts and the Zisi-Meng Zi School.

Wu Gengyou, “Ruhe zai pubianzhuyi yu lishizhuyi zhijian baochi shidu de zhangli?” (How to Maintain an Appropriate Tension Between Universalism and Historicism), in Guo Qiyong, ed., Debate on Confucian Ethics, p. 554.

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Liang Tao

Liang Tao is a Professor in the School of Chinese Classics at Renmin University of China.