The Confucians say: "In loving one's kin there is a method; in honouring the worthy there are grades." By this they speak of the difference between the near and the distant, the honoured and the humble. Their rite says: "For father and mother mourn three years; for the wife and for the eldest son, after the parents, three years also; for an uncle, a younger brother, an elder brother, a son of a concubine, and for kinsmen and clansmen, five months." If the number of years and months is fixed by nearness and distance, then the nearer receive more and the more distant less, and it follows that wife and heir are placed on a level with the father. If the number of years and months is fixed by honour and rank, then wife and son are honoured as father and mother, while the elder uncle and the clan's elder brother are counted as kin and the son is made lowly. What perversity is greater than this?

When their parent dies, they lay the body by the door, mount the roof, peer into the well, poke into the rat-holes, and search the washing vessels, seeking the person. If they think he is really there, they are exceedingly foolish; if they know he is gone and yet must seek him, the pretence is great indeed.

In taking a wife, the bridegroom himself goes to meet her; in respectful black robes he acts as her servant, holds the reins and hands her the cord, as though looking up to a stern parent. The dignity of the marriage ceremony is like that of one conducting the offerings [to GOD]. Thus they turn upside down what is high and what is low, and rebel against their parents; they abase the parents below the wife and son, and the wife and son encroach upon the service due to the parents above. Can this be called filial piety?

Their transmitters say: "He goes to meet his wife because the wife will serve at the offerings [to GOD], and the son will guard the ancestral temple; therefore they are held in weight." We answer: This is slander. The clan's elder brother guards the ancestral temple of his forefathers for tens of years; when he dies and is mourned, the wife of his brother carries on the offerings [to GOD] for the forefathers without interruption; yet for the wife and son mourning lasts three years. It is surely not for the sake of guarding the temple and carrying on the offerings [to GOD].

To grieve over wife and son with so heavy a burden, and then to say, "It is in order to honour the parents," is to wish to deal generously where one should deal lightly, and lightly where one should deal weightily. Is this not great wickedness?

There are those who stubbornly hold that there is fate [GOD's decree], and argue: "Long life and early death, poverty and wealth, safety and danger, order and disorder are all by the decree of Heaven [GOD]; nothing can be taken from them or added to them. Failure and success, reward and punishment, good fortune and ill have their limits; the wisdom and strength of men cannot do anything about them." If the officials believe this, they grow slack in the division of their duties; if the common people believe this, they grow slack in their tasks. Where there is no government there is disorder; where farming is slow there is poverty; poverty and disorder are the root of misrule. Yet the Confucians take this for a teaching of the Way. This is to debase the people of the world.

Moreover, they adorn with elaboration their rites and music in order to lead men astray; they prolong mourning and feign grief in order to deceive their parents; they set up fate [GOD's decree] and are slow to mend their poverty, and dwell in lofty arrogance; they turn their backs on the root, abandon their work, and rest in idleness and slackness; greedy for food and drink, lazy in labour, they fall into hunger and cold, and are in danger of freezing and starving, and there is no escaping it. Wretched in spirit, they skulk like rats in hiding, stare like rams, and start up like boars. The gentleman laughs at them, and they are angry and say: "How should a vagabond know a good Confucian?" In summer they beg for wheat and grain; when the five grains have been gathered in, a great funeral is sure to follow; the sons and grandsons all go along and eat and drink their fill. When they have managed several funerals, it is enough for them. They rely on other men's fans and plumes for their support, and on other men's fields for their dignity. When a rich man has a funeral, they rejoice greatly and say: "This is the beginning of our clothing and food."

The Confucians say: "The gentleman must wear ancient dress and speak ancient speech; only then is he benevolent." We answer: What they call ancient speech and dress were all once new, and the ancients who spoke them and wore them were gentlemen. Must one then wear what was not the dress of a gentleman and speak what was not the speech of a gentleman, in order to be benevolent?

They say also: "The gentleman follows and does not create." We answer: In ancient times I made the bow, Yü made armour, Hsi Chung made the cart, and Ch'iao Ch'ui made the boat. Then the tanners, armourers, wheelwrights and carpenters of today are all gentlemen, while I, Yü, Hsi Chung and Ch'iao Ch'ui were all petty men? Moreover, what they follow was surely made by someone; and so what they follow is all the way of petty men.

They say also: "When the gentleman wins, he does not pursue the fleeing; he does not shoot at one who has shut himself in his armour; and if the enemy falters, he helps him with a cart." We answer: If both sides were benevolent men, there would be nothing to dispute, and they would join together. Benevolent men tell one another the principles of choosing and rejecting, of right and wrong; he who has no reason follows him who has reason, he who does not know follows him who knows; having no reply, they must submit; seeing good, they must change; for what cause would they be like two violent parties in contention? But if two violent parties contend, and the winner wishes not to pursue the fleeing, nor to shoot at one who has shut himself in his armour, and helps the faltering with a cart, then, though he does all this to the utmost, he still cannot be counted a gentleman. Suppose it is a cruel and violent state, and a sage is about to remove its harm from the world; he raises an army to punish it, and the victorious general, taking up the Confucian method, orders his soldiers: "Do not pursue the fleeing; do not shoot at him who has shut himself in his armour; if they falter, help them with a cart." Then the violent and disorderly men are left in power, the harm of the world is not removed, and this is to slay as a body the parents of the people and to wrong the world deeply. No unrighteousness is greater than this.

They say also: "You, sir, are like a bell: if struck it sounds, if not struck it does not sound." We answer: The benevolent man, serving his superior, gives all his loyalty; serving his parents, he achieves filial piety; he strives for the good and praises it, and when there is a fault he remonstrates. This is the way of a minister. But now, to sound when struck and not to sound when unstruck, to conceal one's knowledge and hold back one's strength, calmly and indifferently waiting to be asked and only then replying, so that even when there is great profit for ruler and parents, one does not speak unless asked: suppose great bandits and disorder are about to rise, and thieves and robbers are about to break out, like a trap about to spring; others do not know, and he alone knows it; though his ruler and parents are all present, not being asked he does not speak. He is a ringleader of great disorder. By such conduct as a minister he is disloyal, as a son unfilial, in serving an elder brother not brotherly, and in dealing with men not upright and good. He keeps back and says nothing at court; when he sees profit he lets it drive him; though afraid, he speaks late; and if the ruler speaks and there is yet no profit in it, he folds his hands loftily and looks down, chokes and pretends to be deep, and says: "It is only that I have not yet learned it." For whom is he in haste? He has left right conduct far behind.

Now the one Way, the doctrine and learning of benevolence and righteousness: in former times, on the larger scale it served to govern men, on the smaller to hold office; spread afar it was applied everywhere, near at hand it served to guide one's own person. He did not abide in what was unrighteous, nor do what was contrary to principle; he strove to promote the benefit of the world; in all his dealings, whether straight or crooked, where benefit was gained he rested. This is the way of the gentleman. But judging by what is heard of the conduct of Confucius, it is at the root the opposite of this, and false.

Duke Ching of Ch'i asked Yen Tse: "What manner of man is Confucius?" Yen Tse did not answer. The Duke asked again, and he did not answer. Duke Ching said: "Many have spoken to me of Confucius, and all have taken him for a worthy man. Now I ask you about him and you do not answer. Why?" Yen Tse answered: "I am unworthy, and not able to know a worthy man. Yet I have heard that a so-called worthy man, when he enters another's state, must strive to unite the ruler and ministers in affection and to quiet the resentment between high and low. When Confucius went to Ch'u, he knew the plot of the Duke of Pai, and he furnished him with Shih Ch'i; the ruler's person was nearly destroyed, and the Duke of Pai was put to death. I have heard that a worthy man gains his superiors without emptiness and gains his inferiors without peril; that his words, when heard by the ruler, are sure to profit men, and his teaching, carried out below, is sure to accord with what is above; so that his words are clear and easy to understand, his conduct is easy and can be followed, his righteous conduct can be made plain to the people, and his plans and thoughts can be communicated to ruler and ministers. But now Confucius thinks deeply and plots in common in order to serve a rebel; he toils in thought and exhausts his knowledge in order to do evil; he urges those below to disorder against those above, and teaches ministers to kill their ruler. This is not the conduct of a worthy man. To enter another's state and join with its traitors is not of the kind of righteousness. To know that men are disloyal and yet to hasten them to rebellion is not benevolence and righteousness. He flees from men and then plots, avoids men and then speaks; his righteous conduct cannot be made plain to the people, and his plans cannot be communicated to ruler and ministers. I do not know how Confucius differs from the Duke of Pai, and therefore I did not answer." Duke Ching said: "Alas! Many have bestowed their words on me, but for you, sir, I should have gone through life not knowing that Confucius and the Duke of Pai are alike."

Confucius went to Ch'i and saw Duke Ching. The Duke was pleased and wished to enfeoff him with Ni Ch'i, and told Yen Tse. Yen Tse said: "It cannot be done. The Confucians are arrogant and self-satisfied; they cannot be used to teach those below. They love music and lead men astray; they cannot be set to govern in person. They set up fate [GOD's decree] and neglect their tasks; they cannot be set to keep an office. They prolong funerals and cling to mourning; they cannot be set to cherish the people. They wear strange dress and strain their bearing; they cannot be set to lead the multitude. Confucius, with his grand appearance and careful adornment, bewitches the age; with his stringed instruments, songs, drums and dances he gathers disciples; he multiplies the rites of ascending and descending to show his dignity, and cultivates the rules of hurrying and gliding steps to be seen by the crowd. The learning of the Confucians cannot be used to counsel the age; their toil of thought cannot be used to supply the people's need. Though one lived through generations, one could not exhaust their learning; in one's full years one could not practise their rites; with accumulated wealth one could not supply their music. They elaborately adorn a false art to ply the rulers of the age, and make much of sound and music to lead the people astray. Their Way cannot be made the rule of the age, and their learning cannot guide the multitude. Now if you, my lord, enfeoff him, it will make the customs of Ch'i extravagant; this is no means to guide the multitude and preserve the people." Thereupon the Duke treated him with great courtesy, but withheld the fief; he received him with respect, but did not ask about his Way. Confucius then bore a grudge against Duke Ching and Yen Tse. He planted Ch'ih I Tse at the gate of T'ien Ch'ang, told Nan Kuo Hui Tse what he desired to do, and returned to Lu. After a while, hearing that Ch'i was about to attack Lu, he said to Tse Kung: "Tz'u, the time has come to undertake a great affair!" He sent Tse Kung to Ch'i, and through Nan Kuo Hui Tse he saw T'ien Ch'ang and urged him to attack Wu, so as to deal with the houses of Kao, Kuo, Pao and Yen, and keep them from hindering T'ien Ch'ang's rebellion; and he urged Yüeh to attack Wu. Within three years Ch'i and Wu were broken in the calamity of their states, and corpses lay prostrate; and all this came of talk of stratagems. It was the slaughter wrought by Confucius.

When Confucius was Minister of Crime in Lu, he left the ducal house and went to Chi Sun. Chi Sun, after serving as chief minister to the ruler of Lu, fled. When Chi Sun and the men of the city struggled over the gate and its bars, the post of the gate was wrenched up. Confucius was in straits between Ts'ai and Ch'en; for ten days he had no grain in his soup of goosefoot. Tse Lu cooked a young pig, and Confucius did not ask whence the meat came, but ate it; they stripped a man of his clothes to sell for wine, and Confucius did not ask whence the wine came, but drank it. When Duke Ai welcomed Confucius, if the mat was not straight he would not sit, and if the meat was not cut straight he would not eat. Tse Lu came forward and asked: "Why is this so contrary to what you did in Ch'en and Ts'ai?" Confucius said: "Come, I will tell you. Formerly you and I held to righteousness only in a makeshift way. Now, when hungry and straitened, we did not refuse to take recklessly in order to keep ourselves alive; when full and well fed, we practise falsity to adorn ourselves. What defilement, depravity, deceit and falsehood is greater than this?"

Confucius, sitting at leisure with the disciples of his school, said: "Shun, when he saw Ku Sou, was ill at ease; at that time the world was in peril! Was Tan, the Duke of Chou, not the right man? Why did he leave his household and lodge elsewhere?" What Confucius did was what his scheming heart reached to. His followers and disciples all imitated Confucius. Tse Kung and Chi Lu assisted K'ung K'uei in Wei; Yang Hu made disorder in Ch'i; Fo Hsi rebelled with Chung-mou; Ch'i Tiao suffered mutilating punishment: nothing is worse. Now, those who are disciples and juniors must cultivate their master's words and model their conduct, until their strength fails and their knowledge does not reach, and only then stop. Since the conduct of Confucius was such as this, the Confucian scholars may well be doubted.