I Was Poor When Young

What did the hard times you've lived through turn into later?

Original

大宰問於子貢曰：「夫子聖者與？何其多能也？」子貢曰：「固天縱之將聖，又多能也。」子聞之，曰：「大宰知我乎！吾少也賤，故多能鄙事。君子多乎哉？不多也。」

In plain words

The Grand Steward asked Zigong, “Your Master is a sage, isn't he? How is it that he can do so many things?” Zigong said, “Heaven has indeed set him on the way to sagehood, and he can also do many things.” When Confucius heard of it, he said, “Does the Grand Steward really know me? I was poor and of low standing when young, so I learned to do many humble things. Does a junzi need to do many things? No, not many.”

Key words

賤jiànOf low standing and poor: a circumstance, not a character.
鄙事bǐ shìHumble chores: work others look down on.
天縱tiān zòngGiven free rein by heaven: “born gifted.”

Reading it step by step

The last two pages were about learning and setting your heart. Today we look at where Confucius started.

His father died when he was three, and his mother raised him in poverty. When he was seventeen, she died too. Mother and son had been kept away from the father's funeral, so Confucius did not even know where his father was buried; he had to go round asking the village elders before he could lay his parents to rest together. To make a living, the young Confucius worked as a clerk in charge of a granary, and as a minor official in charge of cattle and sheep. Later, seeing that he could do almost anything, people guessed: surely he was a born sage?

First: Confucius refuses the halo of “born gifted.” Zigong, who revered his teacher, said heaven had made him so. Confucius said no: I was poor, I had to do every kind of work, and that is how I learned. Elsewhere he says plainly, “I was not born knowing.” He did not want to be called a genius, because that word makes people think: that's him, it has nothing to do with me. His point is the opposite. The road he walked, you can walk too.

Zigong says

born a sage

a gift: no one else can copy it

Confucius says

I was poor when young

forged in hardship: anyone can walk this road

Second: humble work can be done superbly. According to Mencius, when Confucius kept the granary, his only aim was accounts that balanced; when he kept the herds, his only aim was cattle and sheep that grew strong. It sounds small. But the keepers before him had taken a cut of everything going in and out, and no one above checked; the herdsmen had quietly sold off the fodder, since cattle don't file complaints.

Confucius had no clever method. He simply did the job honestly, and after a year the granary was in perfect order and the herds were fat and multiplying. Hard circumstances train the will and draw out abilities you didn't know you had. Many people wait for a “good job” before they take work seriously. Confucius did the job in front of him well first.

Third: “Does a junzi need to do many things? No, not many.” Having admitted his many skills, Confucius immediately turns the conversation. A junzi's worth is not the number of things he can do. Skills are what life requires, but what makes someone a junzi is where they are heading and who they are becoming. However many things you can do, if the direction is wrong, you are only a very capable tool.

Plenty of CVs today list skill after skill: video editing, spreadsheets, three kinds of software. All good. Confucius would ask the next question: where are these skills taking you?

If you are in an unglamorous job right now, or in the middle of a hard stretch, this passage is for you. Where you start does not decide where you end.

One line to carry

Where you start does not decide where you end.

Today's question

Which “humble” task in your life right now could you do as well as it can be done? Where is it taking you?

Quick check

How does Confucius explain why he can do so many things?

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