An Elbow for a Pillow

If tomorrow you had only plain rice, water and a hard bed, how much of your joy would be left?

Original

子曰：「飯疏食，飲水，曲肱而枕之，樂亦在其中矣。不義而富且貴，於我如浮雲。」

In plain words

Confucius said: “Eating coarse rice and drinking water, with my bent arm for a pillow: there is joy in this too. Wealth and rank gained unjustly are to me like floating clouds.”

Key words

疏食shū sìCoarse food, plain grain (食 read sì here).
肱gōngThe arm; 曲肱 is to bend it.
浮雲fú yúnA floating cloud: far off, shifting, never yours.

Reading it step by step

On the last page we saw the poverty of Confucius' youth. There are two ways to meet poverty: grit your teeth and endure it, or stay at ease even inside it. Today's passage is the second.

First: notice the word “too” (亦). “There is joy in this too” does not say that poverty itself is joyful, and it does not tell anyone to seek out hardship. Confucius was in fact quite particular about food. The Analects lists nearly ten things he would not eat: anything that had changed colour or smell, anything out of season, meat not properly cut, food without its proper sauce (think of sashimi with no wasabi).

Read as a child, it makes him sound fussy; in an age of poor medicine, most of it was simply looking after his health. And when a host laid out a feast, he rose to thank him. He could enjoy good living, and he could live as simply as anyone. The point is this: in the days of plain rice and water, joy is still there too. Joy does not follow the menu.

Second: where does that joy come from? Confucius praised his student Yan Hui: a bowl of rice, a gourd of water, a shabby alley, a life others found unbearable, and Yan Hui's joy never changed. What made him happy was not poverty but knowing he was on the right road. That joy is different from the satisfaction of a full stomach. Just after a good meal you are happy; offered a second dinner on the spot, you would suffer. Instinctive satisfaction stops where it stops, and leaves when its object leaves. Joy that has grown through self-cultivation comes from a settled, open heart, so no one can take it away.

instinctive satisfaction

full, warm, owning things

when the thing goes, the joy goes

joy after self-cultivation

joy is here too

a settled heart: no one can take it

Third: “Unjust wealth and rank are to me like floating clouds.” Confucius had nothing against wealth or rank. What he rejected was wealth gained unjustly. Clouds are beautiful, but they are far away, the wind scatters them, and they were never yours. Money or status gained the wrong way is like that: it looks vast, you cannot hold it, and it blocks out the sky.

Our age often treats shopping as a synonym for happiness: buy it and feel good, miss it and feel anxious. Try a small experiment. The last time you were truly happy, was it because of something you got, or something you were doing, or someone you were with? Many people find that two hours walking in the park with an old friend, spending nothing, leaves them full, while the thrill of opening a parcel fades by the next day.

A person who knows where their joy comes from is hard to drag along behind the clouds.

One line to carry

Joy doesn't follow the menu.

Today's question

Write down the last time you were truly happy. What did it cost? Where did that joy come from?

Quick check

What does the word “too” in “there is joy in this too” tell us?

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