No One Else to Pray To

When you decide, do you finally ask “who will be pleased?” or “is it right?”

Original

王孫賈問曰：「與其媚於奧，寧媚於竈，何謂也？」子曰：「不然。獲罪於天，無所禱也。」

In plain words

Wangsun Jia asked, “There's a saying: ‘Better to court the stove god than the god of the inner corner.’ What does it mean?” Confucius said, “Not so. Whoever offends heaven has nowhere left to pray.”

Key words

奧àoThe honoured south-west corner of a room: high rank, little real power.
竈zàoThe stove god: low rank, but in charge of the family's meals. Real power.
天tiānNot the sky, but the source of life and the highest, fair judge.

Reading it step by step

Last page: hear the Way in the morning. So what did Confucius finally rely on? This exchange took place in the state of Wei, and it smells strongly of politics.

First: decode the saying. In an old house, the south-west corner of the main room, the ao, was the place of honour, with its own household god. In the kitchen was the stove god: low in rank, but in charge of what the family ate. Wangsun Jia, a minister of Wei, asks what it means to say “better to court the stove than the corner.” He seems to be asking about gods. He is really hinting: the person with the grand title has no power; you'd do better to make friends with whoever actually runs things.

Second: Confucius won't play. “Not so.” He doesn't discuss which one to flatter. He swaps out the whole question: if you offend heaven, there is no one left to pray to. Elsewhere he said that offering to spirits not your own is flattery. Worship used to pull strings is just courting favour. The spirits are mostly ancestors and may well have favourites; heaven is highest and fair, and can be neither bribed nor fooled.

Once, when Confucius was gravely ill, Zilu wanted to pray for him to the spirits above and below. Confucius said, “My praying has gone on a long time.” The Analects records that even at a meal of coarse rice and vegetable broth he always set a little aside as an offering first, with a reverent face. His prayer was in every meal, and in the way he lived each day.

the cornerhonoured, powerless

flatter the title

the stovelowly, powerful

flatter the power

heavenhighest · fair

can't be flattered, only met with sincerity

Third: heaven gave Confucius a final standard. The Book of Songs says heaven gave birth to the people. If our life comes from heaven, then how we live must finally be answered for to heaven. Confucius swore by it (“may heaven reject me”) and scolded Zilu: “Whom would I be deceiving? Heaven?” This is not the sky overhead. It is the one who sees into hearts and keeps things just. Confucius founded no religion and never preached, but his faith was real.

In a Western courtroom a witness swears with a hand on the Bible, but that only binds someone who believes; without belief the hand is just resting on a book. In old Chinese villages, disputes were settled by clan elders in the ancestral hall, and in front of the ancestors' tablets nobody dared to lie. We all need a witness we can't fool. For Confucius, that witness was heaven.

The corner and the stove are still with us: the manager with the title and the person who actually signs off; the face you keep and the back channels you use. Confucius isn't telling us to ignore how people work. He is saying: never let “who will be pleased” be your final reason for what you do.

In your own heart, who is the one you finally answer to?

One line to carry

Never let “who will be pleased” be your final reason.

Today's question

What was the last decision you made to please a “stove god”? If you answered only to heaven, what would you have done?

Quick check

What was Wangsun Jia really hinting at with “court the stove”?

Next pageHeaven Knows MePage 28

IV · Between Heaven and Humanity — Facing death, knowing heaven's mandate, a life made whole

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