1. Yen Hui, by designation Tsze-yuan (顏回, 字子淵). He was a native of Lu, the favourite of his master, whose junior he was by thirty years, and whose disciple he became when he was quite a youth. 'After I got Hui,' Confucius remarked, 'the disciples came closer to me.' We are told that once, when he found himself on the Nang hill with Hui, Tsze-lu, and Tsze- kung, Confucius asked them to tell him their different aims, and he would choose between them. Tsze-lu began, and when he had done, the master said, 'It marks your bravery.' Tsze-kung followed, on whose words the judgment was, 'They show your discriminating eloquence.' At last came Yen Yuan, who said, 'I should like to find an intelligent king and sage ruler whom I might assist. I would diffuse among the people instructions on the five great points, and lead them on by the rules of propriety and music, so that they should not care to fortify their cities by walls and moats, but would fuse their swords and spears into implements of agriculture. They should send forth their flocks without fear into the plains and forests. There should be no sunderings of families, no widows or widowers. For a thousand
1 孔子曰, 受業身通者, 七十有七人, 皆異能之士也.
years there would be no calamity of war. Yu would have no opportunity to display his bravery, or Ts'ze to display his oratory.' The master pronounced, 'How admirable is this virtue!'
When Hui was twenty-nine, his hair was all white, and in three years more he died. He was sacrificed to, along with Confucius, by the first emperor of the Han dynasty. The title which he now has in the sacrificial Canon,-- 'Continuator of the Sage,' was conferred in the ninth year of the emperor, or, to speak more correctly, of the period, Chia-ching, A. D. 1530. Almost all the present sacrificial titles of the worthies in the temple were fixed at that time. Hui's place is the first of the four Assessors, on the east of the sage [1].
2. Min Sun, styled Tsze-ch'ien (閔損，字子騫). He was a native of Lu, fifteen years younger than Confucius, according to Sze-ma Ch'ien, but fifty years younger, according to the 'Narratives of the School,' which latter authority is followed in 'The Annals of the Empire.' When he first came to Confucius, we are told, he had a starved look [2], which was by-and-by exchanged for one of fulness and satisfaction [3]. Tsze-kung asked him how the change had come about. He replied, 'I came from the midst of my reeds and sedges into the school of the master. He trained my mind to filial piety, and set before me the examples of the ancient kings. I felt a pleasure in his instructions; but when I went abroad, and saw the people in authority, with their umbrellas and banners, and all the pomp and circumstance of their trains, I also felt pleasure in that show. These two things assaulted each other in
1 I have referred briefly, at p. 91, to the temples of Confucius. The principal hall, called 大成殿, or 'Hall of the Great and Complete One,' is that in which is his own statue or the tablet of his spirit, having on each side of it, within a screen, the statues, or tablets, of his 'four Assessors.' On the east and west, along the walls of the same apartment, are the two 序, the places of the 十二哲, or 'twelve Wise Ones,' those of his disciples, who, next to the 'Assessors,' are counted worthy of honour. Outside this apartment, and running in a line with the two 序, but along the external wall of the sacred inclosure, are the two 廡, or side-galleries, which I have sometimes called the ranges of the outer court. In each there are sixty-four tablets of the disciples and other worthies, having the same title as the Wise Ones, that of 先賢, or 'Ancient Worthy,' or the inferior title of 先儒, 'Ancient Scholar.' Behind the principal hall is the 崇聖祠殿, sacred to Confucius's ancestors, whose tablets are in the centre, fronting the south, like that of Confucius. On each side are likewise the tablets of certain 'ancient Worthies,' and 'ancient Scholars.'
2 菜色.
3 芻豢之色.
my breast. I could not determine which to prefer, and so I wore that look of distress. But now the lessons of our master have penetrated deeply into my mind. My progress also has been helped by the example of you my fellow-disciples. I now know what I should follow and what I should avoid, and all the pomp of power is no more to me than the dust of the ground. It is on this account that I have that look of fulness and satisfaction.' Tsze- ch'ien was high in Confucius's esteem. He was distinguished for his purity and filial affection. His place in the temple is the first, east, among 'The Wise Ones,' immediately after the four assessors. He was first sacrificed to along with Confucius, as is to be understood of the other 'Wise Ones,' excepting in the case of Yu Zo, in the eighth year of the style K'ai-yuan of the sixth emperor of the T'ang dynasty, A.D. 720. His title, the same as that of all but the Assessors, is-- 'The ancient Worthy, the philosopher Min.'
3 . Zan Kang, styled Po-niu (冉耕, 字白 [al. 百] 牛). He was a native of Lu, and Confucius's junior only by seven years. When Confucius became minister of Crime, he appointed Po-niu to the office, which he had himself formerly held, of commandant of Chung-tu. His tablet is now fourth among 'The Wise Ones,' on the west.
4. Zan Yung, styled Chung-kung (冉雍, 字仲弓). He was of the same clan as Zan Kang, and twenty-nine years younger than Confucius. He had a bad father, but the master declared that was not to be counted to him, to detract from his admitted excellence. His place is among 'The Wise Ones,' the second, east.
5. Zan Ch'iu, styled Tsze-yu (冉求, 字子有). He was related to the two former, and of the same age as Chung-kung. He was noted among the disciples for his versatile ability and many acquirements. Tsze-kung said of him, 'Respectful to the old, and kind to the young; attentive to guests and visitors; fond of learning and skilled in many arts; diligent in his examination of things:-- these are what belong to Zan Ch'iu." It has been noted in the life of Confucius that it was by the influence of Tsze-yu that he was finally restored to Lu. He occupies the third place, west, among 'The Wise Ones.'