Saturday, September 21, 2013

Bit by Bit - Chapter 21, Part 14

Trey Smith

Yen Yuan questioned Confucius about this story, saying, "King Wen didn't amount to very much after all, did he! And why did he have to resort to that business about the dream?"

"Quiet!" said Confucius. "No more talk from you! King Wen was perfection itself - how can there be any room for carping and criticism! The dream - that was just a way of getting out of a moment's difficulty."

~ Burton Watson translation ~
I find this ending to the previous story to be troubling. It suggests that subterfuge -- not transparency and honesty -- is the way to go.

To view the Index page for this series, go here.

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