Directions
Select two analects to illustrate each of Confucius' five relationships. Rewrite each of the two selections on Chart A to make them understandable to your contemporaries.

1. Master to servant relationship
When Yen Yüan died, in weeping for him, the Master showed undue sorrow. His followers said, "You are showing undue sorrow." "Am I? Yet if not for him, for whom should I show undue sorrow?" (11: 10)

When Yen Yüan died, the disciples wanted to give him a lavish burial. The Master said, "It would not be proper." All the same, they gave him a lavish burial. The Master said, "Hui treated me as a father, yet I have been prevented from treating him as a son. This was none of my choice. It was the doing of these others." (11: 11)

Duke Ching of Ch'i asked Confucius about government. Confucius answered, "Let the ruler be a ruler, the subject a subject, the father a father, the son a son." The Duke said, "Splendid! Truly, if the ruler be not a ruler, the subject not a subject, the father not a father, the son not a son, then even if there be grain, would I get to eat it?" (12:11)

Chi K'ang Tzu asked Confucius about government. Confucius answered, "To govern is to correct. If you set an example by being correct, who would dare to remain incorrect?" (12:17)

The Master said, "If a man is correct in his own person, then there will be obedience without orders being given; but if he is not correct in his own person, there will not be obedience even though orders are given." (13:6)

2. Parent to Child relationship
Yu Tzu said, "It is rare for a man whose character is such that he is good as a son and obedient as a young man to have the inclination to transgress against his superiors; it is unheard of for one who has no such inclination to be inclined to start a rebellion. The gentleman devotes his efforts to the roots, for once the roots are established, the Way will grow there from. Being good as a son and obedient as a young man is, perhaps, the root of a man's character." (1:2)

Meng Yi Tsu asked about being filial. The Master answered, "Never fail to comply." Fan Ch'ih was driving. The Master told him about the interview, saying, "Meng-sun asked me about being filial. I answered, "Never fail to comply." Fan Ch'ih asked, "What does that mean?" The Master said, "When your parents are alive, comply with the rites in serving them; when they die, comply with the rites in burying them; comply with the rites in sacrificing to them." (2:5)

Meng Wu Po asked about being filial. The Master said, "Give your father and mother no other cause for anxiety than illness." (2:6)

Tzu-Yu asked about being filial. The Master said, "Nowadays for a man to be filial means no more than that he is able to provide his parents with food. Even hounds and horses are, in some way, provided with food. If a man shows no reverence, where is the difference?" (2:7)

"While father and mother are alive, a good son does not wander far afield; or if he does so, goes only where he has said he was going." (4:16)

The Master said, "In serving your father and mother you ought to dissuade them from doing wrong in the gentlest way. If you see your advice being ignored, you should not become disobedient but remain reverent. You should not complain even if in so doing you wear yourself out." (4:18)

The Master said, "A man should not be ignorant of the age of his father and mother. It is a matter, on the one hand, for rejoicing and, on the other, for anxiety." (4:21)

When Yen Yüan died, Yen Lu asked the Master to give him his carriage to pay for an outer coffin for his son. The Master said, "Everyone speaks up for his own son whether he is talented or not. When Li died, he had a coffin but no outer coffin, I did not go on foot in order to provide him with an outer coffin, because it would not have been proper for me to go on foot, seeing that I took my place after the Counsellors." (11:8)

3. Older brother to younger brother relationship
The Master said, "What a good son Min Tzu-ch'ien is! No one can find fault with what his parents and brothers have to say about him." (11:5)

Tzu-Iu asked, "Should one immediately put into practice what one has heard?" The Master said, "As your father and elder brothers are still alive, you are hardly in a position immediately to put into practice what you have heard." Jan Yu asked, "Should one immediately put into practice what one has heard?" The Master said, "Yes. One should." Kung-hsi Hua said, "When Yu asked whether one should immediately put into practice what one had heard, you pointed out that his father and elder brothers were alive. Yet when Ch'iu asked whether one should immediately put into practice what one had heard, you answered that one should. I am puzzled. May I be enlightened?" The Master said, "Ch'iu holds himself back. It is for this reason that I urge him on. Yu has the energy of two men. It is for this reason that I tried to hold him back." (11:22)

4. Husband to wife relationship
The Master said, "In one's household, it is the women and the small men that are difficult to deal with. If you let them get too close, they become insolent. If you keep them at a distance, they complain." (17:25)

The men of Ch'i made a present of singing and dancing girls. Chi Huan Tzu accepted them and stayed away from court for three days. Confucius departed. (18:4)

5. Friend to Friend relationship
The Master said, "Is it not a pleasure, having learned something, to try it out at due intervals? Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar? Is it not gentlemanly not to take offense when others fail to appreciate your abilities?" (1: 1)

Tzu Yu said, "To be importunate with one's lord will mean humiliation. To be importunate with one's friends will mean estrangement." (4:26)

Confucius said, "He stands to benefit who makes friends with three kinds of people. Equally, he stands to lose who makes friends with three other kinds of people. To make friends with the straight, the trustworthy in word and the well-informed is to benefit. To make friends with the ingratiating in action, the pleasant in appearance and the plausible in speech is to lose." (16:4)

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