# X explained — Analects

> Chapter companion for Analects by Confucius.

## What happens

Tsze-ch'in asks Tsze-kung how Confucius learns about the government of every country he visits. Tsze-kung explains that Confucius obtains this information through his virtuous qualities—benignity, uprightness, courtesy, temperance, and complaisance—which make his method of inquiry unique.

## Themes in this chapter

### Virtuous Governance

Confucius's ability to learn about government is attributed to his personal virtues, suggesting that good governance is rooted in moral character.

### Learning and Knowledge

The chapter highlights Confucius's unique method of acquiring knowledge about government, emphasizing the role of virtue in learning.

## Character check-ins

### Tsze-ch’in

Asks Tsze-kung about Confucius's method of learning about government.

### Tsze-kung

Explains that Confucius's virtuous character enables him to learn about government.

### Confucius

Implicitly praised for his benign, upright, courteous, temperate, and complaisant nature.

## Key lines

> When our master comes to any country, he does not fail to learn all about its government. Does he ask his information? or is it given to him?

Whenever our teacher arrives in a state, he always becomes fully informed about its administration. Does he actively seek this knowledge, or is it offered to him?

_Tsze-ch'in's question about Confucius's method of acquiring political knowledge._

> Our master is benign, upright, courteous, temperate, and complaisant, and thus he gets his information. The master’s mode of asking information!⁠—is it not different from that of other men?

Our teacher is kind, honest, respectful, moderate, and accommodating, and through these qualities he obtains his knowledge. His way of seeking information is indeed unlike that of others.

_Tsze-kung's explanation that Confucius's virtues are the source of his access to governmental knowledge._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/analects_se/chapters/x
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/analects_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/analects_se/chapters