Confucius talking about aspirations with Yan Hui and Zilu

      《论语》记载了孔子与其弟子畅谈各自志向的一幕：“颜渊、季路侍。子曰：‘盍各言尔志？”子路曰：‘愿车马衣裘，与朋友共，敝之而无憾。’颜渊曰：‘愿无伐善，无施劳。’子路曰：‘愿闻子之志。’子曰：‘老者安之，朋友信之，少者怀之。’”可见孔子的志向从来不是为独善其身，而是要普施仁爱、“修己以安人”，这亦奠定历代儒家士子文人心系家、国、天下的济世情怀。

       The Analects of Confucius recounts the scene in which Confucius and his students talk about their aspirations:

While Yan Yuan and Jilu were waiting on him, the Master said: “Why don’t each of you speak of your desires?” Zilu said: “ I wish that I and my friends could share the same carriages and horses, robes and furs, and never worry if we wore them out.” Yan Yuan said: “I would like never to boast of what good points I have and never cause trouble to others.” Zilu said: “I would like to hear the Master’s desires.” The Master said: “To free old people from worry, to be trustworthy toward my friends, and at all times solicitous of the young.”

       From the passage above, we can see that Confucius’ aspiration is never just to cultivate himself to be a perfect man, but also to extend love universally and cultivate himself in order to make others feel at ease. That was exactly the reason why the Confucian scholars were concerned with not only their families, but also their country and the world.

“文化互译，沟通世界”