Sacred Text · The Analects

The Analects 2:4

Book 2, chapter 4 · the sayings of Confucius

“1. The Master said, 'At fifteen, I had my mind bent on learning. 2. 'At thirty, I stood firm. 3. 'At forty, I had no doubts. 4. 'At fifty, I knew the decrees of Heaven. 5. 'At sixty, my ear was an obedient organ for the reception of truth. 6. 'At seventy, I could follow what my heart desired, without transgressing what was right.'”

Analects 2:4 · Legge

Translation: James Legge, The Chinese Classics: Confucian Analects (1861, revised 1893), public domain, via Project Gutenberg (ebook 3330). Reproduced in full and in context; the sayings 15:23 (the negative Golden Rule), 6:28 (ren), 4:15 (the one thread) and 2:4 (the stages of life) were validated against the source before publishing. References follow Legge’s standard book:chapter numbering.

Christian comparison

How this connects to Jesus

Confucius traced a lifetime of growth, from bending his mind to learning at fifteen to a heart at seventy that could follow its desire without doing wrong. Scripture too sees a life as a journey of growth in wisdom and grace (Luke 2:52), and promises that God, who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion (Philippians 1:6). The long road toward a rightly-ordered heart is one the Gospel says God himself will finish in us.

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