may not be out of place to bring together here a few notices of
him gathered from reliable sources.
He was the son of Li, whose death took place B.C. 483, four
years before that of the sage, his father. I have not found it
recorded in what year he was born. Sze-ma Ch'ien says he died at
the age of 62. But this is evidently wrong, for we learn from
Mencius that he was high in favour with the duke Mu of Lu [1],
whose accession to that principality dates in B.C. 409, seventy
years after the death of Confucius. In the 'Plates and Notices of
the Worthies, sacrificed to in the Sage's Temples [2],' it is
supposed that the sixty-two in the Historical Records should be
eighty-two [3]. It is maintained by others that Tsze-sze's life
was protracted beyond 100 years [4]. This variety of opinions
simply shows that the point cannot be positively determined. To
me it seems that the conjecture in the Sacrificial Canon must be
pretty near the truth [5].
During the years of his boyhood, then, Tsze-sze must have
been with his grandfather, and received his instructions. It is
related, that one day, when he was alone with the sage, and heard
him sighing, he went up to him, and, bowing twice, inquired the
reason of his grief. 'Is it,' said he, 'because you think that your
descendants, through not cultivating themselves, will be
unworthy of you? Or is it that, in your admiration of the ways of
Yao and Shun, you are vexed that you fall short of them?' 'Child,'
replied Confucius, 'how is it that you know my thoughts?' 'I have
often,' said Tsze-sze, 'heard from you the lesson, that when the
father has gathered and prepared the firewood, if the son cannot
carry the bundle, he is to be pronounced degenerate and unworthy.