A superior person’s errors are like an eclipse
I mentioned in my previous post on self-cultivation that I’ve recently been reading Confucius Analects.
I’m coming towards the end of the book now, and I just came across another fascinating teaching:
19.21 Zigong said, “A gentleman’s errors are like an eclipse of the sun or the moon: when he errs, everyone notices it, but when he makes amends, everyone looks up to him.”
In this passage, “gentleman” is the translation of junzi which is a Chinese philosophical term meaning a superior person.
In addition to this short quote, there is a longer explanation which reveals a few more interesting insights:
An eclipse of the sun or the moon is not the result of deliberate action on the part of the sun or moon; in the same way, a gentleman’s transgression is not intentional … Everyone sees an eclipse of the sun or moon, in the same way that everyone sees the transgression of the gentleman, because he does not attempt to conceal it … When an eclipse of the sun or moon passes, darkness is transformed into light, and everyone in the world together cranes their neck to gaze upon it. In the same way, the Virtue of the gentleman is not permanently sullied by prior transgressions.
I particularly love the twofold meaning of this passage and eclipse analogy: firstly that “a gentleman’s transgression is not intentional” and secondly that “everyone sees the transgression of the gentleman, because he does not attempt to conceal it”.
