1.10 Zǐ Qín wèn yú Zǐ Gòng yuē: “Fū zǐ zhì yú shì bāng yě, bì wén qí zhèng, qiú zhī yú?” Zǐ Gòng yuē: “Fū zǐ wēn, liáng, gōng, jiǎn yǐ dé zhī. Fū zǐ zhī qiú zhī yě, qí zhū yì hū rén zhī qiú zhī yú?”
1.10: Zi Qin asked Zi Gong: If a gentleman arrives in a correct/right nataion, certainly must listen/come to know its laws/government, (does) he seek/request it? Or give it (to him)?” Zi Gong said: “The gentleman is warm, virtuous, respectful, temperate, (and) this allows him to obtain it (knowledge of the laws). The gentleman who seeks/demands it, perhaps different from/to people who seek/demand it?”
1.10: Zi Qin asked Zi Gong: If a gentleman arrives in a state, certainly he must come to know its laws; does he seek it out? Or is it given to him?” Zi Gong said: “The gentleman is warm, virtuous, respectful, and temperate; this allows him to obtain it. The gentleman’s seeking of it, is it different from other people’s seeking of it?”
夫子溫、良、恭、儉
The final sentence is very ambiguous and I suspect something of a red herring. As you may notice it is not clear if the gentleman's method is or isn't any different from that of other people. The point, I suspect, is to draw attention to the virtues expressed in the previous phrase: 溫、良、恭、儉. These describe the master’s way of gathering information: being warm, respectful, virtuous, and temperate. In principle this allows the gentleman to more safely navigate the new customs or laws. This helps the gentleman gain information that may help him avoid trouble, and it may help him negotiate his situation should he accidentally transgress a custom or law. There will always be areas where the gentleman lacks knowledge, so the point is not that he gets all the information beforehand (though this helps) – the point is his disposition helps him enter a new society in a manner that is non-threatening and that allows for negotiation and dialogue.
求之與？抑與之與?
抑 can be tricky. 抑 can mean restricting something, or it can serve as
a disjunctive. In this case, it occurs in the middle of two alternatives and so
probably serves as the disjunctive. If we think of the second option as
limiting or excluding the first then we can see how the idea of an alternative
is coherent with the idea of an alternate option. In other words, one of the
two possibilities may occur, but whichever does restricts or cuts off the
possibility of the other.
其諸異乎人之求之與?
The final proposition is also difficult because 之 can function as a pronoun and
possessive. We can parse 夫子之求之也 as “the
gentleman of seeking of (it). It seems the possessive meaning (of) is the basis
of the character. The pronoun status comes from merely shortening the usage to
omit redundant information, reducing “of it” to “(of) it. The presence of 也 may also be a clue that 之 is functioning more like a
pronoun in this case.
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