The Unassailable Hostage: When a Man Becomes the Vessel of Civilization

Surrounded in Kuang, Confucius declared: If Heaven wills this culture to perish, I would not have inherited it. If not, what can these men do to me?

After the death of King Wen, was not the cause of truth lodged here in me? If Heaven had wished to let this cause of truth perish, then I, a future mortal, should not have got such a relation to that cause. While Heaven does not let the cause of truth perish, what can the people of Kuang do to me?

文王既没,文不在兹乎?天之将丧斯文也,后死者不得与于斯文也;天之未丧斯文也,匡人其如予何?

Source: The Analects, Zi Han IX, Chapter 5

Author: Confucius

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