5.12 Zigong said, “What I do not want others to do to me, I have no desire to do to others.” The Master said, “Oh Ci! You have not quite got to that point yet.”
The Master said, “(The good man) Does not grieve that other people do not recognize his merits. His only anxiety is lest he should fail to recognize theirs.”
If a man does a bad thing and fears that others will find out, it shows that, despite his wickedness, he still has a conscience.
A man who has not uprooted his hankering for fame and fortune, even if he disdains enormous wealth and delights in plain living, will in the end descend to the level of the vulgar world.