Sima Niu lamented, “Everyone has brothers, but I alone have none.”
Zixia consoled him, saying, “I once heard it said: ‘Life and death are determined by fate; wealth and honor depend on Heaven.’ If a noble person is reverent and never careless in conduct, and treats others with respect and propriety, then all within the Four Seas are his brothers. Why should a noble person worry about having no brothers?”
Note
This passage from the Analects of Confucius transforms personal sorrow into a profound ethical teaching. Sima Niu’s grief stems from lacking biological brothers—a real hardship in an era when family provided social security and ritual continuity. But Zixia, quoting Confucian wisdom, reframes kinship through moral action rather than blood ties. The famous line “All within the Four Seas are brothers” does not deny biology; instead, it asserts that ethical behavior—reverence, faultlessness in duty, respectful demeanor, and adherence to ritual propriety—creates a universal moral community. This reflects core Confucian ideals: human relationships can be elevated beyond mere circumstance through virtue, and the junzi (noble person) finds belonging not by luck of birth but by conscious cultivation of character. The opening maxim—“death and life are fated, wealth and rank are Heaven’s doing”—is not passive fatalism but a call to focus on what one can control: one’s own moral conduct. True security and fraternity arise not from external conditions, but from living rightly. Thus, the passage offers both psychological comfort and a vision of ethical cosmopolitanism grounded in Confucian practice.
Further Reading
Bo Niu was ill. The Master visited him, held his hand through the window, and said, “Alas! It is fate! That such a man should suffer such an illness!” Analects 6.10 (Yong Ye)
Both acknowledge the role of ming (fate) in human suffering—yet emphasize moral response over despair.
The Master said, “In dealing with the world, the noble person has no rigid preferences or aversions; he aligns himself with righteousness.” Analects 4.10 (Li Ren)
Supports the idea that the junzi forms bonds based on virtue and righteousness, not fixed ties like family—enabling universal fellowship.
司馬牛憂曰：「人皆有兄弟，我獨亡。」子夏曰：「商聞之矣：死生有命，富貴在天。君子敬而無失，與人恭而有禮。四海之內，皆兄弟也。君子何患乎無兄弟也？」
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