The Analects – Chapter 135 (6.17). Confucius’ metaphor of the Dao as humanity’s guiding principle

6.17
The Master said, “Who expects to be able to go out of a house except by the door? How is it then that no one follows this Way of ours?

子曰：「誰能出不由戶？何莫由斯道也？」

Notes

Confucius used this metaphor to illustrate: “The Dao is to human life what the door is to a house — the fundamental principle one must follow.”

The Dao is “the only path” for life and society:

Just as one must pass through the door to exit, so must one adhere to the essential principles of humaneness, righteousness, ritual, and wisdom in conduct.

This is no external imposition but an innate necessity for survival and growth.

Though holding fast to the Dao may be challenging, it is the sole way enabling a steady and far-reaching journey through life — only by following it can one attain true peace and freedom.

“If I hear the Dao in the morning, I can die content in the evening.”(Analects 4.8)

Confucius regarded hearing the Dao as the highest pursuit in life, highlighting the supreme value of the Dao. This echoes his lament “Why does no one follow this Dao?” – since the Dao is the inevitable path one must take, attaining it is worth sacrificing one’s life for. What is lamentable is that the people of his time failed to recognize the importance of the Dao and instead abandoned it for other paths.

“A scholar who sets his heart on the Dao, yet is ashamed of poor clothes and meager food, is not worth debating with.”(Analects 4.9)

Confucius argued that a scholar should take aspiring to the Dao as his core pursuit. If he feels ashamed of material deprivation, he is unworthy of discussing the Dao. This corroborates, from a collateral perspective, that the Dao is the indispensable path for a scholar to establish his integrity: just as one cannot exit a house except through the door, a scholar cannot establish himself without adhering to the Dao. To abandon the Dao for material gains is to forsake the fundamental and pursue trivialities.

“If the Dao cannot be put into practice, I will board a raft and float away to the sea.”(Analects 5.7)

When Confucius lamented that his Dao could not be implemented, he would rather sail across the sea on a raft. This not only expresses his helplessness toward the people of his time abandoning the Dao, but also underscores the incompromisability of the Dao – it is a principle that must be upheld unwaveringly. If it can be practiced, one should do so wholeheartedly; if not, one should uphold one’s original aspiration, rather than conform to the tide and deviate from the Dao.