Where it came from
What 斯 first meant, how it became a function word, and where it stands today.
斯 has an axe in it, 斤, and its first job was splitting wood; the 詩經 still uses it that way. Borrowed for “this” and “then”, it did centuries of pointing in classical prose. Modern Mandarin replaced it so completely, 這 for the pointing and 就 for the joining, that 斯 now mostly spells foreign names: 斯坦, 威尼斯, 斯大林. One survivor: 斯文, the culture 9.5 was afraid Heaven might destroy, is now an everyday adjective, “refined”, “gentle”, said of a quiet man with glasses.
Across the books
Densest in Book 11 (7 occurrences).
- 12
- 21
- 32
- 43
- 54
- 65
- 74
- 85
- 96
- 102
- 117
- 127
- 132
- 143
- 154
- 163
- 182
- 194
- 205
How it works
Every job 斯 does, counted over its 71 occurrences in the Analects — commonest first. Tap a passage number to see the whole passage.
1Consecutive conjunction37× · 52%
At the head of the second half of a sentence, 斯 joins it to the first as consequence: condition, then 斯, then what follows. Modern Mandarin says 就; the book more often says 則, and 斯 is its sharper cousin, with a feeling of one thing coming right on the heels of the other. That is why translators so often reach past “then” to “immediately” or “as soon as”.
- After a condition: 我欲仁，斯仁至矣, I want ren, and then ren is here
- After a verb: 聞斯行諸, hear it, then act on it?
- After an event: 杖者出，斯出矣, the men with staffs went out, then he went out
Gloss then; and then (like 就)
Look for at the head of the second half, right after the condition.
Technical resumptive connective then in that case or thereupon, linking a clause to what precedes as its consequence
5 examples
子路問：「聞斯行諸？」子曰：「有父兄在，如之何其聞斯行之？」冉有問：「聞斯行諸？」子曰：「聞斯行之。」公西華曰：「由也問聞斯行諸，子曰『有父兄在』；求也問聞斯行諸，子曰『聞斯行之』。赤也惑，敢問。」子曰：「求也退，故進之；由也兼人，故退之。」
Zilu asked whether he should immediately carry into practice what he heard. The Master said: "There are your father and elder brothers to be consulted;— why should you act on that principle of immediately carrying into practice what you hear?" Ran You asked the same, whether he should immediately carry into practice what he heard, and the Master answered: "Immediately carry into practice what you hear." Gongxi Hua said: "You asked whether he should carry immediately into practice what he heard, and you said, 'There are your father and elder brothers to be consulted.' Qiu asked whether he should immediately carry into practice what he heard, and you said, 'Carry it immediately into practice.' I, Chi, am perplexed, and venture to ask you for an explanation." The Master said: "Qiu is retiring and slow; therefore, I urged him forward. You has more than his own share of energy; therefore I kept him back."
Legge 1861
聞斯行諸, hear it, then act on it? The 斯 is the join between hearing and doing, and most translators hear speed in it.
- “immediately”: Legge, Slingerland, Lau
- Chin: “right away”
- Ni: “just”
- Roberts, Ames & Rosemont and Watson: no word, only the question
Zilu and Ran Qiu ask the identical question and get opposite answers, which is the passage’s point.
子曰：「仁遠乎哉？我欲仁，斯仁至矣。」
The Master said: "Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo! virtue is at hand."
Legge 1861
我欲仁，斯仁至矣, the book’s most immediate 斯: wanting ren, and ren arriving, with nothing between them but the particle.
- Watson: “then”
- “No sooner… than”: Ames & Rosemont, Lau
- Chin: “As soon as”
- Legge: an exclamation, “and lo!”
The line answers the question just asked, 仁遠乎哉, is ren far away? The 斯 is the whole answer.
鄉人飲酒，杖者出，斯出矣。
When the villagers were drinking together, on those who carried staffs going out, he went out immediately after.
Legge 1861
杖者出，斯出矣: the elders with their staffs leave, 斯 he leaves. A 則 could stand here; 斯 adds the sense of one thing on the heels of the other, and every translator renders that timing rather than the join.
- Legge: “immediately after”
- “as soon as”: Lau, Chin
- “until”: Roberts, Watson, and Ni’s “not before”
子張問於孔子曰：「何如斯可以從政矣？」子曰：「尊五美，屏四惡，斯可以從政矣。」子張曰：「何謂五美？」子曰：「君子惠而不費，勞而不怨，欲而不貪，泰而不驕，威而不猛。」子張曰：「何謂惠而不費？」子曰：「因民之所利而利之，斯不亦惠而不費乎？擇可勞而勞之，又誰怨？欲仁而得仁，又焉貪？君子無眾寡，無小大，無敢慢，斯不亦泰而不驕乎？君子正其衣冠，尊其瞻視，儼然人望而畏之，斯不亦威而不猛乎？」子張曰：「何謂四惡？」子曰：「不教而殺謂之虐；不戒視成謂之暴；慢令致期謂之賊；猶之與人也，出納之吝，謂之有司。」
Zizhang asked Confucius, saying: "In what way should a person in authority act in order that he may conduct government properly?"
The Master replied: "Let him honor the five excellent, and banish away the four bad, things; — then may he conduct government properly."
Zizhang said: "What are meant by the five excellent things?"
The Master said: "When the person in authority is beneficent without great expenditure; when he lays tasks on the people without their repining; when he pursues what he desires without being covetous; when he maintains a dignified ease without being proud; when he is majestic without being fierce."
Zizhang said: "What is meant by being beneficent without great expenditure?"
The Master replied: "When the person in authority makes more beneficial to the people the things from which they naturally derive benefit; — is not this being beneficent without great expenditure? When he chooses the labors which are proper, and makes them labor on them, who will repine? When his desires are set on benevolent government, and he secures it, who will accuse him of covetousness? Whether he has to do with many people or few, or with things great or small, he does not dare to indicate any disrespect; — is not this to maintain a dignified ease without any pride? He adjusts his clothes and cap, and throws a dignity into his looks, so that, thus dignified, he is looked at with awe; — is not this to be majestic without being fierce?"
Zizhang then asked: "What are meant by the four bad things?"
The Master said: "To put the people to death without having instructed them; — this is called cruelty. To require from them, suddenly, the full tale of work, without having given them warning; — this is called oppression. To issue orders as if without urgency, at first, and, when the time comes, to insist on them with severity; — this is called injury. And, generally, in the giving pay or rewards to men, to do it in a stingy way; — this is called acting the part of a mere official."
Legge 1861
尊五美，屏四惡，斯可以從政矣: condition, 斯, consequence, the shape 則 usually takes.
- “then”: Legge, Slingerland, Watson, Chin
- Ni turns the 斯 into a person: “a person like that”
- Roberts, Ames & Rosemont and Lau fold the join into the grammar, “he can take part”
The question that opens the passage has the same 斯, 何如斯可以從政矣, and there nobody words it.
子曰：「後生可畏，焉知來者之不如今也？四十、五十而無聞焉，斯亦不足畏也已。」
The Master said: "A youth is to be regarded with respect. How do we know that his future will not be equal to our present? If he reach the age of forty or fifty, and has not made himself heard of, then indeed he will not be worth being regarded with respect."
Legge 1861
四十、五十而無聞焉，斯亦不足畏也已: a 斯 caught halfway between pointing and joining.
- “then”: Legge, Watson, Chin
- Slingerland points with it: “this fact alone”
- Ni makes it a person: “that person”
All three readings are in the word. “This being so” is how a demonstrative turns into a conjunction.
2Demonstrative pronoun34× · 48%
Pointing at something present or just said: a person, a thing, a state of affairs. Where modern Mandarin says 這, the Analects usually says 斯. It stands before a noun, or alone as the subject, and its commonest reach is back one clause.
- Before a noun: 斯人, this man; 斯文, this culture
- After a number word: 斯二者, these two
- Alone, as subject: 先王之道斯為美, in the Way of the former kings, this is what was fine
- Pointing at the world: 逝者如斯夫, what passes is like this
Gloss this, these (like 這)
Look for before a noun (斯人, 斯文) or standing alone.
Technical demonstrative pronoun this these or here there referring to something just mentioned
5 examples
陳亢問於伯魚曰：「子亦有異聞乎？」對曰：「未也。嘗獨立，鯉趨而過庭。曰：『學詩乎？』對曰：『未也。』『不學詩，無以言。』鯉退而學詩。他日又獨立，鯉趨而過庭。曰：『學禮乎？』對曰：『未也。』『不學禮，無以立。』鯉退而學禮。聞斯二者。」陳亢退而喜曰：「問一得三，聞詩，聞禮，又聞君子之遠其子也。」
Chen Kang asked Boyu, saying: "Have you heard any lessons from your father different from what we have all heard?"
Boyu replied: "No. He was standing alone once, when I passed below the hall with hasty steps, and said to me, 'Have you learned the Odes?' On my replying 'Not yet,' he added: 'If you do not learn the Odes, you will not be fit to converse with.' I retired and studied the Odes.
Another day, he was in the same way standing alone, when I passed by below the hall with hasty steps, and said to me, 'Have you learned the rules of Propriety?' On my replying 'Not yet,' he added: 'If you do not learn the rules of Propriety, your character cannot be established.' I then retired, and learned the rules of Propriety.
I have heard only these two things from him."
Chen Kang retired, and, quite delighted, said: "I asked one thing, and I have got three things. I have heard about the Odes. I have heard about the rules of Propriety. I have also heard that the superior man maintains a distant reserve towards his son."
Legge 1861
聞斯二者, I heard these two: 斯 before a number word. Eight translators, eight “these”. Boyu, asked what private teaching he had from his father, names the Odes and the rites, and the 斯 counts them.
有子曰：「禮之用，和為貴。先王之道斯為美，小大由之。有所不行，知和而和，不以禮節之，亦不可行也。」
The philosopher You said: "In practicing the rules of propriety, a natural ease is to be prized. In the ways prescribed by the ancient kings, this is the excellent quality, and in things small and great we follow them.
Yet it is not to be observed in all cases. If one, knowing how such ease should be prized, manifests it, without regulating it by the rules of propriety, this likewise is not to be done."
Legge 1861
先王之道斯為美: 斯 alone as the subject. This, the harmony just named, is what was fine in the former kings’ Way.
- “this”: Legge, Ni, Ames & Rosemont, Lau
- Watson: “in this respect”
- Slingerland, Roberts and Chin rebuild the sentence around “harmony” and drop the pointer
The demonstrative points back one clause, which is its commonest reach.
子在川上，曰：「逝者如斯夫！不舍晝夜。」
The Master standing by a stream, said: "It passes on just like this, not ceasing day or night!"
Legge 1861
The river: 如斯, like this, Confucius pointing at the water. Seven of the eight write “like this”; Roberts rebuilds the sentence and loses the pointer. This is the demonstrative in its strictest sense, pointing at something in front of the speaker, not at something said.
伯牛有疾，子問之，自牖執其手，曰：「亡之，命矣夫！斯人也而有斯疾也！斯人也而有斯疾也！」
Boniu being ill, the Master went to ask for him. He took hold of his hand through the window, and said: "It is killing him. It is the appointment of Heaven, alas! That such a man should have such a sickness! That such a man should have such a sickness!"
Legge 1861
Two 斯 in seven characters, said twice: 斯人也而有斯疾也, this man, this disease. Confucius at Boniu’s window, holding his hand.
- “such”: Legge, Slingerland, Ni, Lau, Watson
- “this”: Ames & Rosemont, Chin
- Roberts: “this man” the first time, “such a man” the second
“Such” is a pointer with feeling added, and the sentence has room for nothing else.
子畏於匡。曰：「文王既沒，文不在茲乎？天之將喪斯文也，後死者不得與於斯文也；天之未喪斯文也，匡人其如予何？」
The Master was put in fear in Kuang. He said: "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?"
Legge 1861
斯文 three times: this culture, the pattern of King Wen that Confucius says is lodged in himself.
- “this culture”: Slingerland, Roberts, Chin, and Ames & Rosemont’s “this legacy”; Chin and Ames & Rosemont fold the middle one into “it”
- Watson: “that culture”, each time
- Legge: “this cause of truth”
The phrase outlived the passage: 斯文 became the literati’s name for their own tradition, with the demonstrative fossilised inside it, and then, in modern Mandarin, an adjective, refined.