Analects Book XV — Wei Ling Kung (The Single Word for a Lifetime)

N=1 per-book distillation. Source: Legge, Confucian Analects (Gutenberg #3330). Quote anchors are working text pending Phase 7 char-for-char verification. Methodology & tags: ../00-methodology.md. Citation: Analects 15:<chapter>.

Book's role

Book XV is rich in terse aphorisms on the junzi. It gives the one word to practise all one's life — shu (reciprocity) (15:23), the determined-scholar's surrender of life rather than virtue (15:8), the rule that the junzi requires much of himself and little of others and that what he seeks is in himself (15:14, 15:20), and the egalitarian education rule: in teaching there should be no distinction of classes (15:38).

Atomic statements

B15-C1: The determined and the ren will give up life itself rather than injure their ren. (FOUNDATIONAL / REN+YI)

• Analects 15:8: "The determined scholar and the man of virtue will not seek to live at the expense of injuring their virtue. They will even sacrifice their lives to preserve their virtue complete."
• Stance: assert · Importance: core · Untranslatable: ren ("virtue")

B15-C2: The cultivated person requires much of himself and little of others, and so escapes resentment. (OPERATIONAL / SELF+JUNZI)

• Analects 15:14, 15:20: "He who requires much from himself and little from others, will keep himself from being the object of resentment." / "What the superior man seeks, is in himself. What the mean man seeks, is in others."
• Stance: assert · Importance: core

B15-C3: There is one word to practise all one's life: shu — reciprocity — "what you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others." (FOUNDATIONAL / REN+YI)

• Analects 15:23: "Is not RECIPROCITY such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others."
• Stance: assert · Importance: core · Untranslatable: shu (reciprocity) — the master rule

B15-C4: In teaching, there is no distinction of classes — instruction is for all. (FOUNDATIONAL / LEARNING)

• Analects 15:38: "In teaching there should be no distinction of classes."
• Stance: assert · Importance: core

Step 4 — Clusters

Cluster	Atomic statements	Intent
Surrender life before ren	B15-C1	The order: ren over life
The lifelong rule of reciprocity	B15-C3	The one word, shu
Demand of self, not of others	B15-C2	The junzi turns inward
Universal teaching	B15-C4	No distinction of classes in instruction

Step 5 — Internal tensions

None genuine.

Step 6 — Synthesized book principles

B15-P1: Shu — reciprocity — is the single lifelong rule

"What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others" — the one word to practise all one's life.

• Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: REN+YI · Covers: B15-C3 · Evidence: Analects 15:23 · Untranslatable: shu

B15-P2: Never injure ren, even at the cost of life; require much of self, little of others

The ren person will surrender life itself rather than betray ren; in conduct, the junzi demands much of himself and little of others, and what he seeks is in himself.

• Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: REN+SELF+JUNZI · Covers: B15-C1, B15-C2 · Evidence: Analects 15:8, 15:14, 15:20 · Untranslatable: ren

B15-P3: Teaching is open to all without distinction of class

"In teaching there should be no distinction of classes" — instruction is offered without regard to station.

• Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: LEARNING · Covers: B15-C4 · Evidence: Analects 15:38

Step 7 — Traceability

Principle	Atomic statements	Passages
B15-P1	B15-C3	Analects 15:23
B15-P2	B15-C1, B15-C2	Analects 15:8, 15:14, 15:20
B15-P3	B15-C4	Analects 15:38

Step 8 — Quality

• Coverage: the load-bearing aphorisms of Book XV (the one word shu; ren over life; demand-of-self; teaching-without-class-distinction) are each captured.
• Orphaned: 15:1 (the Duke Ling of Wei asks about tactics), 15:2 (the all-pervading unity restated to Tsze-kung), 15:4 (Shun governed by doing nothing but reverently occupying his seat — wuwei anticipated), 15:5 (sincere words and honourable actions everywhere), 15:6 (the historiographer Yu the arrow), 15:9 (sharpen the tools — take service with the worthy), 15:10 (the music of the Shao, banish the songs of Chang), 15:11 (no thought of the distant, sorrow near), 15:17 (righteousness essential, performed by li, brought forth in humility, completed in sincerity), 15:21 (dignified but not wrangling), 15:26 (specious words confound virtue), 15:28 (a man can enlarge the principles he follows), 15:29 (faults not reformed are the real faults), 15:31 (truth, not food, is the junzi's object), 15:34 (virtue more to man than fire or water).
• Principles: 3 (within range).
• Traceability: 100%.

Step 9 — Validation

• Standalone comprehension (frame-independent): B15-P1 (shu) is among the strongest cross-tradition convergence candidates in the entire pool — the Golden Rule in its negative form. B15-P2 (never injure ren, demand of self) reads as intelligible practical ethics. B15-P3 (no class distinction in teaching) was historically radical and reads as recognizably egalitarian, though its warrant in Confucianism (universal capacity for cultivation, not equal worth before a creator) is the particularity flagged for the Atlas.