Sinographs 102 · Chapter 11

Can, get, want

可 said may. This chapter fills out the row of little verbs that sit before other verbs: 能, is able to; 得, gets (to); 欲, wants to. Beside them, two verbs of bringing-into-being — 作, to make and originate; 成, to complete and become:

Sign	Key	Says	Means	How to see it
能	able	néng	can, be able	a bear — head, meat, clawed legs — borrowed early for "ability"
得	get	dé	to get, obtain	a hand closing on a cowrie found on the road; the road-step survives at left
欲	want	yù	to want, desire	an open-mouthed figure yawning for it; the valley lends the sound
作	make	zuò	to make, arise	the person-sign thinned, doing; the right half lends the sound
成	become	chéng	to complete, become	a blade-sign with 丁 as sound-mark — the stroke that finishes the work

What everyone wants

Confucius grants the wanting — and prices the getting:

▢與▢，是人之所欲也；fù yǔ guì, shì rén zhī suǒ yù yě;"wealth and rank — these are what people want;" — 所欲, "the wanted," is ch6's machine running on this chapter's verb. The boxes are "wealth" and "rank"

不以其道得之，不▢也。bù yǐ qí dào dé zhī, bù chǔ yě"but got the wrong way, I would not keep them" — no ban on wanting; only on cheating your way to it. The box is "stay-with"

Analects 4.5, the opening. urn:nabu:kanripo:KR1h0004:004:5a · license: attribution.

And the one want that cannot be cheated — asked whether two famous refusers of a throne died bitter:

▢仁而得仁，又何▢？qiú rén ér dé rén, yòu hé yuàn"they wanted to do right, and they got to do right — what is there to resent?" — wanting to act well is already acting well. The boxes are "seek" and "resent"; 何 asks exactly as its chapter taught

Analects 7.14. urn:nabu:kanripo:KR1h0004:007:18a · license: attribution.

Able to be great — by not trying

能 and 成 share the Laozi’s sentence on how water-like greatness works:

以其▢不自為大也，▢能成其大。yǐ qí zhōng bù zì wéi dà yě, gù néng chéng qí dà"he never makes himself out to be great — and that is exactly why he can become great" — greatness as a side effect: chase the work, not the title. The boxes are "to the end" and "therefore", the second four chapters ahead; 自為 is ch7's reflexive at work

Laozi 34, the closing turn. urn:nabu:kanripo:KR5c0057:034:1a · license: attribution.

To make — or to pass on

作 gets the tradition’s two most famous sentences about making:

▢而不作。shù ér bù zuò"I pass on; I do not invent" — Confucius on his own method: a transmitter of the old ways, not an author of new ones. The box is "pass on"

萬物作▢而不▢。wàn wù zuò yān ér bù cí"the ten thousand things arise — and he does not refuse them" — the wise person lets the world get on with its making instead of managing it. The boxes are a small "therein" and "refuse"

Analects 7.1 and Laozi 2. urn:nabu:kanripo:KR1h0004:007:1a · license: attribution.

Where this leaves you

The modal row is complete: may, can, get-to, want-to. Next: how to MAKE something happen — the causative, and the running of a thousand-chariot state.