Learn Broadly, Hold Firm, Ask Closely and Think Near at Hand

“Learn broadly and hold firm; ask closely and think about what is near at hand. Humaneness lies within this.” The sentence appears in Book 19, “Zizhang”, of the Analects, and is spoken by Zixia. Traditional commentary reads du zhi either as holding firmly to one's purpose or retaining what one has learnt; “asking closely” concerns questions that bear directly on oneself, while “thinking near at hand” begins with what can be examined and enacted. In a sequence of sayings by Zixia about learning, the line does not claim that collecting knowledge automatically makes a person humane. It locates humaneness in a practice of broad learning, steadiness, questioning and reflection. Its restrained contemporary value is that wide input without a stable question can scatter, while grand judgements that never meet nearby facts can become empty. Thinking near at hand does not narrow knowledge; it gives knowledge somewhere to land.

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