“The Master was entirely free from four things: presumption, insistence, rigidity and ego.” The sentence appears in the Zi Han chapter of the Analects. Traditional commentary broadly reads yi as arbitrary supposition, bi as deciding in advance that an outcome must follow, gu as refusing to adapt, and wo as treating the self as the sole centre. It is a description of Confucius, not a command he announces about himself.
Read together, the four terms are stronger than four separate maxims. Unexamined conjecture becomes insistence, insistence hardens against correction, and the position finally becomes part of one's identity. Its present value is not a demand to hold no views. It is a reminder that judgement should remain open to facts, other people and changing circumstances.
https://ctext.org/analects/zi-han
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