Book 12: 《顏淵》 Yan Yuan
《顏淵》 Passage 12.22
Legge Translation (1861)
Fan Chi asked about benevolence. The Master said: "It is to love all men." He asked about knowledge. The Master said: "It is to know all men."Fan Chi did not immediately understand these answers.
The Master said: "Employ the upright and put aside all the crooked; — in this way the crooked can be made to be upright."
Fan Chi retired, and, seeing Zixia, he said to him: "A little while ago, I had an interview with our Master, and asked him about knowledge. He said: 'Employ the upright, and put aside all the crooked; — in this way, the crooked will be made to be upright.' What did he mean?"
Zixia said: "Truly rich is his saying!
Shun, being in possession of the kingdom, selected from among all the people, and employed Gao Yao, on which all who were devoid of virtue disappeared. Tang, being in possession of the kingdom, selected from among all the people, and employed Yi Yin, and all who were devoid of virtue disappeared."
Word by word
- 樊遲 fán chí
Fan Chi, a disciple of Confucius
- 樊 component of the disciple's name Fan Chi
- 遲 component of the disciple's name Fan Chi
- 問 wèn
to ask about
- 仁 rén
benevolence, humaneness, care for others
Translators split between a sentiment-based reading (benevolence, care) and a practice-based reading (authoritative conduct).
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 honorific title: the Master (Confucius)
- 曰 said
- 愛人 ài rén
to love, care for others
- 愛 to love, care for
- 人 other people, others
- 問 wèn
to ask about
- 知 zhì
wisdom, sound moral judgment
知 here stands for 智 and is read zhì, wisdom, not zhī, to know; 經典釋文 gives 音智. The 知 of 知人 that follows is the ordinary verb zhī.
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 honorific title: the Master (Confucius)
- 曰 said
- 知人 zhī rén
to know, understand other people
- 知 to know, understand
- 人 other people, others
- 樊遲 fán chí
Fan Chi, a disciple of Confucius
- 樊 component of the disciple's name Fan Chi
- 遲 component of the disciple's name Fan Chi
- 未達 wèi dá
did not yet understand, failed to grasp the meaning
- 未 not yet
- 達 to understand, grasp the meaning of
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 honorific title: the Master (Confucius)
- 曰 said
- 舉 jǔ
to raise up, promote to office
- 直 zhí
the straight, the upright person
- 錯諸 cuò zhū
to place, position them over
- 錯 to place, position over someone (read as 措)
- 諸 contraction of 之於: him/them + over
錯 is read as 措, to place, and 諸 as 之於, so the upright are set over the crooked (楊伯峻; Lau, Watson, Chin). 朱熹 instead takes 錯 as 捨置, to set aside, and 諸 as 眾, all, so the crooked are all discarded, the construal behind Legge's 'put aside all the crooked'.
- 枉 wǎng
the crooked, the corrupt person
- 能 néng
to be able to, can
- 使 shǐ
to cause, make someone become something
- 枉者 wǎng zhě
those who are crooked, the corrupt
- 枉 the crooked, the corrupt person
- 者 nominalizing particle: those who, that which
- 直 zhí
straight, upright
- 樊遲 fán chí
Fan Chi, a disciple of Confucius
- 樊 component of the disciple's name Fan Chi
- 遲 component of the disciple's name Fan Chi
- 退 tuì
to withdraw, take one's leave
- 見 jiàn
to see, meet, call on
- 子夏 zǐ xià
Zixia, a disciple of Confucius
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 夏 component of the disciple's name Zixia
- 曰 yuē
said
- 鄉也 xiàng yě
just now, a little while ago
- 鄉 just now, a short while ago (loangraph for 曏/向)
- 也 pause particle marking a fronted temporal phrase
鄉 is a loangraph for 曏/向 'recently'; 也 marks a pause after the fronted time word.
- 吾 wú
I, me
- 見 jiàn
to see, have an audience with
- 於 yú
coverb marking the person seen: with, by
- 夫子 fū zǐ
the Master (Confucius)
- 夫 component of the honorific title for Confucius
- 子 component of the honorific title for Confucius
- 而 ér
coordinating conjunction: and
- 問 wèn
to ask about
- 知 zhì
wisdom, sound moral judgment
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 honorific title: the Master (Confucius)
- 曰 said
- 舉 jǔ
to raise up, promote to office
- 直 zhí
the straight, the upright person
- 錯諸 cuò zhū
to place, position them over
- 錯 to place, position over someone (read as 措)
- 諸 contraction of 之於: him/them + over
錯 is read as 措 'to place, position'; an older interpretive tradition instead reads it as discarding the crooked rather than placing the upright in authority over them.
- 枉 wǎng
the crooked, the corrupt person
- 能 néng
to be able to, can
Legge renders the same 能 differently in the two identical quotations — "can" at the first, "will" at the repeat — in his own 1861 printing. The divergence is his, not an artefact of our linking.
- 使 shǐ
to cause, make someone become something
- 枉者 wǎng zhě
those who are crooked, the corrupt
- 枉 the crooked, the corrupt person
- 者 nominalizing particle: those who, that which
- 直 zhí
straight, upright
- 何謂 hé wèi
what does that mean, what is meant by that
- 何 what
- 謂 to mean, refer to
- 也 yě
interrogative final particle
English forms the question with the interrogative 何 and a question mark, so 也's work is carried by syntax rather than by a separate word.
- 子夏 zǐ xià
Zixia, a disciple of Confucius
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 夏 component of the disciple's name Zixia
- 曰 yuē
said
- 富 fù
rich, full of substance
- 哉…乎 zāi … hū
double exclamatory particle: how...!, truly...indeed!
- 哉 exclamatory final particle
- 乎 exclamatory final particle
Marks strong exclamation.
- 言 yán
words, what was said
- 舜 shùn
Shun, legendary sage-king
- 有 yǒu
to have, possess, rule over
- 天下 tiān xià
all under heaven, the world, the realm
- 天 heaven, the sky
- 下 below, under
- 選 xuǎn
to select, choose
- 於 yú
coverb: from, among
- 眾 zhòng
the multitude, the common people
- 舉 jǔ
to raise up, promote to office
- 皋陶 gāo yáo
Gao Yao, minister raised up by Shun
- 皋 component of the name Gao Yao, a minister
- 陶 component of the name Gao Yao, a minister
- 不仁者 bù rén zhě
those who are not benevolent, the unvirtuous
- 不 not
- 仁 benevolent, humane
- 者 nominalizing particle: those who
- 遠 yuǎn
to keep one's distance, withdraw
- 矣 yǐ
final particle marking a realized or completed state
- 湯 tāng
Tang, founder of the Shang dynasty
- 有 yǒu
to have, possess, rule over
- 天下 tiān xià
all under heaven, the world, the realm
- 天 heaven, the sky
- 下 below, under
- 選 xuǎn
to select, choose
- 於 yú
coverb: from, among
- 眾 zhòng
the multitude, the common people
- 舉 jǔ
to raise up, promote to office
- 伊尹 yī yǐn
Yi Yin, minister raised up by Tang
- 伊 component of the name Yi Yin, a minister
- 尹 component of the name Yi Yin, a minister
- 不仁者 bù rén zhě
those who are not benevolent, the unvirtuous
- 不 not
- 仁 benevolent, humane
- 者 nominalizing particle: those who
- 遠 yuǎn
to keep one's distance, withdraw
- 矣 yǐ
final particle marking a realized or completed state
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