Book 12: 《顏淵》 Yan Yuan
《顏淵》 Passage 12.10
Legge Translation (1861)
Zizhang having asked how virtue was to be exalted, and delusions to be discovered, the Master said: "Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles, and be moving continually to what is right; — this is the way to exalt one's virtue.You love a man and wish him to live; you hate him and wish him to die. Having wished him to live, you also wish him to die. This is a case of delusion. 'It may not be on account of her being rich, yet you come to make a difference.'"
Word by word
- 子張 zǐ zhāng
Zizhang, a disciple of Confucius
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 張 Zhang, courtesy-name element in 子張, the courtesy name of the disciple Zhuansun Shi (顓孫師)
- 問 wèn
to ask about, inquire
- 崇德 chóng dé
to exalt, elevate one's virtue
- 崇 to exalt, elevate, hold in high esteem
- 德 virtue, moral power
- 辨惑 biàn huò
to discern, detect delusion or confused judgment
- 辨 to discern, distinguish
- 惑 delusion, confused judgment
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master (Confucius), honorific title
- 曰 said
- 主 zhǔ
to make (something) one's guiding principle, prioritize
- 忠信 zhōng xìn
loyalty and trustworthiness, doing one's utmost and keeping one's word
- 忠 loyal, doing one's utmost for others
- 信 trustworthy, true to one's word
- 徙義 xǐ yì
to move toward what is right, act according to rightness
- 徙 to move toward, shift to
- 義 rightness, what is right and appropriate
- 崇德 chóng dé
to exalt, elevate one's virtue
- 崇 to exalt, elevate, hold in high esteem
- 德 virtue, moral power
- 也 yě
final particle of assertion: this constitutes...
- 愛 ài
to love, be fond of
- 之 zhī
him, her (object pronoun)
- 欲 yù
to want, wish
- 其 qí
he, that he (subject of the embedded wish-clause)
- 生 shēng
to live, be alive
- 惡 wù
to hate, dislike
read wù 'to hate', not è 'evil, bad'
- 之 zhī
him, her (object pronoun)
- 欲 yù
to want, wish
- 其 qí
he, that he (subject of the embedded wish-clause)
- 死 sǐ
to die
- 既 jì
already, having already
- 欲 yù
to want, wish
- 其 qí
he, that he (subject of the embedded wish-clause)
- 生 shēng
to live, be alive
- 又 yòu
then also, in addition
- 欲 yù
to want, wish
- 其 qí
he, that he (subject of the embedded wish-clause)
- 死 sǐ
to die
- 是 shì
this, that (demonstrative referring to the situation just described)
- 惑 huò
delusion, confused or mistaken judgment
- 也 yě
final particle of assertion: this constitutes...
the demonstrative sense is carried by 是, not 也.
- 誠 chéng
truly, indeed, certainly
This couplet quotes Ode 188, 我行其野, of the Book of Poetry; 程子, cited by 朱熹, judged it a misplaced slip belonging in 16.12. Watson omits it entirely; Roberts and Chin flag it explicitly as a quotation.
- 不 bù
not
- 以 yǐ
because of, on account of
- 富 fù
wealth, being rich
- 亦 yì
but, yet (contrastive continuation)
- 祗 zhǐ
only, merely
functions as a restrictive adverb here, not its dictionary sense 'respect, revere'
- 以 yǐ
because of, on account of
- 異 yì
difference, being different
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