Book 14: 《憲問》 Xian Wen (Xian Asked)
《憲問》 Passage 14.2
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "The scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 Master, honorific title for Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke
- 士 shì
scholar-official, educated man in service
shi denotes the class of educated men eligible for government service; translators split between rendering the scholarly and the status/office sense.
- 而 ér
conjunctive particle after a noun subject, conditional: if (a shi) ..., one who
here 而 turns 士 into the subject of a qualifying clause rather than simply coordinating two verbs.
- 懷居 huái jū
cling to comfort, be attached to ease
- 懷 to cherish, be attached to, long for
- 居 comfort, ease; a settled, comfortable life
the crux phrase: an excessive attachment to physical ease or a settled domestic life, seen as disqualifying for a shi.
- 不足以 bù zú yǐ
not enough to, unworthy to
- 不 not
- 足 enough, sufficient
- 以 coverb marking result or degree: so as to, enough to
- 為 wéi
to be, to be regarded as
- 士 shì
scholar-official, educated man in service
- 矣 yǐ
final particle of assertion
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