Book 14: 《憲問》 Xian Wen (Xian Asked)
《憲問》 Passage 14.40
Legge Translation (1861)
Zizhang said: "What is meant when the Shu says that Gao Zong, while observing the usual imperial mourning, was for three years without speaking?"The Master said: "Why must Gao Zong be referred to as an example of this? The ancients all did so. When the sovereign died, the officers all attended to their several duties, taking instructions from the prime minister for three years."
Word by word
- 子張 zǐ zhāng
Zizhang, disciple of Confucius
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 張 syllable of the disciple's name Zizhang
- 曰 yuē
said
- 書 shū
the Book of Documents, an ancient classic text
- 云 yún
to say, to state, introducing a quotation
- 高宗 gāo zōng
Gaozong, temple name of the Shang king Wu Ding
- 高 syllable of the posthumous title Gaozong
- 宗 syllable of the posthumous title Gaozong
- 諒陰 liàng yīn
mourning hut, the ruler's period of secluded mourning
- 諒 sincere, true; here part of a term for a ruler's mourning silence
- 陰 shaded, hidden; here part of a term for a ruler's mourning silence
孔安國 in 何晏 reads 諒陰 as 信默, keeping faith in silence; 鄭玄 and 朱熹 take it as 諒闇, the mourning hut in which the new ruler lived (Legge's 'the usual imperial mourning' and Roberts's 'obscurity' follow the former, the other six the latter).
- 三年 sān nián
three years
- 三 three
- 年 year, years
- 不 bù
not
- 言 yán
to speak
- 何 hé
what
- 謂 wèi
to mean, to refer to
- 也 yě
interrogative final particle
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke
- 何必 hé bì
rhetorical: why must it be..., it need not be only...
- 何 why
- 必 necessarily, must
a rhetorical construction rejecting the idea that the case is unique to what follows.
- 高宗 gāo zōng
Gaozong, posthumous title of a Shang dynasty king
- 高 syllable of the posthumous title Gaozong
- 宗 syllable of the posthumous title Gaozong
- 古 gǔ
ancient, of old
- 之 zhī
attributive particle: of
- 人 rén
people, men
- 皆 jiē
all
- 然 rán
so, thus, likewise, the same
- 君 jūn
ruler, sovereign, lord
- 薨 hōng
to die, said of a feudal ruler
- 百官 bǎi guān
the hundred officials, all the officers
- 百 hundred; here denoting the many officials collectively
- 官 official, officer
- 總己 zǒng jǐ
to manage one's own duties, take overall charge of oneself
- 總 to gather up, take overall charge of
- 己 oneself, one's own affairs
- 以 yǐ
coverb linking clauses: and, so as to, thereby
- 聽 tīng
to obey, take orders from, heed
- 於 yú
preposition: from, under, marking the source of authority
- 冢宰 zhǒng zǎi
chief minister, prime minister
- 冢 great, chief (冢 as 大), in the title 冢宰
- 宰 steward, minister; syllable of the title 'chief minister'
冢 here means great (爾雅: 冢，大也), so 冢宰 is the 大宰, the chief minister of the Zhou court (朱熹: 冢宰，太宰也), who ran the government during the ruler's mourning.
- 三年 sān nián
three years
- 三 three
- 年 year, years
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