Book 15: 《衛靈公》 Wei Ling Gong (Duke Ling of Wey)
《衛靈公》 Passage 15.9
子曰：「志士仁人，無求生以害仁，有殺身以成仁。」
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "The determined scholar and the man of virtue will not seek to live at the expense of injuring their virtue. They will even sacrifice their lives to preserve their virtue complete."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, Confucius (respectful title for a teacher)
- 曰 said, spoke (introduces a quotation)
- 志士 zhì shì
person of firm resolve, dedicated in purpose
- 志 purpose, determination, firmness of will
- 士 scholar, officer, man of standing
- 仁人 rén rén
person of humaneness, benevolent man
- 仁 humane, benevolent, possessed of ren-virtue
- 人 person, man
- 無 wú
negator: would not, never
- 求生 qiú shēng
seek to live, strive to preserve one's life
- 求 to seek, strive for
- 生 life, to live
- 以 yǐ
so as to, in order to
- 害 hài
harm, injure, do violence to
- 仁 rén
humaneness, benevolence
- 有 yǒu
there are (some who), it happens that
Marks an exceptional case within the class just named.
- 殺身 shā shēn
sacrifice oneself, give up one's life
- 殺 to kill, to give up, to sacrifice
- 身 body, one's own person, one's life
- 以 yǐ
in order to, so as to
- 成仁 chéng rén
to fulfil humaneness, bring humaneness to completion
- 成 to complete, accomplish, bring to fulfillment
- 仁 humaneness, benevolence, ren (the cardinal Confucian virtue)
A text file for Anki 2.1.55 or later: File → Import. The cards go to the deck “Analects”, tagged by passage, and importing again updates them instead of adding copies.
Discussion
No one has started on this passage yet.
Start the discussion in r/analects