《子張》 Passage 19.2

Zizhang, name of 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)

said

hold onto, adhere to, grasp firmly

virtue, moral power, moral character

not

broad, expansive in scope; (verbally) to enlarge, make broad

trust, have faith in, believe in

the Way, moral path, guiding teaching

not

sincere, earnest, wholehearted

how can it be said that...?, rhetorical frame questioning worth or reality

• 焉 interrogative: how? in what way?
• 能 can, to be able to
• 為 to be considered, to be said to be

to exist, be present, count for anything

The translators split evenly: Legge, Peimin Ni, Ames & Rosemont and Watson read 有/亡 existentially (whether he exists makes no difference), which is the reading of 孔安國 (言無所輕重), 朱熹 and 楊伯峻; Slingerland, Roberts, Lau and Chin read them as possessing virtue or not.

how can it be said that...?, rhetorical frame questioning worth or reality

• 焉 interrogative: how? in what way?
• 能 can, to be able to
• 為 to be considered, to be said to be

Five translators fuse both parallel questions into a single either/or construction (e.g. 'has virtue or not', 'live or die'), so this second occurrence has no separate span in their English.

not to exist, be absent (= 無)

Means 'nonexistent' (wú, = 無) here, not 'to die' — Ames & Rosemont's 'die' reflects the existential reading of this couplet rather than the character's literal sense.