Book 2: 《為政》 Wei Zheng (Governance)
《為政》 Passage 2.5
Legge Translation (1861)
Meng Yizi asked what filial piety was. The Master said: "It is not being disobedient."Soon after, as Fan Chi was driving him, the Master told him, saying: "Mengsun asked me what filial piety was, and I answered him, 'not being disobedient.'"
Fan Chi said: "What did you mean?"
The Master replied: "That parents, when alive, be served according to propriety; that, when dead, they should be buried according to propriety; and that they should be sacrificed to according to propriety."
Word by word
- 孟懿子 mèng yì zǐ
Meng Yizi, a hereditary minister of Lu
- 孟 surname Meng
- 懿 Yi, his posthumous title (admirable, virtuous); his given name was 何忌
- 子 honorific suffix attached to a nobleman's name (here: Meng Yizi)
- 問 wèn
to ask about, inquire about
- 孝 xiào
filial piety, reverent devotion to parents
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, Confucius
- 曰 said
- 無違 wú wéi
do not disobey, do not go against
- 無 not, do not (negative imperative)
- 違 to disobey, act contrary to, deviate from
Deliberately terse and ambiguous; Fan Chi's confusion and Confucius's threefold 以禮 clarification below show the sense is ritual compliance, not mere obedience to parents.
- 樊遲 fán chí
Fan Chi, a disciple of Confucius
- 樊 surname Fan
- 遲 Chi, courtesy-name element in 樊遲, the courtesy name of Fan Xu (樊須); his given name is 須
- 御 yù
to drive (a chariot)
- 子 zǐ
the Master, Confucius
- 告 gào
to tell, inform, report
- 之 zhī
him (object pronoun, referring to Fan Chi)
- 曰 yuē
said, saying (introducing reported speech)
- 孟孫 mèng sūn
Mengsun, the clan name (仲孫/孟孫氏) by which Meng Yizi is referred to here
- 孟 surname Meng
- 孫 descendant, grandchild; clan-name element (here: Mengsun)
- 問…於 wèn … yú
to ask (something) of (someone), inquire of
- 問 to ask about, inquire about
- 於 preposition marking the indirect object: of, from
- 孝 xiào
filial piety, reverent devotion to parents
- 我 wǒ
me (object pronoun)
- 我 wǒ
I (subject pronoun)
- 對曰 duì yuē
to answer, reply (in response to a question)
- 對 to answer, reply
- 曰 said
- 無違 wú wéi
do not disobey, do not go against
- 無 not, do not (negative imperative)
- 違 to disobey, act contrary to, deviate from
- 樊遲 fán chí
Fan Chi, a disciple of Confucius
- 樊 surname Fan
- 遲 Chi, courtesy-name element in 樊遲, the courtesy name of Fan Xu (樊須); his given name is 須
- 曰 yuē
said, asked (introducing direct speech)
- 何…也 hé … yě
what do you mean by that?, request for clarification
- 何 what (interrogative pronoun)
- 也 sentence-final particle marking a question or assertion
- 謂 wèi
to mean, signify
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, Confucius
- 曰 said
- 生 shēng
alive, living
- 事 shì
to serve, attend to
- 之 zhī
them (object pronoun, referring to one's parents)
- 以禮 yǐ lǐ
according to ritual propriety, in accordance with the rites
- 以 by means of, according to
- 禮 ritual propriety, the rites
One of three parallel 以禮 clauses (serving, burying, sacrificing) that gloss 無違 as compliance with ritual, not blind obedience.
- 死 sǐ
to die, dead, deceased
- 葬 zàng
to bury, inter
- 之 zhī
them (object pronoun, referring to one's parents)
- 以禮 yǐ lǐ
according to ritual propriety, in accordance with the rites
- 以 by means of, according to
- 禮 ritual propriety, the rites
- 祭 jì
to sacrifice to, make ritual offerings to
- 之 zhī
them (object pronoun, referring to one's parents)
- 以禮 yǐ lǐ
according to ritual propriety, in accordance with the rites
- 以 by means of, according to
- 禮 ritual propriety, the rites
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