Book 6: 《雍也》 Yong Ye (As for Yong)
《雍也》 Passage 6.12
Legge Translation (1861)
Ran Qiu said: "It is not that I do not delight in your doctrines, but my strength is insufficient."The Master said: "Those whose strength is insufficient give over in the middle of the way but now you limit yourself."
Word by word
- 冉求 rǎn qiú
Ran Qiu, a disciple of Confucius
- 冉 surname Ran (of the disciple Ran Qiu)
- 求 given name Qiu (the disciple Ran Qiu)
- 曰 yuē
said, spoke
- 非 fēi
it is not the case that, negates the clause that follows
- 不說 bù yuè
not pleased with, does not delight in
- 不 not
- 說 pleased, delighted (loangraph for 悅)
說 is a loangraph for 悅 ('pleased') here, not its more common sense 'to speak'.
- 子 zǐ
you, sir (Ran Qiu addressing Confucius)
Translators split between direct second-person address ('your') and narrative third person ('the Master's').
- 之 zhī
possessive particle: 's, of
- 道 dào
the Way, moral teachings, doctrine
Contrast the more literal 'road, course' sense this same character carries in 中道 below.
- 力 lì
strength, capability, energy
- 不足 bù zú
insufficient, not enough
- 不 not
- 足 sufficient, enough
- 也 yě
sentence-final particle of assertion
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke
- 力 lì
strength, capability, energy
- 不足 bù zú
insufficient, not enough
- 不 not
- 足 sufficient, enough
- 者 zhě
nominalizing particle: one who, those who, whoever
- 中道 zhōng dào
midway, partway along the road, in the course of things
- 中 middle, midway
- 道 road, way, course
- 而 ér
conjunctive particle: and, and then
English joins 'midway' and 'gives up' by simple juxtaposition rather than an explicit connective, so 而's linking work is done by sentence structure rather than a word.
- 廢 fèi
to give up, abandon, collapse (before finishing)
- 今 jīn
now, as for now, in this case
- 女 rǔ
you (second-person pronoun)
- 畫 huà
to draw a line, mark off a limit
畫 literally means 'to draw, delineate'; here it is used metaphorically of Ran Qiu stopping himself short, in implicit contrast with the genuine collapse described by 中道而廢.
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