一孔录定公问：君使臣，臣事君，如之何？孔子对曰：君使臣以礼，臣事君以忠。Duke Ding asked: How should a lord employ his ministers, and ministers serve their lord? Confucius replied: The lord employs his ministers with ritual; ministers serve their lord with loyalty.
Tap any sentence of the original to copy it with its source.
注Key words in the commentary
“定公，鲁君，名宋” — Duke Ding, ruler of Lu, named Song; “二者皆理之当然，各欲自尽而已” — both are what is right, and each should simply do his own part fully.
家What other commentators say
Lü Dalin: “使臣不患其不忠，患礼之不至；事君不患其无礼，患忠之不足” — a lord should worry not that ministers are disloyal but that his own courtesy falls short; a minister should worry not that the lord is discourteous but that his own loyalty falls short; Yin Tun: “君臣以义合者也。故君使臣以礼，则臣事君以忠” — lord and minister are joined by what is right, so courtesy from above brings loyalty from below.
读How Yikonglu reads it
Each side looks only at its own end; Duke Ding was the ruler, and his question was answered with his own half. Today: a team lead first asks whether people are treated with enough respect; the team member first asks whether the work is done properly.
核Check every citation
Every commentary line quoted in the video: the original wording, who said it, and the page in the base edition. “Paraphrase” marks our summary, not the commentator's words. About this edition
| Quoted text | Source | Page |
|---|---|---|
| “定公，鲁君，名宋。二者皆理之当然，各欲自尽而已” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 46 |
| “使臣不患其不忠，患礼之不至；事君不患其无礼，患忠之不足” | 朱注引吕氏 | page 46 |
| “君臣以义合者也。故君使臣以礼，则臣事君以忠” | Yin Tun, quoted by Zhu Xi | page 46 |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects Ba yi (Book 3) 3.19 “The lord employs his ministers with ritual”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/ba-yi/19.html, version 2026-11-04.Last checked: 2026-11-04. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
Found an error in this chapter? Email us; once checked, it goes on the errata page under your username: 
