一孔录仪封人请见，曰：君子之至于斯也，吾未尝不得见也。从者见之。出曰：二三子何患于丧乎？天下之无道也久矣，天将以夫子为木铎。The border warden of Yi asked to be presented, saying: Whenever a gentleman comes here, I have never failed to see him. The followers presented him. Coming out, he said: My friends, why worry about his losing office? The world has long been without the Way; Heaven is going to use your master as a wooden-tongued bell.
Tap any sentence of the original to copy it with its source.
常The common reading
Losing office turned out to be a good thing?
注Key words in the commentary
xian (be presented) read xian, sang (lose) in the departing tone; “仪，卫邑。封人，掌封疆之官，盖贤而隐于下位者也” — Yi was a town of Wei; the border warden kept the frontier, probably a worthy man hidden in a low post; “木铎，金口木舌，施政教时所振，以警众者也” — the muduo is a bell with a metal mouth and wooden clapper, shaken when proclaiming government and teaching, to alert the crowd; “封人一见夫子而遽以是称之，其所得于观感之间者深矣” — that the warden, on seeing the Master once, at once called him this shows how deeply he perceived him.
家What other commentators say
Zhu Xi records two readings side by side: ① “乱极当治，天必将使夫子得位设教，不久失位也” — disorder at its height must turn to order; Heaven will surely give the Master a post to teach, and he will not be out of office long; ② another view, “天使夫子失位，周流四方以行其教，如木铎之徇于道路也” — Heaven made the Master lose office so he would travel the four quarters spreading his teaching, as the bell is carried along the roads. Zhu Xi does not choose for the reader.
读How Yikonglu reads it
A minor official saw Confucius's weight at first sight. Today: an old teacher moved off the podium runs free classes in the community, and more people come than were ever in his class.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| paraphrase仪，卫邑。封人，掌封疆之官，盖贤而隐于下位者也……自言其平日不见绝于贤者，而求以自通也 | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 49 |
| “木铎，金口木舌，施政教时所振，以警众者也” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 49 |
| “言乱极当治，天必将使夫子得位设教，不久失位也……或曰：木铎所以徇于道路，言天使夫子失位，周流四方以行其教，如木铎之徇于道路也” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 49 |
| “封人一见夫子而遽以是称之，其所得于观感之间者深矣” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 50 |
音Pronunciation
| Character | In the line | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| 见 | 请见、从者见之 | xiàn |
| 见 | 吾未尝不得见也 | jiàn |
| 从 | 从者 | cóng |
| 丧 | 何患于丧乎 | sàng |
| 铎 | 木铎 | duó |
| 封 | 仪封人 | fēng |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects Ba yi (Book 3) 3.24 “The border warden of Yi asks to see him”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/ba-yi/24.html, version 2026-11-04.Last checked: 2026-11-04. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
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