一孔录子曰：夏礼吾能言之，杞不足征也；殷礼吾能言之，宋不足征也。文献不足故也。足，则吾能征之矣。The Master said: I can speak of the rites of Xia, but Qi cannot bear them out; I can speak of the rites of Yin, but Song cannot bear them out. That is because there are not enough records and worthies. If there were, I could bear them out.
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注Key words in the commentary
“杞，夏之后；宋，殷之后” — Qi descends from Xia, Song from Yin; “征，证也” — zheng means to verify; “文，典籍也；献，贤也” — wen is written records, xian is worthy men.
读How Yikonglu reads it
Confucius could tell it, but would not rest on his word alone. Today: grandmother's recipe — what's missing is the person standing at the stove.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “杞，夏之后。宋，殷之后。征，证也。文，典籍也。献，贤也” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 41 |
| “言二代之礼，我能言之，而二国不足取以为证，以其文献不足故也。文献若足，则我能取之，以证吾言矣” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 41 |
音Pronunciation
| Character | In the line | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| 杞 | 杞不足征也 | qǐ |
| 征 | 不足征也 | zhēng |
| 献 | 文献 | xiàn |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects Ba yi (Book 3) 3.9 “Not enough records”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/ba-yi/9.html, version 2026-11-04.Last checked: 2026-11-04. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
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