一孔录子贡问曰：赐也何如？子曰：女，器也。曰：何器也？曰：瑚琏也。Zigong asked: What about me, Ci? The Master said: You are a vessel. He said: What vessel? He said: A hu-lian vessel of the ancestral temple.
Tap any sentence of the original to copy it with its source.
白Plain Chinese
子贡问：我这个人怎样？孔子说：你是一件成了材的器。子贡问：哪一种器？孔子说：宗庙里盛黍稷、镶着玉的瑚琏。
A plain modern-Chinese rendering following Yikonglu's reading.
常The common reading
Calling Zigong a “vessel” is read as a put-down, since “the gentleman is not a vessel”.
注Key words in the commentary
Ru (女) read rǔ, “you”; hulian (瑚琏) read hú liǎn. “器者，有用之成材” — a vessel is a finished, useful material; the hulian is “宗庙盛黍稷之器而饰以玉，器之贵重而华美者也” — a temple vessel for millet, adorned with jade, the most precious and beautiful of vessels; “子贡虽未至于不器，其亦器之贵者欤” — though Zigong had not reached “not being a vessel”, he was a precious one among vessels.
家What other commentators say
Zhu Xi gives a single reading only.
读How Yikonglu reads it
Two layers in one line: not yet “not a vessel”, but the most precious kind of vessel; praise with direction in it. Today: the boss says “you're the most useful person on my team”, and it feels good at the time but not quite right on the way home.
家Other commentaries
Our base text is Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries (above). Here are other commentaries side by side: for old commentaries, the first line of the sub-commentary with a link to the woodblock scan; for modern editions, one short quoted translation for comparison. The “compared with Zhu Xi” notes are written by Yikonglu, not quoted.
皇侃《论语义疏》Liang dynasty · 1750 Japanese woodblock edition · juan 三
“云子貢問曰賜也何如者，子貢聞孔子歷評諸弟子而不及己。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同释瑚琏为贵重华美之宗庙盛黍稷器。钱不主张牵入君子不器章；朱明确以尚未至不器而为贵器说子贡。 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “器者，有用之成材。夏曰瑚，商曰琏，周曰簠簋，皆宗庙盛黍稷之器而饰以玉，器之贵重而华美者也” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 62 |
| “子贡见孔子以君子许子贱，故以己为问，而孔子告之以此。然则子贡虽未至于不器，其亦器之贵者欤” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 62 |
音Pronunciation
| Character | In the line | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| 瑚 | 瑚琏 | hú |
| 琏 | 瑚琏 | liǎn |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects 公冶长第五 5.3 “Zigong asked: What about me?”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/gong-ye-chang/3.html, version 2026-11-05.Last checked: 2026-11-05. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
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