一孔录The video for this chapter is still in production. For now this page gives the original text, the facsimile page, a working translation and the commentary; the full reading follows when the video is out.
孔子曰：君子有三戒：少之時，血氣未定，戒之在色；及其壯也，血氣方剛，戒之在鬥；及其老也，血氣既衰，戒之在得。Confucius said: The gentleman guards against three things. In youth, when the blood and breath are not yet settled, he guards against lust. In his prime, when the blood and breath are strong, he guards against strife. In old age, when the blood and breath have declined, he guards against greed.
What this chapter says
一孔按：君子有三戒：少年血气未定，戒色；壮年血气方刚，戒斗；老年血气已衰，戒得。随时知戒，以理胜血气，才不被血气支使。常有人问：“君子有三戒”，人老了为什么最该防的是“得”？上面是一孔录的回答。
Yikonglu's reading of this chapter is in Chinese for now; the English version comes with the video.
白Plain Chinese
孔子说，君子有三项戒惧，年少血气未定，要戒迷恋女色，壮年血气强盛，要戒争斗，老年血气衰退，要戒贪得。
Draft plain-Chinese rendering following Zhu Xi; it will be checked when the chapter is covered.
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Connections
- Same line elsewhere
- Analects 16.8 君子有三畏：畏天命，畏大人，……
- Analects 16.10 君子有九思：視思明，聽思聰，……
- Other books
- Read alongside (Yikonglu)Daodejing 9: “Better to stop than to fill it to the brim” (持而盈之，不如其已) is about knowing when to stop. Confucius gives warnings for three stages: youth, prime, and old age.
Relationship map of the whole book · The Analects, AI-reconstructed edition (PDF)
Close reading and checking
For readers who want to go deeper or check our work: key words in the commentary, what other commentators say, textual variants, the commentaries in their own words with facsimile pages, pronunciation and corrections. Tap a heading to open it.
常The common reading
“君子有三戒”，人老了为什么最该防的是“得”？
注Key words in the commentary
血气，形之所待以生者，血阴而气阳也。得，贪得也。随时知戒，以理胜之，则不为血气所使也。
核Zhu Xi's commentary, line by line
Zhu Xi's own words on each line of this chapter, each checked against the base-edition page. Other commentators are added when the chapter is covered. About this edition
| Line | Quoted text | Page |
|---|---|---|
| 孔子曰：君子有三 | “血气，形之所待以生者，血阴而气阳也。得，贪得也。随时知戒，以理胜之，则不为血气所使也。” | page 226 |
| 孔子曰：君子有三 | “圣人同于人者，血气也；异于人者，志气也。血气有时而衰，志气则无时而衰也。少未定、壮而刚、老而衰者，血气也。戒于色、戒于斗、戒于得者，志气也。君子养其志气，故不为血气所动，是以年弥高而德弥卲也。” | page 226 |
见Cross-references
- 孔子曰：君子有三 Elsewhere in the Analects：孔子曰：君子有三畏：畏天命，畏大人，畏圣人之言。（《论语》集注分章16.8（底本第 226 页））
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 八
“云君子有三戒者，君子自戒，其事有三，故云有三戒也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 杨伯峻《论语译注》 | same | settled | 少戒色、壮戒斗、老戒贪得；杨明得含名位财不只钱利，朱亦泛贪得、用理节血气。 | |
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以少壮老血气变化分别戒色斗得，志理可以统率生理而非任其必然；得均训贪得，非老年不得求学得知。 |
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