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：生而知之者，上也；學而知之者，次也；困而學之，又其次也；困而不學，民斯為下矣。Confucius said: Those born knowing are the highest; those who learn and come to know are next; those who learn when they meet difficulty are next again; those who meet difficulty and still do not learn — these people are the lowest.
What this chapter says
一孔按：生而知之是上，学而知之其次，困而学之又其次，困而不学是最下。气质虽有四等，及其知之则一，所以君子只怕困而不学。常有人问：“生而知之者上也，学而知之者次也”，天生和学会有高下吗？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，生来便懂得的是上等，经过学习才懂得的次一等，遇到不通再学习的又次一等，遇到不通仍不学习的人，便是最下等。
Draft plain-Chinese rendering following Zhu Xi; it will be checked when the chapter is covered.
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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
“生而知之者上也，学而知之者次也”，天生和学会有高下吗？
注Key words in the commentary
困，谓有所不通。言人之气质不同，大约有此四等。
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：生而知之 | “困，谓有所不通。言人之气质不同，大约有此四等。” | page 226—227 |
| 孔子曰：生而知之 | “生知、学知以至困学，虽其质不同，然及其知之一也。故君子惟学之为贵。困而不学，然后为下。” | page 226—227 |
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
“此章勸學也，故先從聖人始也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 杨伯峻《论语译注》 | same | settled | 生知、学知、困学、困不学四等，以学为进；民斯为下杨直译老百姓为最下，朱解释气质不同而困不学才下，范围不同。 | |
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同分生知学知困学困不学而贵学不弃；钱泛指道艺各有先后难易，不将四等固定排尧舜孔子为不同先天品级。 |
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