一孔录子曰：参乎！吾道一以贯之。曾子曰：唯。子出，门人问曰：何谓也？曾子曰：夫子之道，忠恕而已矣。The Master said: Shen! My Way is threaded through by one. Zengzi said: Yes. The Master went out, and the disciples asked: What did he mean? Zengzi said: The Master's Way is loyalty and reciprocity, nothing more.
Tap any sentence of the original to copy it with its source.
白Plain Chinese
孔子说：参啊，我的道是由一个根本贯穿起来的。曾子说：是。孔子出去以后，同学们问：这是什么意思？曾子说：老师的道，就是忠和恕，尽在这里了。
A plain modern-Chinese rendering following Yikonglu's reading.
常The common reading
Is “loyalty and reciprocity” the whole content of Confucius's Way? And is “loyalty” loyalty to a ruler?
注Key words in the commentary
Shen (参) read shen, wei (唯) read in the rising tone; Zhu Xi: “贯，通也。唯者，应之速而无疑者也” — guan means to run through; wei is a quick answer without doubt; “尽己之谓忠，推己之谓恕” — giving one's whole self is loyalty, extending oneself to others is reciprocity; another reading: “中心为忠，如心为恕” — the heart at the center is zhong, a heart like one's own is shu.
家What other commentators say
Zhu Xi: “圣人之心，浑然一理，而泛应曲当，用各不同。曾子于其用处，盖已随事精察而力行之，但未知其体之一尔” — the sage's mind is one whole principle, responding fitly everywhere with different uses; Zengzi had already examined and practiced the uses, but did not yet know the oneness of the substance; “曾子有见于此而难言之，故借学者尽己、推己之目以著明之” — Zengzi saw this and found it hard to say, so he borrowed the learner's terms “give one's whole self” and “extend oneself” to make it plain. Cheng Yi: “圣人教人各因其才……惟曾子为能达此” — the sage teaches each according to his talent; only Zengzi could reach this.
读How Yikonglu reads it
“Loyalty and reciprocity” do not say the Way in full; they hand the learner something to hold. “Threaded through by one” is said only to the one who is ready to understand it. Today: an old craftsman tells the apprentice just one thing: do your own step through to the end, then think of the person who takes over next.
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 · Zhibuzu Zhai edition · juan 二
“云參乎者，呼曾子名欲語之，參，曾子名也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | differs | fairly sure | 忠恕字训均为尽己推己。钱把曾子答看作个人体认师旨、虽不中不远，朱谓曾子默契一贯而以忠恕晓学者，契合程度判断有别。 | |
| 杨伯峻《论语译注》 | 忠恕 | word sense | settled | 杨以己欲立而立人为忠、己所不欲勿施人为恕；朱训尽己为忠、推己为恕，并联系一理万殊，解释层次有别。 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “贯，通也。唯者，应之速而无疑者也” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 56 |
| “圣人之心，浑然一理，而泛应曲当，用各不同。曾子于其用处，盖已随事精察而力行之，但未知其体之一尔。夫子知其真积力久，将有所得，是以呼而告之” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 56 |
| “尽己之谓忠，推己之谓恕……曾子有见于此而难言之，故借学者尽己、推己之目以著明之，欲人之易晓也” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 56 |
| “中心为忠，如心为恕，于义亦通” | 朱注（或曰） | page 56 |
| “圣人教人各因其才，吾道一以贯之，惟曾子为能达此，孔子所以告之也” | Cheng Yi, quoted by Zhu Xi | page 57 |
音Pronunciation
| Character | In the line | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| 参 | 参乎 | shēn |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects Li ren (Book 4) 4.15 “My Way is threaded through by one”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/li-ren/15.html, version 2026-11-04.Last checked: 2026-11-04. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
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