一孔录子曰：父母在，不远游，游必有方。The Master said: While your parents are alive, do not travel far; if you must travel, have a fixed direction.
Tap any sentence of the original to copy it with its source.
白Plain Chinese
孔子说：父母在世，不出远门；如果出远门，必须有一定的去处。
A plain modern-Chinese rendering following Yikonglu's reading.
常The common reading
Read as “while parents are alive one may not leave home”.
注Key words in the commentary
Zhu Xi: “远游，则去亲远而为日久，定省旷而音问疏；不惟己之思亲不置，亦恐亲之念我不忘也” — travelling far means being long away from one's parents, the morning and evening greetings lapse and news grows thin; not only can one not stop thinking of them, one also fears they cannot stop thinking of oneself; “游必有方，如己告云之东，则不敢更适西，欲亲必知己之所在而无忧，召己则必至而无失也” — having a fixed direction means that if one said one was going east, one dare not switch to the west, so that the parents always know where one is and need not worry, and if they call, one will surely come.
家What other commentators say
Fan Zuyu: “子能以父母之心为心，则孝矣” — if a child can make the parents' heart his own heart, that is filial.
读How Yikonglu reads it
If you can avoid travelling far, do; if you must go, let your parents know where you are. Today: landing on a business trip, first drop a location pin in the family group.
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
“方，常也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 杨伯峻《论语译注》 | same | fairly sure | 父母在时不远游，出游须有确定去处；朱说明为免亲忧而可应召返，非绝对禁行。 | |
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以远游恐亲思忧、游有定方使亲知处且召可至。钱另引现代音讯交通之变而保留通亲心之义。 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “远游，则去亲远而为日久，定省旷而音问疏；不惟己之思亲不置，亦恐亲之念我不忘也” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 58 |
| “游必有方，如己告云之东，则不敢更适西，欲亲必知己之所在而无忧，召己则必至而无失也” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 58 |
| “子能以父母之心为心，则孝矣” | Fan Zuyu, quoted by Zhu Xi | page 58 |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects Li ren (Book 4) 4.19 “While parents live, do not travel far; if you travel, have a fixed direction”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/li-ren/19.html, version 2026-11-04.Last checked: 2026-11-04. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
Found an error in this chapter? Email us; once checked, it goes on the errata page under your username: 
