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.
子曰：聖人，吾不得而見之矣；得見君子者，斯可矣。子曰：善人，吾不得而見之矣；得見有恆者，斯可矣。亡而為有，虛而為盈，約而為泰，難乎有恆矣。The Master said: A sage I cannot hope to see; if I could see a gentleman, that would be enough. The Master said: A good man I cannot hope to see; if I could see someone constant, that would be enough. Having nothing yet acting as if one has, being empty yet acting full, being straitened yet acting at ease — it is hard for such a one to be constant.
What this chapter says
一孔按：圣人见不到，见到君子就好；善人见不到，见到有恒的人就好。没有却装有，空却装满，约却装泰，就难有恒。有恒是做人的底线，不是高标。常有人问：孔子说见到“有恒者”就好了，有恒有那么难吗？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：圣人，我这辈子是见不着了；能见着君子，也就满足了。孔子又说：善人，我这辈子是见不着了；能见着守得住常道的人，也就满足了。明明没有偏说有，明明空着偏装满，明明手头紧偏摆排场，这样的人难以守得住常道。
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
孔子说见到“有恒者”就好了，有恒有那么难吗？
注Key words in the commentary
圣人，神明不测之号。君子，才德出众之名。
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 子曰：圣人，吾不 | “圣人，神明不测之号。君子，才德出众之名。” | page 101 |
| 子曰：善人，吾不 | “有恒者，不贰其心。善人者，志于仁而无恶。” | page 101 |
| 亡而为有，虚而为 | “三者，皆虚夸之事，凡若此者，必不能守其常也。” | page 101 |
| 亡而为有，虚而为 | “有恒者之与圣人，高下固悬绝矣，然未有不自有恒而能至于圣者也。故章末申言有恒之义，其示人入德之门，可谓深切而著明矣。” | page 101 |
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 四
“云子曰云云者，孔子歎世無賢聖也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以无伪为有、虚伪为盈、约伪为泰妨恒久。钱分圣君子以学、善恒以质并示由恒可进圣，朱分才德等级而录君子可积学至。 |
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