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.
曾子曰：可以託六尺之孤，可以寄百里之命，臨大節而不可奪也。君子人與？君子人也。Zengzi said: One who can be entrusted with an orphaned young ruler, who can be given charge of a state of a hundred li, and who in a great crisis cannot be swayed — is he a gentleman? He is a gentleman.
What this chapter says
一孔按：可以托付幼主、托付一国政事，到了生死关头也不改节，这样的人是君子。才和节两样都要有。常有人问：曾子说“可以托六尺之孤”的人，要托给什么样的人？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
曾子说：可以把年幼的君主托付给他，可以把一国的政令交给他代管，碰上生死关头的大节，谁也不能使他动摇。这样的人算是君子吗？是君子啊。
Draft plain-Chinese rendering following Zhu Xi; it will be checked when the chapter is covered.
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Connections
- People
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
曾子说“可以托六尺之孤”的人，要托给什么样的人？
注Key words in the commentary
其才可以辅幼君、摄国政，其节至于死生之际而不可夺，可谓君子矣。
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 曾子曰：可以托六 | “其才可以辅幼君、摄国政，其节至于死生之际而不可夺，可谓君子矣。” | page 110 |
| 曾子曰：可以托六 | “与，疑辞。也，决辞。设为问答，所以深著其必然也。” | page 110 |
| 曾子曰：可以托六 | “节操如是，可谓君子矣。” | page 110 |
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
“云曾子曰可以託六尺之孤，謂童子無父而為國君者也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 杨伯峻《论语译注》 | same | settled | 托孤寄国、临大节不夺为君子；杨以六尺说明幼年，朱落实辅幼君摄国政，不是泛指寄养孤儿。 | |
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以六尺孤为幼君、百里命为国政、大节为死生安危关口，才堪托付且节不可夺才是君子，非只自守不欺即足。 |
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