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：民之於仁也，甚於水火。水火，吾見蹈而死者矣，未見蹈仁而死者也。The Master said: The people need humaneness more than water and fire. I have seen people die stepping into water and fire, but never seen anyone die stepping into humaneness.
What this chapter says
一孔按：百姓需要仁甚于水火。水火我见过踩上去死的，没见过踩着仁死的。仁比水火更不可缺，又没有害处，人何惮而不为。常有人问：孔子说“民之于仁也，甚于水火”，百姓需要仁为什么比水火还迫切？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，百姓需要仁，比需要水火还紧要；我见过走进水火而死的人，没见过实行仁却因此自陷于死的人。
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“民之于仁也，甚于水火”，百姓需要仁为什么比水火还迫切？
注Key words in the commentary
民之于水火，所赖以生，不可一日无。其于仁也亦然。但水火外物，而仁在己。无水火，不过害人之身；而不仁，则失其心。
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：民之于仁也 | “民之于水火，所赖以生，不可一日无。其于仁也亦然。但水火外物，而仁在己。无水火，不过害人之身；而不仁，则失其心。是仁有甚于水火，而尤不可以一日无者也。况水火或有时而杀人，仁则未尝杀人，亦何惮而不为哉？” | page 218 |
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
“甚，猶勝也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以仁比水火更不可缺，蹈仁非致非命之死；杀身成仁有其正当，并不能据此反说仁本害人。 |
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