一孔录子曰：诗三百，一言以蔽之，曰：思无邪。The Master said: The three hundred Odes can be covered by one phrase: thoughts without crookedness.
常The common reading
All three hundred Odes are pure and innocent.
注Key words in the commentary
“蔽，犹盖也” — bi means to cover; “凡诗之言，善者可以感发人之善心，恶者可以惩创人之逸志” — in the Odes, the good lines stir a reader's good heart, and the bad ones chasten a reader's wayward will.
家What other commentators say
Cheng Yi: “思无邪者，诚也” — thoughts without crookedness means sincerity; Fan Zuyu: “知要则能守约” — knowing the essential, one can hold to what is concise.
读How Yikonglu reads it
The “without crookedness” lies in the reader, not entirely in the poems. Today: a novel about a villain can still bring a reader round.
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.
| Quoted text | Source | Page |
|---|---|---|
| “诗三百十一篇，言三百者，举大数也；蔽，犹盖也” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 24 |
| paraphrase思无邪，鲁颂駉篇之辞 | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 24 |
| “凡诗之言，善者可以感发人之善心，恶者可以惩创人之逸志，其用归于使人得其情性之正而已” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 24 |
| “思无邪者，诚也” | Cheng Yi, quoted by Zhu Xi | page 24 |
| “学者必务知要，知要则能守约，守约则足以尽博矣。经礼三百，曲礼三千，亦可以一言以蔽之，曰毋不敬” | Fan Zuyu, quoted by Zhu Xi | page 24 |
音Pronunciation
| Character | In the line | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| 蔽 | 一言以蔽之 | bì |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects Wei zheng (Book 2) 2.2 “Thoughts without crookedness”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/wei-zheng/2.html, version 2026-11-03.Last checked: 2026-11-03. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
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