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.
子張問善人之道。子曰：不踐跡，亦不入於室。Zizhang asked about the way of the good man. The Master said: He does not follow in others' footsteps, yet he does not enter the inner room.
What this chapter says
一孔按：天生的善人不照着前人的路走，也就进不了圣人之室。质美而不学，只能停在半路。常有人问：子张问善人之道，孔子说“不践迹，亦不入于室”，天生的好人为什么还不够？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
子张问善人行道的情形，孔子说，本性良善而尚未学习的人，不必循着前人的行迹也能不做恶事，却还不能进入圣人的境地。
Draft plain-Chinese rendering following Zhu Xi; it will be checked when the chapter is covered.
看Watch this chapter
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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
子张问善人之道，孔子说“不践迹，亦不入于室”，天生的好人为什么还不够？
注Key words in the commentary
善人，质美而未学者也。
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 子张问善人之道。 | “善人，质美而未学者也。” | page 148—149 |
| 子曰：不践迹，亦 | “无自而入圣人之室也。” | page 148—149 |
| 子曰：不践迹，亦 | “践迹，如言循途守辙。善人虽不必践旧迹而自不为恶，然亦不能入圣人之室也。” | page 148—149 |
| 子曰：不践迹，亦 | “善人欲仁而未志于学者也。欲仁，故虽不践成法，亦不蹈于恶，有诸己也。由不学，故无自而入圣人之室也。” | page 148—149 |
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 六
“云子張問善人之道者，此問善人，非聖人也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同解善人为质美未学，不践前人旧迹亦不作恶，却不能入圣人深室，见学问不可省而非贬善心为无用。 |
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