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：為命：裨諶草創之，世叔討論之，行人子羽修飾之，東里子產潤色之。The Master said: In drafting state documents, Pi Chen made the first draft, Shishu examined and discussed it, the envoy Ziyu revised and polished it, and Zichan of Dongli gave it its final luster.
What this chapter says
一孔按：郑国的辞命由裨谌起草、世叔讨论、子羽修饰、子产润色，四贤各尽所长，所以很少失误。常有人问“郑国的外交辞令经四个人起草修改，为什么少出错”，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，郑国拟定外交辞令，由裨谌起草，世叔讨论，行人子羽修饰，东里子产润色。
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
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
郑国的外交辞令经四个人起草修改，为什么少出错？
注Key words in the commentary
裨谌以下四人，皆郑大夫。草，略也。创，造也，谓造为草稿也。世叔，游吉也，春秋传作子太叔。讨，寻究也。论，讲议也。
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 子曰：为命：裨谌 | “裨谌以下四人，皆郑大夫。草，略也。创，造也，谓造为草稿也。世叔，游吉也，春秋传作子太叔。讨，寻究也。论，讲议也。行人，掌使之官。子羽，公孙挥也。修饰，谓增损之。东里，地名，子产所居也。润色，谓加以文采也。郑国之为辞命，必更此四贤之手而成，详审精密，各尽所长，是以应对诸侯，鲜有败事。孔子言此，盖善之也。” | page 189 |
| 子曰：为命：裨谌 | “子产之政，不专于宽，然其心则一以爱人为主，故孔子以为惠人，盖举其重而言也。” | page 189 |
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 七
“云為命者，為作盟會之詔書也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以命为外交辞命，裨谌草创、世叔讨论、子羽修饰、子产润色各尽专长；不是四人先后任相的时间表。 |
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