一孔录曾子曰：吾日三省吾身：为人谋而不忠乎？与朋友交而不信乎？传不习乎？Master Zeng said: Each day I examine myself on three counts. In acting for others, have I been less than wholehearted? In dealing with friends, have I been less than trustworthy? What was passed on to me, have I failed to practise?
常The common reading
Reflect on yourself many times a day; zhong means loyalty to a person.
注Key words in the commentary
“尽己之谓忠，以实之谓信” — giving one's all is zhong, being true to the facts is xin; “传谓受之于师，习谓熟之于己” — chuan is what one receives from a teacher, xi is making it one's own; “三者之序，以忠信为传习之本” — in the order of the three, zhong and xin are the root of what is passed on and practised.
家What other commentators say
One reading in He Yan's Jijie takes chuan as what one passes on to others (teaching before one has mastered it); Yang Bojun reads san as “many times” rather than “three”.
读How Yikonglu reads it
When you act for someone, did you hold anything back? Today: a colleague asks you to look over a plan; you can't be bothered to point out the flaw and say “looks good”.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “省，悉井反；为，去声；传，平声” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 15 |
| “曾子，孔子弟子，名参” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 15 |
| “尽己之谓忠，以实之谓信” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 15 |
| “传谓受之于师，习谓熟之于己” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 15 |
| paraphrase凡所传之事，得无素不讲习而传之 | Unsigned note in He Yan's Lunyu jijie | 识典古籍《论语注疏》电子录文 |
| “曾子以此三者日省其身，有则改之，无则加勉” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 15 |
| paraphrase杨伯峻把“三”释为多次 | Yang Bojun, Lunyu yizhu | 电子转录本印页 3—4 |
| “而三者之序，则又以忠信为传习之本也” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 15 |
| “曾子守约，故动必求诸身” | Yin Tun, quoted by Zhu Xi | page 15 |
| “诸子之学，皆出于圣人，其后愈远而愈失其真。独曾子之学，专用心于内，故传之无弊，观于子思孟子可见矣” | Xie Liangzuo, quoted by Zhu Xi | page 15 |
音Pronunciation
| Character | In the line | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| 省 | 三省 | xǐng |
| 为 | 为人谋 | wèi |
| 传 | 传不习乎 | chuán |
| 曾、参 | 曾子、曾参 | zēng、shēn |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects Xue er (Book 1) 1.4 “Three things I examine myself on daily”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/xue-er/4.html, version 2026-11-03.Last checked: 2026-11-03. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
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