一孔录子曰：弟子入则孝，出则弟，谨而信，汎爱众，而亲仁。行有余力，则以学文。The Master said: A young man should be filial at home and fraternal abroad, careful and trustworthy, broadly loving toward all and close to the humane. If he has strength left over after that, let him use it to study the texts.
常The common reading
Study comes last, and is optional.
注Key words in the commentary
“文，谓诗书六艺之文” — wen means the texts of the Odes, the Documents and the six arts; “余力，犹言暇日” — strength left over means spare time.
家What other commentators say
Cheng Yi and Yin Tun stress the root over the branches; Hong Xingzu pulls back with “文灭其质” and “质胜而野” — too much polish drowns the substance, too little leaves it rough; Zhu Xi: without study “无以考圣贤之成法……所行或出于私意” — one cannot check against the sages' established rule, and what one does may come from private whim.
读How Yikonglu reads it
This is about order, not about choosing one and dropping the other. Today: the capable person who never studied has nothing to check himself against when he is wrong.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “弟子之弟，上声；则弟之弟，去声；汎，广也；亲，近也；仁，谓仁者；余力，犹言暇日” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 17 |
| “文，谓诗书六艺之文” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 17 |
| “为弟子之职，力有余则学文，不修其职而先文，非为己之学也” | Cheng Yi, quoted by Zhu Xi | page 17 |
| “德行，本也。文艺，末也” | Yin Tun, quoted by Zhu Xi | page 17 |
| “未有余力而学文，则文灭其质；有余力而不学文，则质胜而野” | Hong Xingzu, quoted by Zhu Xi | page 17 |
| “力行而不学文，则无以考圣贤之成法，识事理之当然，而所行或出于私意” | Zhu Xi's own note | page 17 |
音Pronunciation
| Character | In the line | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| 弟 | 出则弟 | tì |
| 弟 | 弟子 | dì |
| 汎 | 汎爱众 | fàn |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects Xue er (Book 1) 1.6 “A young man at home is filial”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/xue-er/6.html, version 2026-11-03.Last checked: 2026-11-03. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
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