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：不知命，無以為君子也。不知禮，無以立也。不知言，無以知人也。The Master said: Without knowing fate, one cannot be a gentleman. Without knowing ritual, one cannot stand. Without knowing words, one cannot know people.
白Plain Chinese
孔子说，不懂天命，不能成为君子，不懂礼，不能立身，不懂分辨言语，就不能了解人。
Draft plain-Chinese rendering following Zhu Xi; it will be checked when the chapter is covered.
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Connections
- Textual variants
- Base text reads 子曰; the received text reads 孔子曰
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.
见Cross-references
异Textual variants
Where the base edition differs from the common text; the original follows the base edition.
| Base edition | Common text | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 子曰 | 孔子曰 | 底本PDF265子曰；杨本20.3孔子曰 |
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 十
“此章第三，明為君子所以為政也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 杨伯峻《论语译注》 | same | settled | 知命知礼知言才能为君子、立身知人；知言辨言语得失邪正，杨明联孟子，不是仅懂字面语法。 | |
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以知命信有命可不避义趋利、知礼立身、知言识人。钱分天命积极消极诸义，并疑末章编次来源；朱重点知命而信、礼约行、言得失可知人。 |
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