一孔录子曰：中庸之為德也，其至矣乎！民鮮久矣。What this chapter says
一孔按：不过头也不够不着，又天天不变，所以难；难在长久。今例：街角小面馆三十年准点开门，汤的咸淡没变过。常有人问：最高的德，为什么叫“平常”？上面是一孔录的回答。
白Plain Chinese
孔子说：中庸作为一种德行，真是到了极处！百姓少有这种德行，已经很久了。
A plain modern-Chinese rendering following Yikonglu's reading.
看Watch this chapter
This chapter is read in Yikonglu episode “雍也八”:YouTubeBilibili
Connections
- Other books
- Read alongside (Yikonglu)Three Character Classic 13: Confucius had already called the two characters in the title Zhongyong (中庸, the Mean) the highest virtue.
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
最高的德，为什么叫“平常”？
注Key words in the commentary
“鲜”读上声。“中者，无过无不及之名也。庸，平常也。至，极也。鲜，少也。”
说What other commentators say
程子“不偏之谓中，不易之谓庸。中者，天下之正道；庸者，天下之定理”。
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 三
“庸，常也；鮮，少也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | 中庸 | nuance | fairly sure | 钱着重平常人易行易具、至广至平而非至高难能；朱训中为无过不及、庸平常、至为极，并引不偏不易。 |
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. About this edition
| Quoted text | Source | Page |
|---|---|---|
| “中者，无过无不及之名也……少有此德久矣” | 朱注；朱注引程子 | page 89 |
音Pronunciation
| Character | In the line | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| 鲜 | 民鲜久矣、鲜，少也 | xiǎn |
| 中 | 中庸、中者、谓中 | zhōng |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects 雍也第六 6.27 “中庸之为德”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/yong-ye/27.html, version 2026-11-15.Last checked: 2026-11-15. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
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