一孔录子曰：回也，其心三月不违仁，其余则日月至焉而已矣。The Master said: As for Hui, his heart could go three months without departing from humaneness; the rest reach it only for a day or a month, and that is all.
Tap any sentence of the original to copy it with its source.
白Plain Chinese
孔子说：颜回啊，他的心可以三个月不离开仁；其余的人，不过一天一月偶尔达到罢了。
A plain modern-Chinese rendering following Yikonglu's reading.
常The common reading
Yan Hui and the others: where exactly is the difference?
注Key words in the commentary
“三月，言其久” — “three months” means a long time; “日月至焉，或日一至焉，或月一至焉，能造其域而不能久也” — “reach it for a day or a month” means arriving once a day or once a month: they can enter the domain but cannot stay long.
家What other commentators say
Master Cheng: “三月，天道小变之节，言其久也……过此则圣人矣” — three months is a minor turn in the course of heaven, meaning a long time … beyond this one would be a sage. Yin: “此颜子于圣人，未达一间者也” — here Yanzi falls short of the sage by a hair. Master Zhang: “始学之要，当知三月不违与日月至焉内外宾主之辨” — the key for a beginner is to know the distinction of inside and outside, host and guest, between “three months without departing” and “reaching it for a day or a month”.
读How Yikonglu reads it
Yan Hui's humaneness is like a host living at home who now and then steps out; the others' is like a guest who drops by now and then. The difference lies in how long it lasts, not in whether it is there.
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
“云回也其心三月不違仁者，仁是行成，非體仁則不能不違。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以三月言久，颜子能居仁不违、余人日月偶至而不能久；钱以屋内外宾主譬之，朱以有德无私欲说明。 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “三月，言其久……能造其域而不能久也” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 79 |
| “程子曰：三月，天道小变之节……便是不仁。尹氏曰：此颜子于圣人，未达一间者也，若圣人则浑然无间断矣” | 朱注引程子、尹氏 | page 79 |
| “张子曰：始学之要……过此几非在我者” | 朱注引张子 | page 79 |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects 雍也第六 6.5 “Where did Yan Hui differ from the others?”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/yong-ye/5.html, version 2026-11-05.Last checked: 2026-11-05. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
Found an error in this chapter? Email us; once checked, it goes on the errata page under your username: 
