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.
子在川上，曰：逝者如斯夫！不舍晝夜。Standing by a river, the Master said: It flows on like this, never ceasing day or night.
What this chapter says
一孔按：朱熹读作天地运行一刻不停，勉励人学也不停；今人多读作叹时光像流水。两说都通，一孔录并存：一个教人珍惜，一个教人不歇。
Yikonglu's reading of this chapter is in Chinese for now; the English version comes with the video.
白Plain Chinese
孔子站在河边，说：消逝的一切就像这河水吧！日日夜夜，从不停息。
Draft plain-Chinese rendering following Zhu Xi; it will be checked when the chapter is covered.
看Watch this chapter
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Connections
- Other books
- Read alongside (Yikonglu)Daodejing 8: Looking at the same water, Confucius saw time that never stops.
- Cited by commentatorsDaodejing 21: Chunfu's commentary, recorded by Jiao Hong, cites Su Shi's “what passes is like this, yet it has never gone,” using Confucius's sigh by the river to explain “from ancient times to now…”
- Disputed reading
- Yikonglu reads it as “Both readings retained”. See our note
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
孔子在河边说“逝者如斯夫，不舍昼夜”，他在说什么？
注Key words in the commentary
天地之化，往者过，来者续，无一息之停，乃道体之本然也。然其可指而易见者，莫如川流。
核Zhu Xi's commentary, line by line
Zhu Xi's own words on each line of this chapter, each checked against the base-edition page. Other commentators are added when the chapter is covered. About this edition
| Line | Quoted text | Page |
|---|---|---|
| 子在川上，曰：逝 | “天地之化，往者过，来者续，无一息之停，乃道体之本然也。然其可指而易见者，莫如川流。故于此发以示人，欲学者时时省察，而无毫发之间断也。” | page 124 |
| 子在川上，曰：逝 | “自此至终篇，皆勉人进学不已之辞。” | page 125 |
| 不舍昼夜。 | “此道体也。天运而不已，日往则月来，寒往则暑来，水流而不息，物生而不穷，皆与道为体，运乎昼夜，未尝已也。是以君子法之，自强不息。及其至也，纯亦不已焉。” | page 124—125 |
| 不舍昼夜。 | “自汉以来，儒者皆不识此义。此见圣人之心，纯亦不已也。纯亦不已，乃天德也。有天德，便可语王道，其要只在谨独。” | page 124—125 |
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 五
“孔子在於川水之上，見川流迅邁，未嘗停止。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | 舍 | differs | fairly sure | 钱以不舍昼夜为昼夜皆然、流年往逝；朱重往来不断的道体及学者无间断用功。钱亦承认道体为可存一解。 |
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