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.
子絕四：毋意，毋必，毋固，毋我。The Master was free of four things: no presumption, no insistence, no stubbornness, no self.
What this chapter says
一孔按：孔子断绝四样：私意、期必、执滞、私我。四者一环扣一环，起于私意，终于有我，所以连起来说。常有人问：“子绝四：毋意、毋必、毋固、毋我”，为什么这四样连起来说？上面是一孔录的回答。
Yikonglu's reading of this chapter is in Chinese for now; the English version comes with the video.
白Plain Chinese
孔子杜绝了四种毛病：不凭私意揣度，不预先认定一定如此，不固执己见，不以自我为中心。
Draft plain-Chinese rendering following Zhu Xi; it will be checked when the chapter is covered.
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Connections
- Other books
- Cited by commentatorsDaodejing 13: Wang Pang, explaining “I have great trouble because I have a body,” cites Confucius's “no ego” (毋我) and says the principle is the same.
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
“子绝四：毋意、毋必、毋固、毋我”，为什么这四样连起来说？
注Key words in the commentary
绝，无之尽者。毋，史记作无是也。意，私意也。必，期必也。固，执滞也。我，私己也。
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 子绝四：毋意，毋 | “绝，无之尽者。毋，史记作无是也。意，私意也。必，期必也。固，执滞也。我，私己也。四者相为终始，起于意，遂于必，留于固，而成于我也。” | page 118 |
| 子绝四：毋意，毋 | “盖意必常在事前，固我常在事后，至于我又生意，则物欲牵引，循环不穷矣。” | page 118 |
| 子绝四：毋意，毋 | “此毋字，非禁止之辞。圣人绝此四者，何用禁止。” | page 118 |
| 子绝四：毋意，毋 | “非知足以知圣人，详视而默识之，不足以记此。” | page 118 |
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
“云子絶四者，絶者，無也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | 意 | differs | fairly sure | 钱取亿测而不从私意；朱取私意。毋均非禁止命令，而是孔子已无四病，固为执滞亦同。 |
| 杨伯峻《论语译注》 | 意 | word sense | settled | 杨取悬空揣测，朱取私意；必固我均为执定私己，毋均描述绝无而非四条命令。 |
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