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：善人為邦百年，亦可以勝殘去殺矣。誠哉是言也！The Master said: 'If good men governed a state for a hundred years, they could overcome cruelty and do away with killing.' How true this saying is!
What this chapter says
一孔按：善人治国连续一百年，也可以化残暴、免刑杀。孔子引古语而赞同，是说善人之治要相继久远才见功。常有人问：“善人为邦百年，亦可以胜残去杀矣”，为什么要百年这么久？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
孔子说，善人相继治理国家百年，也能化除残暴，不再用刑杀，这话确实说得对啊。
Draft plain-Chinese rendering following Zhu Xi; it will be checked when the chapter is covered.
看Watch this chapter
The video for this chapter is in production and will appear here. Follow Yikonglu to see it first:YouTubeBilibili
Connections
- Other books
- Read alongside (Yikonglu)Daodejing 74: Confucius says that if good people governed a state for a hundred years, they could overcome cruelty and do away with killing.
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
“善人为邦百年，亦可以胜残去杀矣”，为什么要百年这么久？
注Key words in the commentary
为邦百年，言相继而久也。胜残，化残暴之人，使不为恶也。去杀，谓民化于善，可以不用刑杀也。盖古有是言，而夫子称之。
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 子曰：善人为邦百 | “为邦百年，言相继而久也。胜残，化残暴之人，使不为恶也。去杀，谓民化于善，可以不用刑杀也。盖古有是言，而夫子称之。” | page 178 |
| 诚哉是言也！ | “胜残去杀，不为恶而已，善人之功如是。若夫圣人，则不止此。” | page 178 |
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 七
“云子曰云云者，善人謂賢人也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 杨伯峻《论语译注》 | same | settled | 胜残使暴人化、去杀可免刑杀，乃孔子引旧语而赞；朱以相继百年为久，非一人必须在位百岁。 | |
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以百年为善人相继日久，胜残是化残暴不为恶、去杀是化善可不刑杀；钱兼战争不用，朱此处主刑杀。 |
Found an error in this chapter? Email us; once checked, it goes on the errata page under your username: 
