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：如有王者，必世而後仁。The Master said: Even with a true king, it would take a generation for humaneness to prevail.
What this chapter says
一孔按：若有王者兴起，也要一世三十年才能使仁政普及。仁要靠教化浸润，急不得。常有人问：“如有王者，必世而后仁”，王者兴起为什么还要等三十年？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，如果有圣王兴起，也要经过一代，才能使仁的教化深入人心。
Draft plain-Chinese rendering following Zhu Xi; it will be checked when the chapter is covered.
看Watch this chapter
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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
“如有王者，必世而后仁”，王者兴起为什么还要等三十年？
注Key words in the commentary
王者，谓圣人受命而兴也。三十年为一世。仁，谓教化浃也。
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 子曰：如有王者， | “汉自高、惠至于文、景，黎民醇厚，几致刑措，庶乎其近之矣。” | page 178 |
| 子曰：如有王者， | “王者，谓圣人受命而兴也。三十年为一世。仁，谓教化浃也。” | page 178—179 |
| 子曰：如有王者， | “周自文、武至于成王，而后礼乐兴，即其效也。” | page 178—179 |
| 子曰：如有王者， | “或问：三年、必世，迟速不同，何也？程子曰：三年有成，谓法度纪纲有成而化行也。渐民以仁，摩民以义，使之浃于肌肤，沦于骨髓，而礼乐可兴，所谓仁也。此非积久，何以能致？” | page 178—179 |
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
“王者謂聖人為天子也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 杨伯峻《论语译注》 | same | settled | 世为三十年，仁为教化浃于民；与三年有成非矛盾，朱以法度成与德化深入区别。 | |
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以一世三十年、王者有德位受命统一，仁为教化浃洽，非声称三十年方做任何善政；钱以新旧民更替说明时间。 |
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