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：苟正其身矣，於從政乎何有？不能正其身，如正人何？The Master said: If he can make himself correct, what difficulty would he have in government? If he cannot make himself correct, how can he correct others?
What this chapter says
一孔按：能正自身，从政有什么难；不能正自身，怎么去正别人。常有人问：“苟正其身矣，于从政乎何有”，从政为什么先要正自身？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，如果端正了自己，主持政事有什么难；连自己也不能端正，又怎么端正别人呢？
Draft plain-Chinese rendering following Zhu Xi; it will be checked when the chapter is covered.
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Connections
- Same line elsewhere
- Analects 6.6 季康子問：仲由可使從政也與？……
- Analects 13.6 其身正，不令而行；其身不正，……
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
“苟正其身矣，于从政乎何有”，从政为什么先要正自身？
见Cross-references
- 子曰：苟正其身矣 Elsewhere in the Analects：曰：求也艺，于从政乎何有？（《论语》集注分章6.6（底本第 80 页））
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，苟，誠也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 杨伯峻《论语译注》 | same | settled | 正己是正人前提，何有为不难；朱本章无附注，杨不把正己限定为外表端正。 | |
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以正己方可正人、从政何难，不能正己则无以正人；钱说明从政即为政，朱不另加解释。 |
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