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.
子謂衛公子荊，善居室。始有，曰：苟合矣。少有，曰：苟完矣。富有，曰：苟美矣。The Master said of Prince Jing of Wei that he managed his household well. When he first had something, he said: It will more or less do. When he had a little more, he said: It is more or less complete. When he was rich, he said: It is more or less fine.
What this chapter says
一孔按：卫公子荆善于居家：刚有一点说差不多聚齐了，多一点说差不多完备了，富有了说差不多完美了。循序有节，不让求速求全累着心。常有人问：卫公子荆居家说“苟合矣、苟完矣、苟美矣”，孔子为什么夸他？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，卫国公子荆善于经营家业：刚有些家产，就说粗略聚起来了，稍多些，就说粗略齐备了，富有了，又说粗略美好了。
Draft plain-Chinese rendering following Zhu Xi; it will be checked when the chapter is covered.
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Connections
- People
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
卫公子荆居家说“苟合矣、苟完矣、苟美矣”，孔子为什么夸他？
注Key words in the commentary
公子荆，卫大夫。苟，聊且粗略之意。合，聚也。完，备也。言其循序而有节，不以欲速尽美累其心。
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 子谓卫公子荆，善 | “公子荆，卫大夫。苟，聊且粗略之意。合，聚也。完，备也。言其循序而有节，不以欲速尽美累其心。” | page 177 |
| 富有，曰：苟美矣 | “务为全美，则累物而骄吝之心生。公子荆皆曰苟而已，则不以外物为心，其欲易足故也。” | page 177 |
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
“云子謂云云者，衛公子荆是衛家公子也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 杨伯峻《论语译注》 | same | fairly sure | 居室家业循序而知足，苟合完美均聊且足用；朱重不累心，杨兼议以廉俭讽时而不定为唯一定说。 | |
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以公子荆治家财用循序、不求尽美累心。合字钱训足、物各配成，朱训聚，苟均取姑且粗略自足。 |
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