Category Archives: Analects

Tranlation’s words

谓：Legge’s translation: “meaning”, Eno’s translation: “sense”.

媚：Legge: pay court to; Eno: appeal to; Lau: be obsequious to

灶：Legge: furnance; Eno: the kitchen god; Lau: the kitchen stove

奥： Legge: the south-west corner; Eno: the god of the dark corner; Lau: the south-west corner of the house

Legge translated “问曰”into “asked, saying” . Comparing to “asked” (Eno’s translation) and “said” (Lau’s translation) , Legge translated both words. Wangsun Jia asked a question after “问曰”in this chapter, so it is also understandable if only translate “问曰”into “asked” or “said”.

Legge translated “媚”into “pay court to” . “媚”has several meanings (love or flatter)¹ as a verb. Comparing to Eno’s translation (appeal to) , “pay court to” is more close to the original meaning of “媚”. But “pay court to” has been old-fashioned than “appeal to” from 1800.

“灶” has two meanings in Chinese: “kitch… Read all/全文

【十三章】【一節】王孫賈問曰、與其媚於奧、寧媚於竈、何謂也。【二節】子曰、不然、獲罪於天、無所禱也。

Legge’s translation:

Chapter XIII. 1. Wang-sun Chia asked, saying, “What is the meaning of the saying, ‘It is better to pay court to the furnace than to the south-west corner?'”

2. The Master said, “Not so. He who offends against Heaven has none to whom he can pray.”

Commentary: THAT THERE IS NO RESOURCE AGAINST THE CONSEQUENCES OF VILATING THE RIGHT. Kea is the great officer of Wei, and having the power of the state in his hands, insinuated Confucius that it would be for his advantage to pay court to him. The southwest corner was from the structure of ancient houses the cosiest nook, and the place of honour.
Choo He explains the proverb by reference to the customs of sacrifice.
The furnace was comparatively a mean place, but when the spirit of the furnace was sacrificed to, then the rank of the two places was changed for the time, and the proverb quoted was… Read all/全文

力不足者，中道而废，今女画。

如何达到自己的目标？有时候并不是我们没有能力达到，而是我们总是在中途放弃了。我们在跌倒的时候不断的质疑自己，如果我们爬起了，再次起来，我们总有可能到达最终的目的地，而当我们放弃了，我们就真的会认为：我们没有能力去做了。我们不断编织这样的谎言去否定自己，最终我们将自己囚禁在谎言的牢笼中。

子曰、不有祝鮀之佞、而有宋朝之美、難乎免於今之世矣。

今之世推崇口才与容貌。