Monday 28 November 2011

Analects - Confucius 7

We start the second chapter of Analects. This chapter is also on learning.
子夏曰:賢賢易色,事父母能竭其力,事君能致其身,與朋友交言而有信,雖曰未學,吾必謂之學矣。

子夏 was Confucius student. After Confucius's death, he was teaching Confucius ideas to people and had huge influence at his time.

The first 賢 in 賢賢易色 is used as a verb meaning "getting close to 賢". The second 賢 is used as a noun meaning "people of good character and quality". 易 is "change" and 色 is "colour". That this sentence means is that when one get close to a person with good character and quality, one will recognize and change one's attitude towards that person.

父 is "father" and 母 is "mother". Together, 父母 means "parents".

事父母能竭其力
When serving one parents, one would use all the energy

君 is used as "friend" here - a friend who you know well.

事君能致其身
When helping a friend, one would commit oneself completely.

與朋友交言而有信
When with friends, one's words are trustworthy.

雖曰未學,吾必謂之學矣
Anyone, who can do the above three things, although you may say s/he has not gone to school, I would say s/he is a learnt person.

Again, this paragraph shows what Confucius considered as learning - to learn to become a good person.

No comments:

Post a Comment