Analects 10.7: 鄉黨 (Xiang Dang)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 10 presents Confucius through the details of his conduct: how he speaks among neighbors and officials, receives guests, moves through a ruler’s court, dresses, prepares for ritual, and eats. Clothing, gesture, pace, and expression change with the occasion. The later scenes include gifts, illness, a fire, a friend’s death, and encounters calling for respect. Ease at home and readiness to respond both belong to the portrait. The final, difficult scene turns to a pheasant’s flight and a repeated praise of timeliness.
Analects 10.7
齊、必有明衣、布。齊必變食、居必遷坐。
When purifying himself for ritual, he always had a clean garment of plain cloth. During purification he changed his food and changed where he sat at home.
Commentary
ritual Purification changes daily habits 齊 here names preparation for ritual. The text makes that preparation visible in clothing, food, and a changed place at home. “Purification” leaves room for all three changes. It does not specify which foods were removed or what place replaced the usual one.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium