Analects 19.17: 子張 (Zi Zhang)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Zizhang, Zixia, Ziyou, Master Zeng, and Zigong speak about learning, friendship, mourning, and public responsibility. Their judgments sometimes conflict: who should be welcomed as a friend, how teaching reaches the root, and whether impressive achievement amounts to humaneness. The final sayings turn to reputation and the limits of judging another person. Zigong defends the Master through images of hidden interiors, the sun and moon, and rule that would draw a response from the people.
Analects 19.17
曾子曰、吾聞諸夫子、人未有自致者也、必也親喪乎。
Master Zeng said, “I have heard the Master say, ‘People may never give themselves fully; if they do, surely it is in mourning their parents.’”
Commentary
translation Giving oneself fully 自致 concerns bringing oneself wholly to bear. Legge reads the saying as an exception: people who have not otherwise shown their full capacities may do so in mourning their parents. The translation keeps that movement from a broad negative claim to an emphatic possibility. Master Zeng expressly reports a saying of the Master, so the words reach the reader through another speaker.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium