Analects 7.31: 述而 (Shu Er)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 7 builds a portrait of the Master through self-descriptions, conversations, and observations of his conduct. He loves the ancient tradition, learns through sustained attention, and teaches by asking learners to carry an indication further. Music, mourning, plain food, and illness show how these commitments enter daily life. Political judgment calls for knowing when to act or withdraw and for accepting criticism. Repeated disclaimers about his own attainment sit beside confidence in Heaven and the nearness of humaneness. The closing portrait holds warmth, firmness, respect, and ease together.
Analects 7.31
子與人歌、而善、必使反之、而後和之。
When the Master sang with others and someone sang well, he always asked them to sing again, then sang in response.
Commentary
translation Shared singing and response 子與人歌 begins with the Master singing with others. 而後 orders his response after the request for a repetition. The English presents his singing as a response to the repetition; Legge has him accompany it. The wording does not settle whether the whole repeated song finishes before his voice enters, so accompaniment remains a possible reading of 和之.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium