Analects 7.34: 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 7.34
子疾病。子路請禱。子曰、有諸。子路對曰、有之、誄曰、禱爾於上下神祗。子曰、丘之禱久矣。
The Master was seriously ill. Zilu asked leave to pray for him. The Master said, “Is there such a practice?” Zilu replied, “There is. The eulogy says, ‘Prayer is offered for you to the spirits above and below.’” The Master said, “I, Qiu, have been praying for a long time.”
Commentary
ritual A request supported by a eulogy Zilu asks permission to pray, and answers the Master’s question by citing a eulogy that speaks of prayer for someone to the spirits above and below. 誄 names the eulogy he invokes. The exchange makes ritual speech the support for the proposed act, without giving the title or circumstances of the quoted composition.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium
ethics What has already lasted a long time The Master’s final words say that his praying has long been underway. They may present his continuing way of life as prayer, or refer to prayer already made; the saying gives no description that settles this. The answer shifts attention from a new intervention during illness to something enduring.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium