Analects 7.9: 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 7.9
子食於有喪者之側、未嘗飽也。子於是日哭、則不歌。
When the Master ate beside someone in mourning, he never ate his fill. On a day when he had wept, he did not sing.
Commentary
ritual Appetite and song beside mourning The two observations concern food and voice. Beside a mourner, the Master leaves appetite short of fullness; on a day of weeping, he leaves song aside. The first responds to another person’s mourning, while the second governs his own conduct across the day.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high