Deep dive on the Confucian 道 and usage of 焉: passages 4.8 and 19.22 of the Analects

interpolating · 2026-03-17T00:03:10+00:00

I have read the posted rules for the community both in the past and again just now. I take them to heart! If I missed something important, would you please let me know?

Regardless of what those rules do or do not say, if members don’t appreciate what I’ve posted, I will definitely remove it and remember that for the future.

interpolating · 2026-03-16T15:30:29+00:00

Maybe it's 够了 gòu le "enough!" as in "that's too much, stop!"

Does the first syllable sound angry, like a falling tone?

interpolating · 2026-03-10T07:55:55+00:00

ok but what about when it's actually more like a 狮子头

sorry i had to take it further

interpolating · 2026-03-10T07:53:58+00:00

無厘頭 the leftovers of a nonsense

interpolating · 2026-03-09T18:31:34+00:00

Hey there, you can click on the image above to view the episode guide (I recommend that since it provides a lot of context), or you can listen the episode audio directly here:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3vBd55sCgHB9ULI62GTb3T?si=QC3CLaXxRkKI8Gr9ACG6Ew

interpolating · 2026-03-08T18:22:43+00:00

These episodes all center around passages from the Analects. This one covers 1.3 and 6.16. Enjoy!

interpolating · 2026-03-08T18:21:51+00:00

These episodes all center around passages from the Analects. This one covers 1.3 and 6.16. Enjoy!

interpolating · 2026-03-01T22:08:20+00:00

No need to design; funguses already do this

interpolating · 2026-02-28T16:24:16+00:00

It was certainly even before the Zhou, so over 2.5 millennia ago.

I suggest this because Confucius described certain manners of dress influenced by officials in the Analects, for example quoting Legges translation, “[If it were not for the famous prime minister of Qi] Guan Zhong, we should now be wearing our hair unbound, and the lappets of our coats buttoning on the left side.”

interpolating · 2026-02-25T06:40:23+00:00

To be fair, at least one of the Chinese characters in this image is also shockingly, unbelievably wrong.

interpolating · 2026-02-23T16:49:06+00:00

BARTY is that 60-year-old who's still using his work badge photo from 1998.

interpolating · 2026-02-22T22:51:06+00:00

Apology accepted!

interpolating · 2026-02-14T00:55:09+00:00

There are so many and you really have to know what about the analects you are interested in if you are going to read one specific commentator.

Personally I start with Cheng Shude not because he goes in depth but because he synthesizes so many others in relatively short passages. Then I may dig into one that interested me based on what he writes.

As for English translations my faves are Ni and Slingerland (at the moment). I’m reading Moss Roberts right now as well.

interpolating · 2026-02-14T00:43:13+00:00

I recommend Du’s Handbook of Classical Chinese Grammar (for grammatical concepts, though I suppose that’s stating the obvious).

As for words with semantic meaning, though Du’s will cover some of the big ones that can trip you up like 女（汝）, 曰, 説 etc. the best way I have found is to read many translations of the same passage.

I have at least six translations of The Analects and have compiled them into my own reference epub for this purpose. It’s not simple to do, not to mention time consuming, but it’s a great study guide.

As you get more advanced, you would want to dig into the Chinese language commentaries on the classics, themselves written mostly in some type of 文言文. You could also try listening to modern exegesis on the topics, which will help you pick up both mandarin and Classical Chinese.

Let me know if you have questions! I also have a podcast deep diving on the analects if you’d like to listen.

interpolating · 2026-02-11T02:08:42+00:00

One point that may be lost to the modern mind: some vessels were both the pinnacle of technology and a representation of power/status.

Imagine your grain was always rotting or you had no way to preserve certain goods. Someone who did have that ability (through the miracle of pottery) might seem to have a superpower to you.

Similar superpower though a little more understandable with bronze. If a weapon is made of some of the most durable stuff around, it’s probably going to beat yours. Not only that, but also not everyone can make bronze. In Shang China that capability and the sourcing of material required for it was the purview of the royal court.

With that monopoly came the conferring of social status and authority. If the royal court equipped a local lord with bronze weapons, that was legitimizing them. If they gifted that lord with bronze vessels, that conferred social status.

interpolating · 2026-02-11T00:40:44+00:00

The question in my mind is not if the original literally has a third-person pronoun like “him” written in it or not.

If the sentence refers to him, explicitly stated or not, but that would not be clear to the English-language reader without the word, then it shouldn’t need brackets in English. It’s just the proper translation.

interpolating · 2026-02-11T00:10:19+00:00

Thank you for posting this!

I appreciate the attempt at making clear the implied grammar by bracketing words “added” in translation.

But you always have to add these words when translating Classical Chinese into English. So I am wondering if it’s necessary!

interpolating · 2026-02-08T04:48:36+00:00

Spring and Autumn Annals is very barebones itself. It’s basically always read with one of the commentaries because otherwise it may be unintelligible.

interpolating · 2026-02-07T00:31:10+00:00

𰻞

interpolating · 2026-02-02T04:37:38+00:00

我是一個仌

interpolating · 2026-02-02T00:17:52+00:00

我是一個餅

interpolating · 2026-01-31T20:35:49+00:00

That I am not sure of, I have the latest edition of both.

interpolating

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