《论语》学而1.1

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原文

子曰：“学而时习之，不亦说乎？有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎？人不知而不愠，不亦君子乎？”

译文

孔子说：“学习（为人处事的道理）并且（在适当的时候）印证和实践，是很愉快的事。有志同道合的朋友从远方来相聚，是很快乐的事。别人不了解我（或者不懂得为人处世的道理），但我并不怨恨生气，是有修养的君子风度。”

英文译文

Confucius said, “Isn’t it pleasurable to practice regularly (when appropriate) what you’ve learned (in how you should conduct yourself)? Isn’t it delightful to have friends visiting from afar? Isn’t the mark of a virtuous person to go unacknowledged by others without harbouring frustration? (Isn’t the mark of a virtuous person to harbour no frustration when others haven’t learned?)”

讲解

英文解析

“Noble man” is an English translation for the Chinese term junzi 君子, which originally meant “son of a prince”—thus, someone from the nobility. In the Analects, Confucius imbues the term with a special meaning. Though sometimes used strictly in its original sense, it also refers to a person who has made significant progress in the Way (dao) of self-cultivation, by developing a sense of justice 義, by loving treatment of parents 孝, respect for elders 弟, honesty with friends 信, etc. Though the junzi is a highly advanced human being, he is still distinguished from the category of sage (shengren 聖人), who is, in the Analects more of a “divine being,” usually a model from great antiquity.

The character of the noble man, in contrast to the sage, is being taught as a tangible model for all in the here and now. And although many descriptions of the requirements for junzi status seem quite out of our reach, there are many passages where Confucius labels a contemporary, or one of his disciples a “noble man,” intending a complement. Thus, the categorization is not so rigid. One might want to compare the term “noble man” to the Buddhist bodhisattva, in that both are the models for the tradition, both indicate a very high stage of human development as technical terms, yet both may be used colloquially to refer to a “really good person.”

感受

谈两点感受。

第一，傅佩荣老师的讲解，与我一直以来的理解不一样，尤其是第一句“学而时习之，不亦说乎”。从小到大，对这一句的理解似乎都是“学习了新知识之后，要常常复习”，类似“温故而知新，可以为师矣”。现在看来，确实是有望文生义的嫌疑。傅佩荣老师的讲解更全面和深入，不仅解释了学什么（不只是知识，还有为人处世的道理），还解释了学之后要做什么（要在生活中印证和付诸实践）。这包含了后世王阳明的“事上练”和“知行合一”，比“学习和复习”更进一步。

第二，我对第三句有个自己的理解。“人不知而不愠，不亦君子乎？”是即使别人并不知道（为人处世的道理），也不要生气，这才是君子的风度。总体而言，所谓“君子”，其实是自我的理想和追求，是用来律己的，而不是规范他人的。自己学习，有志同道合的朋友，都是很高兴很有成就感的事，但是其他人不学习或者不懂，也不用苛求他人，不用气愤。