《论语》学而1.2

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原文

有子曰。其为人也孝弟，而好犯上者，鲜矣。不好犯上，而好作乱者，未之有也。君子务本，本立而道生。孝弟也者，其为仁之本与。

译文

有子说：“孝顺父母、敬爱兄长，却冒犯上级，这样的人是很少见的。不冒犯上级却造反的人，更是从来没有的。君子致力于夯实根本，根本稳固了，人生自然而然地走上正途。孝顺父母、敬爱兄长，这就是做人的根本！”

英文

You Zi said: “There are few who have developed themselves filially and fraternally who enjoy offending their superiors. Those who do not enjoy offending superiors are never troublemakers. The noble man concerns himself with the fundamentals. Once the fundamentals are established, the proper way appears. Are not filial piety and obedience to elders fundamental to the actualization of fundamental human goodness?”

解析

英文解析

The word ren 仁 is perhaps the most fundamental concept in Confucian thought. It has been translated into English as “benevolence,” “altruism,” “goodness”, “humaneness” etc. It is a difficult concept to translate because it doesn't really refer to any specific type of virtue or positive endowment, but refers to an inner capacity possessed by all human beings to do good, as human beings should. It is the quality that makes humans human, and not animals. In earlier iterations of this translation I have gone through various transitions: at first I attempted to use a unified English rendering throughout the text. I then pursued a strategy of leaving untranslated, as ren. Now I am presently leaning in the direction of translating the term variously, according to the context, but at present, remnants of all three strategies remain in the text. I intend to eventually sort this out.

In the Chinese “essence-function” 體用 paradigm, ren can be understood as the innate, unmanifest source of all kinds of manifestations of virtuosity: wisdom, filial piety, reverence, courtesy, love, sincerity, etc., all of which are aspects, or functions of ren. Through one's efforts at practicing at the function of ren, one may enhance and develop one's ren, until one may be called a noble man, or even better, a “humane person” 仁人. In the Analects, to be called a “humane person” by the Master is an extremely high evaluation, rarely acknowledged for anyone.

感受

我的口袋版《论语》里并没有收录这一篇。估计是因为这一篇并不是孔子的教导，而是有子的话。

虽然看上去，这句话教导的是尊卑有序，但我觉得可以从另外一个角度来理解，也就是对长辈和前辈的尊敬，是基本的教养。

这种基本教养在家庭里，是对父母养育之恩的感激，是兄弟姐妹之间的和睦。在社会关系中，也延伸到了职场和学术领域，尊重前辈的经验和智慧，才能以谦卑的心态学习和成长。

但我觉得这种尊重并不意味着盲从，而是在理解和吸收的基础上，形成自己的见解，主要还是在外求和谐有序，在内求谦逊自持。

这一点，对于成长在山东传统家庭的我来说，其实是很熟悉的。从小受到的教育里，关于长幼有序，待人接物，占了相当多篇幅，而且具体化成为许多条条框框。比如，见到长辈和前辈要起身问好，在他们面前不能翘二郎腿之类的。

虽然说，在这些教导中，也掺杂着一些陈旧的规束，在现在的生活当中早就不合时宜，但我还是很庆幸这样的教育能让人学会基本的敬畏心。

敬畏心是现代生活中十分需要又稀缺的好品质，因为敬畏心能让人有更高的自律门槛，对于“不该做”的事有更清晰的界定，尤其是那些冒犯别人、侵入他人边界的事。

社会上有很多“巨婴”，因为一点点“不如意”，就觉得自己的“权威”受到挑战和损害，而对别人进行无底线的“报复”。在我眼里，这就是缺少了敬畏心的体现。因为在这些“巨婴”眼中，是没有“别人”只有“自己”的，或者他从来就没有学会过“孝悌”这个根本，只知道别人必须对他们言听计从、有求必应。所以，没有敬畏心的“巨婴”根本不会把别人当成自己的同类和同胞，伤害别人也不会有任何负罪感和怜悯心。