7.24 The son said, "The second and third sons think of me as a hidden? I have nothing to hide! I have nothing to do without two or three sons, it is Qiu. ”
Confucius said, "Do you think I have something to hide? I have nothing to hide! There's nothing I don't teach you in my lectures, that's who I am. ”
Interpretation] This chapter is also a chapter that seems to be easy to understand, but the famous translation is not satisfactory.
First of all, we must judge to whom Confucius said this, so as to judge the specific meaning of these words. That is, who does the "second and third sons" refer to? In the Analects, the words "two and three sons" mean "you", "everyone", and "you people". It is not an honorific or a derogatory term, and can be used to address peers or juniors, peers or subordinates.
In the Analects, there are five chapters in which the term "two and three sons" is used, and in addition to this chapter, the remaining four chapters can accurately determine that the "two and three sons" refer to Confucius's students. Does this chapter refer to Confucius's students? It is possible, but it is not excluded that it may be told to others.
Let's not forget that Confucius was an official in the Lu State, if his subordinate ** said that Master Confucius had concealed everything that should be told us, Confucius might make "The second and third sons take me as a hide?" Explained.
The key to deciphering is "I have nothing to do without being with the second or third son", fortunately, it is not difficult to understand the general direction of this statement, and at a glance, Confucius did not have any intention of concealing it. It is impossible for an official not to hide anything from his peers or subordinates, but a teacher can not hide all his knowledge from his students, so there should be nothing wrong with the "two and three sons" in this chapter also referring to Confucius's students.
The difficulty is the detailed translation of "I have nothing to do without two or three sons". Further, what exactly does "line" and "and" mean? Taking it a step further, what does "and" mean?
At present, the mainstream interpretation is divided into two categories, one is represented by the master Zhu Xi, who translates "and" as "show". "I have nothing to do without two or three sons" means that I have nothing to disclose to everyone, which makes sense semantically, and it is also the most mainstream translation.
The other type is represented by Mr. Qian Mu, who translates "and" as "and......together". "I have no deeds and not with my second or third sons" is "What act of mine am I not with you?" "Not many people use this translation, but it is semantically clear.
Without going into a detailed discussion, I will only cite one of the strongest counter-arguments, in ancient Chinese, "and" has neither the use of "show" nor the ...... of "and".Together".
I translate "and" as "giving", which is a traditional usage, such as "with the life of the shoulder" in "Hongmen Banquet". "It's just to give Fan Hao a raw pig shoulder. "I have nothing to do without two or three sons" means that I have nothing not (taught) to everyone, the semantics are clear, and the translation is also based on it.
As for "action", I think it is the same as "a gentleman wants to be quick in words and quick in action" (Liren 424) "Xing" refers to work, refers to doing things. What is the teacher's job with the student? Teaching, of course.
Based on the above, I translate "I have nothing to do without two or three sons" as: I have nothing to teach and not teach to everyone, and I have no lecture to teach to everyone.
As for the students' complaints about what Confucius was hiding, it is subject to the "Scholarly Chapter" 110 Inspired by the dialogue between Zhongzi Bird and Zigong, they may have suspected that Confucius had concealed his learning methods, otherwise why Confucius knew everything, but they never learned that height. It's also an interesting topic if you expand it on.