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有子問於曾子曰：「問喪於夫子乎？」曰：「聞之矣：喪欲速貧，死欲速朽。」有子曰：「是非君子之言也。」曾子曰：「參也聞諸夫子也。」有子又曰：「是非君子之言也。」曾子曰：「參也與子游聞之。」有子曰：「然，然則夫子有為言之也。」 |
| Tan Gong I: |
You-zi asked Zeng-zi if he had ever questioned the Master about (an officer's) losing his place. 'I heard from him,' was the reply, 'that the officer in such a case should wish to become poor quickly, (just as) we should wish to decay away quickly when we have died.' You-zi said, 'These are not the words of a superior man.' 'I heard them from the Master,' returned Zeng-zi. You-zi repeated that they were not the words of a superior man, and the other affirmed that both he and Zi-you had heard them. 'Yes, yes,' said You-zi, 'but the Master must have spoken them with a special reference.' |
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曾子以斯言告於子游。子游曰：「甚哉，有子之言似夫子也。昔者夫子居於宋，見桓司馬自為石槨，三年而不成。夫子曰：『若是其靡也，死不如速朽之愈也。』死之欲速朽，為桓司馬言之也。南宮敬叔反，必載寶而朝。夫子曰：『若是其貨也，喪不如速貧之愈也。』喪之欲速貧，為敬叔言之也。」 |
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Zeng-zi reported You-zi's words to Zi-you, who said, 'How very like his words are to those of the Master! Formerly, when the Master was staying in Song, he saw that Huan, the minister of War, had been for three years having a stone coffin made for himself without its being finished, and said, "What extravagance! It would be better that when dead he should quickly decay away." It was with reference to Hwan, the minister of War, that he said, "We should wish to decay away quickly when we die." When Nan-gong Jing-shu returned (to the state), he made it a point to carry his treasures with him in his carriage when he went to court, on which the Master said, "Such an amount of property! It would have been better for him, when he lost his office, to make haste to become poor." It was with reference to Nan-gong Jing-shu that he said that we should work to become poor quickly, when we have lost office."' |
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曾子以子游之言告於有子，有子曰：「然，吾固曰：非夫子之言也。」曾子曰：「子何以知之？」有子曰：「夫子制於中都，四寸之棺，五寸之槨，以斯知不欲速朽也。昔者夫子失魯司寇，將之荊，蓋先之以子夏，又申之以冉有，以斯知不欲速貧也。」 |
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Zeng-zi reported these words of Zi-you to You-zi, who said, 'Yes, I did say that these were not the words of the Master.' When the other asked him how he knew it, he said, 'The Master made an ordinance in Zhong-Du that the inner coffin should be four inches thick, and the outer five. By this I knew that he did not wish that the dead should decay away quickly. And formerly, when he had lost the office of minister of Crime in Lu, and was about to go to Jing, he first sent Zi-xia there, and afterwards Ran You. By this, I knew that he did not wish to become poor quickly.' |
