Analects 3.7
The Analects (論語), BOOK III. PA YIH 八佾第三
子曰、君子無所爭、必也射乎、揖讓而升、下而飮、其爭也君子。
The Master said, "The student of virtue has no contentions. If it be said he cannot avoid them, shall this be in archery? But he bows complaisantly to his competitors; thus he ascends the hall, descends, and exacts the forfeit of drinking. In his contention, he is still the Chun-tsze."
James Legge (1861), Confucian Analects, The Chinese Classics vol. 1 (1861; 2nd ed. 1893) — public domain.
Character glossary
- 子zison, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thin
- 曰yuēto speak; to say
- 君jūnsovereign, ruler, prince, monarch, chief
- 無wúno, not; lacking, -less
- 所suǒplace, location; "that which", a particl
- 爭zhēngto dispute, to fight, to contend, to str
- 必bìsurely, certainly; must; will
- 也yěalso, too
- 射shèto shoot, to eject, to emit
- 乎hūinterrogative or exclamatory final parti
- 揖yīto bow, to salute; to defer, to yield
- 讓ràngto allow, to permit, to yield
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 升shēngto advance; to arise; to hoist, to raise
- 下xiàbelow, underneath; inferior; to bring do
- 飮yǐndrink; swallow; kind of drink
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi Autumn Floods
- Zhuangzi The Circling Sky
- Analects 19.25
- Analects 9.2
- Zhuangzi Tien Tzŭ Fang
- Zhuangzi Tsê Yang
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.