The Analects of Confucius rice sparse food and water, curved arm and pillow, music is also in it ." What does it mean?

Meaning: eat coarse food, drink cold water, bend your arm as a pillow, and the fun is in it.

Original text:

The son said, "Eating sparse food and drinking water, bending the arm as a pillow, the fun is also in it. Unrighteousness and wealth are like floating clouds to me."

Originally:

Confucius said, "Eat coarse food, drink cold water, and bend your arm as a pillow, and the pleasure is in it. Riches and riches obtained by improper means are like floating clouds in the sky to me."

Source: "The Analects of Confucius - Shu而"--战国-孔子

Extended Information

Compositional Background

The Analects of Confucius was written in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and it was recorded and compiled by Confucius's pupils and his re-transmitted pupils. By the time of the Han Dynasty, there were three versions of the Analects circulating, the Lu Analects (20 pieces), the Qi Analects (22 pieces), and the Guwen Analects (21 pieces). At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zheng Xuan edited and annotated a new text using the Lu Lunyin as the base text and referring to the Qi Lunyin and the Guwen Lunyin.

After Zheng Xuan's commentary was circulated, the Qi Lunyu and Guwen Lunyu were gradually lost. The main editions of the Analects of Confucius annotated in the following generations are: He Yan's "Collected Explanations of the Analects of Confucius" of the State of Wei in the Three Kingdoms period, Huang Kan's "The Analects of Confucius" of the Liang Dynasty in the North and South Dynasties, Xing Yan's "Notes on the Analects of Confucius" and Zhu Xi's "Collected Notes of the Analects of Confucius" of the Song Dynasty, and Liu Baonan's "The Justice of the Analects of Confucius" of the Qing Dynasty.

The Analects covers many aspects of philosophy, politics, economy, education, literature and art, etc. It is very rich in content, and is the most important classic of Confucianism. In terms of expression, the Analects of Confucius is a model of discursive prose, with refined language and vivid images. In the arrangement, the Analects of Confucius does not have a strict codification system, each article is a chapter, the set of chapters for the chapter, chapter, chapter is not closely linked, but only roughly categorized, and there are duplicate chapters appear.

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