It is not an authorised rhyme to shan in line 2, but is sufficient to produce the jingle which is such an important aid to memory. [Lines 3 and 4 are the ipsissima verba of Confucius, and form the chief dogma in Confucian ethics. It was vigorously upheld by Mencius (line 9), and opposed by Hsün K'uang (line 172) of the 3rd cent. B.C. who held that the nature of man is radically evil, and also by Yang Hsiung (line 172) who taught that it is neither one nor the other but a mixture of the two.]
| 5. | 苟 | 不 | 教 | If foolishly there is no teaching, | |
| Kou3 | pu1 | chiao4 | |||
| Wrongly | not | teach |
Kou is composed, under its modern form, of 艸 ts'ao vegetation
(艹 in composition) as radical, and 句 chü crooked (line 110) as phonetic. It commonly means if, if only, etc.
Pu is supposed to be a picture of a bird which is circling in the air and will not come down, the upper line representing the sky.
Chiao is composed of 孝 hsiao filial piety (line 41) as phonetic and an obsolete radical meaning to tap (line 43).
[Every translator so far has made the same serious error of rendering the 苟 kou in this line as though it were simply "if." It is elliptical however for 苟且 kou ch'ieh (line 274) wrongly, improperly etc., as carefully stated in Ho Hsing-ssŭ's commentary.]
| 6. | 性 | 乃 | 遷 | the nature will deteriorate. | |
| Hsing4 | nai3 | ch'ien1 | |||
| Nature | then | move |
Hsing see line 2.
Nai was originally a picture of vapour struggling forth. It is now a conjunctive and disjunctive particle, with other and more unusual values, demonstrative (line 95) and possessive.
Ch'ien is composed of the walking radical (line 3) and a phonetic which
