Page 175 - 《论语》（四）中·英对照版

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grain is exhausted, and the new grain has sprung
up, and, in procuring fire by friction, we go through
all the changes of wood for that purpose. After a
complete year, the mourning may stop.” The Master
said, “If you were, after a year, to eat good rice, and
wear embroidered clothes, would you feel at ease?” “I
should, “replied Wo. The Master said, “If you can feel
at ease, do it. But a superior man, during the whole
period of mourning, does not enjoy pleasant food
which he may eat, nor derive pleasure from music
which he may hear. He also does not feel at ease, if he
is comfortably lodged. Therefore he does not do what
you propose. But now you feel at ease and may do it.”
Tsai Wo then went out, and the Master said, “This
shows Yu’s want of virtue. It is not till a child is three
years old that it is allowed to leave the arms of its
parents. And the three years’ mourning is universally
observed throughout the empire. Did Yu enjoy the
three years’ love of his parents?”

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