宰我问，三年之丧，期已久矣。君子三年不为礼，礼必坏，三年不为乐，乐必崩。旧谷既没，新谷既升，钻燧改火，期可已矣。子曰，食夫稻，衣夫锦，于女安乎。曰，安。女安，则为之。夫君子之居丧，食旨不甘，闻乐不乐，居处不安，故不为也。今女安，则为之。宰我出。子曰，予之不仁也。子生三年，然后免于父母之怀。夫三年之丧，天下之通丧也。予也，有三年之爱于其父母乎。
Modern Chinese Guide
宰我问：为父母守丧三年，为期太久了。君子三年不习礼仪，礼仪必定荒废；三年不奏音乐，音乐必定败坏。旧的谷子吃完了，新的谷子已经登场，取火用的燧木也轮换了一遍，守丧一年也就可以了。孔子说：守丧不满三年就吃那白米饭、穿那锦缎衣，你心里安不安呢？宰我说：安。孔子说：你心安，就那样去做吧。君子在守丧期间，吃美味也觉不出香甜，听音乐也觉不到快乐，住在家里也觉得不安适，所以才不那样做。如今你既然心安，那就那样去做吧。宰我退出去了。孔子说：宰予真是不仁啊。孩子生下来三年，然后才能离开父母的怀抱。为父母守丧三年，是天下通行的丧礼。难道宰予对他的父母就没有这三年的爱心吗？
James Legge Translation
1. Tsai Wo asked about the three years" mourning for parents, saying that one year was long enough. 2. "If the superior man," said he, "abstains for three years from the observances of propriety, those observances will be quite lost. If for three years he abstains from music, music will be ruined. 3. "Within a year the old 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." 4. 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. 5. 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." 6. 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?"
Source: James Legge, public domain, 1893.
Notes
- 底本：Wikisource 整理的 James Legge《The Chinese Classics》公版中英文本（1893–1895）。
- 简体化：原文由繁体转为简体（OpenCC），与公版英译逐句对应。