子入大廟、每事問。或曰。孰謂鄒人之子知禮乎。入大廟、每事問。子聞之、曰。是禮也。
When Confucius entered the Grand Temple, he asked about everything.
Someone said, “Who said Confucius is a master of ritual?
He enters the Grand Temple and asks about everything!”
Confucius, hearing this, said, “This is the ritual.”
[Analects, 3:15]
Both the Chinese text and the translation above are from Charles Muller’s online “Analects of Confucius”:
http://www.acmuller.net/con-dao/analects.html
子 = master
入 = enter
大廟 = great temple
、
每事 = everything (literally: “every” + “thing”
問 = ask
。
或 = someone
曰 = said
。
孰 = who?
謂 = say, tell
鄒 = ????
人 = person/people
之 = this(??)
子 = master
知 = know
禮 = ritual, propriety
乎 = sentence final interrogative particle
。
入大廟、每事問。 = He enters the grand temple and asks about everything!
子 = master
聞 = hear
之 = this
、
曰 = (and) said
。
是 = this
禮 = ritual/propriety
也 = also, too; emphasis
。
Here’s a great video about Confucius from Bryan Van Norden: