Three-Character Classic st.39-42, attrib. Wang Yinglin

39.
These are three commentaries:
There is Gongyang’s comments,
There’s the Zuo Clan’s comments,
There is Guliang’s comments.

三传者
有公羊
有左氏
有彀梁

40.
Once the Classics are clear,
Then you study the Masters—
Pick out their major points,
Record their key ideas.

经既明
方读子
撮其要
记其事

41.
These are the five main Masters:
Xunzi and Yang Xiong,
Wang Tong styled Wenzhongzi,
Plus Laozi and Zhuangzi.

五子者
有荀杨
文中子
及老庄

42.
Classics and Masters learned,
Study the histories:
Probe genealogies
And know their ends and starts.

经子通
读诸史
考世系
知终始

• 39: Still talking about Spring and Autumn Annals, which is quite terse, and several commentaries were written in the next couple centuries; these three were the most important and are often (especially Zuo) included with the base text. • 40: “Masters” in this context means philosophers of the so-called Hundred Schools of Thought that developed during the Warring States Period. • 41: Only the five most important (after Confucius, as he’s already been covered) are picked out because there are so many. The first three Masters are Confucian, the last two Daoist. I use “styled” to indicate a courtesy name or, as here, a nickname. • 42: The genealogies are specifically of rulers, and the ends and beginnings those of dynasties—the transfer of the Mandate of Heaven being an important and tricky concept. This starts a 20-stanza speedrun of dynasties from ancient times through Song.

(Halfway through!)

---L.