宋 Song · 文 Prose
爱莲说
On the Love of the Lotus
水陆草木之花，可爱者甚蕃。
晋陶渊明独爱菊。
自李唐来，世人甚爱牡丹。
予独爱莲之出淤泥而不染，濯清涟而不妖，中通外直，不蔓不枝，香远益清，亭亭净植，可远观而不可亵玩焉。
Meaning
Zhou Dunyi's 'On the Love of the Lotus,' written in the eighth year of Jiayou (1063), a masterpiece of the Song Neo-Confucian's declaration of character, under one hundred and twenty characters. The essay opens by sweeping over 'the flowers of the water and the land, of the grass and the trees, those that are lovable are many,' then cites Tao Yuanming's love of the chrysanthemum and the world's love of the peony, and falls to 'I alone love the lotus, which rises unstained from the mud, is bathed in the clear ripples without being bewitching, hollow within and straight without, neither trailing nor branching, its fragrance the farther the purer, standing tall and clean, to be viewed from afar but not to be toyed with familiarly.' The physical nature of the lotus and the virtue of the gentleman are fused into one: the unstained rising from the mud for the gentleman's purity amid the world, the clear ripples without the bewitching for the uprightness amid the favor, the hollow within and straight without for the openness and the uprightness, the fragrance the farther the purer for the fame that spreads, and the 'viewed from afar but not toyed with' for the dignity that cannot be profaned. The whole essay, in under one hundred and twenty characters, is the concentrated declaration of the character of the Neo-Confucian.
水上、陆地上各种草木的花，可爱的很多。晋代的陶渊明唯独喜爱菊花。自从唐朝以来，世上的人都很喜爱牡丹。我唯独喜爱莲花，它从淤泥中长出却不被沾染，经过清水的洗涤却不显得妖艳；它的茎内空外直，不牵连蔓延，也不枝枝节节；香气远播越发清芬，笔直洁净地挺立在那里，可以远远地观赏，却不能靠近去轻慢地玩弄它。
Appreciation
The art of the piece is first the overall conception of 'expressing the will through the object, writing the man through the object.' The whole takes the word 'love' as its clue, first sweeping over the 'flowers of the water and the land, those that are lovable are many,' then citing Tao Yuanming's love of the chrysanthemum and the world's love of the peony, and finally falling to 'I alone love the lotus,' the 'alone' setting off the subject—the same loving of the flowers, the love differing, the character differing. In structure, the first two are the preparation and the foil: the chrysanthemum the love of the recluse, the peony the love of the rich, the lotus the love of the gentleman; with the chrysanthemum and the peony both as foils, the character of the lotus grows the clearer in the contrast—the model of the 'reverse foil.' The part writing the lotus then uses in succession 'rises unstained from the mud, is bathed in the clear ripples without being bewitching, hollow within and straight without, neither trailing nor branching, the fragrance the farther the purer, standing tall and clean'—the physical nature of the lotus in every clause and the virtue of the gentleman in every clause, the object and the will one, the clearest model of the 'expressing the will through the object.'
【白话串讲】 “水陆草木之花，可爱者甚蕃”——周敦颐写《爱莲说》。“晋陶渊明独爱菊。自李唐来，世人甚爱牡丹”——“予独爱莲之出淤泥而不染，濯清涟而不妖”——“中通外直，不蔓不枝，香远益清”——“可远观而不可亵玩焉”——他以莲自比。 【意象与手法】全文托物言志，以菊、牡丹作正反衬托，莲居其中而品格自高；句式骈散相间，「出淤泥而不染」等短语一气贯注，如莲之亭亭，语短而味长。 【情感与主旨】借莲写君子，更以「莲之爱，同予者何人」的感慨自明心志：浊世之中，知音难觅，唯愿如莲般清白自守。 【名句点睛】「出淤泥而不染」七字，已成为中国文人洁身自好精神的千古徽章。
Background
Zhou Dunyi (1017–1073), courtesy name Maoshu, a native of Yingdao, Daozhou (present-day Dao County, Hunan), was the famous Neo-Confucian of the Northern Song, known as Master Lianxi, honored as the founder of Neo-Confucianism, writing the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate Explained and the Penetrating Book. 'On the Love of the Lotus' was written in the eighth year of Jiayou (1063), when Zhou Dunyi was forty-seven, then prefect of Nankang Commandery (seat in present-day Xingzi, Jiangxi); he dug a pool on the east of the prefectural office and planted the lotus, naming it 'the Pool of the Love of the Lotus,' viewing the lotus every summer, and wrote this essay. Though under one hundred and twenty characters, it fuses the physical nature of the lotus, the virtue of the gentleman, and the self-portrait of the author into one. At the time of writing, the social atmosphere of the mid and late Northern Song was turning to the extravagant: the Buddhist and the Daoist were popular, and the scholars competed for fame and profit and fawned on the powerful, the court and the countryside alike glorying in the wealth and honor. Zhou Dunyi was incorruptible in office all his life, unmoved by glory and profit, and in his old age returned to live in reclusion beneath the Lotus Flower Peak of Mount Lu, urging himself with the lotus—the portrait of his personality.
周敦颐（1017—1073），字茂叔，道州营道（今湖南道县）人，北宋著名理学家，世称濂溪先生，被尊为理学开山，著有《太极图说》《通书》等。《爱莲说》作于宋仁宗嘉祐八年（1063），时周敦颐四十七岁，正知南康军（治所在今江西星子），他在府署东侧凿池种莲，名「爱莲池」，每于盛夏观莲，遂作此说。全文虽不足一百二十字，却将莲的物性、君子的德性与作者的自况熔铸为一，是宋代理学家品格宣言的浓缩。写作之时，正值北宋中后期社会风气趋于浮华：佛道二教流行，士人竞逐名利、趋炎附势，朝野皆以富贵为荣。周敦颐一生为官清廉，不慕荣利，晚年归隐庐山莲花峰下，以莲花自励，正是其人格的写照。此说初无刻本，南宋时收入《周元公集》，明以后经《古文观止》等选本广为流布，成为家喻户晓的咏物名篇。「说」是古代议论性文体，用以解说义理、申述主张，本篇即借解说莲花的品性，申述君子的人格理想。
Art
The art is the 'expressing the will through the object, writing the man through the object.' The whole takes the word 'love' as its clue, first the sweep, then the two foils of the chrysanthemum and the peony, and finally the 'alone' of the lotus, the character of the lotus growing the clearer in the contrast—the model of the 'reverse foil.' The writing of the lotus, in every clause, joins the physical nature and the virtue: 'rises unstained from the mud' the purity amid the world, 'is bathed in the clear ripples without being bewitching' the uprightness amid the favor, 'hollow within and straight without' the openness and the uprightness, 'neither trailing nor branching' the standing alone, 'the fragrance the farther the purer' the fame that spreads, 'standing tall and clean' the self-possession, and 'to be viewed from afar but not to be toyed with familiarly' the dignity that cannot be profaned.
此篇的艺术，首在「托物言志、以物写人」的总体构思。全文以「爱」字为线索，先泛写「水陆草木之花，可爱者甚蕃」，次举陶渊明之爱菊、世人之爱牡丹，最后落到「予独爱莲」，以「独」字突出主体——同是爱花，所爱不同，正见品格不同。结构上，前两重是铺垫与衬托：菊为隐逸者之爱，牡丹为富贵者之爱，莲为君子之爱；以菊、牡丹双衬，莲的品格在对比中愈发分明，这是「反衬」的典范。写莲的部分，则连用「出淤泥而不染，濯清涟而不妖，中通外直，不蔓不枝，香远益清，亭亭净植」七个四字短句，一气排比，如莲茎之亭亭直立，语势与物性相合，是「以文势写物形」的妙笔；末以「可远观而不可亵玩焉」收束，由写形转入写神，写出莲的庄重与尊严。语言上骈散相间：短句整饬如骈，间以「予独爱」「焉」等虚字疏宕其气，读来朗朗上口，却毫无堆砌之感。全文由「爱」起、以「爱」终，托物言志，物我合一，是小品文中「以小见大」的极致。
Allusions
The allusions and the images of the piece have their sources, deeply rooted in the Chinese cultural tradition. The first is the 'chrysanthemum' and Tao Yuanming: Tao Yuanming's 'Drinking' (V), 'I pick the chrysanthemum beneath the eastern hedge, and far see the southern mountain,' made the chrysanthemum the symbol of the recluse, and Zhou Dunyi's single line 'Tao Yuanming of the Jin alone loved the chrysanthemum' points out at once the chrysanthemum and the tradition of the reclusion. The second is the 'peony' and the fashion of the Tang wealth and honor: the Tang people loved the peony greatly, Liu Yuxi's 'Appreciating the Peony'—'the peony alone is the true beauty of the land, moving the capital when the season of its flowering comes'—made the peony the symbol of wealth and honor. Zhou Dunyi says 'since the Li Tang, the men of the world have loved the peony greatly,' the peony for the fashion of the world's wealth and honor, against which the lotus of the gentleman is set off.
篇中用典与意象皆有来历，深植于中国文化传统。其一是「菊」与陶渊明：陶渊明《饮酒·其五》「采菊东篱下，悠然见南山」，菊遂成为隐逸者的象征，周敦颐以「晋陶渊明独爱菊」一句，将菊与隐逸传统一并点出。其二是「牡丹」与唐人的富贵风尚：唐人极爱牡丹，刘禹锡《赏牡丹》「唯有牡丹真国色，花开时节动京城」，牡丹自此成为富贵荣华的符号；周敦颐说「自李唐来，世人甚爱牡丹」，正是以牡丹写世人之慕富贵。其三是「莲」的佛道渊源：「出淤泥而不染」化用佛典莲华之喻，《华严经》「犹如莲华不着水，亦如日月不住空」，莲花在佛教中本就是清净圣洁的象征；周敦颐身为理学家而深通佛道，取莲为喻，自有其思想背景。其四是《楚辞》的香草传统：自屈原以香草美人喻君子之德，以物比德便成为中国文学的惯技，周敦颐承此脉而更凝练。其五是「中通外直」的儒家君子观：内怀通达、外守端直，正是《论语》「君子和而不同」的物化表达。篇中意象看似寻常，实则每一笔都落在经典传统的脉络里。
Commentary
'On the Love of the Lotus' has grown in renown since the Southern Song and become the model of the Chinese literature of the expression of the will through the object. Zhu Xi honored Zhou Dunyi as the 'master of the school of the Way,' valuing his writing and his learning alike, and the essay rose with Neo-Confucianism; in the Ming and the Qing, the classic anthologies such as the Outstanding Prose of the Past and Present included it, paired with Liu Yuxi's 'Inscription of the Humble Chamber' as the 'twin treasures of the classical familiar essay.' In modern times, 'rises unstained from the mud' has left the original text to become the common phrase of the language for keeping the self pure and clean amid the world of the filthy mud.
《爱莲说》自南宋以来，声誉日隆，成为中国文学史上托物言志的典范之作。朱熹推崇周敦颐为「道学宗主」，其文其学并重，此说亦随理学而显；明清两代，《古文观止》等经典选本皆收录此篇，与刘禹锡《陋室铭》并列为「文言小品双璧」。近现代以来，「出淤泥而不染」更脱离原文，成为汉语中表示洁身自好、不随波逐流的固定成语，用于道德评价的场合极广。学者论此篇，多赏其「以物写德、物我合一」：莲的七种物性（不染、不妖、中通、外直、不蔓、香远、净植）恰与君子的七种德性（守洁、自重、通达、正直、不攀附、德泽广被、独立不倚）一一对应，咏物而不滞于物，言志而不空发议论，是「咏物」与「言志」结合的绝佳标本。在文化史上，此文与周敦颐的人格互为表里——濂溪先生一生清贫守正，正像他笔下的莲。如今它仍是中学语文的必读篇目，莲也因此成为中国文人品格理想中最常被援引的象征，其影响已远远超出文学，深入到民族的道德观念之中。
Prosody
Line by line
水陆草木之花，可爱者甚蕃。晋陶渊明独爱菊。自李唐来，世人甚爱牡丹。
Of the flowers of the water and the land, of the grass and the trees, those that are lovable are many. Tao Yuanming of the Jin alone loved the chrysanthemum. Since the Li Tang, the men of the world have loved the peony greatly. (The opening: the sweep over the many lovable flowers, then the two foils of the chrysanthemum and the peony, the preparation of the 'alone' of the lotus.)
水上和陆地上各种草木的花，可爱的很多。晋代的陶渊明唯独喜爱菊花。自从唐朝以来，世上的人都很喜爱牡丹。
Of the flowers of plants and trees on land and water, the lovable ones are many. Tao Yuanming of Jin alone loved the chrysanthemum. Since the Tang, the world has loved the peony.
开篇三句，是全文的「总起」与「铺垫」，看似平易，实则步步设局。第一句「水陆草木之花，可爱者甚蕃」以「甚蕃」二字泛写百花可爱，为后文「予独爱莲」的「独」字蓄势——花既如此之多，可爱者如此之众，何以独爱莲？悬念由此而生。第二句举陶渊明爱菊，一句便把菊与隐逸传统接上：《饮酒》「采菊东篱下」使菊成了隐士的徽记，陶渊明爱菊，爱的是不与世争的隐逸之趣。第三句「自李唐来，世人甚爱牡丹」，笔锋一转，以「世人」对「渊明」、以「甚爱」对「独爱」，写的是趋炎附势、慕富求贵的世风。三句之中，「独」与「甚」的对照已暗暗立起：菊是隐者之爱，牡丹是众人之爱，那么莲是什么人之爱？层层铺垫至此，只等「予独爱莲」四字登场，全文的张力已先声夺人。
The opening three lines are the general rise and the groundwork, plain in appearance, yet setting the trap step by step. Of the flowers... the lovable ones are many writes the multitude of lovable flowers broadly, storing force for the alone of I alone love the lotus below — flowers so many, lovable ones so many, why love the lotus alone? The suspense born. Then Tao Yuanming of Jin alone loved the chrysanthemum, in one line joining the chrysanthemum to the reclusive tradition: the picking chrysanthemum by the eastern hedge makes the chrysanthemum the hermit's emblem; Tao's love is the unworldly quiet that contends not with the world. Since the Tang, the world has loved the peony turns the brush, the world set against Tao, the much loved against the alone, writing the age's courting of power and wealth. Within the three lines, the contrast of alone and much is secretly raised: the chrysanthemum the recluse's love, the peony the crowd's love, then what love is the lotus? The groundwork done, waiting for I alone love the lotus, the tension already striking before the words. Were it said plainly flowers are many, Tao loved chrysanthemums, the world loves peonies, the trap would be lost; the three lines prepare the whole, the alone already set against the much.
予独爱莲之出淤泥而不染，濯清涟而不妖，中通外直，不蔓不枝，香远益清，亭亭净植，可远观而不可亵玩焉。
I alone love the lotus, which rises unstained from the mud, is bathed in the clear ripples without being bewitching, hollow within and straight without, neither trailing nor branching, its fragrance the farther the purer, standing tall and clean, to be viewed from afar but not to be toyed with familiarly. (The heart of the piece: the physical nature of the lotus and the virtue of the gentleman in every clause, the object and the will one, the clearest model of the expression of the will through the object.)
我唯独喜爱莲花，它从淤泥中长出却不被沾染，经过清水的洗涤却不显得妖艳；茎内空外直，不牵连蔓延，也不枝枝节节；香气远播越发清芬，笔直洁净地挺立；可以远远地观赏，却不能靠近去轻慢玩弄。
I alone love the lotus: rising from the mud yet unstained, washed in clear ripples yet not seductive; its stem hollow within and straight without, no trailing vines, no side branches; its fragrance the farther, the purer; it stands erect and clean; one may gaze from afar, but not profane it by handling.
这是全篇的核心，七组四字短语一气排比，将莲的物性与君子的德性层层对应，是托物言志的极致。「出淤泥而不染」写莲生于污浊的淤泥而周身洁净，喻君子身处浊世而操守清白，是全文的立骨之句；「濯清涟而不妖」写莲经清水洗涤却无妖媚之态，喻君子身居清境而不事炫耀。「中通外直」写茎之中空与外直，喻君子内怀通达、外守端直；「不蔓不枝」写莲不牵藤引蔓，喻君子不攀附、不旁逸；「香远益清」写莲之香越远越清，喻君子德行之光愈传愈广；「亭亭净植」写莲之独立挺立，喻君子卓然不倚。末句「可远观而不可亵玩焉」由物性转写人格尊严，一个「亵玩」把莲的庄重推到顶点——君子可以敬仰，不可轻慢。七组短语由形入神、由外而内，无一字写「君子」而句句是君子，物与德如水乳交融。
This is the core of the piece, seven four-character phrases in a row, matching the lotus's nature to the noble man's virtue layer by layer, the extreme of the object-as-purpose style. Rising from the mud yet unstained writes the lotus growing in filthy mud and yet clean all over, figuring the noble man in the turbid world yet unsullied in integrity, the bone-setting line of the whole; washed in clear ripples yet not seductive writes the lotus washed in clear water yet without coquetry, figuring the noble man in clear surroundings yet without showing off. Hollow within, straight without writes the stem's hollow and straight, figuring the inner openness and the outer uprightness; no trailing vines, no side branches writes the lotus' no creeping vines, figuring the noble man's no clinging, no sideways growth; fragrance the farther, the purer writes the lotus' fragrance purer with distance, figuring the virtue spreading wider; it stands erect and clean writes the lotus' lone standing, figuring the noble man's lofty independence. The closing one may gaze from afar, but not profane it by handling turns from nature to human dignity; the word profane pushes the lotus' solemnity to the peak — the noble man may be revered, not treated with levity. The seven phrases move from form to spirit, without a word of noble man, yet every phrase a noble man, thing and virtue fused like milk and water.
中通外直，不蔓不枝，香远益清，亭亭净植
hollow within and straight without, neither trailing nor branching, its fragrance the farther the purer, standing tall and clean, (The virtue of the gentleman in the physical nature: the openness and the uprightness, the standing alone, the fame that spreads, the self-possession—the parallel phrases of the object and the will.)
茎内里通达、外表正直，不牵连蔓延也不枝枝节节，香气远播越发清芬，笔直洁净地挺立。
Hollow within, straight without; no trailing vines, no side branches; fragrance the farther, the purer; standing erect and clean.
这四句是莲之「君子相」最集中的一笔，以物的形貌直接摹写人的德性。前两句写茎：中通，是内里通透，喻君子心地光明、不存私曲；外直，是外表端直，喻君子立身方正、不事谄媚；不蔓不枝，是既无藤蔓攀援、亦无枝节横生，喻君子不依附权贵、不结党营私——「通」「直」「蔓」「枝」四字，皆以物性暗写人品，精微至极。后两句写香与姿：香远益清，香气的特点在「远」与「清」，越传播越清芬，正如德行越泽被众人越显高洁；亭亭净植，是孤立高举、洁净挺立，如君子之特立独行。四句对仗工稳、音节铿锵，读来如见一茎莲花卓立池上。它们既是写实——莲的茎、香、姿本如是；又是写人——君子的通达、正直、自立、高洁本应如此。物我之间，已浑然莫辨。
The four phrases are the most concentrated stroke of the lotus' noble-man face, writing human virtue directly through the thing's form. The first two write the stem: hollow within is the inner openness, figuring the noble man's luminous heart without private twists; straight without is the upright exterior, figuring the upright bearing without flattery; no trailing vines, no side branches is neither clinging vines nor sideways branches, figuring the noble man's no clinging to the powerful, no cliques — the four words hollow, straight, vine, branch all write human character through plant nature, exquisitely fine. The last two write the fragrance and the bearing: fragrance the farther, the purer, the fragrance's mark in the far and the pure, the farther it spreads the purer, as virtue the more it reaches men the nobler; it stands erect and clean, the lone high standing, clean and erect, like the noble man's singularity. Four balanced phrases, ringing cadence, as if seeing a stem of lotus standing on the pond. They are at once the real — the lotus' stem, fragrance, bearing are so; and the human — the noble man's openness, uprightness, independence, purity should be so. Between thing and self, already indistinguishable.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
刘禹锡《陋室铭》与周敦颐《爱莲说》同为文言小品的双璧，路数相近而落点不同：前者借「陋室」写「惟吾德馨」，谓人不陋则室不陋；后者借「莲」写君子之守，谓人不染则品自高。二者都以宾衬主（陋室铭以山水仙龙起兴，爱莲说以菊与牡丹作衬），都引经典收束（陋室铭引孔子「何陋之有」，爱莲说以「同予者何人」发问），都重精神之足而轻外物之厚。区别在于：陋室铭侧重「居处自守」的安贫乐道，笔调带几分傲岸；爱莲说侧重「人格自洁」的操守坚持，笔调多一层孤清。一室一花，一唐一宋，并读可见「托物言志」一脉在唐宋小品中的延续与深化。
墨梅 Ink Plum 王冕 · 同以花木言志，一莲一梅各守其洁 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
王冕《墨梅》「不要人夸好颜色，只留清气满乾坤」与《爱莲说》同是「以花木写人格」的咏物言志之作：莲花出淤泥而不染，是处浊世而守清节；墨梅只留清气满乾坤，是淡泊自守而不求人知。二者都借花之品性自况，都把「清」「洁」作为人格的核心。区别在于：周敦颐笔下的莲，庄重端方，如君子之立于庙堂，多一层「可远观而不可亵玩」的尊严；王冕笔下的墨梅，疏淡清雅，如逸士之居于林泉，多一层「不要人夸」的超然。一莲一梅，一宋一元，正好画出中国士人「君子」与「逸士」两种理想人格的花木投影。
饮酒·其四 Drinking Wine (IV) 陶渊明 · 菊与莲，隐逸之爱与君子之爱的对照 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
陶渊明《饮酒·其四》「秋菊有佳色，裛露掇其英」写采菊餐英之乐，菊在陶渊明笔下是归隐的伴侣、不与世争的象征；《爱莲说》中周敦颐特意点出「晋陶渊明独爱菊」，正说明他对菊之「隐」的敬意。但周敦颐的落脚点不同：他「独爱莲」，因为莲「出淤泥而不染」——菊是「避开」浊世的高洁，莲是「身处」浊世而不染的高洁；陶渊明采菊东篱下，是离去；周敦颐观莲清池畔，是守持。二作并读，恰好呈现中国士人面对污浊世道的两种姿态：一为隐逸逃世，一为入世自守；菊的淡泊与莲的坚贞，遂成千古并立的两种风骨。