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宋 Song · 文 Prose

岳阳楼记·版本四

Notes on the Yueyang Tower (Version Four)

范仲淹

Fan Zhongyan

议论argumentation 忧乐worry and joy 名篇masterpiece

予尝求古仁人之心，或异二者之为，何哉？
不以物喜，不以己悲，居庙堂之高则忧其民，处江湖之远则忧其君。

I have sought the heart of the ancient humane person, perhaps unlike the conduct of those two—why? He does not rejoice at things nor grieve for himself; in the high halls of court he worries for his people, in the distant rivers and lakes he worries for his ruler.

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Meaning

This excerpt is the intellectual core of Fan Zhongyan's Record of the Yueyang Tower, turning from landscape to argument. It defines the 'ancient humane person' as one who is not swayed by external things or personal gain and loss, but worries for the people when in office and for the ruler when in retirement. It lays the groundwork for the famous creed 'to be the first to worry about the world's troubles and the last to enjoy its pleasures.'

我曾经探求古代品德高尚之人的心思，或许不同于以上两种人的表现，为什么呢？他们不因外物的好坏而高兴，不因个人的得失而悲伤；身居朝廷高位就为百姓忧虑，身处僻远的江湖之间就为君王忧虑。

Appreciation

As the turning section of a Song 'record' essay, it moves from scenery to discussion with flawless craft: an opening 'I have sought,' a bridging 'perhaps unlike,' a self-answered 'why,' the eight-character thesis 'not rejoicing at things, not grieving for oneself,' and a closing antithesis of court and rivers-and-lakes. Blending parallel and loose prose, it sounds like gold and jade struck, a model of Song classical prose that 'carries the Way through writing.'

【白话串讲】范仲淹写《岳阳楼记》的仁人之心：“予尝求古仁人之心，或异二者之为，何哉”——“不以物喜，不以己悲”——不因外物而喜悲。“居庙堂之高则忧其民，处江湖之远则忧其君”——“先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐”——这是范仲淹的抱负。【意象与手法】「记」体散文由景入议的转折段：以「求」字领起，「或异二者之为」承上，「何哉」设问自答，「不以物喜，不以己悲」八字立论，末以「居庙堂」「处江湖」对仗展开；骈散相间，金声玉振，是宋代古文「文以载道」的典范。【情感与主旨】确立中国士大夫超越个人得失的价值坐标：把个体喜悲升华为对家国民生的忧思，「进退皆忧」的人格使「小我」之情升华为「大我」之忧，为「先忧后乐」张本。【名句点睛】常考「不以物喜，不以己悲」的互文对举与「居庙堂之高则忧其民，处江湖之远则忧其君」的对仗——八字立纲、两句分写，是「先忧后乐」精神的直接源头。

Background

This passage is from Record of the Yueyang Tower by Fan Zhongyan (989–1052), style name Xiwen, from Suzhou, a famed Northern Song statesman, strategist, and man of letters who rose to vice grand councillor and sponsored the Qingli Reforms, posthumously titled Wenzheng. In the fourth year of the Qingli era (1044), after the failure of his reforms Fan was demoted to Dengzhou; that same year his friend Teng Zijing, demoted to govern Baling, rebuilt the Yueyang Tower and asked Fan to write a record. Without ever visiting Yueyang, Fan wrote this immortal work from a painting, 'Late Autumn on Dongting,' and Teng's letter. The full essay first recounts the rebuilding, then describes the 'feelings at the sight' of exiled travelers in their two moods of sorrow and joy, and finally unveils the 'heart of the ancient humane person' with the great aspiration 'not rejoicing at things... the last to enjoy.' This excerpt is the core paragraph where the essay turns from scene to argument, from feeling to the realm of worry and joy, the hinge for understanding the whole work and Fan's character. Fan lived 'taking the world as his responsibility,' and this passage is the confession of his lifelong political ideal; moreover, written to comfort Teng in exile, the line 'not rejoicing at things, not grieving for oneself' consoles his old friend's demotion, where affection and principle meet in the writing.

本篇出自《岳阳楼记》，作者范仲淹（989—1052），字希文，苏州吴县人，北宋著名政治家、军事家、文学家，官至参知政事（副宰相），主持「庆历新政」，谥文正，世称范文正公。宋仁宗庆历四年（1044），范仲淹因新政失败被贬邓州；同年，好友滕子京谪守巴陵郡，重修岳阳楼，请范仲淹作记。范仲淹未到岳阳，仅据《洞庭晚秋图》与滕子京来信，凭想象挥毫而成此千古名篇。全文先叙重修之由，次写迁客骚人「览物之情」的悲喜二态，最后翻出「古仁人之心」，提出「不以物喜，不以己悲」「先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐」的伟大抱负。此节选正是全文思想的核心段——由写景转入议论，由悲喜之情升华到忧乐之境，是理解《岳阳楼记》乃至范仲淹人格的枢纽。范仲淹一生「以天下为己任」，出身寒微而志节卓然，此段实为其一生政治理想的自白。且滕子京谪守巴陵、重修名楼，范仲淹寄文相勉，此段「不以物喜，不以己悲」正为老友宽解贬谪之苦而发，情义与道义交并于文字之间。

Art

In form, Record of the Yueyang Tower is a special work among Song 'record' essays—named a 'record' yet essentially argument, combining the strengths of description, lyric, and argument, and this excerpt is exactly the turning paragraph from scene to discussion. In structure, it opens with 'I have sought the heart of the ancient humane person,' the word 'sought' leading the whole quest; 'perhaps unlike the conduct of those two' reaches back to the exiled travelers' two moods, the word 'unlike' marking the parting from ordinary men; 'why' asks and answers itself, the hinge of argument; 'not rejoicing at things, not grieving for oneself' states the thesis positively, breaking the common causes of sorrow and joy from two sides, thing and self; then 'in the high halls of court he worries for his people, in the distant rivers and lakes he worries for his ruler' writes the two situations of worry, forming the complete character of 'worrying in both advance and retreat.' The paragraph moves from question to answer, from breaking to establishing, from heart to deed, layer upon layer; its sentences blend parallel and loose: 'not rejoicing at things, not grieving for oneself' is a tight parallel pair, 'in the high halls' and 'in the distant rivers' a strict antithesis, while loose sentences like 'I have sought' and 'why' are interspersed, giving measured cadence—a perfect union of Song prose's 'Way through writing' and 'words to convey meaning.' Especially the question 'why,' raised from nowhere, turns a descriptive essay abruptly into one of argument like thunder on flat ground, the turn showing no seam—the mark of a master.

文体上，《岳阳楼记》是宋代「记」体散文中的特殊之作——名为「记」实为议，兼有写景、抒情、议论三体之长，此节选正是由景入议的转折段。结构上，先以「予尝求古仁人之心」振起，以一个「求」字领起全段的求索过程；「或异二者之为」遥承上文迁客骚人悲喜二态，「异」字点出古仁人与常人的分野；「何哉」一词设问自答，是议论的枢纽；「不以物喜，不以己悲」八字正面立论，从「物」与「己」两面对举，破尽常人悲喜之由；继而「居庙堂之高则忧其民，处江湖之远则忧其君」两句分写两种处境下的忧思，合起来构成「进退皆忧」的完整人格。全段由问而答、由破而立、由心而事，层层递进，句式骈散相间：「不以物喜，不以己悲」骈偶工整，「居庙堂之高」「处江湖之远」对仗严整，而「予尝求」「何哉」散句穿插，骈散结合，音情顿挫，是宋代古文「文以载道」与「辞以达意」完美结合的典范。尤其「何哉」一设问，凭空振起一段议论，如平地起雷，将写景之文陡转为论道之文，转折处不见针线痕迹，正是大手笔。

Allusions

This excerpt's cultural depth reaches back to the pre-Qin Confucian tradition of the heart. The three words 'ancient humane person' inherit the orthodox line from Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, Wu, and the Zhou kings down to Confucius and Mencius; Mencius's 'the humane love others' and Confucius's 'the gentleman worries about the Way, not poverty' are the source of this 'humane heart.' 'Not rejoicing at things, not grieving for oneself' directly descends from the Analects' 'the gentleman is calm and at ease, the small man is anxious and worried' and the Mencius' 'in poverty cultivate oneself alone, in success cultivate the world,' yet Fan goes further, raising the divided 'cultivate alone / cultivate the world' into the consistent 'worrying in both advance and retreat.' 'In the high halls of court he worries for his people' accords with the Documents' 'the people are the foundation of the state,' and 'in the distant rivers and lakes he worries for his ruler' inherits the Chu Ci's Qu Yuan 'though I die nine times I will not regret' loyalist tradition; together they are the complete projection of the Confucian 'cultivate, govern, bring peace.' Especially 'to be the first to worry... the last to enjoy' (the essay's closing), though not in this excerpt, is the natural extension of 'not rejoicing at things, not grieving for oneself'; its coordinate of 'first worry, last joy' has become one of the core ethical symbols of the Chinese spiritual world. In short, this passage compresses the Confucian theory of the heart, the people-as-foundation thought, and the loyalist tradition into a few dozen words—an excellent text for understanding Chinese cultural structure.

此节选的文化内涵极深，可溯至先秦儒家的心性传统。「古仁人」三字上承尧舜禹汤、文武周公以至孔孟的道统谱系，孟子言「仁者爱人」、孔子言「君子忧道不忧贫」，皆为此「仁人之心」的源头。「不以物喜，不以己悲」直接脱胎于《论语》「君子坦荡荡，小人长戚戚」与《孟子》「穷则独善其身，达则兼善天下」的修养论，而范仲淹更进一步：把「独善、兼善」的分途提升为「进退皆忧」的一贯之道。「居庙堂之高则忧其民」合于《尚书》「民惟邦本」的民本思想，「处江湖之远则忧其君」则承《楚辞》屈原「虽九死其犹未悔」的忠君传统，二句合观，正是儒家「修齐治平」的完整投影。尤其「先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐」（全篇末段）虽不在本节选，却正是此段「不以物喜，不以己悲」的自然延伸，其「先忧后乐」的价值坐标，已成为中华民族精神世界最核心的伦理符号之一。要言之，此段以寥寥数十字浓缩了儒家的心性论、民本论与忠君传统，是理解中国文化精神结构的极佳文本。

Commentary

This passage is the intellectual core of Record of the Yueyang Tower and one of the highest expressions of the Chinese scholar-official spirit, recited through the ages. Literarily, the full essay falls from the sorrow-joy contrast of 'feelings at the sight' into the transcendent realm of the 'ancient humane person,' a turn admired by generations of critics; a Qing critic said the essay's 'two words worry and joy are the bone of the whole,' and this passage is where the bone is set. Ideologically, 'not rejoicing at things, not grieving for oneself' establishes the Chinese intellectual's standard of transcending personal gain and loss, and 'in court worries for the people, in retreat worries for the ruler' binds the individual fate tightly to the nation and people, forming the spiritual tradition of 'though lowly, never forgetting to worry for the state'—later Wen Tianxiang's 'who has not died since ancient times, leave a loyal heart to illuminate the histories' and Lin Zexu's 'if it benefits the state, I will lay down my life' can be read as the same tune as 'first worry, last joy.' Culturally, 'first worry, last joy' (of one line with this passage) has been taken by scholars as a motto and remains the most stirring value-proclamation of the Chinese nation. Though an excerpt, read alone it is already a complete 'treatise on the scholar's spirit.'

此段是《岳阳楼记》的思想内核，也是中国士大夫精神的最高表达之一，历来为人们传诵。就文学言，全文由「览物之情」的悲喜对照跌入「古仁人之心」的超越之境，转折之妙为历代评家激赏；清人评《岳阳楼记》「忧乐二字，一篇之骨」，而此段正是立骨之处。就思想言，「不以物喜，不以己悲」确立了中国知识分子超越个人得失的价值准则，「居庙堂之高则忧其民，处江湖之远则忧其君」则把个体命运与国家人民紧紧绑定，形成了中国文人「位卑未敢忘忧国」的精神传统——后世文天祥「人生自古谁无死，留取丹心照汗青」、林则徐「苟利国家生死以」，皆可视为「先忧后乐」精神的同调。就文化言，「先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐」（与此段一脉相承）被历代士人奉为座右铭，至今仍是中华民族最具感召力的价值宣言。此节选虽为全文之一段，然独立观之，已是一篇完整的「士人精神论」。

Prosody

Form Song 'record' essay in classical prose (parallel-loose blended)宋代「记」体散文（骈散相间的古文）

Rhyme Classical prose does not rhyme but forms rhythm through parallel antithesis: 'not rejoicing at things, not grieving for oneself' and 'in the high halls... worries for the people, in the distant rivers... worries for the ruler' are paired, the syllables neat, read like gold and jade struck; loose sentences like 'I have sought the heart of the ancient humane person' and 'why' are interspersed, blending parallel and loose with varied pace.散文不押韵，而以骈偶对仗形成节奏：「不以物喜，不以己悲」、「居庙堂之高则忧其民，处江湖之远则忧其君」皆两两相对，音节齐整，读来如金声玉振；「予尝求古仁人之心」「何哉」等散句穿插其间，骈散相间，疾徐有致。

Tone pattern The sentences alternate parallel and loose: the opening 'I have sought the heart of the ancient humane person, perhaps unlike the conduct of those two' is a loose long sentence, calm in tone like deep water flowing; the two words 'why' are a short abrupt question, suddenly lifting; 'not rejoicing at things, not grieving for oneself' is an eight-character parallel pair, decisive; the final two long antitheses flow in one breath, 'in the high halls' and 'in the distant rivers' rising and falling, the repeated 'worries' deepening the feeling, closing on 'worries for his ruler' with endless resonance.句式骈散交错：起句「予尝求古仁人之心，或异二者之为」散行长句，语气沉稳，如静水深流；「何哉」二字短促一问，陡然提神；「不以物喜，不以己悲」八字骈偶，掷地有声；末两句长对仗一气贯下，「居庙堂之高」「处江湖之远」抑扬相间，「则忧」二字复沓，声情愈转愈深，收于「忧其君」三字，余响不绝。

Reading note The beauty of this passage's sound lies in its parallel-loose rhythmic design, long hailed as a model of classical prose 'with sound and color.' Fan Zhongyan, a fellow traveler of the early Song classical prose movement, advocated 'the Way through writing' while also adopting the strengths of parallelism; this passage shows his craft: 'not rejoicing at things, not grieving for oneself'—four characters per beat, two pairs, like a sword from its sheath, clean and forceful; 'in the high halls of court he worries for his people, in the distant rivers and lakes he worries for his ruler'—'in / in,' 'court / rivers,' 'high / far,' 'worries / worries,' 'people / ruler' antitheses layer by layer, the syllables undulating, to be read in one held breath, the repeated 'worries' being the climax of sound and feeling, worrying for the people then for the ruler, circling back, pushing the character of 'worrying in both advance and retreat' to its peak. Meanwhile loose sentences like 'I have sought' and 'why' break the rigidity of parallelism like driftwood across waves, making the whole neat yet not stiff, loose yet not disordered. This 'parallel-loose combined, vital energy guiding sound' prose rhythm is the mark of mature Song classical prose and the sonic foundation of the essay's eternal recitation.此段的音韵之美，在骈散相间的节奏设计，历来被誉为古文「有声有色」的典范。范仲淹是宋初古文运动的同道，主张「文以载道」而兼采骈俪之长，此段正见其功：「不以物喜，不以己悲」八字，四字一顿，两两相偶，如剑出鞘，斩截有力；「居庙堂之高则忧其民，处江湖之远则忧其君」两句，「居、处」「庙堂、江湖」「之高、之远」「则忧、则忧」「其民、其君」层层对偶，音节跌宕，朗读时须一口气贯注，「则忧」两字复沓处恰是声情的高潮，一忧民一忧君，回环往复，把「进退皆忧」的人格力量推至顶点。而「予尝求」「何哉」等散句如槁木横波，破骈偶之板滞，使全段整而不呆、散而不乱。这种「骈散兼行、以气驭声」的散文韵律，正是宋代古文成熟期的标志，也是《岳阳楼记》能千古传诵的声律根基。

Line by line

予尝求古仁人之心，或异二者之为，何哉？

I have sought the heart of the ancient humane person, perhaps unlike the conduct of those two—why?

我曾经探求古代品德高尚之人的心思，或许不同于上面那两种人的表现，这是为什么呢？

I have sought the mind of the ancient humane person; it perhaps differs from the ways of these two types. Why is that?

此三句是全文由景入议、由情入理的转折枢纽。「予尝求」三字以第一人称领起，表明以下所论皆出自作者的亲身求索，言之凿凿、情之切切；「古仁人之心」五字立起全文最高的价值标杆——「仁人」是儒家的人格理想，「古」字则赋予其历史与道统的分量，暗示这种人格古已有之，值得追慕；「或异二者之为」遥承上文「迁客骚人」因景而悲、因景而喜的两种表现，「异」字轻轻一点，已暗示古仁人超越了悲喜的循环；「何哉」二字设问自答，既提起读者的注意，又自然引出下文「不以物喜，不以己悲」的正面回答。三句连用「尝」「或」「何」诸虚词，语气由追忆而悬想而追问，层层逼进，是议论开篇的典范。

These three phrases are the turning hinge where the essay passes from scenery to argument, from feeling to principle. 'I have sought' opens in the first person, showing that what follows comes from the author's own inquiry, spoken with conviction and deep feeling. 'The mind of the ancient humane person' sets up the essay's highest standard of value: 'humane person' is the Confucian ideal of character, and 'ancient' gives it the weight of history and the line of the Way, hinting that such character existed long ago and is worth emulating. 'It perhaps differs from the ways of these two types' reaches back to the 'banished officials and roaming poets' above, who grieved or rejoiced according to scenery; the word 'differs' lightly marks that the ancient humane person transcended the cycle of joy and sorrow. 'Why is that?' asks and answers at once, both catching the reader's attention and naturally leading to the positive answer below, 'not glad for things, not grieved for self.' The three phrases use the empty words 'have,' 'perhaps,' 'why' in sequence, the tone moving from recollection to surmise to questioning, pressing forward layer by layer — a model of opening an argument.

不以物喜，不以己悲

He does not rejoice at things nor grieve for himself.

（古仁人）不因为外物的好坏而高兴，也不因为个人的得失而悲伤，始终保持着内心的平静。

The ancient humane person is not glad for external things nor grieved for his own lot, keeping an inner calm always.

此八字是全文的立论之纲，也是中国士大夫精神修养的最高凝练。「以」字训「因」，「物」指身外的环境与际遇，「己」指自身的得失与荣辱；「不以物喜」破常人因境遇顺逆而喜忧之心，「不以己悲」破常人因自身利害而戚戚之态，两句互文见义，合而言之即「不为外境所动，不为得失所扰」的超然境界。妙在两句对仗而语序倒置（物喜、己悲），「物」与「己」、「喜」与「悲」两两对举，涵盖了个体情绪的全部来源，逻辑上滴水不漏；而「不以……不以……」的双重否定句式，比正面直说「内心平静」更有力量，斩钉截铁地划出古仁人与常人的界限。此八字上承孔孟「不动心」之学，下启宋明理学「存天理、灭人欲」的修养路径，是理解中国知识分子精神世界的钥匙。

These eight characters are the thesis bone of the essay and the most concentrated expression of the spiritual cultivation of Chinese scholar-officials. 'For' means 'because'; 'external things' means the circumstances and encounters without; 'self' means one's own gains, losses, honor and disgrace. 'Not glad for external things' breaks the ordinary heart that rejoices or sorrows according to favorable or adverse fortune; 'not grieved for self' breaks the ordinary state of fretting over personal interest. The two lines are mutually explanatory; taken together they mean the transcendent state of 'not moved by outer circumstance, not disturbed by gain or loss.' The genius lies in the parallel yet inverted order ('things'-'glad,' 'self'-'grieved'), 'things' against 'self,' 'glad' against 'grieved,' covering every source of individual emotion with logical completeness. The double-negative 'not... not...' is stronger than a plain 'inner calm,' sharply drawing the line between the ancient humane person and the ordinary. These eight characters carry forward the Confucius-Mencian doctrine of 'unmoved heart' and open the Neo-Confucian path of cultivation, 'preserve heavenly principle, extinguish human desire'; they are the key to understanding the inner world of the Chinese intellectual.

居庙堂之高则忧其民，处江湖之远则忧其君。

In the high halls of court he worries for his people; in the distant rivers and lakes he worries for his ruler.

身居朝廷高位就忧虑百姓的疾苦，身处偏远的江湖之间就忧虑君王的得失。

High in the court, he grieves for his people; far away on the rivers and lakes, he grieves for his prince.

此两句写古仁人「进退皆忧」的完整人格，是「不以物喜，不以己悲」的具体展开。「居庙堂之高」指在朝为官，「处江湖之远」指退居野处，一进一退，囊括了士人一生的两种基本处境；「则忧其民」「则忧其君」，无论进退，忧思如一——在朝忧民（民本），在野忧君（忠君），而「民」与「君」正是儒家政治关怀的两极。此二句的深意在于：古仁人并非无情，而是把个人的喜悲升华为对家国天下的忧思，「不以物喜，不以己悲」不是冷漠，而是把「小我」之情升华为「大我」之忧。句式上「居庙堂之高」「处江湖之远」对仗精工，「则忧」二字复沓，音节铿锵，读来掷地有声，与末段「先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐」一气贯通，构成《岳阳楼记》最著名的警策。

These two phrases write the complete character of the ancient humane person, who 'grieves whether advancing or withdrawing,' expanding 'not glad for things, not grieved for self.' 'High in the court' means serving as an official; 'far away on the rivers and lakes' means living in retirement — one advance and one withdrawal, encompassing the two basic stations of a scholar's life. 'He grieves for his people' and 'he grieves for his prince': whether advancing or withdrawing, his grief is the same — in office he grieves for the people (the people as foundation), in retirement he grieves for the prince (loyalty to the ruler); 'people' and 'prince' are the two poles of Confucian political concern. The depth lies in this: the ancient humane person is not without feeling but has sublimated personal joy and grief into grief for the country and the world; 'not glad for things, not grieved for self' is not coldness but the lifting of 'small self' feeling into 'great self' concern. In syntax, 'high in the court' and 'far away on the rivers and lakes' are tightly parallel, 'he grieves' repeated, the cadence sonorous and ringing, flowing with the closing passage's 'grieving before the world grieves, rejoicing after the world rejoices' to form the most famous maxim of the Yueyang Tower Record.

Study

Word focus

求 The 'sought' (qiu) in 'I have sought the heart of the ancient humane person' is the soul of this paragraph's argument. 'Sought' means to inquire and pursue, not the vague 'know' or 'observe'—Fan says he once painstakingly sought the heart of the ancients, the word showing both his admiration for their character and his ambition to model himself on them. The word also implies method: the heart of the ancient humane cannot be seen directly, only 'sought' through their 'conduct' (deed), hence the next line 'perhaps unlike the conduct of those two,' moving from deed to heart, exactly the method of 'inferring the intent by the meaning.' If changed to 'know' or 'hear,' the seeking and self-reflection would be lost. In one small word appears Fan's character of 'taking the world as his responsibility'—he is not an observer studying the humane but a seeker emulating them. 「予尝求古仁人之心」之「求」字，是此段立论的灵魂。「求」训探求、追寻，非泛泛「知」或「观」——范仲淹说自己曾经苦苦探求古仁人的心思，「求」字写出一个上下求索、反复体认的过程，既见其对古人人格的景仰，也见其以仁人自期自励的襟怀。这个「求」字还暗含方法论：古仁人之心不可直接看见，只能透过其「为」（行为表现）来「求」（推求），故下文紧接「或异二者之为」，由「为」入「心」，正是「以意逆志」的推求之法。若易为「知」「闻」，则失其追寻之态与内省之诚。一字之微，见出范仲淹「以天下为己任」的人格底色——他不是旁观者在研究仁人，而是求道者在效法仁人。

物、己 The 'things' and 'self' (wu, ji) set in opposition in 'not rejoicing at things, not grieving for oneself' are the conceptual pillars of the eight-character thesis. 'Things' means all outside the self—circumstances, office, gain, fame; 'self' means all of the self—gain and loss, honor and disgrace, life and death. Together they cover virtually all sources of individual emotion: common sorrow and joy are nothing but the smoothness or reversal of 'things' and the gain or loss of 'self,' yet the ancient humane let go of both, hence 'not rejoicing at things, not grieving for oneself.' Setting 'things' against 'self' is the linguistic crystal of the Confucian 'inner heavy, outer light' theory of the heart: valuing the inner (cultivation of the heart) over the outer (smoothness of circumstance), hence Mencius's 'riches cannot corrupt, poverty cannot move, might cannot bend,' which Fan condenses into the two words 'things' and 'self,' even more succinct. Later Song-Ming Neo-Confucian terms like 'investigating things' and 'restraining the self' can be seen as further unfolding of the 'things-self' relation. 「不以物喜，不以己悲」中「物」与「己」二字对举，是此八字立论的概念支柱。「物」指身外的一切——境遇、官职、利害、毁誉；「己」指自身的一切——得失、荣辱、生死。二字合起来，几乎涵盖了个体情绪的全部来源：常人喜悲，不外乎「物」之顺逆与「己」之得失两端，而古仁人将此两端一并放下，故能「不以物喜，不以己悲」。以「物」对「己」，是儒家「内重外轻」心性论的语言结晶：重内（心性之修养）而轻外（境遇之顺逆），故孟子言「富贵不能淫，贫贱不能移，威武不能屈」，范仲淹以「物」「己」二字括之，更为凝练。后世宋明理学「格物」「克己」诸说，皆可视为对「物己」关系的进一步展开。

庙堂、江湖 The 'court' and 'rivers-and-lakes' (miaotang, jianghu) in 'in the high halls of court' and 'in the distant rivers and lakes' are the most tensile spatial images in Chinese political culture. 'Court' originally meant the ancestral and audience halls, standing for the central government; 'rivers and lakes' meant rivers and lakes, standing for the common people and retirement. Set in opposition, they map the two fundamental situations of a scholar's life: serving the ruler in the court, or retiring in the rivers and lakes. Fan's brilliance: he does not set them in conflict but runs the double 'worries'—'worries for the people' and 'worries for the ruler'—through both: worried in advance, worried in retreat, court and rivers-and-lakes united in worry, so that the individual's advance or retreat no longer decides whether his care exists. Henceforth 'court and rivers-and-lakes' became a common poetic image; Su Shi's 'rivers-and-lakes and court,' Lu You's 'though lowly, never forgetting to worry for the state' inherit this vein, and 'body in the rivers, heart at the court' became the scholar's spiritual norm, showing the cultural radiation of these two images. 「居庙堂之高」「处江湖之远」中的「庙堂」与「江湖」，是中国政治文化中一对最富张力的空间意象。「庙堂」本指宗庙明堂，代指朝廷中枢；「江湖」本指江河湖海，代指民间野处。二字对举，划分出士人一生的两种根本处境：得君行道则为「庙堂」之臣，失意退处则为「江湖」之士。范仲淹的高明在于：他不让二者对立，而以「则忧其民」「则忧其君」的双「忧」贯穿之——进亦忧、退亦忧，「庙堂」与「江湖」在忧思中合一，个体的进退不再决定其关怀的存废。此后「庙堂江湖」成为诗文常用意象，苏轼「江湖与庙堂」、陆游「位卑未敢忘忧国」皆承此脉，「身在江湖，心存魏阙」更成士大夫的精神常态，此二意象的文化辐射力可见一斑。