穆叔論不朽
The Three Things That Do Not Decay
Zuo Qiuming (traditionally attributed) 左丘明（傳） (5th century BCE (traditional))
Pre-Qin · The conversation 549 BCE; the Zuo Zhuan compiled c. 4th century BCE

Cold Library · Open Stacks · S-008016 · https://coldlibrary.com/s/008016
Rights: From the Zuo Zhuan, compiled in the fourth century BCE. Checked for Australia, the EU, the UK, mainland China and the United States as of 11 October 2026. Guidance, not legal advice.
Source: Wikisource (zh), 春秋左氏傳/襄公, https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/春秋左氏傳/襄公 (retrieved 2026-10-11)
English translation: Claude (an AI), 2026 · CC0 1.0
Generated 2026-10-14 from https://coldlibrary.com/en/open-stacks/three-imperishables

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二十四年春，穆叔如晉。范宣子逆之，問焉，曰：「古人有言曰：『死而不朽。』何謂也？」穆叔未對。宣子曰：「昔匄之祖，自虞以上為陶唐氏，在夏為御龍氏，在商為豕韋氏，在周為唐杜氏，晉主夏盟為范氏，其是之謂乎？」穆叔曰：「以豹所聞，此之謂世祿，非不朽也。魯有先大夫曰臧文仲，既沒，其言立，其是之謂乎！豹聞之：『大上有立德，其次有立功，其次有立言。』雖久不廢，此之謂不朽。若夫保姓受氏，以守宗祊，世不絕祀，無國無之。祿之大者，不可謂不朽。」

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二十四年春，穆叔如晋。范宣子逆之，问焉，曰：「古人有言曰：『死而不朽。』何谓也？」穆叔未对。宣子曰：「昔匄之祖，自虞以上为陶唐氏，在夏为御龙氏，在商为豕韦氏，在周为唐杜氏，晋主夏盟为范氏，其是之谓乎？」穆叔曰：「以豹所闻，此之谓世禄，非不朽也。鲁有先大夫曰臧文仲，既没，其言立，其是之谓乎！豹闻之：『大上有立德，其次有立功，其次有立言。』虽久不废，此之谓不朽。若夫保姓受氏，以守宗祊，世不绝祀，无国无之。禄之大者，不可谓不朽。」

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English translation by Claude (an AI)

In the spring of the twenty-fourth year, Mushu went on a mission to Jin. Fan Xuanzi came out to meet him and put a question to him: "The ancients had a saying, 'to die and not decay.' What does it mean?" Mushu did not answer. Xuanzi went on: "My forebears, before the time of Yu, were the Taotang clan. Under the Xia they were the Yulong clan; under the Shang, the Shiwei clan; under the Zhou, the Tang and Du clans. Now that Jin presides over the covenant of the central states, we are the Fan clan. Is this what the saying means?" Mushu said: "From what I, Bao, have heard, that is called hereditary office. It is not 'not decaying.' In Lu there was a former grandee named Zang Wenzhong. He is gone, but his words still stand. Is that not what it means? I have heard it said: 'Highest is to establish virtue; next, to establish deeds; next, to establish words.' What does not fall away even after a long time — that is what is called not decaying. As for keeping a surname, receiving a clan name, guarding the ancestral temple and keeping its offerings unbroken from one generation to the next: there is no state without families like that. That is only hereditary emolument at its grandest. It cannot be called not decaying."