What is the 行 in 行有餘力？

Question

The passage in the analects, whence it came, reads:

子曰：「弟子，入則孝，出則弟，謹而信， 凡愛眾，而親仁。行有餘力，則以學文。」

Very broadly I understand it:

Students and sons at home should be filial, leaving home they should be respectful towards elders, trusting and sincere, all encompassingly loving the people and inclined toward kindness. If they have strength left, then for refined studies.

But there are points I don't understand. One of them is 行。it appears to be used like 若，but my dictionary, which contains many classical examples, says nothing of such a usage! What does it mean? Can you give some more examples for this usage of 行？

Answer 1

行 here means "to do" or "to perform".

行：實行；實踐 to do; to perform; to practice
有：還有 still have
餘：多餘的 superfluous; surplus; excess
力：能力 ability; capability

行有餘力，
After doing these and still having surplus capability,

行有餘力，則以學文。
After one can perform the above things, and has enough time and ability, one should study and learn some knowledge.

"The above things" mean 入則孝，出則弟，謹而信，汎愛眾，而親仁.

Examples:

先思而後行
Think before you act.
Look before you leap.

行之不懈
Do it with no remission.

反其道而行
Do it in an opposite way.

行之有年
Has been performed for years.

知行合一
Unity of knowledge and practice.

知之者不如行之者。
To do is better than to say.

言出必行
Do it after saying it.
No sooner said than done.

勢在必行
Must do it under such a circumstance.

---

親仁
親近君子 Close to the gentleman
親近有仁德的人 Close to benevolent people
「仁」指「仁者」kind, merciful, benevolent, kindly, charitable people

Answer 2

edited.

let's consider a conditional sentence:

if / when ( condition a = true) & ( condition b = true ), then c

which might be simplified to:

if / when (a & b), then c

further:

a & b, then c

now, replace these symbols with the sentence of analects:

if / when ( 入則孝﹒出則弟﹒謹而信﹒ 汎愛眾﹒而親仁 = true) & ( 有餘力 = true ), then ( 則 )以學文

simplify it:

if / when ( 入則孝﹒出則弟﹒謹而信﹒ 汎愛眾﹒而親仁 ) & ( 有餘力 ), then ( 則 )以學文

since (condition a = true) implied that those actions are already performed, the original place is replaced by the character "行"; list these actions in front, so the sentence changed to:

( 入則孝﹒出則弟﹒謹而信﹒ 汎愛眾﹒而親仁 )﹒if / when ( 行 ) & ( 有餘力 ), then ( 則 )以學文

further, omit the "if / when", "&", "then" :

( 入則孝﹒出則弟﹒謹而信﹒ 汎愛眾﹒而親仁 )﹒( 行有餘力 ), 則以學文

last, adding back the "子曰﹒弟子", we'd have:

弟子入則孝﹒出則弟﹒謹而信﹒ 汎愛眾﹒而親仁﹒行有餘力﹒則以學文

based on james legge's translation:

http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&id=1107

行有餘力﹒則以學文

when he has time and opportunity, after the performance of these things, he should employ them in polite studies

行, in this context, it means "after the performance of" "入則孝﹒出則弟﹒謹而信﹒汎愛眾﹒而親仁"

about the rationale of such arrangement, i would say:

1 it's classical chinese, complied in a few thousand years ago.

2 it started with "子曰", which implied it's authoritative, in an assertive manner, so the "if / when" is omitted.

have fun :)