顏淵在孔門弟子中之地位甚高。其所取法之對象有二：一為古代之大舜，二為當時之孔子。大舜具孝親友愛，依循仁義，與素位而行，執中治國之大德與大智，乃是顏子奮發有為，企望向慕之古代聖王。孔子有遍潤之仁心，圓活之智慧，從容之態度，和樂之情志，則是顏子竭其才力，崇仰師法之當時聖人。顏淵自言其志願之「無伐善，無施勞」者，即《易傳》之「善世而不伐，德博而化」謂善益世人而不誇大，德業廣博而不自居。至於孔子贊美顏子好學之「不遷怒，不貳過」者，謂見人有可怒之實，能依理應對而不動氣；而於意念之偏失處，能即時消解，不使復萌。顏子「默體聖蘊」，是以對聖學能涵蓄深厚，體貼親切；誠心向道，是以對師教能實踐力行，日進不已。儒家之人生理想，一則在體現仁心以自悅，一則在脫然無累以自得。此等美善合一之生命情調，其中自有無窮之樂趣，孔子能之，顏淵亦能之。至於「顏淵喟然而歎」一章，則顯示顏子仰瞻聖道、充實德慧及真見聖道之學問過程。顏子之造詣，在渾化之聖境與未化之間，其功夫所至，乃入聖之成法，此其學之所以為有準的也。

Yen-Yuan occupied a high position among the disciples of Confucius. There were two sages that Yen-Yuan followed, one was Shun in the ancient time, and the other was Confucius at that time. Shun was the ancient sage that Yen-Yuan admired not only because Shun was filial and brotherly, acted up to benevolence and righteousness, and did his duty, but also because of the virtue and wisdom of the happy medium Shun used to govern his country. Confucius, who had widely spread benevolence, comprehensive wisdom, unhurried attitude, harmonious will, was the contemporary sage that Yen-Yuan venerated and imitated with effort. "Not exaggerating one's good deeds, and not overstating one's virtues", the aspiration of Yen-Yuan, is, namely, the sentence "do not exaggerate the good things you do, and do not overemphasize your goodness" in Yi-Jhuan, which means "doing good things to people but not magnify those things, and widely spreading virtues but not claiming credit for Oneself." As to what Confucius praised Yen-Yuan's studious spirit, "do not get angry because of what others do, and erase bad thinking from one's mind", which means "you could rationally respond to the things that other people do without getting angry, and wipe out aberrant thinking from your mind completely". Yen-Yuan "knew the secrets of sages", and had great achievements of sages' studies. He not only properly understood the profound meanings of sages' studies and studied single-mindedly, but also practiced what the teachers taught him earnestly unceasingly. The life ideals of the Confucianists were expressing the benevolence to make themselves feel happy in spirit, and getting rid of nuisances to be free from care. Within the life character combined with beauty and righteousness was the endless pleasure that both Confucius and Yen-Yuan could achieve. Regarding the chapter "Yen-Yuan Signs Deeply", it shows Yen-Yuan's learning process of admiring sages' doctrines, enriching his wisdom and virtues, and completely understanding sages' studies. The attainments of Yen-Yuan lied between removing and maintaining the appearances of sages, and his achievements were the formulas of becoming sages and the standard methods of entering the confines of sages.