Source: Han Yu's Shi Shuo in Tang Dynasty
Original text:
Ancient scholars must have teachers. Teacher, so preach and teach to solve doubts. People are not born knowing, who can have no doubt? If you are confused and don't follow the teacher, you will be confused and you will never understand. Before I was born, I studied Tao before I was born, so I learned from Tao. After I was born, I studied Taoism first, so I studied Taoism. I am a teacher, and I don't know that years were born in me. Therefore, there is no nobility, no inferiority, no length, no shortage, and the existence of Tao and the existence of teachers.
Ha ha! It's been a long time since the teacher passed on the Tao! It's hard to be confused! The ancient sages are far away, and they are still in the teacher's question; Today's people are far from saints, and they are ashamed to learn from their teachers. So saints are good for saints, and fools are good for fools. What makes saints holy and fools stupid? Love his son, choose a teacher and teach him; If you are in your body, you will feel ashamed and confused. The boy's teacher, the sentence of teaching and learning books, is not the person I am talking about telling his story and solving his confusion. I don't know, I don't understand, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. Witch doctors and musicians are skilled workers, and they are not ashamed to learn from each other. The families of the scholar-officials called their teacher disciple Yun, and they got together and talked and laughed. When asked, he said, "He is almost the same as that year, and in the same way. His humble position is full of shame, and his official position is close to admiration. " Oh! Obviously, the teacher's path has gone. Witch doctors are highly skilled musicians, and gentlemen disdain them. Today, his wisdom is out of reach, strange and embarrassing!
Saint impermanence teacher. Confucius studied under Tan Zi, Changhong, Shi Xiang and Lao Dan. Scorpions' disciples are not as clever as Confucius. Confucius said: If there are three people, there must be a teacher. So disciples don't have to be inferior to teachers, and teachers don't have to be superior to disciples. They have a good understanding of Taoism and specialize in their skills. That's all.
Seventeen-year-old Li is good at ancient prose and knows all six arts. He has unlimited time to learn from Yu Yu. Yu Jiaqi can follow the ancient road and write Shi Shuo to make it last forever.
Translation:
People who studied in ancient times must have teachers. A teacher is a person who teaches truth, Confucian classics and explains difficult problems. People are not born with knowledge and truth. Who can not doubt it? With doubts and not learning from teachers, those problems that become confused will never be solved. Born before me, he knew that he was really earlier than me, so I learned from him and accepted him as a teacher. If the person born after me understands the truth earlier than me, I will follow him and worship him as a teacher. I learned from him, so it doesn't matter whether he was born before me or after me. Therefore, no matter how high or low, no matter how old or young, the place where truth exists is where the teacher is.
Alas! It's been a long time since the fashion of learning from teachers, and it's hard for people not to doubt it! Ancient saints, far beyond the average person, had to ask their teachers for advice (what is synonymous with what); Nowadays, ordinary people are far less clever than saints, but they are ashamed to learn from teachers. Therefore, saints are wiser and fools are more ignorant. This is probably the reason why saints become saints and fools become fools. Love your child and choose a teacher to teach him. But for himself, it is shameful to learn from the teacher. What a fool! Those children's teachers, who teach them to read and study the sentences in books, are not what I call teachers who teach truth and solve problems. I don't know whether to ask the teacher when the sentence stops, but I don't want to ask the teacher if I have doubts that I can't solve; The little one learned, but the big one was lost. I didn't see his understanding. Witch doctors, musicians and craftsmen are not ashamed to learn from each other. Scholars and the like get together and laugh at those who call themselves "teachers" and "disciples". Ask them and say, "He is about his age and knows the same thing. It is shameful to be a teacher in a low position, and it is almost flattering to be a teacher in a high position. " Hey! It is difficult to recover the fashion of asking teachers, you can know! Witch doctors, musicians, craftsmen, these people, the gentleman disdain to mention, and now their wisdom is not comparable to these people, which is really strange!
A saint has no fixed teacher. Confucius studied under Zanzi, Changhong, Shi Xiang and Lao Dan. These people are not as talented as Confucius. Confucius said, "When several people walk together, one of them can be my teacher." Therefore, students are not necessarily inferior to teachers, and teachers are not necessarily more talented than students. They have heard about it early and heard about it late, and their knowledge and skills have their own specialties. That's all.
Pan, the Li family's child, is seventeen years old and likes classical Chinese. He has generally studied the six classics and is not bound by customs, so he learns from me. I praised him for following the ancient way of learning from the teacher and writing this "Shi Shuo" as a gift to him.
Creative background:
Shi Shuo was written by Zhen Yuan when he was a doctor in imperial academy No.4 School in 17-18 years (80 1- 802). After I took office in imperial academy, I found that the imperial examination hall was dark, the government was corrupt, and the bureaucracy was full of drawbacks. At that time, the upper class looked down on teachers. The scholar-bureaucrat class has a concept of being unwilling to seek a teacher and "ashamed to be a teacher". The author wrote this article by answering Li Pan's question to clarify people's vague understanding of "seeking a teacher" and "being a teacher".
Appreciate:
Explain the truth of learning from teachers, satirize the world where teachers are ashamed, educate young people, and play a role in changing the atmosphere. This paper lists positive and negative examples, compares and demonstrates repeatedly, discusses the necessity and principle of learning from teachers, criticizes the bad habit of "being ashamed to learn from teachers" in society at that time, shows extraordinary courage and fighting spirit, and also shows the spirit of expressing opinions independently regardless of the secular. Although the full text is not long, it has profound implications, distinct arguments, rigorous structure, thorough reasoning and strong persuasiveness and appeal.
The full text is divided into four paragraphs. ?
1 puts forward the central topic, and generally discusses the importance of learning from teachers and the criteria for choosing teachers. At the beginning of the first sentence, the word "ancient" was added in front of "the ancient man must have a teacher", which not only showed that the ancients attached importance to teaching, but also aimed at reality and borrowed the ancient to learn from the present. The tone of the word "there must be" is very positive. Then, it is pointed out that the teacher's function is to "preach, teach and dispel doubts" and state the central argument from the front. Then closely follow the word "dispel doubts", explain the importance of learning from the harm of never learning, and state the central argument from the opposite side. Finally, closely following the word "preaching", it is clarified that the existence of Tao is the only criterion for selecting teachers. Contrary to the custom at that time, nobility and inferiority were excluded from the standard, which is a lesson for the following.
The second paragraph criticizes the wrong attitude of not paying attention to teaching and the bad atmosphere of being ashamed of learning This passage discusses the score in three levels. On the first level, comparing the "ancient sages" with the "modern people" who are ashamed to follow the teacher, it is pointed out that whether to respect the teacher or not is the key to distinguish the sage from the fool; On the second level, I think my son chose a teacher and didn't learn from him, pointing out the fallacy of "leaving a legacy in primary school"; The third layer, through the comparison between witch doctor musicians and literati, criticizes the social atmosphere that belittled teachers' morality at that time.
Taking Confucius as an example, the third paragraph points out that ancient sages attached importance to learning from Tao, and further expounds the necessity of learning from teachers and the truth of learning from the able. At the beginning of this paragraph, the thesis that "saints are impermanent teachers" is put forward, which echoes 1 paragraph that "ancient scholars must have teachers" and goes further, from "scholars" to "saints" and from "teachers" to "impermanent teachers". Take Confucius as an example to discuss, because Confucius is the most sacred teacher in people's minds. Taking Confucius as an example, it is representative and can strengthen persuasion. The conclusion that "a disciple need not be inferior to a teacher, and a teacher need not be superior to a disciple" is obviously correct. This view of taking the Almighty as a teacher is the view of "the existence of Tao, the existence of teacher"
The fourth paragraph praises Li Pan for being "free from time constraints" and "able to be an ancient road", and explains the reasons for writing this article. The word "time" refers to the social atmosphere of "being ashamed of being a teacher" and "being confused and not following the teacher", while the "ancient road" refers to the excellent style of study of "asking questions from the teacher" and taking "teaching as a teacher". So as to summarize the main idea of the full text and point out the theme.
In the author's exposition, Shi Shuo belongs to a kind of fluent and fluent writing, which is obviously different from the original road and other bold and magnificent articles. However, there is still momentum in simplicity. There are many factors contributing to this momentum.
The first is the persuasiveness of the theory itself and the momentum formed by strict logic. The author is highly confident in his theory and thoroughly analyzes things. Therefore, in his exposition, he is not only rigorous in steps and tortuous, but also often uses extremely general and accurate language to express the essence of his thoughts clearly, forming a warning strategy in a paragraph or even an article, which leaves a strong impression on readers. For example, the first paragraph makes a general binding at the end on the basis of discussing the teacher's way: "So, there is no expensive and cheap, no long and little, and the existence of the Tao is also the existence of the teacher's way." As big as a horse. After quoting examples of Confucius' words and deeds, a passage in "The Immortality of a Saint as a Teacher" immediately pointed out: "So disciples don't have to be inferior to teachers, and teachers don't have to be superior to disciples. I have heard of Taoism one after another, and there is specialization in the art, that's all. " From the phenomenon of "impermanent teacher", I suddenly came to such a profound insight, which is of great foresight.
Secondly, hard directing, without any transition, forms a steep literary potential. The opening straight book, "Ancient scholars must have teachers", suddenly appeared, which has been surprising; There are three short paragraphs criticizing the bad atmosphere, each of which starts with "rivers and lakes", "loving my son" and "witch doctor, musician and mechanic". There is no transition between paragraphs, but it is tall and straight and irrelevant. This transfer originated from Han Yu, and the consciousness of reading has a majestic trend.
In addition, the combination of duality and parallelism in prose also helps to strengthen the momentum of the article.
About the author:
Han Yu (65438+768-February 25th, 824) was born in Heyang, Henan Province (now mengzhou city, Henan Province). He claimed to be "the ancestral home of Changli County" and was called "Han Changli" and "Mr. Changli". Minister of the Middle Tang Dynasty, writer, thinker and politician, son of Han Lang, Minister of the Middle Qing Dynasty. In the 12th year of Yuanhe (8 17), he served as the prime minister of Pei Du, Sima in March, to fight against the "Huaixi Rebellion". Speak out to welcome the Buddha's bones and be demoted to Chaozhou secretariat. Official ups and downs, tired of the official department assistant minister, known as the "Korean official department." In the fourth year of Changqing (824), Han Yu died of illness at the age of 57, and was posthumously awarded as the history of the Ministry of Rites. Posthumous title is called Wen, so he is called Han Wengong. In the first year of Yuanfeng (1078), Bo in Changli County was posthumously sealed to worship the Confucius Temple. As an advocate of the ancient prose movement in the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu ranked first among the "Eight Masters in the Tang and Song Dynasties" and was known as "a great writer" and "a hundred schools of literature". He and Liu Zongyuan are also called "Liu Han", and Liu Zongyuan, Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi are also called "four great writers through the ages". Advocating writing theories such as "the unity of literature and Taoism", "moderation in words", "no words in words" and "following words" is of guiding significance to future generations. He is the author of The Collection of Han Changli.