Appreciation of the original text of Shi Shuo

Shi Shuo is a famous classic in classical Chinese written by Han Yu against the unhealthy trend of "being ashamed to follow the teacher" under the influence of family values. The following is the appreciation of the original version of Shi Shuo that I shared. Let's have a look.

original text

The teacher said

Author: [Tang] Han Yu

Ancient scholars (1) must have teachers. Teacher, so 2 preach 3 by 4 industry 5 also. People are not born to know (6), who can not be confused? If you are confused and don't follow the teacher, you will be confused (7) and you will never understand. Born before (8) me, I heard that (9) was also fixed before me, so I borrowed it (10); After I was born, I studied Taoism first, so I studied Taoism. I'm a teacher, and Fu Yong knows that his date was born by me (1 1)? Therefore, there is no nobility, no length, no shortage, the existence of Tao and the existence of teachers (12).

Ha ha! Teacher Dao (13) has not been passed on for a long time! It's hard to be confused! Ancient sages, people (14) are still far away, (15) learn from them and ask them; Today's people (16) are far from saints, and they are ashamed to learn from their teachers (17). Therefore, saints are good for saints and fools are good for fools (18). What makes saints holy and fools stupid? Love your son and choose a teacher to teach him. On him, he is ashamed of his teacher and confused (19)! The boy's teacher (20), who teaches and learns to read sentences (Dü u) (21), is not what I said to explain his confusion. I don't know, I don't understand, or I don't know (22), or I don't know (fǒu), but I left a legacy in primary school (23), and I haven't seen it clearly. Witch doctor (24) is a musician (25), and he is not ashamed to be a teacher (26); Scholar-officials (27), who called their master and pupil Yunzhe, laughed together. When asked, say that he is similar to that year (28) and similar to Tao. Humble position leads to shame (29), and official position leads to contempt (yú)(30). Oh! The teacher's road is gone (3 1)! Witch doctors are highly skilled musicians, and gentlemen (32) are contemptuous (33). Today, their wisdom is (34) and they cannot reach it. Very strange and embarrassing (yú)(35)!

Saint impermanence division (36). Confucius studied under Zanzi (37), Hong (38) and Hong (39). A disciple of Tan (37) is not as virtuous as Confucius. Confucius said, "Where there are three people, there must be a teacher." (40) Therefore, a disciple need not (4 1) be inferior to a teacher, and a teacher need not be superior to a disciple. There is an order of teaching and learning, and there is a profession with specialization (42), that's all.

Li (pán)(43), seventeen years old, is good at ancient Chinese, and the classic of six arts, Zhuan (44), is a household name in the annals, regardless of the times (45), and has learned more. Yu Jiaqi can take the ancient road (46) and write Shi Shuo to convey (yí)(47).

To annotate ...

Scholar: One who studies.

[2] So: for …, rely on …

[3] Tao: refers to the philosophy, politics and other principles of Confucianism and Confucius. You can refer to the original road chosen by Han Yu in this book.

[4] Accept: by "granting". Teaching.

[5] karma: generally refers to the study of ancient classics, history, philosophers and ancient Chinese characters. You can refer to the contents of the author's research described in Han Yu's Understanding of Learning below this book.

[6] People are not born knowing: people are not born knowing the truth. One: refers to knowledge and truth. The text of the Analects of Confucius: "Confucius said,' You are not born to know, but you want it.' "The Analects of Confucius Jishi": "Confucius said:' Those who are born with knowledge are also on the top; Those who learn and know, second. "Confucius admitted that some people were born with knowledge, but he thought he didn't. Han Yu further clarified that no one was born with it.

[7] Equally puzzling are the problems that have become difficult.

[8] Hu: Yu.

[9] Wen Dao: The text "The Analects of Confucius": "Confucius said:' Those who heard the Tao died in the evening. ""smell, listen and extend understanding. Tao: the way of Confucianism.

[10] So you should learn from him: follow him and worship him as a teacher. To be a teacher is to be a teacher.

[1 1] Fu Yong knows that he was born in my place: Who cares if his birth date is earlier or later than mine? No, no, I don't know, I know, I know. Year: age.

Where the Tao is, the teacher is: where the knowledge and truth are, the teacher is. It means that whoever understands the truth is his own teacher.

[13] Teacher's way: Take the teacher as the way. That is, learning the Tao. Tao means fashion here.

[14] Not ordinary people.

Still.

[16] people: ordinary people.

[17] Shame on teachers: Shame on teachers.

[18] Therefore, the sage is beneficial to the sage, and the fool is beneficial to the fool: therefore, the sage is wiser and the fool is more stupid. Benefits, more, more.

[19] Confused: (really) confused!

[20] Peter's teachers: those (enlightenment) teachers who teach children.

[2 1] Sentence reading (dòu teasing): Also called sentence teasing. In ancient times, it was called a sentence with full meaning, which was read (teased) with full stop as a circle and comma as a point. There are no punctuation marks in ancient books, so teachers should teach children to be funny when reading. Reading is funny.

[22] Do you want to be a teacher (fǒu): Some ask the teacher (referring to such a small thing as "I don't know what to read"), and some don't ask the teacher (referring to such a big thing as "being confused"). "No" and "No" are the same. When translating this sentence, pay attention to the mistranslation. Please refer to the following translation for details.

[23] Primary school and great legacy: small aspects (I don't know what to read) have to learn, and big aspects (I don't understand) have given up.

[24] Witch doctor: In ancient times, people who used superstitious methods such as prayer and divination or used drugs to treat diseases were even called witch doctors. There is a record of "witch doctor" in Yizhoushu Drama. "The Analects of Confucius Ji's": "A man without constancy cannot be a witch doctor." As a lowly profession.

[25] Baigong: refers to craftsmen.

[26] physiognomy: learn from each other's strengths.

[27] Family: class.

[28] Similarity: Similar, almost.

[29] Humility is full of shame: (to be) low status (to be a teacher), you will feel ashamed.

[30] Flattery (yú): Flattery.

[3 1] Reply: Resume.

[32] Gentleman: In ancient times, "Gentleman" had two meanings, one was a person with high status, and the other was a person with high moral character. The former is used here, which is equivalent to a scholar-bureaucrat.

[33] contempt: disdain for the same column, showing contempt. Teeth, originally referring to age, also extended to arrangement. The young horse grows a tooth every year, so the age of a horse is counted by teeth, which also refers to the age of a person. The ancients often arranged each other according to their age. This sentence reflects the traditional prejudice of the feudal class.

[34] Yes, actually.

[35] Strange: Is it strange? First of all, modal particles play a role in strengthening rhetorical mood.

[36] immortal teacher: The Analects of Confucius Zhang Zi: "Zi Gong said, ...' How can a master not learn, but how can he always be a teacher?' "Master, teacher, refers to Confucius. Zi Gong said that he didn't learn anything. Why should he have a certain teacher?

[37] Tan Zi: The monarch of Tan Guo (now Tancheng, Shandong Province) in the Spring and Autumn Period, to whom Confucius once asked the official name of Hao Hao (the legendary ancient emperor).

[38] Chi (cháng) Hong: A doctor in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, to whom Confucius once asked questions about ancient music. Shi Xiang: During the Spring and Autumn Period, the musician of Lu was named Xiang, from whom Confucius had learned to play the piano. Teachers, musicians.

[39] Lao Dan (dān Dan): that is, Laozi, a Chu man in the Spring and Autumn Period, a thinker and founder of the Taoist school. Confucius once asked him questions about manners.

[40] Threesome sentence: The text "The Analects of Confucius": "Confucius said:' There must be a teacher in a threesome. Choose the good to follow and change the bad. " "

[4 1] Not necessarily: not necessarily.

[42] There is a specialized division of labor in the technical field: (each) has its own (each) specialized research in knowledge and skills. Attack: study and research.

[43] Li: (Pan) In the nineteenth year of Zhenyuan (803), he was a scholar.

[44] Quasi: "Six Arts Classics". Six arts: refers to the six classics, namely, poetry, calligraphy, ceremony, music, Yi, Spring and Autumn. Classics: Prose before and after Han Dynasty. Biography: Annotate classic works.

[45] Not limited by time: not limited by time and customs. When, when vulgar, refers to the bad atmosphere that the scholar-officials were ashamed to follow the teacher at that time. Yu, yes.

[46] Can be an ancient road: Jia: praise, reward.

[47] Ancient Road: the way to learn from ancient times.

[48] Yi: Gifts.

[49] The six art classics are all related to records: records and pronouns.

Vernacular translation

People who studied in ancient times must have teachers. Teachers can be relied on to impart truth, teach research and answer difficult questions. People are not born to understand reason, who can have no doubts? With doubts and not learning from teachers, those who become difficult problems will not understand in the end. Born in front of me, he understood the truth earlier than me, so I will follow him and regard him as a teacher; Born behind me, if he knew the truth before me, I should follow him and regard him as a teacher. I am learning from him. Who cares if he was born earlier or later than me? Therefore, regardless of status and age, the place where truth exists is the place where teachers exist.

Alas, the ancient fashion of learning from teachers has been circulating for a long time, and it is difficult to make people doubt it! Ancient saints, far more than ordinary people, followed teachers and asked for advice; 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 stupid. The reason why saints can become saints and fools can become fools is probably because of this. People love their children and choose teachers to teach them, but it is shameful for him to learn from them. What a fool! Those children's teachers teach them to read and help them learn to break sentences. It's not what I said that can teach those truths and answer those difficult questions. On the one hand, I am unfamiliar with reading sentences, on the other hand, I can't solve puzzles. Ask the teacher if you are unfamiliar with the sentence, and ask the teacher if you are confused. Want to learn from small aspects, but give up learning from big aspects. I don't see that kind of person is wise. Witch doctors, musicians and craftsmen are not ashamed to learn from each other. When people like scholar-officials heard that "teachers" were called "disciples", they gathered in droves to laugh at others. Asked why they were laughing, they said, "He is about his age and has similar moral knowledge. He feels that it is shameful to take a low-ranking teacher as a teacher, and it is almost flattering to take a high-ranking teacher as a teacher. " Alas! It can be understood from these words that the ancient fashion of learning from teachers cannot be restored. Witch doctors, musicians and craftsmen are all people that gentlemen despise, but now their knowledge can't keep up with them. What a surprise!

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.

Make an appreciative comment

Some people think that the time when Han Yu wrote Shi Shuo was in the 18th year of Zhenyuan in Tang Dezong (802), which is generally credible. This year, Han Yu was 35 years old, just admitted to imperial academy from Luoyang, and was a doctor in four departments. He is a scholar of "from seven products". But he has become famous. The ancient prose movement that he constantly advocated and practiced, in those one or two years, is stepping out of the scope of a few fans and forming a broad movement, and he has also become a young leader of this movement. He used ancient prose to publicize his ideas. Defend pre-Qin Confucianism and oppose contemporary Buddhism and Taoism. Advocating the ancient prose in the pre-Qin and Han dynasties and opposing the "vulgar prose", that is, the parallel prose that "adorns its words but leaves its meaning" since Wei and Jin Dynasties: this is the content of the ancient prose movement. This movement was gradually formed in the late period of Tang Dezong's rule and had realistic social conditions. It served the political purpose of maintaining the unification of the Tang Dynasty and opposing the separatist regime of the buffer regions. Apart from warlords and big landlords, this was the requirement of the realistic interests of the broad social strata at that time. Han Yu's active efforts have continuously promoted the development and formation of this movement. As far as classical Chinese is concerned, he not only worked hard by himself, but also showed excellent results from theory to practice. More importantly, he tried to advocate regardless of the vulgar smile, especially in giving young people enthusiastic encouragement and instructions. Shi Shuo is an article with progressive significance and emancipatory spirit caused by this kind of effort.

Influenced by his childhood family upbringing and the retro trend of thought since Tianbao, Han Yu called himself an ancient prose preacher from his youth. This is also an important reason why he can't be proud of the imperial examination and official career for ten years. But he didn't regret it, and he became more and more confident. At first, when he went to Bianzhou to attend the shogunate of Dong Jin, the military envoy of Xuanwu (796-798), he first taught Li Ao to learn ancient Chinese. Thanks to Meng Jiao's introduction, he soon taught Zhang Ji to learn ancient Chinese. Later he fled to Xuzhou (799). When Xu Sihao asked Zhang Jianfeng to put him in Fu Li, he taught a young man, Zhang Che, to read ancient books and learn ancient prose. After Zhang Jianfeng's death, his career was blocked and he lived in Luoyang (800-80 1). More and more young people ask him for advice, and he is very enthusiastic and rewarding to young people. He said in "Answer to Li Yishu": "If you don't pay, you won't answer. Although Confucius is not allowed to travel in each other's hometown, it is better to do nothing. If you come, I'll come in. I'd appreciate it. " In order to "spread the sage's way", he treated all the young people who asked him for advice warmly and courteously. He thinks this is not a question of "being too polite" or "feeling too deep". He wrote back to many young people and taught them how to be a man and how to write. In Han Yu's view, the article is the expression of the author's personality cultivation, and life and composition should be consistent. After he entered imperial academy, he was still very enthusiastic about young people.

Han Yu keeps in touch with young people after school, giving them rewards and instructions, which has never happened since Wei and Jin Dynasties, and will certainly arouse people's surprise and even lead to comments and accusations. All young people who apply to Han Yu for books and benefits are naturally regarded as Han's disciples, so Han Yu's strange appearance of "being a teacher" is very prominent. However, Han Yu has long been confident. No matter how slandered people are, he still boldly answers letters from young people. When answering Hu Shengshu, he said: "A husband should distinguish right from wrong, be virtuous and not virtuous. People in public office are more afraid of intentions. Born with it, those who are good to me know their virtues, but born without benefit. I don't know if it's to slander! If you dare not love yourself, if you are afraid of the futility of life, you will be hurt. Why? " He expressed indignation at those malicious slanders and worried about the young people who asked him for advice. In the last paragraph of Shi Shuo, the source of writing was stated, saying that it was written for a young man named Li Pan, who was a "good ancient prose" and a "capable ancient road" and learned from him. In fact, he took this opportunity to give a public reply and sternly refute those detractors. He's being targeted.

In this article, he first affirmed (paragraph 1) that teachers have been indispensable to anyone since ancient times, because people can't be "born with knowledge" and no one can be without "confusion"-something at a loss. Therefore, he thinks that the teacher is not a special person, but a person who "gets the message and answers questions". He also believes that everyone can be a teacher regardless of social status (rank) or age (age). Just ask him if he has "Tao", and if he does, he can be a teacher. The so-called "the existence of Tao, the existence of teachers." Then (the second paragraph) lamented that the ancient "learning from others" had been lost for a long time. Nowadays, ordinary people are getting more and more stupid because they can't be "confused" and "ashamed to learn from teachers". Then give an example to prove that this kind of "shame on learning from teachers" is really stupid and strange. He said that there is a kind of person, that is, a scholar-bureaucrat, who "chooses teachers to teach children"; But for themselves, "being a teacher is shameful": this is their ignorance. Another phenomenon is that people from all walks of life, that is, "witch doctors and musicians are skilled workers", are not ashamed of learning from each other; As for the "scholar-bureaucrat's home", if someone talks about who is a teacher and who is a disciple, everyone will smile and ask the reason, which is nothing more than age and status, and prove that their wisdom is not as good as that of witch doctors they despise. Isn't it strange? Look again (the third paragraph), the "saints" worshipped by the "scholar-officials" do not have certain teachers, but Confucius' teachers, including Zanzi and Changhong, are all "inferior to Confucius". And Confucius also said that one of the three people must be his teacher. Therefore, the author got another important argument, that the relationship between master and apprentice is relative, "A disciple need not be inferior to a teacher, and a teacher need not be superior to a disciple". In other words, a disciple can be a teacher and a teacher can also be a disciple. Therefore, the existence of the mentoring relationship, the final conclusion is very simple, but it is because "there is a priority in learning the Tao and a specialization in the technical field." This is also the argument put forward above, that is, capable people are teachers.

It can be seen that Shi Shuo not only sternly refutes those stupid slanders, but also puts forward three new and progressive ideas of "teaching Tao": teachers are people who "get the Tao to solve doubts"; Everyone can be a teacher, as long as he has that ability; The relationship between master and apprentice is relative, better than me in one respect, and he is my teacher in this respect. These thoughts greatly reduced the mystery, authority and feudalism of teachers; Rationalize and equalize the relationship between master and apprentice, and break the conservative barrier of teacher's law or family law. These thoughts contradict his later "orthodox" thoughts. These thoughts are thoughts with emancipating spirit and profound people's nature. This is a reflection of the prosperity of the city and the development of commercial economy under the relatively stable situation in the Tang Dezong era.

Therefore, it can be imagined that the spread of Shi Shuo has inspired and attracted more young people to study, and thus attracted more stubborn "scholar-officials" to oppose it. In fact, it is really difficult for Han Yu to be an official, and he is constantly excluded by those in power. Liu Zongyuan said in Answer to Wei Zhongli's Teacher's Book: "I don't know that there is a teacher in this world, but I don't want to laugh at it. I think he's crazy. Han Yu, alone, regardless of customs, laughed and abused. After receiving the phone call, he learned that he was a "teacher" and became a teacher because of resistance. The world is full of strange fruit and scolds it, pointing to the eyes and pulling it, adding it to the words. The more you have a crazy name. Living in Chang 'an, I'm not familiar with cooking and I'm at a loss about the East. If there is, I will count. "In the 19th year of Zhenyuan (803), Han Yu was expelled from Chang 'an by the ruling bureaucratic group for the first time and demoted to Yangshan (now Yangshan, Guangdong), just one year after he wrote Shi Shuo. The reasons for this demotion may be complicated, but according to Liu Zongyuan, this "teacher evaluation" is at least one of the important reasons, because his "crazy name" is bigger, he is abused by more die-hards, and he is more vulnerable to inexplicable exclusion. However, Han Yu's attitude towards rewarding post-school students remains unchanged, but after Yuanhe, the momentum is not as great as that in the last years of Zhenyuan. In the Song Dynasty, someone defended Han Yu, saying that he was "not a good teacher" ("Yue Hong" was quoted in the Collected Works of Athena Chu 500 Arguments "), which meant that Han Yu was forced to be a teacher because of his affiliation with scholars. Some people also think that Han Yu's "writing Teacher's Notes" is at best "preaching as the way to solve doubts, and then secular teachers learn from their ears" (Yu Wenbao's "Three Records of Blowing Sword"), which means that Han Yu has greatly reduced the feudal role of teachers. It can be seen that the liberation spirit of this "world theory" is not easily accepted by ordinary feudal literati. Therefore, its significance at that time is not difficult to understand.

Creation 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). In the seventeenth year of Zhenyuan (80 1), the author who was dismissed from Xuzhou and lived in Luoyang to preach and teach, was twice transferred to Beijing as a candidate, and was awarded the position of imperial academy's fourth doctor in October of that year. At this time, the author is determined to use imperial academy as a platform to revive Confucianism and reform the literary world, so as to realize his ambition of serving the country. However, when I came to imperial academy to take office, I found that the imperial examination hall was dark, the government was corrupt, and there were many drawbacks in the official system, which led many students to lose confidence in the imperial examination and relax their studies. At that time, the upper class looked down on teachers. In the scholar-bureaucrat class, there is a concept of "being ashamed to be a teacher", which directly affects the teaching and management in imperial academy. The author is saddened by this and clarifies people's vague understanding of "seeking a teacher" and "being a teacher" by answering Li Pan's question.