At first glance, we will find that Han Yu did not say anything extraordinary. Aren’t these views emphasized by everyone?
Let’s continue reading below.
The teacher said that the middle part translated into vernacular means that people are born knowing nothing and should learn from those who know more than themselves. As long as they know more than themselves, they should study. They should not care about age, status and
status.
Nowadays, people are unwilling to learn from those who are younger than themselves in terms of status or age, as they feel embarrassed.
Looking at it this way, the "Teacher's Theory" is quite consistent with Confucius's saying that among three people, there must be a teacher. Choose the good ones and follow them, and change the bad ones.
As early as in ancient times, people respected teachers alongside heaven, earth, kings, and relatives.
"Once a teacher, always a father."
This concept has long been deeply rooted in people's hearts.
But why did Han Yu's suggestion that everyone "become a disciple" attract countless scoldings and gnashing of teeth? Han Yu was also called a "madman"?
Liu Zongyuan, who was at the same time, described the situation when Han Yu was attacked in his "Reply to Wei Zhongli on the Doctrine of Teachers": From the Wei and Jin dynasties below, people would not be interested in becoming teachers. In today's world, people who do not hear of teachers often laugh at them.
He thought he was a madman. The more Han Dynasty did, he ignored the customs, made jokes and insults, recruited his disciples to study, and wrote the "Teacher's Statement". He became a teacher because of his resistance to appearance. The world's monsters gathered together to curse, pointed and pointed, and added words into words. The more he said,
There are many people who have gained a crazy reputation, live in Chang'an, have no time to cook, and wander eastward.
The meaning of this passage is: Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, people have not worshiped their teachers. In today's world, we have never heard of anyone wanting to be someone else's teacher. If you have this idea, people will always talk about it.
They laughed at him and thought he was a madman. Only Han Yu ignored the popular customs, braved the ridicule and insults of the world, recruited students from younger generations, wrote the article "Teacher's Theory", and acted as a teacher for others with a correct attitude. As expected of secular people
The crowd thought it was strange, and they cursed and slandered. As a result, Han Yu gained the reputation of "crazy". He lived in Chang'an City and didn't even have time to cook a meal, so he eagerly avoided other people's slander and went east to Luoyang.
Wow, a situation like this has happened more than once.
It can be seen that what Han Yu encountered was that he was not only reviled and slandered, but also ostracized, making his official career even more bumpy.
How can an article trigger a volcanic eruption with irreversible consequences?
The reason is actually hidden in the text.
Han Yu was right in advocating respecting teachers and moral principles, but he was wrong in his own positioning.
This is very clearly explained in the article.
In the second paragraph, Han Yu used three comparisons to demonstrate the need to follow teachers and emphasize teaching. The second comparison goes like this: If you love your son, choose a teacher and teach him;
A teacher who teaches readers a book and learns their sentences is not what I call someone who teaches his way and solves his confusion. If he does not know how to read a sentence and cannot understand his confusion, he is either a teacher or not.
Mingye.
The general idea of these sentences is that if your child is illiterate and cannot segment sentences accurately, he should find a teacher. However, such a teacher is not what he thinks of as a real teacher. Such a teacher can only be called a teacher for children.
Since those who teach people to learn basic cultural knowledge are just teachers of children, then who is the real teacher in Han Yu's mind?
Han Yu did not explain it explicitly, but he hinted at it in other words.
It is the word "saint".
In the second paragraph, Han Yu compared the saints with the common people and said: The ancient saints were far away from others, and they still asked if they were teachers; today's people are also far away from the saints, and they are ashamed to learn from their teachers.
.So the saint is better than the saint, and the fool is better than the fool. The reason why the saint is a saint, and the reason why the fool is a fool, are they all due to this?
This paragraph says that the ancient saints were much better than ordinary people, but they still had to learn from their teachers. But what about people today? They are so stupid, but they don't learn from their teachers, so they become more and more stupid.
Han Yu clearly divided people in society into saints and ordinary people.
And who is this saint?
In fact, it is himself.
Looking at the last paragraph of the article, Han Yu mentioned a young talent named Li Pan.
Li Pan was not only young, but also very knowledgeable.
Han Yu commented on him and said: All the six arts classics and biographies are well understood.
The six arts refer to the Confucian classics, "Poem", "Book", "Ritual", "Music", "Yi" and "Spring and Autumn".
Li Pan is only 17 years old and has already mastered these six classics. He can be said to be a genius.
He is such an outstanding talent, but he has to learn from one person.
Who is this person? It is Han Yu himself.
From this point of view, Han Yu is by no means a teacher of children, but can only be a life mentor and a saint.
To sum up, Han Yu distinguished himself from ordinary scholar-officials in his article. He was a kind of saint, while scholar-officials could only be fools.
This is also the reason why he was ostracized by others and the scholar-bureaucrats called him a "madman".
Lin Xuan did not write about Li Pan. After all, such a genius cannot just make it up.
In this way, the entire article becomes an article that encourages people to learn.
In this case, why were Xu Geng and others hesitant when they saw this article before?
This is because there is a section in the article where Han Yu scolded the upper class.
The translation of the original text roughly means: the ancient "sages" had surpassed the ordinary people in their academic accomplishments, but they still had to learn; today's ordinary people are far behind the "sages", but they "follow the teachers"
"Learning" is a shame. Various craftsmen with "professional skills" can still worship others as their teachers, but those scholar-bureaucrats, the second generation of rich officials and the second generation of officials, laugh at those who "learn from teachers".
In addition, Han Yu's entire article also has the principle that there is no priority in learning, and the master is the teacher.
This kind of thinking is nothing at other times, but most of the masters on the Taihe Academy side are older.
Taking it out on this occasion seems to be a bit telling old people not to rely on their old age.
Except for a few people present, most people understood the meaning of Lin Xuan's article as soon as they heard it.
When Xu Geng finished reading, the expressions on their faces became more exciting.
Many people couldn't help but look at He Yu. He Yu's article suggested that the teacher had both ability and political integrity, and was knowledgeable. He also satirized the young master of Boyuan Academy, who was suspected of mistaking his disciples.
But Lin Xuan's article said that disciples are not necessarily worse than teachers, and teachers are not necessarily better than disciples.
It's just that there is a certain order of learning and a specialization in the art.
These are simply like slapping He Yu in the face.
If Lin Xuan hadn't written it together with He Yu, they would have thought that Lin Xuan wrote it like this on purpose.
"Shu Zi!" He Yu cursed inwardly.
He Yu's face turned green and red, and he would have cursed loudly if he had not cared about the occasion and identity.
"I've finished reading it."
After Xu Geng finished speaking, he bowed and retreated.
"Ahem." Meng Yuan coughed twice, bringing everyone back to their senses, and said: "Everyone, please read the articles of He Daru and Marquis. Who do you think will win in this game?"