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清 Qing · 文 Prose

为学

On Learning

彭端淑

Peng Duanshu

劝学exhortation to study 说理argumentation 格言aphorism

天下事有难易乎？
为之，则难者亦易矣；
不为，则易者亦难矣。
人之为学有难易乎？
学之，则难者亦易矣；
不学，则易者亦难矣。

Is there anything in the world that is hard or easy? Do it, and what is hard becomes easy; leave it undone, and what is easy becomes hard. Is learning, for a man, hard or easy? Study, and what is hard becomes easy; do not study, and what is easy becomes hard.

Listen

Meaning

In two symmetrical question-and-answer movements, this short classical essay argues that difficulty and ease are not fixed properties of things but depend entirely on whether one acts. What is hard becomes easy if you do it; what is easy becomes hard if you do not. Applied to learning, the same law urges students to cast off both inflated talk and self-doubt and simply begin.

天下的事情有困难和容易之分吗？只要肯去做，那么困难的事情也会变得容易；不去做，那么容易的事情也会变得困难。人们做学问有困难和容易之分吗？只要肯学习，那么困难的也会变得容易；不肯学习，那么容易的也会变得困难。

Appreciation

The whole piece is built on repetition and antithesis: two identical question frames, differing only in the exchange of 'affairs' for 'learning', create a lilting, refrain-like effect, while the paired clauses 'do it, then...' and 'do it not, then...' convert abstract philosophy into ringing, chantable aphorism. Question and answer alternate, carried by the modal particles 'hu' and 'yi', the short sentences quick and forceful as fire struck from flint. Most subtle is the dialectic of 'writing the hard through the easy': the author does not say 'hard things can be done' but 'do them, and the hard becomes easy', placing human agency in the decisive position.

【白话串讲】彭端淑写《为学》：“天下事有难易乎？为之，则难者亦易矣；不为，则易者亦难矣”。他讲蜀地两个和尚的故事：穷和尚想去南海，富和尚说：“子何恃而往？”穷和尚说：“吾一瓶一钵足矣”——第二年，穷和尚从南海回来了——“人之立志，顾不如蜀鄙之僧哉”——他说事在人为。【意象与手法】全文运用反复与对比的修辞：两段结构完全对称，仅以「事」与「学」换字，形成回环往复的咏叹调式；「为之，则难者亦易矣；不为，则易者亦难矣」与「学之……不学……」两组对仗工整的排比，将抽象哲理化为铿锵可诵的格言。【情感与主旨】作者以设问自答的方式劝勉后学：天下无难事，只怕有心人。难与易不在事物本身，而在于为与不为、学与不学的态度，寄寓了作者对莘莘学子立志笃行的殷切期望。【名句点睛】「为之，则难者亦易矣；不为，则易者亦难矣」道破成功与失败的枢机，成为流传至今的劝学格言，激励无数后来者以行动改写命运。

Background

Peng Duanshu (c. 1699–1779), a native of Danling, Sichuan, became a jinshi in 1733, served in the Ministry of Personnel and in Guangdong, and late in life lectured at the Jinjiang Academy, where his students were many. Writing in the early Qing, when many scholars either boasted grandly without solid learning or gave up on themselves as lacking in talent, he composed this essay—originally a piece of family instruction for his sons and nephews—to rouse the young to study. Its opening question, 'Is there anything in the world that is hard or easy?', takes aim at the habits of limiting oneself by natural endowment and blocking oneself with fear of difficulty, and in the fuller original the parable of the two monks of Shu gives the argument concrete illustration. Though brief, the essay is a mirror of Qing attitudes toward study and of a Confucian's effort to remedy the failings of the age.

彭端淑（约1699—1779），字乐斋，号仪一，清代四川丹棱人，雍正十一年进士，历官吏部郎中、广东肇罗道，晚年主讲锦江书院，门生众多，著有《白鹤堂诗文集》《雪夜诗谈》等。他生活在清初「康乾盛世」，科举制度完善而士风浮竞，不少读书人好高骛远、畏难苟安，或夸夸其谈而不务实学，或以为资质平庸便自暴自弃。彭端淑为激励后学，写下《为学》一文，收在其《白鹤堂文稿》中。此文本是写给其子侄辈的家训性质的文章，后收入《古文观止》与各类文选而广为流传。文章以「天下事有难易乎」的设问起笔，针对时人「以天资自限、以畏难自阻」的积习，提出「为之」「学之」则难者亦易的朴素真理，并以下文「蜀之鄙有二僧」的故事（本篇节选未录）作形象印证，把「立志」与「躬行」的劝学主旨讲得深入浅出。了解这一背景，便知此文不是空谈哲理，而是针对清代士人学风而发的对症之药。故知此文虽短，实为清代劝学风气的一面镜子，读之可窥当时士林之弊与儒者救弊之用心。

Art

As a short Qing argumentative essay in the lineage of the 'recorded sayings' style, it opens with a question, develops through paired opposites and closes with an aphorism, its structure a closed loop of general thesis, application and echo. Its chief devices are repetition and contrast: the two question frames are identical save for the exchange of one word, producing a one-beat-three-sighs effect, while 'do it' against 'do it not' and 'study' against 'study not' state the conditions of the hard-easy transformation with axiomatic sharpness, forming complete 'condition–result' judgments. The prose runs on short sentences with the modal particles 'hu' and 'yi' throughout, question and answer alternating at a brisk pace, every word landing with force. Most subtle is the dialectical expression of 'writing the hard through the easy': not 'hard things can be done' but 'do it, and the hard likewise becomes easy', placing subjective initiative in the decisive position, the tone vigorous and aimed straight at the heart—a rare taut masterpiece among Qing exhortations to study.

从文体看，《为学》是清代说理小品文，属「语录体」的流变，以设问起、以对举承、以警句收，章法极为精炼。结构上，全文呈「总起—分承—呼应」的闭合环：先以「天下事」立总纲，再以「人之为学」承转落实，末以两组对句回环呼应，把「难易之辨」这个抽象命题化为可感的句式对称。手法上，作者善用「反复」与「对比」：两组设问句式完全相同，仅换「事」「学」二字，形成一唱三叹的咏叹效果；「为之」与「不为」、「学之」与「不学」的正反对举，把「难—易」的转化条件讲得斩截分明，逻辑上构成完整的「条件—结果」判断。语言上，全文以「乎」「矣」等语气词贯穿，问句与答句交错，短句居多而节奏明快，如击石取火，字字着力。尤为精妙的是「以易写难」的辩证表达：作者不说「难事可做」，而说「为之，则难者亦易矣」，把主观能动性置于决定地位，语势刚健，直指人心，是清代劝学文中难得的精悍之作。凡此种种，皆见作者「以短文写大道理」的匠心，其章法之谨严、修辞之精当，堪为后世议论短文的范式。

Allusions

Though a short piece, its thought is rooted deep in the Confucian tradition of urging study and the creed that 'success lies in human effort'. First, it carries the spirit of the Doctrine of the Mean: 'If others succeed with one effort, use a hundred; if with ten, use a thousand—follow this way, and the foolish grow wise, the weak grow strong', structurally identical with 'do it, and the hard likewise becomes easy'. Second, it accords with Xunzi's Encouraging Learning ('carve without stopping, and metal and stone can be engraved') on the power of gradual accumulation to change inborn endowment. Third, it joins Mencius's 'seek and you will find; forsake and you will lose', locating the key to accomplishment in the subject's own action. Fourth, it shares the spirit of the Analects' image of piling earth for a mound—whether one advances a basketful or stops one basketful short rests entirely with oneself—the popular expression of the Confucian creed of unceasing self-strengthening. Its dialectic of difficulty and ease also tacitly matches Laozi's 'the hard things of the world must be done through the easy', here brought down to the concrete field of study, so that ancient philosophy takes on the living force of exhortation. A few dozen words condense the whole Confucian culture of encouragement to learning.

《为学》虽为短文，其思想内涵却深植于儒家劝学与「事在人为」的文化传统。其一，承《中庸》「人一能之，己百之；人十能之，己千之」的勤学精神——「果能此道矣，虽愚必明，虽柔必强」，正与本文「为之，则难者亦易矣」同构；其二，合荀子《劝学》「锲而不舍，金石可镂」的积渐之理，强调后天努力可以改变先天资质；其三，接《孟子》「求则得之，舍则失之」的自得之说，把成事的关键归于主体的作为；其四，与《论语》「譬如为山，未成一篑，止，吾止也；譬如平地，虽覆一篑，进，吾往也」的精神一脉相承——为与不为、进与不进，全在自己，正是儒家「自强不息」传统的通俗表达。此外，「难易相成」的辩证思维也暗合《老子》「天下难事，必作于易」的智慧，而作者将其落实到「为学」这一具体领域，使古老的哲理焕发出劝学的现实力量。短短一段文字，实为集儒家劝学文化之大成的浓缩文本。足见其文浅而意深，正是启蒙劝学之正音。

Commentary

Since its inclusion in the expanded Qing anthology Guwen Guanzhi, this has been one of the most widely circulated essays urging study, long a staple of textbooks alongside chapters of the Analects and Xunzi's Encouraging Learning, among the earliest classical texts several generations of Chinese readers encountered. Its central clause has hardened into a maxim of 'success lies in human effort', kin in spirit to the proverb 'nothing in the world is too hard if you set your mind to it'. In literary history it exemplifies the Qing ideal of 'governing the many with the few, winning by reason', its question-opening, antithesis-closing structure furnishing a model for later short argumentative prose. In the history of thought it joins the Confucian tradition of diligent study to ordinary life, making deep philosophy approachable and practicable—a model of 'popular Confucianism'. Read today, whether for study, enterprise or scholarship, one can still draw strength from these few dozen words: such is the power of a classic that renews itself with every reading, its exhortative force unweakened after several centuries.

《为学》在后世的影响远超一篇短文的分量。自《古文观止》清代补选本将其收入后，此文便成为传播最广的劝学篇章之一，近代以来更长期入选各类语文教材，与《论语》十二章、《劝学》并列，成为几代中国人最早接触的文言短文。「为之，则难者亦易矣；不为，则易者亦难矣」被凝为格言广泛征引，成为「事在人为」精神的经典表述，甚至进入日常口语（如「天下无难事，只怕有心人」与之声气相通）。从文学史看，此文体现了清代古文「以简驭繁、以理胜人」的审美追求，其设问起笔、对举收束的章法，为后世议论短文提供了范式。从思想史看，它把儒家的勤学传统与普通人的日常生活接通，让高深的哲理变得亲切可行，是「通俗儒学」的典范。今人读之，无论求学、创业还是治学，都能从这几十个字中汲取笃行的力量，这正是经典超越时代的力量所在。此正经典「常读常新」之谓也，其劝学之力，历数百年而不衰。

Prosody

Form Short Qing argumentative essay (in the lineage of the 'recorded sayings' style; a brief interrogative discourse)清代说理小品文（语录体流变，设问式议论短文）

Rhyme The piece does not rhyme; its sonic skeleton is built on the modal particles 'hu' and 'yi': the three 'hu' questions rise like knocks at a door, the five 'yi' answers fall like settling strokes of a bell, question and answer echoing in lift and drop; the paired clauses are equal in length and structure, reading as neatly as song本文不押韵，而以「乎」「矣」两个语气词构筑声韵骨架：三个「乎」字问句皆以上扬声调发问，五个「矣」字答句皆以下沉声调收束，问声如叩、答声如应，一扬一抑，形成「叩问—应答」的声韵回环；两组对句字数相同、结构相同，读来节奏齐整如歌。

Tone pattern Mainly short four- and six-character clauses varied with longer ones: the five-character question is brisk, the nine-character answer unrolls, quick and slow alternating; function words such as 'zhi', 'ze' and 'yi' let the tone flow through the pauses, the momentum vigorous with a long aftertone句式以四言、六言短句为主，间以七言，长短参差而错落有致：「天下事有难易乎」五言短促，「为之，则难者亦易矣」九言舒展，问答交替，缓急相济；「之」「则」「亦」等虚词贯穿其间，使语调在顿挫中流走，语势刚健而余韵悠长。

Reading note Though On Learning has no rhyme, its music comes from two resources: the deployment of modal particles and the repetition of syntactic frames. The essay questions with 'hu' and answers with 'yi'—the three 'hu' like three knocks at a gate, the five 'yi' like five settling tones—and the rising tune of the questions against the falling cadence of the answers creates a natural tension, producing the effect of question and response, one beat and three sighs. Structurally, the two core couplets—'do it, and the hard likewise becomes easy; do it not, and the easy likewise becomes hard' and its study-variant—are perfectly parallel, differing only in their first and middle words, creating a circular, refrain-like rhythm like the repeated stanzas of folk song, easily chanted and rising by layers. This technique of replacing rhyme with repetition and generating rhythm through antithesis carries the lingering manner of pre-Qin prose (such as the repeated-stanza form of the Book of Songs), and gives this brief exhortation the cadence of a maxim—recited for centuries without fading.《为学》虽无韵脚，其音乐性却来自两大法宝：一是语气词的调度，二是句式的复沓。全文以「乎」起问、以「矣」作答，三个「乎」字如三声叩门，五个「矣」字如五记定音，问句上扬的声调与答句下抑的尾音构成天然的声韵张力，读来有「一问一答、一唱三叹」之妙。句式上，两组核心对句「为之，则难者亦易矣；不为，则易者亦难矣」与「学之，则难者亦易矣；不学，则易者亦难矣」结构完全平行，仅换首字与中字，形成回环复沓的节奏，如民歌之重章叠句，琅琅上口而层层递进。这种「以复沓代押韵、以对仗生节奏」的手法，正是先秦散文（如《诗经》重章体）的流风余韵，也使得这篇劝学短文具备了格言式的韵律美，传诵千年而不衰。

Line by line

天下事有难易乎？为之，则难者亦易矣；不为，则易者亦难矣。

Is there anything in the world that is hard or easy? Do it, and what is hard becomes easy; leave it undone, and what is easy becomes hard.

天下的事情有困难和容易之分吗？只要肯去做，那么困难的事情也会变得容易；不去做，那么容易的事情也会变得困难。

Are affairs under heaven divided into hard and easy? Act on them, and the hard become easy; do not act, and the easy become hard.

开篇设问即振起全篇。作者不以断言立论，而以「天下事有难易乎」的疑问叩击读者，引发思考后再以「为之」「不为」对举作答，把难易的转化归结为「为与不为」这一主观因素。修辞上，「为之，则难者亦易矣；不为，则易者亦难矣」两组对句结构严整、正反相承，「难者亦易」「易者亦难」的互换更显辩证之妙，读来如格言般斩截。这一开篇既是全文的总纲，也是独立成篇的警句，其「事在人为」的朴素真理，足以振聋发聩——它告诉我们，困难与否并不取决于事物本身，而取决于我们是否动手去做。

The opening question at once raises the whole piece. The author does not argue by assertion, but knocks on the reader with the question: are affairs under heaven divided into hard and easy? provoking thought before answering with the pairing of act and do not act, reducing the conversion of hard and easy to the subjective factor of acting. In rhetoric, the two couplets act on them, and the hard become easy; do not act, and the easy become hard are tightly structured, positive and negative carrying each other, and the interchange of hard become easy and easy become hard shows the dialectical wit, reading like a maxim, decisive. The opening is at once the charter of the whole and a standing aphorism in itself; its plain truth that a thing depends on the doing is enough to rouse the ear — it tells us that difficulty lies not in the thing itself, but in whether we set our hand to it.

人之为学有难易乎？学之，则难者亦易矣；不学，则易者亦难矣。

Is learning, for a man, hard or easy? Study, and what is hard becomes easy; do not study, and what is easy becomes hard.

人们做学问有困难和容易之分吗？只要肯学习，那么困难的也会变得容易；不肯学习，那么容易的也会变得困难。

Is study divided into hard and easy? Study, and the hard become easy; do not study, and the easy become hard.

第二段以「人之为学」承接「天下事」，把普遍道理落实到求学这一具体领域，章法上由总而分、由泛而专。「学之」与「不学」对举，与上段「为之」「不为」遥相呼应，句式完全复沓而内容层层深入，形成回环咏叹的音乐美。此段的深意在于：作者知道「天下事」的范围太宽，唯有落到「为学」才最能切中读书人的心病——资质之愚、起点之低、事务之繁，皆可借「学之」二字破局。两组排比一气呵成，把「难易在我不在物」的哲理讲得淋漓酣畅，是全文文眼所在，也是全篇由「普遍事理」转入「劝学主旨」的关键一环。

The second paragraph carries the affairs under heaven into the study, grounding the universal truth in the specific field of learning; in craft, from general to particular, from broad to focused. Study and do not study are set against each other, answering from afar the act and do not act above; the syntax is fully repeated while the content deepens layer by layer, forming the musical beauty of circling chant. The deep meaning lies here: the author knows the scope of affairs under heaven is too broad, and only by landing on study can he strike the scholar's heart — dull gifts, low beginnings, crowded affairs, all may be broken through by the two words study. The two parallel pairs flow as one, rendering the philosophy that difficulty lies in me and not in things with full force; it is the literary eye of the piece, and the key link turning from the universal principle to the theme of encouraging learning.

Study

Word focus

为之 'Wei zhi' (to do it) makes the verb 'do' the pivot of the whole essay: the hard turns easy not because things change but because one acts, converting abstract principle into concrete practice and moving the text from speculation to earnest doing. 「为之」的「为」是全文的枢纽之字，意为「去做、去实践」。作者把「难易之辨」的全部答案系于这一个「为」字：难者所以易，不在事物变化，而在人为；易者所以难，不在环境恶劣，而在不为。「为」字将抽象的哲理落实为具体的行动，使全文从玄思走向笃行，这正是儒家「知行合一」精神的体现。与「不为」相对，「为」与「不为」构成一对全称判断，覆盖一切人事，使论证无懈可击。一字之下，作者的劝学主旨、儒家的事功精神、辩证的思维方法尽在其中，故「为之」二字可视为全文的精神原点。

亦 The adverb 'yi' (likewise) in 'the hard likewise becomes easy' marks the exchange of positions between hard and easy under the condition of acting, implying that neither has a fixed nature but both shift with one's effort; with the final 'yi' it forms a tone of settled certainty. 「则难者亦易矣」中的「亦」字是点睛之虚词，意为「也」。这个看似平常的副词承担着重要的逻辑功能：它表示「难与易」在「为」的条件下发生了位置互换——难者「也」变易了，易者「也」变难了，暗示难易本无定质，全随作为转移。「亦」字使对句的两半形成互文对照，把转化的动态过程化为可感的语言节奏；与句末「矣」字配合，「亦……矣」构成确定的判断语气，语气笃定而有余韵。虚词不虚，此之谓也——一个「亦」字，让全文的辩证哲思在声韵间流转生辉。

难易 The pair 'hard/easy' forms the axis of the essay's argument: the author treats them not as objective properties of things but as outcomes of acting or not acting—a dialectic echoing Laozi's dictum that difficulty and ease complete each other, here applied to the concrete cause of study. 「难易」二字是全文立论的轴心概念，全篇一切论证皆围绕它展开。「难」指困难、不易，「易」指容易、便利，作者把这对反义概念并置，构成全篇的思维框架——他要辨析的正是难与易的关系：二者并非固定不变，而是可以相互转化的对立统一体。妙处在于，作者不把难易当作事物的客观属性，而当作「为与不为」的结果：为之则难者亦易，不为则易者亦难，主观的作为成了难易转化的枢纽。这一「难易相对」的辩证观念，暗合《老子》「难易相成」的古老智慧，又落实为劝学的现实命题，是全文最凝练的哲学概括。

为学