唐 Tang · 文 Prose
师说
On the Teacher
古之学者必有师。
师者，所以传道受业解惑也。
人非生而知之者，孰能无惑？
惑而不从师，其为惑也，终不解矣。
生乎吾前，其闻道也固先乎吾，吾从而师之；
生乎吾后，其闻道也亦先乎吾，吾从而师之。
A teacher is one who transmits the Way, imparts learning, and resolves doubts.
No one is born with knowledge — who can be free of doubts?
To have doubts yet not follow a teacher: those doubts will never be resolved.
One born before me must have heard the Way before me, so I follow him and take him as my teacher;
one born after me may also have heard the Way before me, so I follow him and take him as my teacher.
Meaning
Han Yu's essay argues that learning requires teachers. Defining the teacher's office as transmitting the Way, imparting learning, and resolving doubts, he grounds the need for teachers in the universality of doubt: no one is born knowing. Crucially, he redefines the criterion — not age, rank, or birth, but who has heard the Way first. The essay thus defends the dignity of the teaching profession and attacks the Tang habit of being ashamed to learn from others.
古代求学的人一定有老师。老师，是靠他来传授道理、教授学业、解答疑难问题的。人不是生下来就懂得道理的人，谁能够没有疑惑？有了疑惑却不跟从老师学习，那些成为疑惑的问题，就始终不能解开了。生在我前面的人，他懂得道理本来就比我早，我跟从他学习，拜他为师；生在我后面的人，如果他懂得道理也比我早，我也跟从他学习，拜他为师。我学的是道理啊，哪里用得着管他生在我之前还是生在我之后呢？
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] Every ancient scholar had a teacher; a teacher is one who transmits the Way, imparts learning, and resolves doubts. Since no one is born knowing, everyone has doubts, and without a teacher they remain forever unsolved. Whoever has heard the Way first — whether born before or after me — deserves to be my teacher. [Structure] The essay's architecture is pure logic: a general axiom, a definition, an argument from human nature, then a hypothetical proof, closed by a double case that transfers the criterion from age to attainment. [Voice] Though argumentative, its music comes from cadenced particles — final ye, yi, hu — and rhetorical questions that press the reader. In barely a dozen sentences it reframed Chinese pedagogy for a millennium.
【白话串讲】 “古之学者必有师。师者，所以传道受业解惑也”——韩愈写《师说》。“人非生而知之者，孰能无惑”——“是故无贵无贱，无长无少，道之所存，师之所存也”——“弟子不必不如师，师不必贤于弟子”——他倡导尊师重道。 【意象与手法】 本文是典型的唐宋古文论说文，采用「立纲—推演—拓展」的章法：先立「必有师」之纲，再以定义句锁死「师」的职责，继以两个反诘句与两个假设句把道理推演到极致，句式上多用「也」「矣」「乎」等虚词收束，形成沉郁顿挫的古文声调；论证以道理论证为主，兼用正反假设，逻辑严密而气势充沛。 【情感与主旨】 韩愈作此文时正当唐代师道沦丧、士大夫耻于相师之世，故通篇激荡着匡正世风的担当与对「从师而问」的鼓吹，主旨即在恢复师道尊严、倡导尊师重道与教学相长，寄托了作者以文载道、以道济世的情怀。 【名句点睛】 「师者，所以传道受业解惑也」一句为千古定义，精炼地划定了教师的三重使命，至今仍是关于师道最凝练的表述；「人非生而知之者，孰能无惑」则揭示求师问学的人性根据，常为论者称引。
Background
Han Yu (768–824), courtesy name Tuizhi, led the Ancient Prose (guwen) Movement and ranks first among the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song. In 802, as an Erudite of the Imperial University, he wrote On the Teacher for his student Li Pan, at a time when Tang scholars, ashamed of differences in status, had largely abandoned the practice of learning from teachers. The essay restates the Confucian duty of reverence for teachers — drawn from the Analects and the Record of Rites — in trenchant plain prose, making it a manifesto of both the guwen movement and the Confucian revival.
韩愈（768—824），字退之，河阳（今河南孟州）人，郡望昌黎，世称韩昌黎，是唐代古文运动的领袖，与柳宗元并称「韩柳」，位列「唐宋八大家」之首。其生当中唐，佛老盛行、骈文泛滥，士人竞逐辞采而轻视实学，社会上更形成「耻学于师」的恶劣风气——当时以官位高低论师道，位卑者不敢为师，位高者耻于下问，甚至有「位卑则足羞，官盛则近谀」的议论。韩愈于唐德宗贞元十八年（802）任国子监四门博士，为纠正士林颓风、恢复儒家的师道传统，乃作《师说》授其弟子李蟠，故文末有「李氏子蟠……不拘于时，学于余」的记语。从思想渊源看，《师说》直承儒家经典中尊师重道的传统，《论语》「三人行，必有我师焉」、《礼记·学记》「教学相长」「师严然后道尊」皆为其思想资源；从文体史看，它又是韩愈「文以载道」主张的实践，以散体古文取代骈俪，讲究气势与逻辑，是古文运动的代表性论说文。文末所记弟子李蟠「不拘于时，学于余」的细节，更可见韩愈并非空谈师道，而是亲身收徒授业、以身行道，其激浊扬清之意，贯穿于言与行之间。
Art
The essay's craft is logical compression. Its first sentence is a total claim — scholars of antiquity all had teachers — struck like a seal; the second is a definition enumerating the teacher's three functions in one breath, with the Way ranked first. The proof then runs in two strokes: an axiom about human knowledge, then a conditional that forecloses every escape. The double case of born before me and born after me repeats the same phrase with opposite subjects, generating a rising, irrefutable rhythm. Everywhere, final particles — ye for judgment, yi for finality, hu for pause — pace the argument, producing the forward-pressing breath Han Yu demanded of prose.
《师说》是唐宋古文中论说文的典范，章法上呈现出「立纲、释义、推演、拓展」的严密结构。首句「古之学者必有师」一语立纲，以「必有」斩钉截铁地定下全文基调；继而以判断句「师者，所以传道受业解惑也」为「师」下定义，把老师的职责凝练为传道、受业、解惑三端，立论先行、旗帜鲜明。论证部分先以「人非生而知之者，孰能无惑」的反诘推出人人有惑的前提，再以「惑而不从师，其为惑也，终不解矣」的假设句反向推论，从正面与反面双重夹逼，使「必有师」的论断无从辩驳。最见功力的是「生乎吾前」「生乎吾后」两层的对举推演：以「闻道」而非年龄作为从师的标准，把师与弟子由固定身份转变为流动关系，为下文「无贵无贱，无长无少，道之所存，师之所存也」铺平道路。语言上多用「也」「矣」「乎」等语气词调节节奏，长短句交错，反问句、假设句、对偶句并用，气势如江河奔涌又逻辑井然，是「韩如潮」风格的典型体现。
Allusions
The opening echoes the Analects: when three men walk together, one must be my teacher. The statement that no one is born knowing restates Confucius's own words and the distinction in the Doctrine of the Mean between those who know by birth and those who know by learning. The Way is the Confucian Way of self-cultivation and humane governance, the same Way Han Yu defends in his essay On the Origin of the Way against Buddhism and Daoism. The insistence on teachers also recalls the Record of Rites: only when teachers are strict is the Way revered. Thus a short essay on education carries the weight of a Confucian manifesto.
《师说》虽以议论为主，其文化内涵却深植于儒家传统。首句「古之学者必有师」暗合《论语》「三人行，必有我师焉」的师道渊源，而「闻道有先后」之说可溯至《礼记·学记》「凡学之道，严师为难」及《荀子》「学莫便乎近其人」的重师思想。文中「传道受业解惑」的「道」，指的是儒家修齐治平之道，与韩愈《原道》所倡「博爱之谓仁，行而宜之之谓义」一脉相承；「解惑」之「惑」则呼应《论语》「知之为知之，不知为不知」的求知态度。尤值得注意的是「孰能无惑」的设问，把「惑」视为人的普遍状态，正源自孔子「人非生而知之者」的经验主义知识观，与《中庸》「或生而知之，或学而知之」的区分相应。全文以「师」为纲、以「道」为骨，把个人求师问学升华为承续文明、绍继道统的使命，其文化意义已超出教育论本身，成为唐宋儒学复兴的先声。尤须留意的是，文中「道」字实指儒家修齐治平之道，与《大学》「壹是皆以修身为本」及韩愈《原道》所倡尧舜禹汤文武周公孔孟一脉相传的道统意识相承，可见此文虽论师道，其底蕴实为捍卫儒道、抗排佛老的思想宣言，正与古文运动「文以明道」的总纲互为表里。
Commentary
On the Teacher was famous from the moment it appeared; Liu Zongyuan's letters show it provoked immediate debate. In the Song it entered Han Yu's collected works and became a model of argumentative prose, and Zhu Xi's praise of Han Yu as the writer whose style rose after eight generations of decline rests largely on such essays. The Qing scholar Yao Nai ranked it among the finest model pieces. Its definition of the teacher — transmitting the Way, imparting learning, resolving doubts — remains the most quoted statement of pedagogy in Chinese, and modern discussions of education, including the virtue of students not needing to be inferior to their teachers, still return to it.
《师说》问世后影响深远，历千余年而声名不坠。柳宗元在《答韦中立论师道书》中即称「今之世不闻有师，有辄哗笑之」，可见《师说》在当时已引起强烈反响；至宋代，《师说》被收入《昌黎先生集》广为传诵，朱熹赞韩愈「文起八代之衰」，其论说文风格遂成后世圭臬。清代姚鼐编《古文辞类纂》将其列为论说类代表，桐城派奉为古文正宗。现代以来，《师说》长期入选中学语文教材，其中「师者，所以传道受业解惑也」「弟子不必不如师，师不必贤于弟子」等句成为全民耳熟能详的名言，塑造了中国尊师重教的文化心理。从学术史看，它不仅是教育论，更是韩愈复兴儒学、反对佛老的思想宣言，与《原道》《原毁》等文共同构成古文运动的理论支柱。当代教育界重提「传道受业解惑」，仍时时回望这篇千年前的师道宣言，足见其跨越时代的生命力。近年关于师生关系、教育本质的讨论，亦常援引「弟子不必不如师，师不必贤于弟子」的教学相长之义，以之反思灌输式教育的局限，可见这篇古文不仅活在教材里，更活在每一次关于「何为师」的当代追问之中，其思想能量历时而弥新。
Prosody
Line by line
古之学者必有师。师者，所以传道受业解惑也。
Scholars of antiquity all had teachers. A teacher is one who transmits the Way, imparts learning, and resolves doubts.
古代求学的人一定有老师。老师，是靠他来传授道理、教授学业、解答疑难问题的。
The scholars of old surely had teachers. A teacher is he through whom the Way is transmitted, learning taught, and doubts resolved.
开篇两句是全篇的纲与魂，一立论、一定义，笔力千钧。「古之学者必有师」以「必有」二字作全称判断，把「有师」写成不容置疑的普遍事实，并以「古之」作时间状语，暗示这是自古相传的常道，为后文批判今人「耻学于师」埋下对照。第二句「师者，所以传道受业解惑也」是典型的判断句式，「所以」表凭借，把老师的职能精确分解为传道、受业、解惑三事，三事层层递进：道为根本，业为器用，惑为具体疑难。这一定义的高明处在于，它把「师」从身份概念转为功能概念——凡能传道受业解惑者皆可为师，为下文「无长无少、道之所存师之所存」的拓展性结论预埋伏笔。两句一立纲一释义，纲举目张，使全文议论有了牢不可破的逻辑起点，堪称议论文「开门见山」的千古典范。
The opening two lines are the outline and the soul of the whole, one thesis one definition, the brush carrying a thousand jun. 'The scholars of old surely had teachers' — the words 'surely had' make the universal judgment, writing 'having a teacher' as an unquestionable fact, and 'of old' the time adverb, hinting this is the constant Way handed down from ancient times, laying the contrast for the later criticism of the modern 'shame to learn from teachers'. The second line, 'a teacher is he through whom the Way is transmitted, learning taught, and doubts resolved', is the typical judgment form, 'through whom' the means, dividing the teacher's function precisely into the three things of transmitting the Way, teaching learning, resolving doubts, the three layer on layer: the Way the root, learning the instrument, doubt the specific perplexity. The definition's ingenuity is that it turns 'teacher' from a status concept into a function concept — whoever can transmit the Way, teach learning, and resolve doubts may be a teacher, the foreshadowing for the later expansive conclusion of 'no matter old or young, where the Way is, there is the teacher'. Two lines, one outline one explanation, the outline raised and the eye opened, giving the whole argument an unbreakable logical start, the age-old model of argumentative writing's 'opening at the point'.
人非生而知之者，孰能无惑？惑而不从师，其为惑也，终不解矣。
No one is born with knowledge — who can be free of doubts? To have doubts yet not follow a teacher: those doubts will never be resolved.
人不是生下来就懂得道理的，谁能够没有疑惑？有了疑惑却不跟从老师学习，那些疑惑就始终不能解开了。
Man is not born knowing; who can be without doubt? Doubt without a teacher, the doubts can never be resolved.
此两句由立论转入推演，是全篇论证的关键一环。「人非生而知之者」化用孔子「我非生而知之者」之语，确立人人皆须后学的知识论前提；「孰能无惑」以反问出之，语气逼人，把「有惑」写成无人能免的普遍境况，反问句本身即含答案，不容否认。下句「惑而不从师，其为惑也，终不解矣」则以假设句式从反面收束：若「惑」而不「从师」，则惑终是惑，永远无解。一正一反，把「从师」与「解惑」的逻辑链条锁死——有惑是必然的，解惑的唯一途径是从师，故从师亦成为必然。两个「惑」字复现、一个「终」字定调，节奏顿挫，说理既绵密又峻切，令人无从置辩。这四句为「必有师」补足了人性论的根据，使开篇的论断从「古之然」深化为「人之必然」，议论至此已立于不败之地。
These two lines turn from thesis to deduction, the key link of the whole's proof. 'Man is not born knowing' adapts Confucius's 'I am not one born knowing', establishing the epistemological premise that all must learn after birth; 'who can be without doubt?' in counter-question, the tone pressing, writing 'having doubts' as the universal lot no one can escape, the question itself holding the answer, undeniable. The next line, 'doubt without a teacher, the doubts can never be resolved', closes from the reverse in hypothesis: if 'doubt' without 'teacher', then doubt is ever doubt, never solved. One positive one negative, locking the logical chain of 'following the teacher' and 'resolving doubt': having doubt is necessary, and the only way to resolve it is the teacher, hence following the teacher is also necessary. The two 'doubt' repeated, the one 'never' tuning the tone, the rhythm turning, the argument both close and urgent, beyond rebuttal. These four words supply the human-grounds for 'surely had teachers', deepening the opening thesis from 'the old were so' to 'man's necessity', and the argument here stands on unassailable ground.
生乎吾前，其闻道也固先乎吾，吾从而师之；生乎吾后，其闻道也亦先乎吾，吾从而师之。
One born before me must have heard the Way before me, so I follow him and take him as my teacher; one born after me may also have heard the Way before me, so I follow him and take him as my teacher.
生在我前面的人，他懂得道理本来就比我早，我跟从他学习，拜他为师；生在我后面的人，如果他懂得道理也比我早，我也跟从他学习，拜他为师。
Born before me, if he has learned the Way before me, I follow him and take him as teacher; born after me, if he has learned the Way before me, I follow him and take him as teacher.
此三句是《师说》在论说艺术上最见匠心的一笔，核心在于偷换标准、以道易龄。前文既已确立「必有师」，此处进一步追问：以何为师？作者先摆出常人的选择——「生乎吾前」者闻道在先，固宜从之；随即笔锋一转，抛出「生乎吾后」者「闻道也亦先乎吾」的假设，把从师的根据从年龄长幼一举扭转为「闻道先后」。「吾从而师之」在上下两层中重复出现，形成排比递进的节奏，正反互证、无懈可击；而「先乎吾」「亦先乎吾」的对举，又暗中为后文「无贵无贱，无长无少」张本。六句之中「乎」「也」「而」等虚词迭出，语气从容舒缓，如与读者娓娓论辩；文气在回环往复中不断蓄势，为下文直接叩问「师道之不传也久矣」的时代痛楚作了最充分的铺垫。
These three lines are the most crafted stroke of the Discourse on the Teacher's art of argument, the core being the shifting of the standard, exchanging age for the Way. The above has established 'surely had teachers', and here it asks further: by what to take the teacher? The author first sets out the ordinary man's choice — one 'born before me' learned the Way first, and should properly be followed; then the brush turns, throwing out the hypothesis that one 'born after me' 'has learned the Way also before me', twisting the ground of following the teacher in one stroke from the elder-younger to the earlier-later in the Way. 'I follow him and take him as teacher' repeats through the two layers, forming the parallel, progressive rhythm, the positive and the negative proving each other, unassailable; and the pairing of 'before me' and 'also before me' secretly stores the groundwork for the later 'no matter noble or base, no matter old or young'. Within six lines, the particles 'of', 'also', 'and' appear layer on layer, the tone unhurried and calm, as if debating with the reader; the prose breath stores force in the circling repetition, laying the fullest groundwork for the later direct question of the age-old grief that 'the Way of the teacher has not been transmitted for long'.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Xunzi's Exhortation to Learning opens with the claim that learning must never stop, stressing accumulation and refinement, and presumes the value of standing near worthy men — an implicit praise of teachers. Han Yu makes the teacher explicit and defines his office precisely. Where Xunzi treats learning as self-cultivation through effort, Han Yu treats it as transmission through persons; together they form the double source of Chinese pedagogy.
荀子《劝学》是先秦儒家论学的经典，「学不可以已」「青出于蓝而胜于蓝」等论断开后世劝学之先河，其「学莫便乎近其人」「学之经莫速乎好其人」已暗含尊师之意，与《师说》「古之学者必有师」一脉相承。差异在于：荀子从「性恶论」出发，强调后天积学改造人性，故其劝学重「积」「渐」之法；韩愈从「人非生而知之」出发，强调解惑必须从师，故其论师重「传道受业」之责。二文一论学、一论师，恰如一体两面，共同构成中国劝学师道传统的源头与枢纽，而《师说》对「师」之职责的精确界定，正是对《劝学》尊师思想的深化与体系化。
进学解 进学解 韩愈 · 韩愈劝学姊妹篇，一正一反互为表里 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
《进学解》与《师说》同为韩愈论学名篇，写作时间相近、思想互通。《进学解》托弟子质问、先生答难之体，借「业精于勤，荒于嬉；行成于思，毁于随」自明心志，重在以幽默自嘲写刻苦自励；《师说》则直陈议论，重在以严密论证倡尊师重道。一为答难赋体、一为正论散文，一诙谐自嘲、一峻切正色，恰成对照；而二者所指向的核心关切一致——在师道陵夷之世如何为学、如何为师。合而观之，可见韩愈古文「雄深雅健」的全貌，亦可窥其以文载道、重振儒学的整体用心，是理解韩愈教育思想的完整文本组。
述而 述而 孔子 · 「三人行必有我师」的师道源头 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
《论语·述而》「三人行，必有我师焉。择其善者而从之，其不善者而改之」是师道观最早的经典表述，主张以善者为师、随处取法，已开「道之所存，师之所存」的先声。韩愈《师说》与之相较：孔子以「择善」为从师的标准，重在品德的取法；韩愈以「闻道」为从师的标准，重在学问的传承，并把孔子零散的语录发展为体系严整的论说文。从思想史看，《师说》正是对孔子师道观的推阐与时代化——当孔子之世尚可行「三人行」的普遍师道，韩愈之世却须与「耻学于师」的风气斗争，故其文多了一层针砭时弊的峻切，这是儒家师道精神在不同时代的不同回响。