一孔录The video for this chapter is still in production. For now this page gives the original text, the facsimile page, a working translation and the commentary; the full reading follows when the video is out.
子曰：三人行，必有我師焉。擇其善者而從之，其不善者而改之。The Master said: When three walk together, there is surely a teacher for me among them. I pick out the good and follow it; the not-good I correct in myself.
What this chapter says
一孔按：三人同行，必有我师：好的跟着学，不好的拿来改自己。另外两个人一善一恶，都能当老师，关键在自己取什么。常有人问：“三人行，必有我师”，另外两个人要是都不如我呢？上面是一孔录的回答。
Yikonglu's reading of this chapter is in Chinese for now; the English version comes with the video.
白Plain Chinese
孔子说：几个人一起走路，其中必定有可以做我老师的。挑他好的地方跟着学，看到他不好的地方就反过来改正自己。
Draft plain-Chinese rendering following Zhu Xi; it will be checked when the chapter is covered.
看Watch this chapter
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Connections
- Same line elsewhere
- Analects 7.27 蓋有不知而作之者，我無是也。……
- Other books
- Read alongside (Yikonglu)Daodejing 27: “The good person is the teacher of the one who is not good; the one who is not good is the material of the good person.” Confucius says that both the good and the bad can be our teachers.
Relationship map of the whole book · The Analects, AI-reconstructed edition (PDF)
Close reading and checking
For readers who want to go deeper or check our work: key words in the commentary, what other commentators say, textual variants, the commentaries in their own words with facsimile pages, pronunciation and corrections. Tap a heading to open it.
常The common reading
“三人行，必有我师”，另外两个人要是都不如我呢？
注Key words in the commentary
三人同行，其一我也。彼二人者，一善一恶，则我从其善而改其恶焉，是二人者皆我师也。
核Zhu Xi's commentary, line by line
Zhu Xi's own words on each line of this chapter, each checked against the base-edition page. Other commentators are added when the chapter is covered. About this edition
| Line | Quoted text | Page |
|---|---|---|
| 子曰：三人行，必 | “三人同行，其一我也。彼二人者，一善一恶，则我从其善而改其恶焉，是二人者皆我师也。” | page 100 |
| 择其善者而从之， | “进善其有穷乎。” | page 100 |
| 择其善者而从之， | “见贤思齐，见不贤而内自省，则善恶皆我之师，进善其有穷乎？” | page 100 |
见Cross-references
- 择其善者而从之， Elsewhere in the Analects：多闻择其善者而从之，多见而识之，知之次也。（《论语》集注分章7.27（底本第 102 页））
家Other commentaries
Our base text is Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries (above). Here are other commentaries side by side: for old commentaries, the first line of the sub-commentary with a link to the woodblock scan; for modern editions, one short quoted translation for comparison. The “compared with Zhu Xi” notes are written by Yikonglu, not quoted.
皇侃《论语义疏》Liang dynasty · 1750 Japanese woodblock edition · juan 四
“此明人生處世，則宜更相師也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以三人中含己、另外两人皆可为师，善从恶改。钱进一步说明两人相较便于择善，不必先自知善。 |
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