韓愈 師說 translation: On Teaching, by Han Yu · Pt 2

This is the second part in a translation of the essay 師說 (‘On Teaching’) by the Tang dynasty scholar 韓愈 (Han Yu).

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嗟乎！ Jiē hu! [sigh] [!] Ah!

師道之不傳也久矣！ Shī dào zhī bù chuán yě jiǔ yǐ! [teacher] [way] ['s] [not] [pass on] [too] [long time] The way of the teacher has been not been passed on for a long time!

欲人之無惑也難矣！ Yù rén zhī wú huò yě nán yǐ! [want] [person] ['s] [not have] [confuse] [very] [difficult] Wanting people to have no confusion is very difficult!

古之聖人， Gǔ zhī shèngrén, [old] ['s] [sage] [person] The sages of old

其出人也遠矣， qí chū rén yě yuǎn yǐ, [their] [go beyond] [people] [very] [far] excelled other people by far,

猶且從師而問焉； yóu qiě cóng shī ér wèn yān; [still] [yet] [from] [teacher] [and] [ask] [how] yet they still asked for guidance from teachers;

今之眾人， jīn zhī zhòngrén, [today] ['s] [multitude] [people] The people of today

其下聖人也亦遠矣， qí xià shèngrén yě yì yuǎn yǐ, [their] [below] [sage] [person] [very] [likewise] [far] are vastly inferior to sages,

而恥學於師。 er chǐ xué yú shī. [yet] [disgrace] [learn] [from] [teacher] yet see it as a disgrace to learn from teachers.

是故聖益聖， Shì gù shèng yì shèng, [this] [reason] [sage] [increase] [sage] For this reason, sages are increasingly wise,

愚益愚。 yú yì yú. [foolish] [increase] [foolish] and fools are increasingly foolish.

聖人之所以為聖， Shèngrén zhī suǒyǐ wéi shèng, [sage] [person] ['s] [that which] [take] [as] [sage] That sages can be wise,

愚人之所以為愚， yúrén zhī suǒyǐ wéi yú, [foolish] [person] ['s] [that which] [take] [as] [foolish] and that fools can be foolish -

其皆出於此乎？ qí jiē chū yú cǐ hu? [their] [all] [come out] [from] [this] is it not all for this reason?

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