【廿一章】子曰、三人行、必有我师焉、择其善者而从之、其不善者而改之。
[CHAP. XXI]. The Master said, 'When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them.'
Excerpt From: Legge, James. “The Chinese Classics — Volume 1: Confucian Analects.” iBooks.
有一次，孔子和学生们正在赶路，忽然一个小孩子挡住了他们的去路。原来，这个小孩子正在路上用砖瓦石块垒一座“城池”呢。孔子叫那个小孩让路，而小孩却说：“这世上只有车绕城而过的，还没有把城池拆了给车让路的。” 孔子想：确实不能把这孩子摆的城池当成玩具。我这样想，可孩子不这样想啊。我倡导礼仪，没想到让孩子给问住了。孔子十分感慨地对他的学生说：“三人行必有我师！这孩子虽小，却懂礼仪，可以做我的老师了。”
智慧小语：“三人行必有我师焉，择其善者而从之，其不善者而改之” 是孔子的名言，出自《论语》。要求人要谦虚好学，努力学习别人的优点，完善自己，取人之长补己之短！
I love the way this saying and story describes and defines what mentoring is, how it looks like and what is the objective. It shows the players, the context, the posture, the movement, the goal. The most eye catching part is the mention of 3 people walking on a journey. But there's no need to read too much into the significance of the number because in classical writings, 3 means thoroughness and all-encompassing — it can be 5, 10, 30, 300 etc. (eg. 三思而行 doesn’t mean to think only 3 times).
When they came across a boy building a sand castle on the road, Confucius asked the boy to move aside and make way for them to pass. The boy looked up and replied, "Only people and carts go around a city. Who has ever demolished a city to make way for traffic?" I find it hilarious because often times I, too would encounter some who are tending to childish things, building sand castles on the footpath of Life. They're not only not devoting themselves to important, weightier matters, they’re blocking our more serious journey. I would chide them (in my mind, at least) saying, “C’mon, move aside.” But like how Confucius realised that for the boy in the story, it’s not just a play-thing he’s building. Theirs is a "REAL" city. So how can a "real" city move? They teach us that their little games are not games, but as a cherished reality. Just as it was prudent for the sage to leave them be and walk around their makeshift cities, ideas, perceptions and move on, so should we.
Recently, I'm reminded that in the church, we minister to the multitudes, but we disciple the broken, holy remnant. This means to say, there aren’t many to begin and end with. So it is exclusive by definition and inclusive in practice.
God's blueprint for world peace:
Build a discipling environment, discipling culture and discipling community.
