The Bond of Teacher and Student Lasts a Lifetime

answered by The Analects, Book of Shu Er

기원전 5세기(공자 언행록)

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

Twenty-Four Eyes (1954)

dir. Keisuke Kinoshita · Japan

The bond a teacher on a remote island village forms with twelve children endures across war, poverty, and long years. The world scatters them, yet the shared heart of their early days does not vanish. How does the bond of teacher and student, formed without blood, grow as deep as family?

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

Do I let the heart of a teacher who raised me drift off lightly as a bond that merely passed by?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

學而不厭誨人不倦

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

Never tiring of learning, never wearying of teaching others.

💡 TL;DR

Confucius described himself as never tiring of learning and never wearying of teaching.

📝The Classic Answers

Confucius described himself as never tiring of learning and never wearying of teaching. A true teacher's love is no different from a parent's. The bond a teacher forms with young students does not break even across war and the years, and quietly upholds their whole lives. I tend to see teaching as the mere transfer of knowledge, yet what a true teacher leaves is a heart turned toward people. I realize belatedly that the gaze of one who believed in me long ago made the person I am. The bond of teacher and student is another family formed outside of blood. Not forgetting the heart that raised me, I choose someday to pass it on to another.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

Recall one person who taught and guided you, and convey a word of thanks, however brief, today.

📖 Classic Source: The Analects, Book of Shu Er. Ancient text in the public domain; rendered and interpreted independently by ONGO.
The film is honored as an equal questioner; its plot is rendered only as a universal dilemma. The classic source is an ancient text (Public Domain), and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.