Analects 7.22 · Shu Er
“When three people walk together, there is always someone among them who can be my teacher.”
Meaning, context, and how to apply it today
三人行 必有我師焉 (sān rén xíng, bì yǒu wǒ shī yān) means “When three people walk together, there is always someone among them who can be my teacher.” It is a passage from the Analects of Confucius, Book 7 (Shu Er), Chapter 22.
三人行 必有我師焉
- Pinyin
- sān rén xíng, bì yǒu wǒ shī yān
- Translation
- When three people walk together, there is always someone among them who can be my teacher.
- Source
- Analects, Book 7 (Shu Er), Chapter 22
What does this passage mean?
This passage from Shu Er displays Confucius’s humble attitude toward learning. Three is an idiomatic way of saying several people. Anyone walking beside us—anyone we meet in ordinary life—is a potential teacher. It is striking that even Confucius, the greatest scholar of his age, believed he could learn from anyone. The saying forms one complete lesson with the sentence that immediately follows it.
How can we apply it today?
Our age calls for an open mind that can learn regardless of rank or age, beyond authoritarian habits. A new employee’s fresh idea, a child’s innocent question, or the different perspective of an expert from another field can all teach us. Opportunities to learn are everywhere. The real question is whether we are prepared to learn even from someone we consider less accomplished than ourselves.
Questions to reflect on
- ·When did you last learn from an unexpected source?
- ·Are you open to learning from someone with less experience than you?
- ·Do you treat everyday encounters as opportunities to learn?
Character-by-character breakdown
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning | Strokes | Radical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 三 | sān | three | 3 | 一 (one) |
| 人 | rén | person | 2 | 人 (person) |
| 行 | xíng | go | 6 | 行 (walk) |
| 必 | bì | certainly | 5 | 心 (heart) |
| 有 | yǒu | exist | 6 | 月 (moon) |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me | 7 | 戈 (halberd) |
| 師 | shī | teacher | 10 | 巾 (turban) |
| 焉 | yān | grammatical particle | 11 | 火 (fire) |
Frequently asked questions
Q. What does “When three people walk together, there is…” mean?
三人行 必有我師焉 (sān rén xíng, bì yǒu wǒ shī yān) means “When three people walk together, there is always someone among them who can be my teacher.” It comes from the Analects, Book 7 (Shu Er), Chapter 22.
Q. Where does this passage appear in the Analects?
It is Analects 7.22: Book 7 (Shu Er), Chapter 22.
Q. How can this teaching be applied today?
Our age calls for an open mind that can learn regardless of rank or age, beyond authoritarian habits.