Teachers as Friends, Friends as Teachers
The Master said, 'When three people walk together, there is always something I can learn. I choose the good qualities and follow them; I observe the bad qualities and correct them in myself.'
This profoundly democratic passage dismantles the hierarchy of teacher and student. Confucius, the great teacher, declares that he finds teachers everywhere—even among strangers, even in their faults. The word 師 (shī), teacher, is placed among ordinary walkers. Everyone becomes a mirror: the good qualities inspire imitation, and the bad ones prompt self-reflection.