Whether it is learning or being a person, Confucius has always advocated an honest attitude.
Even though he is full of wealth, he still strongly advocates the humble style of learning of "being sensitive and studious, and not ashamed to ask" ("Gongye Chang").
He said, "What is known is known, and what is not known is not known" ("For Politics"). Admit your own shortcomings, so that you will not be satisfied.
Therefore, in the book "Analects", he has repeatedly recorded his shameless deeds. For example, "when the son enters the temple, he asks about everything" ("Eight Hundred"), although he was ridiculed, he still did not change this attitude of humbly studying;Another example is Fan Chi's request to learn crops, and Zi said: "I am not as good as an old farmer." "Please learn as a nursery. said: "I am not as good as the old garden" ("Zi Lu"). This kind of honest admission that he is not as good as the big old man is probably not rare. Not only that, but he even admits that he is not as good as his students in some aspects. For example, in the "Gongye Chang" chapter, he admitted that he was not as good as Yan Hui, "Fu Ruye, I and my daughter Fu Ruye".
Han Yu said that "the sage is impermanent" ("Shi Shuo") originated from Confucius's sentence "If you are a threesome, you must have my teacher".
A person, no matter how wise and wise he is, will never be able to know all the things in heaven and earth and learn all the knowledge of the past and the present. No matter how sage a person is, he will never be perfect. Therefore, only by learning from others who know more than oneself and have higher cultivation can we make continuous progress, so that we can be "new and new every day", and only then can we "stop at perfection" ("University").
That's why Confucius said that when three people walk together, there must be someone who can be my teacher. Choose his strengths to learn from him and learn from his shortcomings for self-correction. That's why Confucius has the courage to learn from others' strengths and correct his own shortcomings, which is worthy of emulation by each of us.