What is the meaning of the phrase "to lead and not to hold"?

The meaning of Dao but not to lead, strong but not to suppress, open but not to reach is to guide the students and not to lead them, to encourage the students and not to suppress them, to guide the students to learn the doorway and not to make conclusions instead of the students.

Source

The source of this quote is Rituals of Learning.

Excerpts from the original text

Rituals - Records of Learning, "The teachings of a gentleman are metaphorical." "The Way but not holding, the strong but not suppressing, the open but not reaching. The way but not to hold is peace, strong but not to suppress is easy, open but not to reach is to think. And if one is easy to think, one can be said to have a good metaphor."

Translation

This sentence in the Book of Rites - The Records of Learning means: guide the students instead of leading them, encourage them instead of repressing them, and guide the students to learn the doorway instead of making conclusions instead of them. In this way, students will not be subject to too much interference and restriction, and they will be able to think and learn freely.

Appreciation

The main thing that this article wants to tell us is that the purpose of education is to guide the students, not to directly instill knowledge. Students should be allowed to learn and discover on their own by thinking and exploring in a free environment. This way of education is more conducive to the overall development of students.

Background of Creation

In the era of the Book of Rites and Records of Learning, most of the education methods were traditional lectures, and teachers were almost unquestionable authority figures. With these words, the author of the Records of Learning emphasized the importance of guiding students, calling on teachers to focus more on guiding and inspiring students' thinking than merely imparting knowledge.

Commentary

"The Way and the Fruitfulness" refers to guiding the students, not mandatory instruction, and allowing the students to have their own space to think.

"Strong but not suppressed" means that education should be encouraging and guiding, rather than emphasizing only the results and suppressing students' development.

"Open but not reach" refers to the need to instruct students in learning methods and skills, so that they know how to learn, rather than just telling them the results.

Life Lessons

In my understanding, the phrase "the way is not to be held back, not to be forced, not to be suppressed, not to be opened, not to be reached" tells us that we should not be too forceful and restrictive in the process of guiding others, but to keep a certain degree of openness and freedom, so that they can think and create more. It is important to maintain a certain degree of openness and freedom, so that they can have more room for thinking and creativity. In my personal experience, I was once taught by a certain teacher who was very liberal in his teaching style, and he would guide us to think about things instead of force-feeding us knowledge, which benefited me greatly. His teaching style gave me the ability to think on my own and made me more confident and independent.

In life, we should also try to avoid putting too much pressure and constraints on others. When we interact with family, friends, colleagues or subordinates, try to give them a certain degree of freedom and creative space, so that they have more autonomy and space to play, which not only enhances their self-confidence and independence, but also allows us to establish a more harmonious and equal interpersonal relationships. At the same time, we also need to pay attention to grasp the degree, when necessary, moderate guidance and supervision, so as to better achieve the purpose.