What does this mean, written by the Chinese philosopher, Confucius??

To learn and to practice what is learned time and again is pleasure, is it not? To have friends from afar is happiness, is it not? To be unperturbed when not appreciateed by othersis gentlemanly, is it not?|||It appears that everyone is shying away from this one.


I do not study this philosophy, so this is just a guess%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;





About the learning--have you ever been reminded of something you already knew, but the new realization brought satisfaction--pleasure?





On friendship--that opinion is so popular that there has been a saying made up about it--"Distance makes the heart grow fonder." Simply, we have the pleasure of know that we have those distant friends and lovers, as well as the anticipation of seeing them again.





Equanimity--have you ever observed someone who seemed to be the calm in the midst of a storm? I imagine this is the sort of "gentlemanly" person Confucius was thinking of when he said this. Have you a teacher who continues her job, doing her best to teach the class, even though a couple of jokers are doing their usual unruly routine? I think that a person like that would epotimize this notion.|||Please refer to the source for the correct translation of the work. When you look at the correct translation you can see that basically the verse is talking about joy of learning.





The first line is saying that to be able to use what we have learn is joy because we know that something that we have learn previously have bear fruit. Is that not good?





Second line is saying that to have someone come from afar to share with you in his learning, is that not something to be happy about? Because he value the friendship, that is why he makes the effort to come from afar, and we all know the best gift in life is wisdom, so by offering his learning, he has given you the best gift.





The third line is telling us not to pursue knowledge just to make other people think you are wiser or to be recognize by people. If you have such a thinking, you will never be satisfied with how other people look at you, and you will be angry most of the time. Instead, pursue knowledge because you love to gather them. As such, there is joy in learning.





Hope the information helps you in your pursue of knowledge.