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After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "deposed the hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone", Confucianism gradually became the mainstream thought. As a representative of Confucianism, Confucius has been respected by many people.
However, "if a man is not a sage, he can do no wrong." When faced with students making mistakes, even a sage like Confucius couldn't help but say a "dirty word".
In the end, what Confucius did not expect was that a random sentence he said would become a teacher's idiomatic phrase more than 2,000 years later. So, what happened to Confucius at that time?
The Life of Confucius
At that time, in the country of Lu, the "patriarchal" atmosphere was very popular, and Confucius's father was from a noble family, and he only had a physically disabled son, so Confucius's father especially wanted to have another child.
Soon, Confucius's father married a teenage concubine, who was also very "competitive", and gave birth to a boy in a different way, and this boy was Confucius.
Confucius was gifted and intelligent, had a strong talent for learning, and basically learned everything as soon as he was taught, for this reason, Confucius's father never treated Confucius poorly because he was born to a concubine, but valued him very much.
Unfortunately, Confucius's father died of illness when Confucius was three years old, and since then, Confucius has no support.
Since there was no one else to rely on, Confucius chose to be his own backer. In order to survive, he learned etiquette, books, music, and other knowledge, and dealt with some sages of the Lu Kingdom. Soon, Confucius became famous in the state of Lu for his extensive knowledge of etiquette and music.
However, because Confucius was a declining aristocrat, many people looked down on him. Even if he dabbles in a wide range of fields, in the end he can only do something similar to a petty official who manages a warehouse.
However, it was not long before Confucius met the noble man of his life. In the seventeenth year of Lu Zhaogong (525 BC), the sage Tanzi of the Spring and Autumn Period made the second pilgrimage to Lu. Taking this opportunity, Confucius went alone to seek advice from Tanzi and asked Tanzi about the ancient official system of Tan.
Tan Zi also taught Confucius, he told Confucius that the atmosphere of Lu officialdom was very bad, and if he did not have a strong background, it was impossible to be an official with real power.
After hearing this, Confucius thought about it for a long time, and finally made a major decision: to establish a private school, become a teacher himself, and spread ideas.
Founded a private school and met Zaiyu
At that time, Confucius, as a famous thinker in the Spring and Autumn Period, was already famous all over the world, and he had his own unique views and cognitions on the issue of teaching. Therefore, after hearing that Confucius himself was going to establish a school, many parents sent their children to Confucius overnight to learn knowledge and the principles of life.
And Confucius did not have any threshold for accepting students, and over time, Confucius accepted more and more students, but one of them was a student named Zai Yu, which gave Confucius a headache.
Jae-yu is a very quick thinker, has his own unique views on different things, and is a "debate genius".
As we all know, Confucius admired the Zhou rites very much, but Zai Yu thought that in the Zhou rites, the time for children to keep filial piety for their parents was too long, and it should be shortened to one year. Confucius was also very helpless, so he had to evaluate Zai Yu as an "unkind person".
In fact, there are many things that Zai Yu did not understand for Confucius. So, in order to change this idea of Zai Yu, Confucius thought that it was time to teach Zai Yu a lesson!
"Rotten wood cannot be carved, and walls of dung cannot be encircled."
One day, Confucius and Zai Yu met on a path, and after Zai Yu saluted, Confucius patted Zai Yu on the shoulder and said, "You are my most proud disciple!" ”。 Later, Confucius specially admonished Zai Yu that sometimes your words are too sharp, and I hope you can change the way you speak and use words to convey warmth.
Jae Yu thought to himself; "I'm used to going toe-to-toe with my opponent in debates, and I may not be comfortable with a sudden change of style." Although he thought so in his heart, Zai Yu still promised Confucius that he would change well. Confucius was very satisfied with Zaiyu's attitude and looked forward to his change.
But what disappointed Confucius even more later was that while other students were listening carefully, Zai Yu believed that the key to learning knowledge was comprehension, not dictation. So in the process of listening to the lecture, he dozed off.
Because the ancients believed that "the sun rises and the sun sets", in the view of Confucius, the daytime time is very precious, and as a student, you should be angry and strong during the day.
And Zai Yu slept during the day as a sign of laziness by Confucius. Therefore, he immediately reprimanded Zaiyu: "Do not carve rotten wood, and do not enclose the wall of dung." ”
The meaning of this sentence is: Confucius believed that Zaiyu was like a piece of decaying wood, on which elaborate patterns could not be carved, and like a wall made of dung, it could not be painted.
It can be seen that Confucius at that time was very disappointed with Zaiyu, so much so that he accidentally said "dirty words". Although Confucius used a relatively sharp language to reprimand Zai Yu in his expression, in Confucius's words, you can still see his love for Zai Yu.
In other words, Confucius, like a loving patriarch, painstakingly persuaded Zai Yu to cherish the daytime, study hard, listen to his own teachings, and finally become a useful person to society.
It can be seen that Confucius invested a lot of his hopes and efforts in Zai Yu. And Zai Yu did not disappoint Confucius, he studied knowledge diligently, followed Confucius to travel around the world, and then went to Qi and Chu alone, adding a lot of life experience.
In the end, with his own efforts, Zai Yu became a leader under Confucius and was deeply loved by Confucius. In later generations, he was also listed as one of the "Thirteen Sages of Confucius", was worshiped by Confucianism, and was revered by Confucian scholars throughout the ages.
And the phrase "rotten wood cannot be carved" has also become a common phrase for modern teachers.
epilogue
As a well-known thinker and educator in mainland China, Confucius advocated the educational concept of "teaching students according to their aptitude" when dealing with the problem of students' learning. Therefore, for Zaiyu, Confucius chose to use "rotten wood cannot be carved, and the wall of dung cannot be enclosed." ”
Such words are used to motivate him to study so that Jae-yu can get on the right track in life. However, a sentence blurted out by Confucius out of anger has now become a common phrase among teachers and is used by the majority of students, which may also be another inheritance of Confucius's thought!
Resources:
Huanglong Procuratorate——2019-04-01——Confucius was so angry that he said a dirty word, but he didn't expect it to be circulated for more than 2,500 years, and now it has become a teacher's idiomatic language!