The Suspicion of the Neighbor Father "Han Feizi"

The Suspicion of the Neighbor Father

Tomoko is suspicious of her neighbor

"Han Feizi Says It's Difficult"

【Original】

Song has rich people, and the rain wall is broken.

His son said, "If you do not build, there will be thieves." ”

The father of his neighbor is also cloudy.

Twilight and fruit died of their wealth.

His family knows his son very well, and he doubts the father of his neighbor. Both of them are right. The thick see the killing, and the thin see the doubt.

【Translation】

There was a rich man in the Song Dynasty, a rich man's family, and once, heavy rain fell from the sky, and the courtyard wall of his house was poured down and watered, and the wall collapsed into a big gap.

His son said anxiously: "If we don't build it quickly, if the courtyard wall is not repaired, it will definitely attract thieves to come and steal." ”

An old man in the neighbor saw it and advised him in this way.

At night, his house was stolen, stolen, stolen a lot of property, and lost a lot of property.

At this time, the people of the rich man's family, while repenting, praised their son for his wisdom, and the family all thought that he had foresight, but they became suspicious of the old man in the neighbor's house, suspecting that the old man in the neighbor was the thief, and it was he who stole his family's things.

With regard to the advice of the same content from the son and the father of the neighbor, both men say the right thing, but the principle is that the close one believes it when it is said, and the one who is distant is suspicious when he says it.

【Appreciation】

"Zhizi suspects his neighbor" thinks that his son is smart, but he is suspicious of his neighbor. The rich man of the Song Dynasty was a typical subjectivist, two people who made the same opinion, but he praised his son, doubted his neighbors, and had diametrically opposed views on the same thing, because it was strange to judge right and wrong by personal feelings and subjective prejudices.

This parable is selected from the "Speaking Difficulty" section of "Han Feizi", which mainly states the difficulty of speaking about the monarch and analyzes the reasons for its success and failure.

The original intention of the author of this story" "Zhizi Doubting Neighbor" is to show that there are many difficulties in giving advice to the monarch, although out of loyalty and correct opinion, closeness is one of the important factors, and if it does not conform to the pathological psychology of the other party, it will be counterproductive.

It enlightens us that we should correctly treat the advice or opinions of others, and that listening to opinions must not vary from person to person, let alone make subjective assumptions, otherwise we will distort the truth and make things worse.

Later, the idiom "suspicion of the neighbor father" was used as a metaphor to refer to those who have prejudices and subjective use.