Contemporary people love to quote the classic sentences of the ancients, but how many of them are misunderstood?
1. My life has an end, and my knowledge has no end.
Full version: My life also has an end, and knowledge has no end. With no end, there is no end, and it is gone. —— "Zhuangzi Health Lord"
Life is finite, knowledge is infinite, and the pursuit of infinite knowledge with a finite life will exhaust oneself.
2. Think twice
Full version: Ji Wenzi thinks twice and then acts, and ziwen knows: Again, Si Keyi. - "The Analects of the Ruler of the Gongzhi"
Ji Wenzi had to think about everything many times before doing it, and Confucius said after hearing it: After careful consideration, it is enough. Confucius criticized Ji Wenzi for being hesitant and indecisive.
3. Parents are here, not far away.
Full version: Zi Yue: Parents are here, not far away, the tour must be good. - "The Analects of the Liren"
When parents are present, children try not to live in other places for a long time. "Travel must be good" means that the journey must have a direction, a place to go and let the parents know; the other means that people who cannot be away all year round must first settle their parents.
Looking at this sentence today, don't pay attention to the literal, but pay attention to the spirit. Children should have parents in their hearts, but also understand their parents' thoughts about themselves, and do not worry their parents. If people are in other places, they should keep in touch with their parents at any time, let their parents know their situation, and they can rush back at any time if there is an emergency.
4. There are three filial pieties, and no queen is greater
Full version: No filial piety has three, no queen is great, Shun does not tell and marries, for no queen also, the gentleman thinks that Judas also tells. - Mencius, On the Chapter of Leaving Lou
This is what Mencius said when evaluating Shun's marriage: There are three kinds of things that do not filial piety to parents, but the most important is the inexhaustible nature of the descendants. When Shun married his wife, he did not pray to his surviving parents, and he did not fulfill his duty as a descendant. [Because if he prays first, his wife will not marry] Therefore the gentleman thinks that although he has not prayed, he is actually the same as praying.
Mencius's original meaning did not mean that not having children was filial piety, and the most unfilial thing was that he did not fulfill the responsibility of the elders to the descendants. Mencius's original words do not state what the other two types of filial piety are. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhao Qi expounded his personal understanding of Mencius's words in the Commentary on the Thirteen Classics: Yu Li has three things of filial piety, that is, Ayi Qu Cong, trapping relatives and unrighteousness, and one is not filial piety; the family is poor and old, not for Lu Shi, the second is not filial piety; not marrying childless, absolute ancestors, and three filial piety. Of the three, none is greater. This distorts the phrase "no queen is greater" into: not marrying a wife and having children, cutting off offspring. Later, people mistakenly thought that this was what Mencius said, which was actually the personal understanding of Zhao Qi of the Han Dynasty, and Mencius carried a black cauldron for Zhao Qi for no reason.
5. Foam at each other
Full version: Spring dry, fish phase and in the land, each other to wet, soak with foam, it is better to forget each other in the rivers and lakes. - "Zhuangzi, the Great Grandmaster"
The spring water has dried up, and in order to survive, the two fish use the moisture in each other's mouths to moisten each other and support each other, but instead of this, it is better for everyone to return to the vast rivers, lakes and seas in peace, forget each other, and be free. Zhuangzi borrows objects to refer to people, expressing a state of mind without concern