When our happiness reaches its peak,
sadness slowly begins to appear(樂極生悲)
During the Spring and Autumn Period in
China, the famous thinker Confucius took his disciples to visit a royal temple
in the Kingdom of Lu.
During their visit, Confucius and his
students saw a very special container called (宥卮).
When Confucius saw the box, he told his
students happily.
This is a small toy of an ancient king. The
ancient kings used this toy to remind themselves not to be proud and to be
moderate.
His students asked.
Since this container cannot speak, how can
it remind the ancient kings not to be proud and to be moderate?
Confucius smiled and said, "Let me
show you.
Confucius asked a student to bring a kettle
of water.
Confucius took the kettle and began to pour
water into this strangely shaped container.
An amazing thing happened. As Confucius
slowly poured the water into the container , the container slowly began to become horizontal from its
original tilted position.
After the container was completely
horizontal, Confucius continued to pour water into the container.
The container began to tilt from its
horizontal position, and suddenly thecontainer fell over, spilling the water
all over the table.
Confucius told his students.
The ancient Chinese king used this
container to demonstrate a truth in the universe. This truth is that when the
state of something develops to its peak, the state of that thing begins to
slowly decline. When our happiness reaches its peak, at the same time sadness
begins to slowly appear. The sun rises in the east, reaches its peak after
noon, and then begins to set in the west. The moon will slowly begin to become
a crescent after the full moon.
From this universal truth we can gain an
important life revelation.
The revelation is that we should maintain a
balance. We should not be too positive and let our condition reach an extreme
high, nor should we be too negative and let our condition fall to an extreme
low. We should keep ourselves stable and moderate.
The literal translation of this idiom is
that when our happiness reaches its peak, sadness also slowly begins to appear.
This idiom is used to describe a person who
suddenly encounters great sorrow after great happiness, or a person who
suddenly encounters great suffering after great glory.
Dear friends, what are your feelings or
thoughts after listening to this story?
Have you ever had the experience of
suddenly experiencing a great setback after having achieved great success? Can
you remain calm and face the various encounters in life?
I hope this story can give you some new
insights.
樂極生悲(When our happiness reaches its peak,
sadness slowly begins to appear)
中國的春秋時代，著名的思想家孔子帶著他的弟子們去參觀一間魯王國的皇室的祠廟。
孔子與他的學生們在參觀的過程中看到一個很特別的容器，這個容器的名字叫做(宥卮)，
孔子看到這個容器後就很開心地對他的學生們說。
這是一個古代的國王的一個小玩具，古代的國王們用這個玩具來提醒自己不要驕傲與懂得節制。
他的學生們問。
這個容器又不會說話，它要怎麼提醒古代的國王不要驕傲與懂得節制呢?
孔子笑著說我來示範給你們看。
孔子吩咐一個學生拿來一個裝滿水的水壺。
孔子拿起這個水壺後並開始往這個造型奇特的容器中倒水。
令人驚訝的事情發生了，孔子將水慢慢倒入這個容器後，這個容器也慢慢地從原本傾斜的狀態開始變成水平。
在這個容器變成完全水平後孔子繼續在這個容器之內倒水。
這個容器開始從水平的狀態變成傾斜，突然之間這個容器就倒了，容器內的水流到整張桌子上。
孔子對學生們說。
中國古代的國王用這個容器來彰顯一件宇宙間的真理，這個真理就是當一件事情的狀態發展到了最高峰之後這件事情的狀態就會開始慢慢持續衰退，當我們的快樂到達頂點的同時悲傷也開始慢慢地出現。太陽從東邊升起，在中午之後到達最高峰後就會開始向西邊降下，月亮在滿月之後就會開始慢慢地變成弦月。
我們從這條宇宙間的真理可以得到一個重要的人生啟示。
這個啟示就是我們應該保持平衡，我們不要太積極並且讓自己的狀態到達極高點，也不要太消極讓自己的狀態落到極低處，我們應該讓自己保持穩定與適中。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是當我們的快樂到達頂點的時候悲傷也開始慢慢地出現。
這句成語被用來形容一個人在極大的快樂之後突然遭遇極大的悲傷，一個人在極大的榮耀之後突然遭遇極大的苦難。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有怎樣的感受或有怎樣的想法呢。
你是否有在極度順利之後突然遭遇到重大的打擊的經驗呢?你是否可以保持平常心去面對生活中的各種遭遇呢?
我希望這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為淮南子-道應訓-54條
https://ctext.org/huainanzi/dao-ying-xun/zhs