Building houses with freshly cut,
unprocessed wood(生棟覆屋)
The Zhou Dynasty of China lasted from 1046
BC to 256 BC.
The period from 770 BC to 476 BC is called
the Spring and Autumn Period, and the period from 476 BC to 221 BC is called
the Warring States Period.
The supreme leader of China at this time
was the king of the Zhou dynasty.
The kings of the Zhou dynasty gave land to
more than 100 princes, each of whom established his own kingdom.
There were many fierce wars between these
kingdoms as they competed for land and resources.
It was a time of extreme chaos.
It was a golden age of Chinese thought.
There were many famous thinkers who lived during this time. These thinkers put
forward what they thought were the best solutions and ideas to the social
problems and problems of life at that time.
Some of these thinkers emphasised the need
to use clear laws to build a better society. Among this school of thought,
there was a representative figure in the Spring and Autumn Period. That
representative figure was Guan Zhong.
Guan Zhong once mentioned in his book that
a man built his house with freshly cut wood that had not dried. The man's house
collapsed a few weeks after it was built.
When people heard about this incident, they
all laughed at the man for being stupid. No one blamed the poor quality of the
wood for the collapse of the house.
Guan Zhong used this simple example to
illustrate that we must follow the simple and basic laws of nature in order to
achieve long-term success.
This school of thought had a representative
figure during the Warring States Period, and that representative figure was Han
Fei.
Han Fei also mentioned a similar example in
his book.
There was a man who wanted to build a
house. After the man had prepared the wood and earth for the house, he hired a
professional craftsman to build the house for him.
The professional craftsman said to the man
after seeing the building materials he had prepared.
There is something wrong with the basic
materials you need to build a house.
When I build this house, I will first use
this wood to build the surrounding frame and roof of the house, and then I will
use damp earth to strengthen the house.
The wood you have prepared has not been
treated by drying and other procedures, so the moisture content of the wood is
too high and it is very soft. Therefore, the wood cannot bear the weight of the
damp earth used for reinforcement, and the wood is pressed into bends. .
You have to replace the wood, and if you
build a house with this wood, the house will collapse soon after it is built.
The man replied after listening to the craftsman.
I don't agree with you, I think your idea
is wrong.
Even though these woods have not been dried
yet, after the house is built, these woods will naturally slowly become dry and
hard, and the damp earth will become dry and lose weight after a few days. So I
think your argument is wrong.
Because the man insisted on his opinion,
the craftsman later used the wood to build a house for the man.
A few months after the house was built, it
collapsed.
Han Fei used this simple example to remind
us that what some people say may sound reasonable, but we must objectively
judge whether what they say is correct and feasible based on the actual
situation.
The literal translation of this idiom is
to use freshly cut, unprocessed wood to build a house.
This idiom is used to describe a person's
behaviour and wrong judgement that will bring disaster to him.
Dear friend, what kind of inspiration do
you have after listening to this story?
Do you respect the opinions of experts?
Have you ever brought disaster upon yourself by insisting on your own opinion?
I hope this story gives you some new
insights.
生棟覆屋(Building houses with freshly cut,
unprocessed wood)
中國周王朝的政權從公元前1046年延續到公元前256年。
其中從公元前770年到公元前476年這段時間被稱為春秋時代，公元前476年到公元前221年這段時間被稱為戰國時代
當時中國的最高領導人是周王朝的國王。
周王朝的國王把土地分封給100多個諸侯，這些諸侯各自成立的自己的王國。
這些王國之間為了爭奪土地與資源而發生許多慘烈的戰爭。
那是一個極度混亂的年代。
那是一個中國思想上的黃金時代，有許多著名的思想家生活在那個年代，這些思想家針對當時的社會問題與人生問題提出了各自認為最好的解決的辦法和思想。
其中有一些思想家強調要用明確的法律來建構一個更好的社會，這個學派中，春秋時代有一個代表人物，這個代表人物是管仲。
管仲在他寫的書中曾經提到，有一個人用剛砍下來還沒有經過乾燥過的木材建造自己的房子，這個男人的房子在建好之後的幾個禮拜後就倒塌了。
旁人聽到這個事件後，每個人都嘲笑這個男人很愚蠢，沒有人把房子倒塌的原因歸咎於木材的材質不好。
管仲用這個簡單的例子來說明我們做事情的時候要順應自然界中那些簡單而且基本的法則，我們才有可能獲得長久的成功。
這個學派中，戰國時代有一個代表人物，這個代表人物是韓非。
韓非在他寫的書中也曾經提到一個類似的例子。
有一個男人要蓋一間房子，這個男人自己準備了建造房屋所需要的木材與泥土後就聘請了一個專業的工匠來為他建造這間房子。
這個專業的工匠看到這個男人準備的建材後就對這個人說。
你所準備的這些建造一間房子所需要的基本建材是有問題的。
我在建造這間房子時，我會先用這些木材搭成房子的四周圍骨架與屋頂，接著再用潮濕的泥土加固這間房子。
你所準備的木材還沒有經過乾燥等手續處理過，所以這些木材的含水分太高所以非常柔軟，因此這些木材無法承受了那些用來加固的潮濕的泥土的重量，這些木材會被壓成彎曲。
你必須要更換這些木材，如果用這些木材建造房子，這間房子在建造後不久就會倒塌。
這個男人聽完這個工匠的話後回答。
我不認同你的看法，我認為你的想法是錯的。
這些木材雖然還沒有經過乾燥的手續，但是在建造完這間房屋之後，這些木材自然就會慢慢地變得乾燥與堅硬，那些潮濕的泥土經過幾天後就會變得乾燥而且減輕重量。因此我認為你的論點是錯的。
由於這個男人非常堅持自己的意見，所以後來這個工匠就用這些木材替這個男人建造了一間房子。
這間房子建造好的幾個月之後，這間房子就倒塌了。
韓非用這個簡單的例子來提醒我們，有些人說的話可能聽起來好像有道理，但我們必須客觀地根據現實的情況去判斷這些人說的話是否是正確而且可執行的。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是用剛砍下來還沒有加工過的木材來建造房屋。
這句成語被用來形容一個人的行為與錯誤的判斷造成這個人自己身上發生災禍。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有什麼樣的或有什麼樣的啟發呢。
你是否尊重專家的意見呢?你是否曾經因為自己的堅持己見造成自己的災禍呢?
我希望這個故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為管子-形勢-7
https://ctext.org/guanzi/xing-shi/zh
出處為韓非子-外儲說左上
https://xn--ctext-n47ih107az0a.org/hanfeizi/wai-chu-shuo-zuo-shang/zh