Hard work but no results (勞而無功)
There was a famous thinker in China's
Warring States period, his name was ((Zhuang Zhou).
He recorded a story in a book he wrote.
Confucius lived in the Spring and Autumn
Period of China, in the Kingdom of Lu, and was the founder of Confucianism.
Because the king of the Lu Kingdom did not
appreciate Confucius, Confucius left the Lu Kingdom in 497 BC.
Confucius took some of his disciples to
other kingdoms to spread his political ideas and ideological teachings.
Confucius faced many difficulties after
leaving the Kingdom of Lu, and once almost starved to death.
About a year after Confucius left the
Kingdom of Lu, a famous royal musician named (Shi Jin) in the Kingdom of Lu
said to a disciple of Confucius named Yan Hui
Confucius tried very hard to spread his
political ideas and ideological teachings, but he worked very hard but to no
avail.
I think this is because the main point of
his thought is to restore some of the political systems and etiquette norms
when the Western Zhou Dynasty was first established.
Let me give you an example of why his
efforts were ineffective.
We can use boats on the river, but we have
to use carriages on land. That is a very simple reason.
When the Western Zhou Dynasty was founded,
the social environment was like a river, and the social system and etiquette at
that time were like a boat.
The purpose of designing this boat was to
be able to travel on the river, so the social systems and etiquette norms at
that time were only applicable to that era.
After so many years of evolution, today's
social environment is like a road. To apply the social system and etiquette
norms of the Western Zhou Dynasty in the current social environment is like a
person trying to row a boat on land.
I think Confucius should be flexible in
designing a set of social systems and legal norms suitable for the current
social environment, so that his ideas can be adopted by the leaders of
different kingdoms.
The literal translation of this idiom is
hard work but no results.
Dear friend, what inspirations or thoughts
do you have after listening to this story?
Have you ever checked to see if there are
any hard-working but ineffective actions in your life? How do you think you can
avoid some hard-working but ineffective actions?
I hope this story can give you some new
insights.
勞而無功(Hard work but no results)
中國的戰國時代有一個著名的思想家，他的名字叫做(莊周)。
他在他寫的書中紀錄了一個故事。
孔子生活在中國的春秋時代，他生活在魯王國，他是儒家思想的創始者。
因為魯王國的國王不重視孔子，所以孔子在西元前497年離開魯王國。
孔子帶著他的一些學生到當時的其他王國去宣傳自己的政治主張和思想學說。
孔子在離開魯王國之後遭遇了很多困難，有一次甚至還差點餓死。
在孔子離開魯王國大約一年後，魯王國有一個著名的名字叫做(師金)的皇家樂師對孔子一個名字叫做顏回的學生說。
孔子非常努力地想要推廣他的的政治理念與思想學說，他很辛勞卻沒有功效。
我認為這是因為他的思想的要點是要恢復到西周王朝剛建立時的一些政治制度與禮儀規範。
我舉一個例子來說明他的努力為何無法有成效。
我們在河上可以搭船，我們在陸地上則是要搭乘馬車，這是一個非常簡單的道理。
西周王朝剛建立的時候的社會環境就像是一條河流，當時的社會制度與禮儀規範就像是一條船。
設計這條船的目的就是為了讓船在河流中行走，因此當時的社會制度與禮儀規範只適用於那個年代。
經過了那麼多年的演變，現在的社會環境就像是一條道路，把西周王朝剛建立時的社會制度與禮儀規範使用在現在的社會環境，就像是一個人想要在陸地上划船。
我認為孔子應該針對現在的社會環境，靈活地設計出一套適用於現在的社會制度與法律規範，這樣他的想法才有可能被各個王國的領導者所採納。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是很辛勞卻沒有功效。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有怎樣的啟發或有怎樣的想法呢。
你是否檢討過自己生活中有沒有那些辛勞卻沒有功效的行動呢?你認為要如何避免自己產生一些辛勞卻沒有功效的行動呢?
我希望這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為莊子-外篇-天運