Pretend dirt is white rice, pretend mud is
soup(塵飯塗羹)
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 king 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 thinkers believe that moral education
should be used to make society more stable, and some thinkers emphasise the
need to use clear laws to build a better society.
At that time, in order to make their
kingdoms stronger, the kings of each kingdom tried various methods suggested by
these thinkers.
At that time, different kinds of social
experiments were carried out in different kingdoms in China.
During the Warring States period in China,
there was a famous scholar named Han Fei.
The king of Qin practised Han Fei's theories
and methods. Later, Qin became the most powerful kingdom of the time and
unified all of China.
Han Fei wrote a story in his book.
I saw many young children playing outside
their houses. These innocent children filled bowls with earth and pretended the
earth was rice, put wood on plates and pretended the wood was meat, and put mud
in bowls and pretended it was soup. These children were imitating their
parents. They were experiencing the process of cooking and eating.
But none of these little children will
actually eat the earth, and none of the children will actually eat the wood.
For these little children know that the
earth and the wood can only be seen, not eaten.
The kings of ancient China ruled their
kingdoms with morality, kindness and justice, and these ancient kings ruled
their kingdoms very well.
Therefore, there are many kings of modern
kingdoms who think that as long as I learn from those ancient kings to rule the
kingdom with morality, kindness and justice, I can make my kingdom prosperous.
But these kings ignored the reality that
the current social structure has changed enormously from the ancient social
structure.
People in ancient times had simple lives
and simple thoughts, so the kings of that time were able to govern their
country well with morality, kindness and justice.
In today's society, people's thoughts are
becoming more and more complex, and the division of labour in society is
becoming more and more detailed. We can no longer use morality, kindness and
justice to govern people. We should add clear laws and institutional norms to
govern a society.
I think those kings who insist on refusing
to change their minds in accordance with the times are more stupid than those
little children playing at home.
Those small children still know how to
distinguish what is really edible, but many kings who have come to power cannot
distinguish those theories and ideas that can really be applied in real life.
The literal translation of this idiom is
to pretend that earth is white rice and mud is soup.
This idiom is used to describe a person
who considers false things to be real things.
This idiom can also be used to describe something
of no value.
Dear friend, what kind of inspiration do
you have after listening to this story?
Have you ever thought about your different
views on things? Which of your views do you think are out of touch with
reality?
I hope this story gives you some new
insights.
塵飯塗羹(Pretend dirt is white rice, pretend
mud is soup)
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。
有些思想家認為要用道德教育來讓社會更安定，有些思想家強調要用明確的法律來建構一個更好的社會。
當時各王國的國王為了讓自己的王國更強大，所以各個王國的國王分別嘗試了這些思想家所提出的各種方法。
當時的中國的各個王國中進行著各種不同類型的社會實驗。
中國的戰國時代有一位著名的學者，他的名字叫韓非。
秦國的國王實踐了韓非的理論與方法，後來秦國成為當時最強大的王國並統一了整個中國。
韓非在他的書中寫過一個故事。
我看到很多幼兒在他們家門口玩遊戲，這些天真的幼童拿碗裝土假裝土是白飯、拿盤子裝木頭假裝木頭是肉、拿碗裝爛泥巴假裝是湯，這些孩童模擬他們的父母親煮飯然後吃飯的過程。
但是這些幼童中沒有人會真正吃下這些土，也沒有人會真正吃這些木頭。
因為這些幼童知道這些土和木頭只能看不能吃。
中國古代的國王用道德與仁慈與正義治理他們的王國，而且這些古代的國王把這他們的王國治理的很興盛。
所以現代有很多王國的國王就認為我只要學習這些古代的國王用道德與仁慈與正義來治理王國就可以將自己的王國治理很興盛。
但是這些國王忽略了一個現實的情況，那就是現在的社會結構與古代的社會結構已經發生了巨大的變化。
古代的人們的生活簡單而且思想簡單，所以當時的國王用道德與仁慈與正義就可以把自己的國家治理的很好。
現在社會中人們的思想越來越複雜，社會分工越來越細，我們已經無法只使用道德與仁慈和正義來百姓治理，我們應該加上明確的法律與制度的規範來治理社會。
我認為那些堅持不肯順應時代改變想法的國王比那些玩家家酒的幼童還要愚昧。
那些幼童尚且懂得辨別什麼東西是真的可以吃的，但許多掌握了權力的國王卻無法辨別那些理論與思想是真的可以實際運用在現實生活中的。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是假裝土是白飯，假裝爛泥巴是湯
這句成語用來形容一個人把假的東西當成真的東西。
這句成語也可以用來形容一些沒有價值的東西。
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。
你是否有反思過自己各種看待事物的觀點呢?你認為自己的觀點中有那些已經不符合現實情況了呢?
我希望這個故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為韓非子-外儲說左上。