The rise and fall of this tool is not autonomous, the rising and falling of this tool is controlled by people.(俯仰由人)
The rise and fall of this tool is not
autonomous, the rising and falling of this tool is controlled by people.(俯仰由人)
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 called (Shi Jin) in the Kingdom of Lu
said to a disciple of Confucius called Yan Hui
I think Confucius should be flexible in
designing a set of social systems and legal norms that are suitable for the
current social environment, so that his ideas can be adopted by the leaders of
different kingdoms.
Let me give you an example to illustrate my
point.
We will set up a wooden frame on the well,
and then we will place two buckets on either end of a hanging rope, one of
which is a solid bucket and the other is a hollow bucket for water.
We can use the lever principle to get water
from the well. This tool allows us to achieve our goals with the least amount
of effort.
This tool rises when someone pulls it and
falls naturally when no one pulls it.
The rise and fall of this tool is not
autonomous. The rise and fall of this tool is controlled by people.
This tool does not need to promote its own
value, people will naturally use these tools.
If people really believe that Confucius'
teachings are helpful to them, then people will naturally accept and practice
the teachings that Confucius promotes.
Let me give you another example.
In ancient China there were five famous
kings who ruled China very well. Their etiquette and legal systems were like
different fruits.
The kinds of these fruits are different,
but these fruits are all delicious, so people take the initiative to eat them,
and they like to eat them.
These wise kings knew how to flexibly
design a set of social systems and legal norms suitable for the times in which
they lived, based on their social environment at that time, so that people
could accept and be happy to accept this set of norms.
Confucius was to learn from the wisdom of
these ancient Chinese kings.
Confucius' teachings were really good, but
he must understand that his teachings were too idealistic.
His teaching is like a beautiful garment,
but the present era has changed a lot from the past. Today's social environment
is like a jungle, and we cannot let a monkey wear a beautiful dress.
The direct translation of this idiom is
that the rise and fall of this tool are not independent. The rise and fall of
this tool is controlled by man.
This idiom is used to describe a person
who is unable to decide his own thoughts and actions, and whose thoughts and
actions are controlled by others.
Dear friend, what inspirations or thoughts
do you have after listening to this story?
Do you believe that people can decide for
themselves what they think and do? What laws in your country do you think need
to be reformed?
I hope this story can give you some new
insights.
俯仰由人(The rise and fall of this tool is not
autonomous, the rising and falling of this tool is controlled by people.)
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。
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。
我舉一個例子說明我的看法。
我們會在井上立一個立木架，然後我們會在一根吊繩的兩端分別放置兩個水桶，其中一個水桶是實心的，另外一個是空心的用來裝水的水桶。
我們可以用運用槓桿原理來取用井中的水，這個工具可以讓我們用最少的力氣就完成我們的目的。
這個工具被人拉動時就會向上，如果沒有人拉動的時候就會自然落下。
這個工具的上升與下降都不是自主的，這個工具的上升與下降都是被人們所控制的。
這個工具不用推廣自己的價值，人們自然就會去使用這些工具。
如果人們真正的認為孔子的學說對他們有幫助，那麼人們自然就會去接受並且實踐孔子所推廣的學說。
我再舉一個例子。
我們中國的上古時代有五個很著名的把中國治理的很好的國王，他們的禮儀規範與法律制度就像是各種不同的水果。
這些水果的種類不一樣，但是這些水果都很好吃，所以人們會主動去吃而且人們很喜歡吃。
這些有智慧的國王懂得針對他們當時的社會環境，靈活地設計出一套適用於他們生活的時代的社會制度與法律規範，所以百姓們可以接受而且樂於接受這套規範。
孔子應該要學習這些中國古代國王的智慧。
孔子的學說真的很好，但他必須理解，他的學說太過理想化。
他的學說就像是一件漂亮的衣服，但是現在的時代與以前已經產生的很大的變化，現在的社會環境就像是一個叢林，我們無法讓一隻猴子穿一件漂亮的衣服。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是這個工具的上升與下降都不是自主的，這個工具的上升與下降都是被人們所控制的。
這句成語被用來形容一個人無法自己決定自己的想法與行動，這個人的想法與行動被他人支配。
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。
你認為人類可以自主決定自己的想法與行動嗎?你認為你們國家中的那些法律規範迫切需要改革呢?
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