Eating brown rice with vegetables (飯糲茹蔬)
In China's Ming Dynasty, there was an
outstanding politician and writer, his name was Liu Ji. He wrote a story.
During the Warring States period in China,
there was a general in the Kingdom of Wei who was very brave and good at
fighting. His name was Wu Qi.
There was a minister who was very jealous
of Wu Qi, so he said to the King of Wei.
Wu Qi is a man who loves money very much,
so you should not let him have an important military position.
The king agreed with these ministers, but
before making a decision, he asked another minister for his opinion.
The minister said to the king
I think you should let Wu Qi continue to
hold this important military position, and you should also give Wu Qi more money
than before as a reward for his military achievements.
Asked the king.
Why is your opinion so different from
another minister's?
said the minister.
Wu Qi's military talent surpassed all the
generals of other kingdoms. He came to the Wei Kingdom when your father was
king.
Under his leadership, the army of the
Kingdom of Wei had never been defeated, so your father generously gave him a
lot of money as a reward.
That is why Wu Qi stayed in our Wei
Kingdom.
If Wu Qi had a noble character and was not
greedy for money, do you think he would be willing to stay in the Kingdom of
Wei?
The territory of the Kingdom of Wei was
surrounded by the Kingdom of Han, the Kingdom of Zhao, the Kingdom of Chu, the
Kingdom of Qi and the Kingdom of Qin.
The armies of these five kingdoms are all
very powerful, but why don't these kingdoms dare to invade us?
I think the reason why these kingdoms did
not dare to send an army to attack us was because we had General Wu Qi.
Wu Qi is like a solid shield and wall
protecting us. I think you should continue to hold this important military
position.
Wu Qi likes money, so you should give him a
lot of money. When he has a lot of money, he will feel satisfied and do his
best to defend the Kingdom of Wei.
As long as you pay him enough money, you
can prevent the Wei Kingdom from being invaded. I think there is no better deal
than this.
If you lower his military rank and reduce
the amount of money you pay him, if you let him eat brown rice and vegetables
every day, if you let him wear only coarse cloth and not ride a horse, do you
think he will still stay in the Kingdom of Wei?
If you don't give Wu Qi enough money as a
reward, I think Wu Qi will definitely leave the Kingdom of Wei.
Wu Qi's military talent was so outstanding
that the king of any kingdom would be willing to spend a lot of gold to hire Wu
Qi as their general.
If that happened, we would be in big
trouble.
After listening to the minister's analysis,
the king thought for a few minutes and then said
You are a wise man, I agree with you.
This idiom literally means eating brown
rice with vegetables.
It is used to describe a person who eats
very poorly.
Dear friends, what inspiration or thoughts
do you get after listening to this story?
Do I focus on a person's strengths or
weaknesses? Do you think that a person's weaknesses can become strengths if you
look at them from a different perspective?
I hope this story can give you some new
insights.
飯糲茹蔬(Eating brown rice with vegetables)
中國的明王朝有一位傑出的政治家與文學家，他的名字叫做劉基。他寫過一個故事。
中國的戰國時代的魏王國有一個非常勇敢又很會打仗的將軍，這個將軍的名字叫做吳起。
有一個大臣很忌妒吳起，所以對魏王國的國王說。
吳起是一個很貪愛錢財的人，所以你不應該讓他擔任重要的軍職。
國王也認同這幾個大臣的看法，但是國王做做出決策前，他問了另外一個大臣的人的意見。
這個大臣對國王說。
我認為你應該繼續讓吳起擔任這個重要的軍職，而且你還應該比以前給吳起更多的錢作為他的戰績的獎勵。
國王問。
為何你的看法與另外一個大臣有那麼大的差異。
這個大臣說。
吳起的軍事才能超過其他所有王國的將軍，他在你的父親擔任國王的時候就來到魏王國了。
在他的帶領下，魏王國的軍隊從來沒有打過敗仗，所以你的父親慷慨地給他很多錢做為獎勵。
因為如此，所以吳起才會一直待在我們魏王國。
如果吳起的品德很高尚，吳起不貪愛錢財，那麼你認為吳起會願意待在魏王國嗎?
魏王國的國土被韓王國、趙王國、楚王國、齊王國與秦王國所包圍。
這五個王國的軍隊都非常強大，但是為何這些王國不敢侵犯我們呢?
我認為這些王國不敢輕易地發動軍隊攻打我們的原因就是因為我們有吳起這個將軍。
吳起就像是一面堅硬的盾牌也像一面堅固的城牆一樣保衛著我們，我認為你應該繼續擔任現在這個重要的軍職。
吳起喜歡錢，你就應該給他很多錢，他有很多錢後他會感覺到滿足，他就會全力地保衛魏王國。
你只要付出足夠的金錢就可以換取魏王國不被侵略，我認為沒有比這更划算的事情了。
如果你調降他的軍職然後減少獎勵給吳起的金錢，每天讓吳起吃糙米與蔬菜，讓吳起只能穿粗布做的衣服而且沒有馬可以騎，你認為他還會留在魏王國嗎?
我認為如果你讓吳起沒有得到足夠的錢財作為獎勵，我認為吳起一定會離開魏王國。
吳起的軍事才能太優秀了，每個王國的國王都願意用很多的黃金聘任吳起擔任自己的王國的將軍。
如果這個情況真的發生了，那麼我們就會有大麻煩了。
國王聽完這個大臣的分析後，他沉思了幾分鐘後說。
你是一個有智慧的人，我認同你的觀點，
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是吃糙米飯與蔬菜。
這句成語被用來形容一個人吃的東西非常的差。
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。
我會把注意力放在一個人的優點或是缺點上呢?你認為一個人的缺點換個角度看是否也可以變成優點呢?
我希望這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為明-劉基-郁離子-使貪
https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%83%81%E9%9B%A2%E5%AD%90/%E4%BD%BF%E8%B2%AA