I feel trembling and fear in my heart.(慄慄危懼)
The king who founded China's Shang Dynasty
was called (Zi Tang), also known as (Shang Tang). A story about him is recorded
in history books.
The last king of China's Xia Dynasty was
called (Si Jie), also known as (Xia Jie). (Xia Jie) was a very cruel king. He
drank and enjoyed himself every day. He didn't care about people's lives. All
the people felt very unhappy under his rule.
In 1600 BC, Shang Tang led a revolutionary
army to defeat the army led by King Jie of Xia. He unified all of China and
founded the Shang Dynasty.
After establishing the Shang Dynasty, he
gave a public speech to all the people in the capital of the Shang Dynasty.
The general meaning of the second half of
his speech is as follows
Because God was on our side, we defeated
the brutal King Jie of Xia.
Under God's blessing, we can see the plants
and trees of this world flourishing, and I believe that from now on we will all
live stable and happy lives.
But this victory brought me not only joy,
but also trembling and fear in my heart. I felt like I was standing on the edge
of a cliff.
Why do I have this feeling? Because I have
deeply realised that it is not easy to be a good leader of a great dynasty.
I am very worried that in a few years I
will be as stupid as King Jie of Xia. I am very worried that because I have not
taken good care of all the people, when I am old, God will send another person
to overthrow the Shang Dynasty and establish a new regime.
I hereby publicly declare that from today,
everyone in the Shang Dynasty, whether noble or commoner, must not do anything
illegal, including myself. Anyone who breaks the law must be punished according
to the law.
If I have committed a crime, you can all
openly point out my mistakes, and I will humbly accept them.
I
will remember the example of Xia Jie's failure. I will always remember my
promise to God that I would lead the Shang Dynasty well. I will restrain my
desires and never pursue pleasure.
Whenever a problem arises in our country, I
will first examine myself to see if I have made any mistakes. If I have made
mistakes, I will immediately make improvements. The country's problems are my
problems, and I will not blame you for my mistakes.
I have confidence in myself and in our
future. I believe that as long as we all maintain this spirit of facing reality
and not running away from it, our Shang Dynasty will surely become better and
better and more successful.
The literal translation of this idiom is
that I feel trembling and fear in my heart.
Dear friends, what inspiration or thoughts
do you get after listening to this story?
When problems arise, do you look at
yourself first or at others? Have you ever become proud and arrogant after
success?
I hope this story can give you some new
insights.
慄慄危懼(I feel trembling and fear in my
heart.)
創立中國的商王朝的國王的名字叫做(子湯)，他也被稱為(商湯)，歷史書上記載了一個他的故事。
中國的夏王朝的最後一任國王的名字叫做(姒桀)，他也被稱為(夏桀)。(夏桀)是一個非常殘暴的國王，他每天喝酒玩樂，他不關心百姓的生活，在他的統治下所有百姓都感到非常的痛苦。
西元前1600年，商湯率領革命軍打敗夏桀所領導的軍隊，他統一了整個中國並且建立了商王朝。
他在建立商王朝後，他在商王朝的首都對所有的百姓公開發表了一場演說。
他的演說內容的下半段的大概意思如下。
因為上天站在我們這邊，所以我們打敗了殘暴的夏桀。
在上天的眷顧之下我們看到這個世界上的草木繁榮的生長，我相信我們所有的人們也從今天起會過的安定與快樂的生活。
但是對於這次的勝利帶給我的不只是高興，我的心中還感到戰慄與恐懼，我的感覺就好像是站在懸崖邊一樣。
為何我會有這種感覺呢?這是因為深刻的體會到要當好一個偉大的王朝的領導者是一件很不容易的事情。
我很擔心我會幾年後會變得跟夏桀一樣昏庸，我很擔心因為我沒有用心去照顧好所有的百姓，所以在我老年之後上天會安排另外一個人來推翻商王朝並且建立新的政權。
我在這裡公開的宣告，從今天開始，商王朝中的所有人不論是我或是貴族或是平民都必須不可做違法的事，包含我在內，只要有人違法，就一定要照法律的規定處罰。
如果我犯了罪，你們都可以公開地指出我的錯，我一定會虛心接受。
我會記取夏桀失敗的例子，我永遠會記得我對上天起誓我會好好管理商王朝的承諾，我會克制自己的慾望，我永遠不會貪圖享樂。
如果我們國家發生了問題，我一定會先檢討自己有沒有犯錯，如果我犯了錯我就會立刻改進。國家的問題就是我的問題，我不會把自己的過錯推給你們。
我對自己有信心，我也對我們的未來有信心，我相信只要我們全部的人都保持這種面對現實而且不逃避的精神，我們商王朝就一定可以愈來愈好、愈來愈成功。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是我的心中感到戰慄與恐懼。
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。
當問題發生時，你會先檢討自己還是先檢討別人呢?你是否曾經在成功後變得驕傲與自大呢?
我期待這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為尚書-商書-湯誥