The animal was afraid of hurting its head,
but also worried about hurting its tail.(畏首畏尾)
During the Han dynasty in China, there was
a renowned scholar and historian of noble birth who was also an expert in the
guqin, a seven-stringed zither. His name was Liu Xiang.
He once edited a book called Huainanzi.
This encyclopaedic work records the
research results of various disciplines at the time, including astronomy,
geography, physics, meteorology, agriculture and medicine, as well as numerous
myths and legends from ancient China.
In Chapter 19, he discusses the
relationship between humans and nature, based on Daoist thought.
A characteristic of Liu Xiang's writing is
that he did not usually explicitly state the concepts he wanted to express.
Instead, he used a large number of
seemingly unrelated natural phenomena, common sense and historical references.
Instead, he uses allusions and metaphors to imply and suggest the philosophical
ideas he wants to express.
He prefers to let readers experience the
ideas he wants to convey through these metaphors.
A short passage in Chapter 19 roughly
translates as follows:
'If a person is walking in complete
darkness and cannot see objects clearly, they will use their hands instead of
their eyes and reach forward to avoid bumping into things.'
Similarly, if someone riding a horse
encounters a river, they will lead the horse to a boat and cross the river in
this way, rather than riding the horse across a fast-flowing current.
Before doing anything, we must consider the
best course of action in different circumstances.
Each fruit tree requires its own specific
growing conditions.
Different species of wild animal migrate
together. Various birds fly together.
All water on Earth eventually reaches the
sea. Similarly, when one person whispers a secret to another, the secret will
inevitably be spread far and wide.
Everything follows its own inherent laws.
When a wise man walks slowly, passers-by
say, 'Why don't you walk faster?' When he walks quickly, he hears passers-by
say, 'Why don't you walk slower?'
If we choose not to do anything, we will
naturally not be criticised. However, as soon as we start doing something, we
will inevitably be criticised — this is the norm in the world. The greater a
person's achievements, the more criticism they will receive.
If a person acts like a small animal that
is afraid of being attacked, the animal wants to take a step forward. But it
was afraid of hurting its head, and it wanted to take a step back, but was
worried about hurting its tail.
If this person continues like this, they
will be like this little animal; they will be unable to go anywhere and will
achieve nothing.
This idiom literally means that the animal
was afraid of hurting its head, but also worried about hurting its tail.
It is used to describe someone who is
overly cautious, timid and extremely fearful.
Dear friend, what inspiration or thoughts
did you gain from this story?
Do you consider the changing times and
environment before doing something? Have you ever experienced the dilemma of
not knowing whether to move forward or retreat?
I
hope this story gives you some new insights.
畏首畏尾(The animal was afraid of hurting its
head, but also worried about hurting its tail.)
中國的漢王朝有一個著名的大，他是一個具有皇室血統的貴族，他也是一個著名的學者與歷史學家，他還是一個中國古琴的專家，他的名字是(劉向。
劉向曾經主編過一本書，這本書的名字叫做(淮南子)。
這本書是一本百科全書式的著作，書中記載了當時對於天文、地理、物理、氣象、農學、醫藥等諸多學科的研究成果，還記錄了中國上古時期的大量神話傳說。
在這本書中，的第19章中，他以道家的思想為核心，闡述了人與自然的關係。
劉向的寫作有一個特色，他通常不會把他想表達的觀念具體的說出來。
他會通過大量並列的、看似不相關的自然現象、生活常識、歷史典故等等來比喻和暗示他所想表達的哲理。
他喜歡讓讀者這些比喻中去感受到他所想傳遞的想法。
第19章中有一小段的大概意思如下。
一個人如果在非常漆黑的黑夜中行走，這個人在眼睛無法看清楚前方的物體時，他會選擇用手代替他的眼睛，他會伸手向前避免自己撞到東西。
一個人騎著一匹馬遇到河流時，他會選擇把馬牽到船上跟著自己一起搭船渡河，他不會騎著馬渡過湍急的河流。
我們在做任何事情之前，我們要先考慮到這件事情在各種不同的環境下、應該要用什麼方式去怎樣做才是最好的選擇。
每種果樹都有它們各自適合生長的環境。
各種不同的野獸會一起移動、各種不同的鳥會一起飛翔。
地面上所有的水的終點都是大海，一個人對另外一個人悄悄說一個秘密的終局會是這個秘密會被傳播到千里之外。
事物都遵循内在的规律。
有一個智慧人走路走得很慢的時候，他會聽到路人對他說，你為何不走快一點呢?當這個智慧人走路走得很快十，他會聽到另一些路人對他說，你為何走路不慢一點呢?
我們如果選擇都不做事，自然就不會受到批評，我們只要開始做事。我們就會被別人批評，這是世間的常態，一個人的功績愈大，他所遭受到的批評也會愈多。
一個人如果在做事情的時候像是一隻害怕遭受攻擊的小動物一樣，這隻小動物想向前走一步但牠很害怕牠的頭受到傷害，這隻小動物想向後退一步但牠很擔心牠的尾巴受到傷害。
那麼這個人就會像這隻小動物一樣，這個人將會那裡都去不了，這個人將會一事無成。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是牠害怕牠的頭受到傷害的同時牠也很擔心牠的尾巴受到傷害。
這句成語被用來形容一個人做事顧慮太多、這個人膽小怕事且非常十分謹慎與恐懼。
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。
你在做事情前會去考慮做這件事情的時間與環境的變化因素嗎?你是否曾經在哪些事情上經歷過這種不知道該前進害是後退的窘境呢?
我希望這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為淮南子-說林訓-12條