A Cup of Water and a Cartload of firewood.(杯水車薪)
The Spring and Autumn and Warring States
periods in China were extremely chaotic, yet they were also a golden age of
Chinese thought.
Many famous thinkers lived during this era,
offering their own solutions to social and existential problems.
One such figure was the Confucian scholar
Mencius. He believed that a king should rule with benevolence and compassion,
and that his most important task should be to meet the needs of his people.
Mencius travelled to various kingdoms,
preaching his ideas to the kings.
In his writings, Mencius recorded a
dialogue with a scholar named Gaozi.
Gaozi said to Mencius:
'Confucianism believes that a person should
possess the virtues of benevolence and kindness, and treat everyone around them
with empathy.
"You are spreading this Confucian view
to our king and believe he should extend this mindset to everyone in the
kingdom.
But I think what you've done has been
ineffective. At the moment, the vast majority of those in power in our kingdom
are treacherous and wicked. Doesn't this mean that a person with benevolent and
kind virtues cannot overcome those who are treacherous and wicked?' Mencius
pondered for a few minutes, then said to Gaozi, his expression serious.
'I've also noticed what you're describing.
I believe that a person with benevolent and
kind virtues can absolutely overcome those who are treacherous and wicked, just
as water can extinguish a fire.'
But why is the overall social atmosphere in
our kingdom so bad now?
I think the most important reason is that
there are too few good people in our society, and too many bad people.
The number of good people is like a cup of
water, while the number of bad people is like a cartload of firewood.
"When this cartload of firewood
catches fire, it will be impossible to extinguish with just a cup of
water." Mencius sighed and continued to Gaozi.
'The situation in our kingdom is already
very dire. If our king doesn't realise this and do his utmost to change himself
and the bad social atmosphere, and weaken the arrogance of those wicked people,
then our kingdom may quickly head towards destruction.'
The idiom literally translates as 'a cup of
water and a cartload of firewood'.
It implies that someone is trying to
extinguish a fire started by a cartload of firewood with just a cup of water.
It is used to describe someone who wants to
change a very serious situation, but whose power is too limited.
Dear friend, what inspiration or thoughts
did you gain from this story?
Do you think your society has any serious
social problems? Are there more good people or bad people in your society?
I
hope this story gives you some new insights.
杯水車薪(A Cup of Water and a Cartload of
firewood.)
中國的春秋時代與戰國時代是一個極度混亂的年代，但那段間同時也是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。
儒家的一位名字叫做(孟軻)的學者就是其中一個代表性人物，他認為一個國王應該要用仁愛與仁慈來治理他的王國，一個國王應該要把滿足百姓的生活需求當作最重要的任務。
孟軻持續地到各個王國中去向各個王國的國王宣傳他的想法。
在孟軻所寫的書中，紀錄了一段他與當時一個名字叫做告子的學者的對話。
告子對孟軻說。
儒家認為一個人要具備仁慈與善良的品德，要用同理心去對待身邊的所有人。
你對我們的國王宣傳儒家的這種看法，並且認為國王應該把這種心態推廣給王國中的所有人。
但是我認為你所做的這些事情的效果非常的不好，現在在我們王國中，掌握權力的絕大多數是那些奸詐與邪惡的人，這種情況是否說明了一個具備仁慈與善良的品德的人無法戰勝過那些奸詐與邪惡的人呢?
孟軻思考了幾分鐘後表情很嚴肅地對告子說。
你說的這種情況我也發現了。
我認為一個具備仁慈與善良的品德的人絕對能夠戰勝過那些奸詐與邪惡的人、就如同可以用水來撲滅火一樣。
但是為何現在我們的王國中的整體社會氛圍會如此的糟糕呢?
我認為其最重要的原因是因為我們的社會中的好人的比例太少而壞人的比例太多。
我們社會中好人的數量就像一杯水一樣，而那些壞人的數量就如同一牛車的木柴一樣的多。
當這一牛車的木材被點燃後，沒有人有辦法可以只用一杯水就撲滅這場猛烈的大火。
孟子說到這邊嘆了一口氣然後繼續對告子說。
我們王國中的情況已經非常的嚴峻了，如果我們的國王沒有體認到這一點，沒有盡全力地去改變自己與改變社會上的那些不好的風氣，沒有盡全力讓那些壞人的氣焰被削弱，那麼我們王國可能就會快速地走向滅亡的境地了。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是一杯水與一牛車的木材。
這句成語隱含的意思是一個人想要用一杯水去撲滅一牛車木柴所燃起的火。
這句成語被用來形容一個人想要改變一種很嚴峻的情況，但這個人的力量太小。
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。
你認為你的社會中是否有著那些很嚴重的社會問題呢?你生活的社會中好人比較多還是壞人比較多呢?
我期待這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為孟子-告子上-9條