牛山濯濯
Niu Mountain appears barren.(牛山濯濯)
The Spring and Autumn and Warring States
periods in China were extremely chaotic, but they were also a golden age for
Chinese philosophy.
Many renowned thinkers lived during this
era, offering their own solutions and philosophies to the social and
existential issues of the time.
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.
Mencius said,
'There is a mountain on the outskirts of
our city called Niu Mountain. The trees on Niu Mountain used to be lush, but
because the mountain is close to the city, many woodcutters frequently went
there to cut down trees. These trees were used for firewood, for building
houses and for making tools.'
Although many small trees continued to grow
on Niu Mountain, receiving sunshine and rain, they couldn't grow quickly enough
to replace those that were being logged. After a few years, therefore, Niu
Mountain became barren.
Some young people told me that, as far as
they could remember, Niu Mountain had always been barren. I smiled and told
them:
'Although Niu Mountain looks barren now, it
was once lush with trees. It's only because of excessive logging that it has
become barren.'
This story inspired me. Each of us is like
Mount Niu in that we all inherently possess a heart full of kindness and
justice. However, many people fail to nurture their hearts, allowing negative
thoughts to damage them. After a few years, their hearts, like Mount Niu, lose
their original sense of justice and kindness, becoming barren and desolate.
The idiom literally translates as 'Mount
Niu is barren'.
It also has a unique usage, in that it can
be used to describe someone who is bald.
Dear friend, what inspiration or thoughts did you gain from this story?
Have you ever heard a particularly unique way of describing someone who is bald? Do you examine your inner self daily?
I
hope this story brings you new insights.
牛山濯濯(Niu Mountain appears barren.)
中國的春秋時代與戰國世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，紀錄的一段他與當時一個名字叫做告子的學者的對話。
孟軻說。
我們這座城市的郊外有一座山，這座山的名字叫做牛山。牛山上的樹木原本非常得茂盛，但是由於這座山離我們住的這座城市非常的近，所以這座城市中的許多樵夫經常到這座山上去砍伐樹木，這些樹木被用來生火，有些被用來建造房屋，有些被用來製作器具。
雖然牛山上還有很多小的的樹木持續在生長，這些樹木也受到太陽的照射與雨水的滋潤，但是這些樹木生長的速度比不上人們砍伐樹木的速度，所以經過了幾年之後，牛山就變成了光禿禿的一座山了。
有些年輕人對我說，在他們的印象中，牛山就是一座光禿禿的山，我笑著對那些年輕人說。
牛山雖然現在看起來光禿禿但是這座山上的樹木其實曾經非常得茂盛，只是因為人們的過度砍伐樹木，所以現在才會變成光禿禿的樣子。
這件事情讓我受到一個啟發，我們每個人就像是牛山這座山一樣，我們每個人的內心原本都存在茂盛的仁慈與正義的心，但是很多人沒有好好的照顧自己的內心，這些人讓一些不好的念頭來損害自己的內心，經過幾年後，這個人的內心就像是牛山一樣，失去了原本的正義與仁慈的念頭，變成光禿禿的貧瘠的模樣。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是牛山上呈現一種光禿禿的樣子。
這句成語有一種很特殊的用法，這句成語可以被用來形容一個人是一個禿頭。
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。
你是否有聽過比較特別的形容一個人是禿頭的形容詞呢?你是否每天都會檢視自已的內心的變化呢?
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-8條