He was gentle, kind, respectful, frugal and
modest.(溫良恭儉讓)
Confucius's real name was Kong Qiu. 'Kong
Fuzi' is the respectful title given to him by others.
He was an exceptional teacher. He is one of
the most influential thinkers in Chinese history.
He had over 3,000 students, 72 of whom were
particularly outstanding. Historical records document stories about some of his
disciples.
One day, two of his students were chatting.
One was named Chen Kang and the other Duanmu Ci. Duanmu Ci was nine years older
than Chen Kang.
Chen Kang asked Duanmu Ci:
'Confucius was from the Kingdom of Lu.' He
had a unique set of political thoughts and philosophies.
After many failed attempts to realise his
political ideals in the Kingdom of Lu, he left and travelled to many other
kingdoms to spread his views. As Confucius's disciples, we accompanied him on
his travels.
Recently, I've had a feeling that whenever
Confucius arrived in a kingdom, he could quickly grasp the political problems
it was facing, as well as the positions and thoughts of the various factions
within it.
I'm curious to know how Confucius could
understand these political secrets and details that most people couldn't grasp
in such a short time.
Did people actively tell Confucius these
things, or did he actively seek out this information?
After listening to Chen Kang, Duanmu Ci
smiled and said to him:
'Based on my observations, Confucius wasn't
the kind of person who liked to inquire about political secrets. If he were, I
don't think he would command such respect.'
I discovered that Confucius possessed five
unique personal qualities: gentleness, kindness, respect, frugality and
humility.'
He was very well known, and after arriving
in various kingdoms, he easily made acquaintances with officials and nobles who
held power in those kingdoms.
Everyone who met Confucius sensed these
five personal qualities in him.
They quickly developed trust in him and
proactively shared problems from their respective kingdoms, hoping he could
offer solutions and advice.
I believe this is why Confucius could
quickly grasp the inner workings of the various kingdoms' politics — things
that most people couldn't understand.
Duanmu Ci paused, then sighed.
This special ability was based on
Confucius's personal virtues and qualities, which is why we students cannot
learn it through imitation or study.
The idiom literally translates as 'gentle,
kind, respectful, frugal and modest'.
It is used to describe a person with a
humble attitude and elegant manners who is gentle and polite.
Dear friend, what inspiration or thoughts
did you gain from this story?
Have you ever met someone you could confide
in? Which personality traits do you think you should strive for?
I hope this story gives you some new
insights.
溫良恭儉讓(He was gentle, kind, respectful,
frugal and modest.)
孔子的名字是(孔丘)。孔夫子是人們對他的尊稱。
他是一位傑出的教育家。他是為中國歷史上最有影響力的思想家之一。
他的學生超過3000人，其中特別傑出的學生有72個，在歷史書中紀錄了他的弟子之間的一些故事。
有一天，孔子的兩個學生在聊天，其中一個的名字叫做(陳亢)，另外一個的名字叫做(端木賜)。端木賜的年紀比陳亢大了9歲。
陳亢問端木賜。
孔子是魯王國的人，他有一套獨特的政治思想與人生哲學。
因為他在經過多次嘗試後，他認為在魯王國無法實現自己的政治理想，所以他離開了魯王國，他到了很多其他的王國去宣講自己的觀點，我們身為孔子的學生，我們也跟著孔子到了許多的王國。
我最近有一種感受，我發現孔子每次到了一個王國之後，他就能夠在很短的時間內了解到這個王國當前面臨的政治問題，以及各方勢力的立場與想法。。
我感覺到很好奇，為何孔子可以在那麼短的時間內就搞清楚這些ㄧ般人無法深入去了解的政治上的一些內幕與細節呢?
這是因為有人們主動來告訴孔子這些事情嗎?還是因為孔子主動去到處打聽這些消息呢?
端木賜聽完陳亢的話後，他微笑著對陳亢說。
根據我的觀察，孔子並不是那種喜歡到處打聽一些政治內幕的人，如果他是這種人，那麼我想他也無法讓我們那麼尊敬他了。
我發現孔子有五種很獨特且鮮明的個人特質，他溫和、善良、恭敬、節儉、謙讓。
孔子的知名度很高，他到各個王國之後很容易地可以認識在各個王國中掌握權力的官員與貴族。
這些認識他的人在接觸到孔子之後，都會感受到孔子這五種個人特質。
這些人在很短的時間內就會建立起對孔子的信任，然後這些人會主動把自己所在的這個王國中的一些問題告訴孔子，他們希望孔子可以提供他們一些關於解決這些問題的方法與意見。
我認為這就是孔子可以在很短的時間內就搞清楚這些ㄧ般人無法深入去了解的各個王國的政治上的一些內幕與細節的真正原因。
端木賜停頓了一下接著嘆了一口氣。
這種特殊的能力建立在孔子個人的品德與特質上，所以我們這些學生無法靠著模仿或透過學習學會。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是溫和、善良、恭敬、節儉、謙讓。
這句成語被延伸用來形容一個人的態度謙恭、舉止文雅，這個人溫順而有禮貌。
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。
你是否遇過這種讓你覺得可以跟他說真心話的朋友呢?你認為那些人格特質是你想要追求的呢?
我期待這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為史記-卷66-仲尼弟子列傳
https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B2%E8%A8%98/%E5%8D%B7067