Children and grandchildren are infinitely poor, but what does it mean if mountains do not add to them?

And means: ?But, it means a turning point.

Source: "The Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountain" - Pre-Qin Dynasty: The Imperial Bandits

Though I die, my sons will survive; my sons will have grandsons, and my grandsons will have sons; my sons will have sons, and sons will There are also grandchildren; there are endless deprivations of children and grandchildren, but if the mountain does not increase, why bother and not level it?

Translation: Even if I die, I still have my son; my son will have grandsons, and my grandsons will have sons; my son will have sons, and my son will have grandsons; there will be endless descendants, but the mountains will not. As the height increases, are you still worried about digging unevenly?

Extended information

1. The creative background of "The Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountains"

In the early Warring States period, there was a situation where hundreds of schools of thought contended. When various schools of thought were promoting their own ideas, they often Use a large number of vivid short stories to illustrate abstract principles. In this way, fables flourished as never before. Liezi is a collection of fables and mythological stories produced under such a historical background. This article is selected from Chapter 5 of Liezi Tangwen.

2. Appreciation of "The Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountain"

The story of "The Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountain" is simple in itself, but because the plot is not dealt with in a straightforward manner, the complexity is shown from the sharpness of the contradictions that appear one after another. , This enhances the ups and downs of the article and makes it fascinating. To resolve the conflict, there was no simplification. Yu Gong persuaded his wife, not with empty words, but with everyone coming up with solutions. To refute Zhisou, he did not just contradict her, but with reason.

Yugong's "reason" is not a casual theory. It is the essence of the philosophical thought in the work. Every word is like a spark struck by a hammer, and every sentence is like an arrow that has been taken off the string. They are all characters. The language is sophisticated and has philosophical depth. It is precisely like this that only by being upright can one be arrogant, but by being wrong can one be left speechless, and by a foolish man's refutation the wise old man is speechless. The debate between the two people pushed the storyline to a climax and fully demonstrated the moral of the fable.