Appreciation of the Translation of Bai Yujing's Complete Works "A Kind of Boiled Hemlock Fish"

A metaphor for growing boiled hemp seeds

original text

Once upon a time, there was a fool who ate hemp seed raw [1] and thought it was not beautiful, but it was beautiful after eating it, so he said, "It's better to cook it and be beautiful again." Cooking and growing it is never physiological.

So is the world. Taking the Bodhisattva to rob [3] for practice, he thought he was unhappy because of his difficulty in asceticism, so he said, "It is better to be an arhat, and it is easy to judge life and death quickly." If you want Buddha fruit, you can't get it. If there is a kind of cola, it is no physiology. So are fools in the world.

To annotate ...

[1] Hemp seed: sesame. In the northwest of China, flax used for oil extraction is also called flax in some places, and its son can also be eaten, and oil residue can be used as feed.

[2] Cook: stir fry.

[3] Robbery: a large time unit in Buddhism.

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Once upon a time, there was a stupid man who ate raw sesame seeds and thought it was not delicious, so he fried them and ate them. He thought, "Why don't I fry sesame seeds and plant them in the ground so that I can get delicious sesame seeds in the future." So he fried the hemp seed and planted it, but it never grew.

There are people in the world who think that it takes a long time for Bodhisattva to practice, and they have to do asceticism that others can't do, so it's hard to feel no fun, so they have the idea: "It's easy to be an arhat and get rid of the reincarnation of life and death in the world as soon as possible." Later, he wanted to ask for Buddha's fruit, but there was still nothing he could do. It's like sowing fried seeds in the ground and never producing flax. So are fools in the world.

Comment and analysis

What the man did in the story is ridiculous. He just imagined it out of thin air. He never thought whether the fried seeds could grow or not, and whether there would be any harvest in the end. He acted blindly without considering all the actual situation, which was doomed to failure from the beginning. Being divorced from reality shows that without the support of success, it is doomed to be unworkable after all. So we must put aside all absurd ideas and learn to think rationally. This is the most meaningful thing.

Story quotation

The trick is also a kind of wisdom.

Once upon a time, there were two monks who were best friends. They always meet and quarrel, but after meeting for a few days, they will think about it again.

One day, as usual, the young monk rubbed his sleepy eyes and walked out of the door. Where is the old monk? He has run in the yard. At this time, the young monk found that the sun had risen from the other side of the temple wall. He got up late again and patted his head with anger.

Seeing that he hadn't woken up and missed Doby for a long time, the old monk deliberately said loudly, "It's wonderful to get up early in summer and walk in the fresh and cool countryside, as if possessed by fairy spirits."

In fact, the young monk always wanted to be wonderful. Every night, he thinks that he can get up early the next day, but he can't sleep. The young monk is often troubled by this, and he can't get up early to quarrel with the old monk.

"ha! You are staying in bed again! " The old monk teased the young monk while exercising his legs and feet. "Don't blame me for not calling you. Get up by yourself if you can. If you expect me to scream, people will say you have no future. "

Seeing the refreshing appearance of the old monk, the young monk thought: Hum! It seems that I have to do something, or he will laugh at me every day.

The next morning, the old monk woke up early as usual, looked at the young monk and had a sweet dream. The old monk smiled secretly, got out of bed softly, stretched his feet, put on his shoes and got out of bed. Gee, strange! He didn't touch his shoes with his feet for a long time, only to find that they were gone!

This time, the old monk was so anxious that he shouted, "Little monk, wake up. Do you know where my shoes are?" Hearing the old monk's cry, the young monk opened his sleepy eyes and saw the old monk still sitting on the bed. In desperation, he jumped out of bed and ran outside, shouting, "Ha! I get up early, I get up early! "

When the old monk saw the young monk running out, there was nothing he could do but take out a pair of new shoes from the box and put them on. But when he left the house, the young monk had swaggered back from the outside, still stretching his arms and kicking solemnly.

When the young monk saw the old monk coming out of the room, he asked, "Don't you see that I am a fairy?" The old monk ignored him and said, "I got up by myself, and no one called me!" " "The old monk still ignored me and was doing his own thing. At this time, the young monk felt a little weak and whispered, "However, your shoes helped me a little. "However, your shoes really need washing. I washed it for you, you have to thank me! "

Hearing this, the old monk turned his head and saw that his lost shoes were hanging on the porch, which was quite clean! The old monk smiled, shook his head and said, "You little monk have learned a lot of tricks without learning anything else!" " "

The young monk also smiled and said, "I owe you this. Do you always teach me to solve problems with wisdom? " ? This is not a trick, it is a kind of wisdom and a skill. "

Hearing this, the old monk smiled with satisfaction.

Learn to do things with logic

Once upon a time, in a distant country, there were two excellent carpenters, both of whom were very good at craftsmanship, and it was difficult to distinguish between high and low.

One day, the king had a whim: "Who is the best carpenter?" Why don't I hold a competition and call the winner "the first carpenter in the country"

So the king called two carpenters and held a three-day competition for them to see who carved the most lifelike mouse and who was the first carpenter in this country. The winner can not only get many prizes, but also be awarded titles.

On the third day, two carpenters worked day and night. On the third day, they presented the carved mouse to the king. Later, the king summoned all the ministers to judge the game together.

The mouse carved by the first carpenter is so lifelike that even its beard twitches.

The mouse carved by the second carpenter only has the expression of a mouse, but not the appearance of a mouse. It looks like a mouse at a distance, but it looks like a mouse at a close distance.

The winner was soon decided, and the king and the minister agreed that the first carpenter won.

But the second carpenter protested in court. He said, "Your Majesty's review is unfair."

The second craftsman said, "It's up to the cat to decide whether a mouse looks like a mouse. Cats have a sharper eye for mice than people! " "

It makes sense for the king to think about it, so he let people take some cats to the harem and let the cats decide which mouse is more realistic.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the cats were put down, they all jumped on the "mouse" that didn't look like a mouse, biting and robbing each other. But the lifelike mouse was completely ignored.

The fact is in front of us, so the king has to give the title of "the first carpenter in the country" to the second carpenter.

Later, the king called the second carpenter and asked him, "How did you make the cat think you carved a mouse?"

The carpenter said, "Your Majesty, it's actually very simple. I just carved a mouse with a fishbone! What cats care about is not similarity at all, but the smell of fish! "