PureInsight | November 1, 2007
[PureInsight.org] Confucius
said: "I once didn't eat for a whole day and didn't sleep for a whole
night in order to think. But I didn't gain any benefit. It is not as
good to just study."
Confucius also said: "If one only studies and does not think, one will
be perplexed. And if one only thinks with fantasy and does not study,
one will have doubt."
Here are some historic tales about Lu Jiuyuan asking questions about the universe.
Lu Jiuyuan (1139-1192) was a renowned philosopher and educator in the
Song dynasty. His intelligence was much different from that of ordinary
people. When he was 3 or 4 years old, he asked his father: "Do heaven
and the earth have ends?" His father just smiled and didn't answer his
question. Lu Jiuyuan pondered the question and was so absorbed that he
even forgot to eat and sleep.
Later, when he attended school, his manner still differed from that of
ordinary people. One day, he read from a book talking about the
universe (Yu-Zhou): "Yu is all directions and Zhou is through all
ages." He suddenly realized and said: "All things in the universe are
our duty and our duty is the things in the universe." We can see Lu
Jiuyuan considered that all things in the universe are our duty. But
there are so many people who do not do their best to do their duties.
Some people who have insignificant talent show off and extol themselves
and think others are unequal to them. Actually, these people's
knowledge is most likely shallow and narrow. They do not have the
generous thoughts and the open-mind like Lu Jiuyuan.
Translated from:
http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2007/10/29/48942.html
