Thousand Characters

Chapter 16

[Original text]

The sound is transmitted in the empty valley, and the empty hall is used to listen.Misfortunes are caused by evil accumulation, and blessings are caused by good fortune.

【Note】

Valley: Valley.Emptiness: void, void.Church: house.Xi: Repeat one after another.Misfortune: calamity, calamity.Fu: Fu Lu, happiness.Fate: origin, origin.Qing: auspicious, festive.These four sentences tell us that a good thing and a bad thing are closely linked.If a good thing is not done well, it will become a bad thing; if a bad thing is corrected, it will become a good thing.This is what Lao Tzu means when he says, "When misfortune comes, blessings depend on it, and when blessings come, misfortune rests on it."

【Interpretation】

In an empty valley, the sound will continue to spread; in an empty house, if one place makes a sound, the whole house seems to be making a sound.The misfortunes and disasters that people encounter are the evil results accumulated by doing many evils in their daily life, and the happiness that people get is the rewards they get from doing good deeds in their daily lives.

【allusion】

Zhen Yu picks the sheep, picks the thin and discards the fat Zhen Yu is a doctor who taught in the Taixue in Luoyang, the capital city, during the Eastern Han Dynasty.One year when the new year was approaching, the emperor sent someone to Taixue to read out an imperial edict, saying that he would reward each of the doctors with a sheep, so that everyone could celebrate the new year happily.One day, Zhen Yu heard that the sheep was coming, so he hurried to see it with his colleagues.I saw that the sheep were of different sizes, fat and thin, and only a few of them were big and fat.Some doctors complained that the sheep were so thin that they were like bones.Some Ph.Ds suggested selling for pennies.The opinions of the doctors are not uniform, and the chief of Taixue doesn't know what to do.But since the sheep have arrived, they can't be separated; they don't know how to divide them.After much deliberation, I don't know what to do.So, the chief asked everyone to come up with ideas.Doctors actively contributed ideas and suggestions.Some people suggested that the sheep should be slaughtered, and it would be fairer to weigh them by the catty.Some people retorted that it would be better to draw lots, but the method of drawing lots was also rejected.Everyone quarreled for a long time, but still failed to reach a consensus. The chief became more and more anxious, worried that it would be difficult to make a deal.When there was a stalemate, Zhen Yu shouted: "Let me pick first!" Zhen Yu walked into the flock of sheep as he spoke.Everyone was very worried that he would pick out the big and fat sheep, so they all cast their eyes on him to see what kind of sheep he would pick.I saw Zhen Yu stopped in front of the thinnest, smallest and most inconspicuous sheep, and told the officer that he would pick this one.The doctors were all relieved, and immediately everyone's face turned red with embarrassment.A doctor also followed Zhen Yu's example and picked a thin sheep from the flock.Seeing this situation, the doctors all rushed to the flock of sheep, picking out the small and thin sheep, leaving the few fat and big sheep, and no one moved.Afterwards, the officer walked up to Dr. Zhen and asked him why he chose the smallest and thinnest sheep.Dr. Zhen smiled and said a sentence his mother often taught him: "Don't just think about yourself in everything, but think about others first." He also said that humility is the guarantee for proper handling of problems.

(End of this chapter)