Useless is also a use(無用之用)
(Zhuang Zhou) is one of the most famous
philosophers in Chinese history.
He wrote a story.
Once he took a few students out on a trip.
During the journey he saw a very huge tree.
There are several lumberjacks sitting and
resting under this huge tree.
He asked these lumberjacks. Why don't you
cut down this huge tree?
The lumberjacks answered. Because the wood
of this tree is poor, it cannot sell for a good price.
(Zhuang Zhou) said to the students.
This tree is of no use to us humans.
So it can grow so huge.
That night, he stayed in a good friend's
house as planned.
This good friend is very happy. He ordered
a servant to kill a goose as the main course of the dinner.
The servant asked the master. We have two
geese, one can scream and the other does not scream.
Which one should we kill.
This good friend answered. Kill the goose
that can't scream, because that goose is useless to us.
The next day, (Zhuang Zhou) continued this
trip.
On the way, a student asked him.
That huge tree at noon yesterday was of no
use to us humans. So it has not been felled.
The goose that couldn't bark last night was
of no use to us humans, but it was killed last night.
How do you interpret these two things?
(Zhuang Zhou) answered with a smile.
These two things remind us.
What is useful and what is not useful is
our personal subjective judgment.
So what we think is useful is not
necessarily good, and what we think is useless is not necessarily bad.
We should keep this vigilance and let our
lives maintain a balance between useful and useless.
Only in this way can we reduce the
possibility of our suffering.
This idiom is used to remind us that we
often see only useful benefits, but not useless benefits.
There is no absolute good or bad in the
world. We should remain objective.
Dear friend, what inspiration or thoughts did you have after hearing this story.
Have you ever thought that uselessness may have positive value? Have you ever thought that usefulness may cause trouble for yourself?
I hope this story will give you some new
gains.
無用之用(Useless is also a use)
(莊周)是中國歷史上最著名的哲學家之一。
他寫過一個故事。
有一次他帶著幾個學生外出旅遊。
在旅途中他看見一棵非常巨大的樹木。
有幾個伐木工人坐在這棵巨大的樹下休息。
他問這些伐木工人。為何你們不砍伐這一棵巨大的樹呢。
這些伐木工人回答。因為這棵樹的木材很差，無法賣好價錢。
(莊周)對學生說。
這一棵樹對我們人類沒有用。
因此它才可以長那麼巨大。
當天晚上，他按照計畫到了一個好朋友的家中住宿。
這個好朋友很高興。他吩咐一個奴僕去宰殺一隻鵝當作晚宴的主菜。
這個僕人便問主人。我們有兩隻鵝，一隻會鳴叫另一隻不會鳴叫。
我們該殺哪一隻呢。
這個好朋友回答。殺不會鳴叫的那一隻鵝，因為那隻鵝對我們沒有用。
隔天，(莊周)繼續這一趟旅行。
在路上，一個學生問他。
昨天中午那一棵巨大的樹對我們人類沒有用。所以一直沒有被砍伐。
昨天晚上那一隻不會叫的鵝對我們人類沒有用，但是它昨晚就被殺了。
你怎樣解讀這兩件事情呢。
(莊周)笑著回答。
這兩件事情提醒我們。
有用處與沒有用處都是我們個人的主觀判斷。
因此我們認為有用的事情並不一定好，我們認為沒有用的事情也不一定不好。
我們應該保持這種警覺，讓自已的生活，在有用與沒有用之間保持一種平衡。
只有這樣，也才可能減少我們遭遇禍患的可能性啊。
這句成語被用來提醒我們，我們往往只會看見有用的好處，卻看不見沒有用的好處
世上沒有絕對的好與壞。我們應該保持客觀。
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。
你有想過，沒有用處或許也有正面的價值嗎?你有想過，有用處反而可能會為自已招來禍患嗎?
我期待這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。