Have you seen a snail(蠻觸相爭)
(Zhuang Zhou) is one of the most famous
philosophers in Chinese history.
He wrote a story.
During the Warring States Period in China,
the king of the Wei Kingdom signed a treaty with the king of the Qi Kingdom.
A few months later, the king of the Qi
Kingdom unilaterally breached the contract.
The king of the Wei Kingdom was very angry,
and he was going to send troops to attack the Qi Kingdom.
On the eve of the dispatch of troops, a
wise man from the Wei Kingdom came to see him. This wise man's name was (Dai
Jinren).
(Dai Jinren) said.
Do you know what a snail looks like?
He replied.
Of course I know.
(Dai Jinren) said.
There is a snail in my yard. I observe this
snail every day.
My eyesight is very good, I can see very
tiny creatures.
The left and right tentacles of this snail
each have a small kingdom of bacteria.
They often fought for the territory at the
junction of the two kingdoms.
The two small kingdoms fought again a few
days ago. The small kingdom on the left was victorious and the small kingdom on
the right was defeated. This battle was very fierce, and hundreds of thousands
of small bacteria died in total.
He laughed.
Are you kidding me, I don't believe you can
see bacteria.
(Dai Jinren) said
You can also have this ability, I can teach
you.
He asks.
Can you really teach me.
(Dai Jinren) said.
Yes, I am willing to teach you.
Before I teach you, you answer me a question.
How big do you think the universe is.
He replied.
I think the universe is too big, it has no
boundaries.
(Dai Jinren) said.
Imagine if your soul can move freely, you
let your soul fly to the end of the universe, and then you fly into outer space
above the earth.
How will you feel at this time.
He replied.
I think the earth is too small compared to
the infinite universe.
(Dai Jinren) said.
You continue to imagine. You look at this
earth with the eyes of the Creator.
You find Wei Kingdom first.
After you find the Wei Kingdom, you can
find the palace of the Wei Kingdom.
After you find the imperial palace of the
Wei Kingdom, you will find a small black spot in the imperial palace that is
almost invisible.
That little black spot is you.
He was silent.
(Dai Jinren) Continue to speak.
If you can imagine that you have the eyes
of the Creator.
You will be able to see the two small
kingdoms of bacteria on the snail's tentacles.
(Dai Jinren) After saying these words, he
left the palace.
He fell into deep thought.
On that day, he decided not to send troops
to attack the Qi Kingdom.
This idiom is used to remind us that we can
look at our current behavior from the perspective of the universe.
This idiom is used to describe a person
having a great quarrel with others for the smallest things.
Dear friend, what inspiration or thoughts
did you have after hearing this story.
If you were a king, would you still send
troops? Is the problem you are encountering really that important?
I hope this story will give you some new
gains.
蠻觸相爭(Have you seen a snail)
(莊周)是中國歷史上最著名的哲學家之一。
他寫過一個故事。
中國的戰國時代，魏王國的國王與齊王國的國王簽訂了一紙條約。
幾個月後，齊王國的國王單方面違約。
魏王國的國王很生氣，他準備要出兵去攻打齊王國。
出兵前夕，魏王國的一個賢人來見他，這個賢人的名字叫做(戴晉人)。
(戴晉人)說。
請問你知道蝸牛長得怎樣嗎。
他回答。
我當然知道啊。
(戴晉人)說。
我家的院子裡有一隻蝸牛，我每天都會觀察這隻蝸牛。
我的視力很好，我看的見很微小的生物。
這隻蝸牛左邊與右邊的觸角上各自有一個細菌組成的小王國。
他們為了爭奪兩個王國中間交界處的地盤常常發生戰爭。
前幾天這兩個小王國又戰爭了，左邊的小王國勝利，右邊的小王國慘敗，這一場戰役非常的激烈，總共死了好幾十萬隻小細菌。
他聽了哈哈大笑。
你是開玩笑的吧，我不相信你可以看見細菌。
(戴晉人)說
你也可以擁有這種能力唷，我可以教你。
他問。
你真的可以教我嗎。
(戴晉人)說。
是的，我願意教你。
在我教你之前，你回答我一個問題。
你認為宇宙有多大呢。
他回答。
我認為宇宙太大了，廣闊到沒有邊界。
(戴晉人)說。
你想像一下，你的靈魂如果可以自由移動，你讓你的靈魂飛到宇宙的盡頭，接著你再飛地球上方的外太空。
這時候你會有什麼感覺呢。
他回答。
我會覺得與無限大的宇宙相比，地球實在太渺小了啊。
(戴晉人)說。
你繼續想像。你用造物主的眼光看著這個地球。
你先找到魏王國。
你找到魏王國後，你就能找到魏王國的皇宮。
你找到魏王國的皇宮後，你就能找到皇宮中有一個幾乎看不見的小小的黑點。
那個小小的黑點就是你啊。
他沉默不語。
(戴晉人)繼續說。
如果你可以想像你擁有造物主的眼睛。
你就能夠看見蝸牛觸角上面那兩個由細菌組成的小王國了。
(戴晉人)說完這些話就離開了皇宮。
他陷入深深地思索。
當天，他決定不出兵攻打齊王國了。
這句成語被用來提醒我們，我們可以站在宇宙的角度去看自已現在的行為。
這句成語被用來形容一個人為了極小的事情與他人發生極大的爭執。
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。
你如果是國王你還會出兵嗎?你現在遇見的問題真的那麼重要嗎?
我期待這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為莊子-則陽
https://www.arteducation.com.tw/guwen/bookv_3278.html