The sun is not a gong or a candle(扣槃捫燭)
(Su Shi) is the most outstanding writer and
poet in Chinese history.
He wrote an article to a good friend of
his.
The general idea of this article is as
follows.
There is a man who is born blind. He has
never looked at the sun.
One day, he asked his two friends.
Can you tell me what the sun looks like?
Can you take a specific object to let me feel the sun?
A friend handed him a gong and told him.
The sun is like a gong. The shape of the
sun is round and its color is yellow.
He picked up the gong and knocked it. The
gong made a loud sound.
He said.
It turns out that this is the sun, and the
sound made by the sun is like this.
Another friend said.
The sun is like a candle, it emits light
and emits heat.
He picked up the candle, touched it, and
said. It turns out that this is the sun, and the shape of the sun is long and
thin.
Su Shi went on to write in the article.
Why do I want to tell this story, because I
think truth and knowledge are very abstract, and all people have different
understandings of truth and knowledge.
We shouldn't just listen to what others
say, and then treat the opinions of others as our own.
We should study hard by ourselves, and we
should objectively understand truth and knowledge rather than subjectively
imagine and guess.
When we learn any knowledge and truth, we
should not talk about theories, but should practice and verify it by ourselves.
The meaning of this idiom reminds us that
we cannot rely on one-sided understanding to recognize the truth.
Dear friend, how do you feel or think after
hearing this story.
Do you agree with him? Which one do you
think is more important to practice the truth or to hear the truth?
I hope this story will give you some new
gains.
扣槃捫燭(The sun is not a gong or a candle)
(蘇軾)是中國歷史上最傑出的文學家與詩人。
他寫過一個篇文章給他的一個好朋友。
這篇文章的大意如下。
有一個人生來就是瞎眼的，他從來沒有看過太陽。
有一天，他問自已的兩個朋友。
你們可以告訴我太陽的樣子嗎，你們拿一個具體的物品讓我感受一下太陽好嗎。
有一個朋友就遞給他一個鑼然後對他說。
太陽就像是一個鑼，太陽的形狀是圓形的、顏色是黃的。
他拿起這個鑼，敲了一下。鑼發出響亮的聲音。
他說。
原來這就是太陽，太陽發出的聲音就是這樣啊。
另一個朋友說。
太陽就像是一根蠟燭，會發出光而且會散發熱。
他拿起這根蠟燭，摸了摸之後說。原來這就是太陽，太陽的形狀是細細長長的啊。
蘇軾在文章中接著寫。
我為何要說這個故事呢，因為我認為真理與知識都是很抽象的，所有的人對於真理與知識的理解都不相同。
我們不應該只是聽別人說，然後就把別人的意見當作自已的意見。
我們應該自己刻苦去研究，我們應該客觀地去認識真理與知識而不是主觀的去想像與猜測。
我們學習任何的知識與真理時不應該空談理論，而是應該身體力行的去實踐與驗證。
這句成語的意思提醒我們，認知真理不能只靠片面的理解。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有怎樣的感受或有怎樣的想法呢。
你認同他的說法嗎?你認為實踐真理與聽到真理哪一個更重要呢?
我希望這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為宋-蘇軾-日喻