He treats people's lives like worthless
weeds.(草菅人命)
In the Han Dynasty of China, there was a
famous minister called Jia Yi.
There is a story about him in the history
books.
He was once hired by the king to be a
teacher for the princes of the Western Han Dynasty. He wrote a paragraph
explaining his ideas on how to educate the princes.
We should teach the prince to respect his
family and develop a loving heart. We should teach the prince to respect his
elders and develop an attitude of integrity.
We should teach the prince to respect those
who are wise and good at work and cultivate correct moral values. We should
teach the prince to respect those who are better than himself and to remain
humble.
I think a young person should also consider
the growth of his character while pursuing the growth of wisdom.
For example, the Xia Dynasty, the Shang
Dynasty, and the Zhou Dynasty in ancient China all used these methods to teach
their royal members, so that these dynasties could rule China for hundreds of
years.
Let me give you another example. In the
royal family of the Qin Dynasty before the Han Dynasty, the prince's teachers
did not teach the prince how to treat others with kindness and love. The
prince's teacher taught the prince to use strict rules and very severe
punishments to restrain others.
This distorted the prince's mentality. The
Prince of Qin Dynasty inherited the throne of Qin Dynasty after the death of
Qin Shihuang. After the prince took over and became king, he considered the
suggestions of many loyal ministers as criticism, so he killed many loyal
ministers.
After the Prince of Qin became king, he
treated people's lives as worthless weeds, so many innocent people were sentenced
to death during his reign.
The actions of the Prince of Qin Dynasty
after he took over and became king caused resentment and resistance among many
people, so the Qin Dynasty perished in a very short time.
The king of the Western Han Dynasty agreed
with Jia Yi's views and was therefore relieved to have him serve as the
prince's teacher.
The literal translation of this idiom is
that he regards people's lives as worthless weeds.
It is used to describe a person who does
not value the lives of others and kills innocent people.
Dear friend, what inspirations or thoughts
do you have after listening to this story?
What do you think are the most important
values to teach children? Do you think that parents or teachers have the
greatest responsibility for a child's education?
I hope this story has given you some new
insights.
草菅人命(He treats people's lives like
worthless weeds.)
中國的漢王朝，有一個著名的大臣，他的名字叫做賈誼。
歷史書上記載了一個他的故事。
他曾經被國王聘任擔任西漢王朝的王子的老師，他寫過一段話闡述他有關於教育太子的想法。
我們應該教導王子尊敬自己的家人並且培養仁愛的心，應該教導王子懂得尊重年長者並且養成誠信的態度。
我們應該教導王子學習尊敬有智慧且工作能力好的人並且培養正確的道德觀，應該教導王子尊敬那些比自己優秀的人並且保持謙卑。
我認為一個年輕人在追求智慧增長的同時也要兼顧到品行的成長。
舉例來說，中國古代的夏王朝、商王朝與周王朝，這三個王朝都是用這些方式教導皇室成員所以這幾個王朝可以統治中國長達數百年。
我再提出一個反例，漢王朝之前的秦王朝的王室中，王子的教師沒有教導王子如何用仁慈與愛心對待他人，王子的教師教導王子要用嚴苛的規定與非常重的刑罰去約束他人。
因此造成了王子的心態產生扭曲，秦王朝的王子在秦始皇死後繼承了秦王朝的王位，王子接任成為國王後把很多忠心的大臣的建議當作是批評，因此殺了很多忠心的大臣，
秦王朝的王子接任成為國王後看待人民的生命就如同沒有價值的雜草一樣，因此在他的任內有多無辜的百姓被處以死刑。
秦王朝的王子接任成為國王後的行為造成很多百姓的怨恨與反抗，因此秦王朝就在很短的時間內滅亡。
西漢王朝的國王很認同賈誼的看法，所以便很安心地讓他擔任王子的老師的這項重要的任務。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是他看待人民的生命就如同沒有價值的雜草一樣。
這句成語被用來形容一個人不重視他人的生命並且殺害了無辜的人。
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。
你認為該教導給小孩的最重要的價值觀為何呢?你認為一個小孩的教育是父母還是老師要負最大的責任呢?
我期待這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為漢書-卷48-賈誼傳
https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hans/%E6%BC%A2%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7048