I want to get rid of this rat, but I'm afraid I'll break the expensive jade object next to the rat.(投鼠忌器)
I want to get rid of this rat, but I'm afraid I'll break the expensive jade object next to the rat.(投鼠忌器)
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 entered the central government of the
Han dynasty as an official at the age of 22. He once wrote a very famous
article analysing the reasons for the fall of the Qin dynasty.
He hoped that through this article the
kings of the Han Dynasty could learn from the failure of the Qin Dynasty.
A passage from his article reads as follows
There is a story in ancient times.
There was a man who had a very expensive
piece of jade. One day he found a mouse running next to the jade. He wanted to
take a stick and beat the mouse to death, but he refrained from doing so.
Because he knew that the mouse was too
close to the precious jade, and if he accidentally broke the jade, he would
suffer great losses.
I tell this story to make a point.
The king of a country is like a precious
jade. When a mouse appears next to the jade, we must first ask ourselves,
"Why did the mouse appear?
Only when we make fundamental changes can
we completely eliminate the possibility of this rat.
Rats are usually found in an untidy
environment.
The same is true of a kingdom. The king
should set an example of integrity and honesty and treat the officials and
people of the kingdom with kindness.
If the king did this, there would be no
ministers like rats in the kingdom.
Why did the Qin Dynasty fall? I think a
very important reason is that the king of the Qin Dynasty used strict laws and
brutal behaviour to treat the officials and people in the kingdom.
Because of the dirty environment, there are
many treacherous and cunning officials in the central government. These
officials are like rats.
When the people rebelled, the rats were
killed and the precious jades were broken.
This idiom represents the story of the jade
and the mouse.
This idiom is used to describe a person who
wants to remove a scourge but is afraid to do so because of scruples.
Dear friend, what inspiration or thoughts
do you have after listening to this story?
When you want to remove a scourge, do you
think that removing the scourge directly might cause other problems? Do you
think it is more important to remove a scourge or to change the environment
that creates the scourge?
I hope this story has given you some new
insights.
投鼠忌器(I want to get rid of this rat, but
I'm afraid I'll break the expensive jade object next to the rat.)
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22歲就進入漢王朝的中央政府擔任官員，他曾經寫過一篇非常著名的論文，他在這篇論文中分析了秦王國滅亡的原因。
他希望藉著這篇文章，讓漢王朝的國王可以從秦王朝的失敗中吸取教訓。
他這篇文章中有一段敘述如下。
古代有一個故事。
有一個人，他有一個非常昂貴的玉器。有一天，他發現有一隻老鼠跑到那個玉器的旁邊。他很想拿起一根棍子打死這隻老鼠，但是他忍住了沒有行動。
因為他知道這隻老鼠離那個高貴的玉器太近了，如果不小心把玉器打破了，這樣他會遭遇極大的損失。
我說這個故事是要表達我的一個觀點。
一個國家的國王就像是一個昂貴的玉器，當玉器旁邊出現了一隻老鼠的時候，我們要先思考為何會出現老鼠?
當我們從根本的地方改變，我們才能徹底去除掉出現這隻老鼠的可能性。
老鼠通常會出現在一個髒亂的環境中。
一個王國中也是一樣，國王應該要以身作則保持廉潔與正直，用仁愛去對待王國中的官員與人民。
如果國王這樣做，那麼這個王國中就不會有像老鼠一樣的大臣出現。
秦王朝為何會滅亡，我認為有一個很重要的原因就是因為秦王朝的國王用嚴苛的法律與暴虐的行為去對待王國中的官員與人民。
因為環境髒亂所以中央政府內出現了很多奸詐與狡猾的官員，這些官員就像是老鼠一樣。
當人民起來反抗，結果就是老鼠被殺，而昂貴的玉器也被打破了。
這句成語代表了這個玉器與老鼠的故事。
這句成語被用來形容一個人想要去除一個禍害但這個人卻因為有所顧忌而不敢動手。
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。
當想要去除一個禍害時，你會考慮到直接去除這個禍害也可能引發其他的問題嗎?你認為去除一個禍害重要還是改變產生會製造出禍害的環境重要呢?
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