孟子出生并终生于战国时期。童年时代,孟母非常悉心于对儿子的教育。她搬了三次家,为了选择好邻居,给儿找一个良好的学习环境。最终找到一个合适的地方居住下来。每天早饭后儿子到老师家上课,孟母在家料理家及织布。一天上午,孟母正在织布,儿子的老师来家告诉儿子未去上课。快到中午时,孟母就要停止织布时,儿子跑了回来,汗流浃背,上下不接下气。孟母严肃地问儿子,“上午去哪了?” 儿子脱口而出,“上学去了。” 儿子的谎话使孟母顿时气上心头,再也控制不住自己,剪断了一直在织的布,教育孩子上学与织布一样,贵在专心致志,贵在持之一恒。孟子从此接受教训,潜心学习。最终成为最伟大的儒学家之一,仅次于孔子。
Mencius was born and lived his entire life at the Warring States Times. At his childhood, the Mother was very mindful of her son’s education. She moved her family thrice to find a suitable place with good neighbors and settled down for a better environment for her son to learn in. After breakfast every morning, the son would go to the master to have classes and the mother, after having washed up, would weave cloth. One morning, when the mother was weaving, the son’s master came to tell about the son’s absence from classes of that morning. Toward noon, the mother was about to stop weaving, when the son ran back all wet through and out of breath. The mother asked him in a very serious way, saying, “Where have you been this morning?” The son blurted out in reply, “To the master’s for classes.” The son’s lie instantly enraged his mother. She cut the cloth she had been weaving and made it clear to her son that learning, just like cloth weaving, relied on intention and persistence. Mencius listened to her attentively and took the lesson. From then on, he learned everything in a serious and earnest way. In the end he succeeded in learning, and became one of the greatest Confucianists, second only to Confucius.
Credit: Chinese Culture
Credit: Chinese Culture