Confucius focused on educating people throughout his life. Perhaps he never expected that his words would become a mantra for thousands of people, especially teachers. So what is this sentence and where does it come from?

It is said that Confucius had a student named Zaiyu. Zaiyu was very smart and active in thinking. He was very studious, but he would often ask Confucius questions that were difficult to understand and incredible. question. For example, he once pointed out to Confucius the undesirability of "three years of mourning". He said:

"Three years of mourning has been a long time coming. If a gentleman does not follow the rituals for three years, the rituals will be ruined; If there is no joy in the years, the joy will disappear."

Confucius advocated that after the death of parents, one should mourn for three years to show filial piety, but Zaiyu disagreed. He felt that if a gentleman was asked to observe filial piety for three years without doing anything, his etiquette would inevitably be ruined. Confucius was very dissatisfied with Zaiyu's view. He asked Zaiyu, do you feel comfortable if you want to do this? Zaiyu answered without hesitation and felt very at ease, so Confucius said to him, just do this if you feel at ease! Afterwards, Confucius said angrily:

"It's unkind to me! After a child is born for three years, he is freed from the care of his parents. My husband will be mourned for three years, and the whole world will be mourned. I will also be mourned for three years." He loves his parents!"

So Confucius commented that Jaeyu was "unkind". In fact, Jaeyu's words were not unreasonable, but his thoughts conflicted with the teacher's thoughts, and Jaeyu was A student who does not completely take the teacher's will as his own will is like many students in schools today who are active and smart but often talk back to the teacher. In fact, this kind of smart and rebellious student may not necessarily win the favor of the teacher.

Zai Yu also asked Confucius:

"How can there be benevolence in a well? How should we follow it?"

Confucius replied:

"Why is this so? A gentleman can die but cannot be trapped; a gentleman can be deceived but cannot be ignored."

Jaiyu once asked Confucius if there was a benevolent man in the well, should he jump in to save him or not? If you jump to save someone, you will die if you jump to save them. If you don’t jump to save someone, that would be unkind. What should you do?

Look at the question that Jaeyu asked. This is completely digging a hole for the teacher. It is wrong to save or not to save. And Confucius is not stupid. He pointedly accused Jaeyu and said, you The question asked was wrong. A gentleman can go to the well and try to save him, but he must not fall into the well. Then he gave Jaeyu a lesson, "A gentleman can be deceived, but he cannot be confused!"

Later Once, Confucius found that the student who was giving him a headache was sleeping in the middle of the day, so he was very disappointed and said the following words:

Rotten wood cannot be carved, and a wall of dung cannot be built! Yu Yu and He punished him? At first I was with people, listening to their words and trusting their actions; now I am with people, listening to their words and watching their actions. It's about giving and changing.

Rotten wood cannot be used for carving, and dung walls cannot be painted. What else can be blamed for people like Jaeyu, and Jaeyu also made me understand a truth , In the past, I believed in other people’s actions after listening to their words, but in the future, I have to observe their words and deeds when hearing other people’s words.

Through this passage, it is not difficult to understand how disappointed Confucius was in Jaeyu, and "Rotten wood cannot be carved" has become a famous saying through the ages that one person is extremely disappointed with another person.

But are students like Jaeyu really useless? In fact, Jaeyu's non-blind following and independent thinking are exactly what students today lack, isn't they?