"Wise people like water, benevolent people like Leshan" is a phrase that almost all people in China know. This sentence comes from "Forever Night" in The Analects of Confucius. The original text is like this. Confucius said, "Wise people enjoy water, while benevolent people enjoy Leshan. Wise people move, benevolent people are quiet. Wise people are happy, and benevolent people live. " Some people want to explain stiffly that smart people like water and kind people like mountains. This shallow explanation is wrong.
Wise people enjoy water, while benevolent people enjoy Leshan. This is what Confucius said to his students. It can be explained by the popular language. Confucius vividly compared mountains and rivers to wise men and benevolent people. A wise man is a clever man, with a lively and agile personality like water, quick response, jumping thinking and active temperament.
A benevolent person is a kind-hearted person. A benevolent person is as stable as Mount Tai, content with justice and reason, kind and tolerant, not impulsive, and as stable as Mount Tai. Smart people live a happy life, and people with kindness live a long and healthy life. It is very appropriate to compare water to a wise man and mountains to a benevolent man.
Mountains and rivers depend on each other and set each other off into interest.
1. Zi Gong, a student of Confucius, asked, Why is it "the benevolent Leshan"? Confucius said that the mountains are high and towering, the vegetation is dense, and the birds and animals are in groups. Everything people use for production and life can be produced on the mountain, which is inexhaustible. Mountains produce many useful things for people, but they don't ask people to give anything in return.
People from all directions came to the mountains to take it, and the mountains gave generously, without favoring one side over another. Mountains also flourish, connecting heaven and earth, reconciling yin and yang, knocking down all things, making all things grow and the people eat and wear. This is why benevolent people are happy to see mountains.
2. Zi Gong, a student of Confucius, asked again, why are wise men happy to see water? Confucius said that water has the spirit of all things, out of nature, just like human virtue. Water flows downwards, twists and turns, but it has a certain direction. With pride and justice, it goes forward bravely, surging and endless.
So people dig a dam to make it flow, and it will flow thousands of miles, even if the water falls into the abyss valley, it is not afraid. Water is ubiquitous, and everything goes in and out, becoming fresh and clean. Isn't this the character of a wise man?