Confucius once said, "Being old and not dying is a thief" and "Rotten wood cannot be carved, and a wall of dung cannot be demolished".

Although Confucius is revered as a saint, saints are also human beings and have tempers. When they are angry, they will curse and accuse others. "Being old and not dying is a thief" was an accusation he made to his friend Yuan Rang.

Yuan Rang was a friend of Confucius. Judging from Confucius’ words, he should have known him since childhood. "The Analects of Confucius Xian Wen" wrote this passage: "The original land was destroyed. Confucius said: 'Young people do not have grandchildren, they grow up without saying anything, and old people do not die, they are thieves!' He tapped his shins with his staff."

It means that when Yuan Rang was waiting for Confucius, he was sitting with his legs spread apart. Then when he saw him, he scolded him for not being benevolent, righteous and moral when he was a child. Immortal is simply a pest. After scolding him, he even hit Yuan Rang's calf with his cane.

The reason for this, I think, is that on the one hand, Confucius has been in contact with Yuan Rang for a long time, and he told everything he knew, and his words between friends were relatively straightforward. On the other hand, the social etiquette at that time was relatively strict, and he paid special attention to etiquette. According to the system, at that time, people with status and education were required to maintain an upright sitting posture. Spreading one's legs like Yuan Rang would be considered uneducated and disrespectful of etiquette. This was naturally intolerable to Confucius, who always abided by etiquette and law, so he scolded Yuan Rang, "You are a thief if you don't die when you are old." To this day, this sentence is very commonly used, and is usually used to accuse old people. A person who has no virtue.

There is also a famous saying, "Rotten wood cannot be carved, and a wall of dung cannot be demolished." Many people will ridicule that this is a way of scolding by educated people. This sentence was said by Confucius to his disciple Zaiyu. . The original words come from "The Analects of Confucius Gongye Chang": "Zaiyu slept during the day. Confucius said: "Rotten wood cannot be carved, and a wall of dung cannot be demolished!" Yu Yu and He punished him? Confucius said: "At first I was with people, listening to their words and trusting their actions; now I am with people, listening to their words and observing their actions." It's about giving and changing. ”

The general meaning is that Jaeyu was sleeping in broad daylight. Confucius drew out the big problems of human life from the details, so he taught Jaeyu a lesson. He felt that Jaeyu had laziness in his bones, so he separated him from the wall of rotten wood and dung. From the face-to-face comparison, it can be seen that Confucius was really angry.

The reason for this is that Confucius had great hopes for Zaiyu. He hoped that Zaiyu would be successful in the future. However, Jaeyu sleeps in broad daylight, which exposes Jaeyu's laziness. People have inertia. If Jaeyu can skip class and sleep during the day, he may do it again in the future, or even be lazy in other things. < /p>

In addition to being angry, Confucius also meant to beat Jaeyu. Although Confucius' reaction seemed a bit surprising, this fierce attitude did make Jaeyu realize his mistake.

< p>In fact, looking at the above two examples, although Confucius scolded quite harshly, his starting point was good. He also hoped that this would enable his friends and disciples to correct their mistakes and pay attention to etiquette and their own development.