The story of "promoting the growth of seedlings" comes from Mencius' On Sun and Ugliness, which means: pull up seedlings and help them grow. Metaphor goes against the law of development of things, is eager for success, and finally backfires.
"Encouraging seedling growth" enlightens us that people must exert their subjective initiative according to objective laws in order to do things well. On the contrary, if you only do it according to your own subjective wishes, even with good wishes and good motives, the result can only be counterproductive.
Story plot:
Once upon a time, there was a farmer in Song State. He thought that the seedlings in his field were growing too slowly, so he was worried all day. One day, he went down to the field with a hoe. He felt that the rice seedlings didn't seem to grow up at all, so he thought hard about how to make the rice grow taller. Suddenly, he had a brainwave. Without hesitation, he rolled up his trouser legs and jumped into the rice field, and began to pull up the seedlings.
In the evening, the farmer finally finished what he thought was a clever masterpiece, ran home triumphantly and couldn't wait to tell his wife, "Tell you an amazing thing, I thought of a good idea today, which made the seedlings in our field grow a lot taller." The farmer's wife was dubious and asked her son to go to the field to see what was going on. My son heard that the rice at home had grown taller and flew to the field excitedly to see it. At this time, he found that although the rice seedlings were tall, they hung down tree by tree and were about to wither.
Original text:
There was a man in the Song Dynasty who bowed before his seedlings grew well. When he came back, he said, "I am sick today! Help Miao Miao! " His son hurried to see it, Miao was dying. The world can't afford to help seedlings, and there are few old people. Those who give up because they feel useless don't cultivate seedlings; Help the old and help the young. Inaction is useless and harmful
Translation:
There was a man from the Song Dynasty who was worried that his seedlings were not tall, so he pulled them up. He was very tired, but he was still satisfied at the end of the day. He came home and said to his family, "I'm exhausted." I helped the seedlings grow taller! " When his son heard about it, he hurried to the field to see the seedlings, but they all withered.
Few people in the world don't want their seedlings to grow faster! People who give up thinking that seedlings are useless are like lazy people who don't mow the grass. People who help it grow at their own expense, like this one, are not good, but harmful.
About the author:
Mencius (about 372 BC-289 BC) was born in Zouguo (now Zoucheng, Jining, Shandong) during the Warring States Period.
A famous philosopher, thinker, politician and educator in the Warring States period, one of the representatives of Confucianism, was second only to Confucius, and was also called "Confucius and Mencius" with Confucius. Advocating "benevolent government", he first put forward the idea that "the people are more expensive than the monarch".