Sheep have the kindness to kneel down to breastfeed, and crows have the feeling of feeding back. Filial piety will beget filial sons, and disobedience will beget disobedient sons. If you don’t believe it, just look at the water in front of the eaves and see the old pools and nests.
It comes from "Zengguang Xianwen", a children's enlightenment book compiled by an unknown person during the Ming Dynasty in China, also known as "Xianwen of the Past" and "Xianwen of Ancient and Modern Times".
Translation: Lambs have the act of gratitude by kneeling down to receive breast milk, crows have the feeling of feeding their mother crows with food in their mouths, and children must know how to be filial to their parents. A person who is filial to his parents will have his children be filial to him; a person who is disobedient to his parents will have his children disobey him in the future.
It is said that when the old crow cannot find food by itself, the young crow will regurgitate what he has eaten, that is, spit it out for the old crow to eat, to thank the old crow for his kindness. This is an animal. When they grow up, they in turn "support" their parents; the lamb kneels when drinking milk, which is an act of gratitude.
Extended information:
"Zengguang Xianwen" collects various Chinese maxims and proverbs from ancient times to the present. Later, after continuous additions by literati from the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was changed into its current form, called "Zengguang Xianwen", commonly known as "Zengguang Xianwen".
The author has never seen any book records. He only knows that the Confucian scholar Zhou Xitao revised it during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty.
"Zengguang Xianwen" may seem chaotic on the surface, but as long as you read the whole book carefully, it is not difficult to find its internal logic. The book's understanding of human nature is based on the Confucian Xunzi's "theory of evil nature" as the premise, and it provides a cold-eyed insight into social life. Family love is polluted by money, "If you live in poverty in a busy city, no one cares about you, but if you are rich in the mountains, you have distant relatives";
Friendship is just a lie, "There are wine, meat and many brothers, but in times of crisis you never see one person"; dignity and inferiority are determined by money To decide, "If you don't believe it, just look at the wine at the banquet, and the rich will be persuaded first by the cup." Law and justice are controlled by money. , there are no straight people in the world";
Sophistication leads to unpredictable people, "It is difficult to paint the skin of a tiger, but it is difficult to paint the bones of a tiger, and it is difficult to know the face of a person but not the heart"; people say that it is difficult to distinguish between good and evil, "The tiger is not afraid of hurting people when entering the mountain, only the human feelings A double-edged sword." "Zengguang Xianwen" highly summarizes the dark phenomena in many aspects of society and coldly displays them in front of readers.
Most of the sentences in "Zengguang Xianwen" come from collections of classics and history, poems, dramas, novels and literati's miscellaneous notes. Its ideas and concepts come directly or indirectly from Confucian and Taoist classics. In a broad sense, it It is a popular version of the "Sutra" that is both refined and popular. You can read it without explanation, and you can also understand the thoughts and life wisdom of the scriptures by reading "Zengguang Xianwen". "Zengguang Xianwen" is also a collection of proverbs.
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