Chinese name
Good medicine tastes bitter and is good for illness, but advice when most unpleasant is good for action.
source
Historical Records: Family Life in Later Dynasties
translate freely
Advice is unpleasant to the ear, but it is good for action.
Get people involved.
Pei Gong Liu Bang
meaning
Accept others' opinions and criticisms with an open mind.
source
Good medicine tastes bitter and is good for illness, but advice when most unpleasant is good for action. From Shibang, 100,000 rebels broke through the customs, defeated Qin Guan defenders in Lantian, led the rebels all over the world, and successfully entered Xianyang. After Liu Bang entered Xianyang Palace in Qin Dynasty, he was attracted by the beauty and treasures in the palace, and got carried away, so he was ready to stay in Qin Gong and have a good time. His brother-in-law Fan Kuai advised him, but he wouldn't listen. At this time, Sean went into the palace to remonstrate directly, severely reprimanded Liu Bang, explained his mistake in doing so, and said, "Good medicine tastes bitter and is good for illness, but advice when most needed is least heeded is good for action. Please listen to Fan Kuai. " Pei Gong was reluctant to leave Qin Gong, and announced that the army was stationed in the bully on the outskirts of Xianyang, so as not to disturb the people.
"Six Books of Confucius' Family Words": "A good medicine tastes bitter and is good for illness, but advice is hard to listen to is good for action.
Although medicine is bitter, it is beneficial to the treatment of diseases. Advice is often unpleasant, but it is good for action.
Basic explanation
The first meaning is that although good medicine is bitter and difficult to swallow, it can make people recover. Advice can help people's words and deeds, although it is a bit uncomfortable. Now it is often used to describe accepting others' opinions and criticisms with an open mind.
The second meaning is that good medicine is bitter, but it is beneficial to cure diseases; Most of the language that teaches people to be kind is not very pleasant to listen to, but it is helpful for people to correct their own shortcomings. This sentence is to educate people to be brave in accepting criticism. Because it is not terrible for a person to make a mistake, as long as it can be corrected in time, it will be fine. The terrible thing is that he is afraid of medical treatment and unwilling to accept criticism from others, thus making small mistakes into big mistakes and making big mistakes into incurable diseases. Although bitter medicine is hard to swallow, it is beneficial to self-healing. Although it hurts a little, it can help our words and deeds, make us move forward faster and play an inspiring role.