孟母三迁｜Mencius' Mother Moves Three Times

民间故事 More than two thousand three hundred years ago after the Shang and Zhou dynasties before Qin unified the six states The land of China experienced over five hundred years of war The first three hundred years was called the Spring and Autumn Period The last two hundred years was called the Warring States Period In the middle of the Warring States Period there was a boy named Meng Ke He was born in the State of Zou Which is today's Zoucheng in Shandong Province When he was three years old his father passed away His mother raised him alone The family was poor with only a few acres of land They lived next to a cemetery Every morning funeral processions passed by their door Meng Ke leaned by the window watching people in mourning clothes He imitated them kneeling on the ground Hands clasped together crying loudly He grabbed a handful of earth learning to scatter it into the sky When his mother returned from the fields she saw this The basket in her hand fell to the ground She ran over and held Meng Ke tightly in her arms She thought to herself if this goes on what will my child become The next day his mother packed their few clothes Holding Meng Ke's small hand she left this home They moved next to a busy market Every day the market was filled with noise Butchers waved their knives and shouted Merchants boasted about their goods at the top of their lungs Meng Ke imitated the butchers waving a small twig He mimicked the merchants' tone bargaining with the air His mother heard this from inside her brow furrowing deeper At night she watched Meng Ke sleeping She sighed softly She thought to herself this place is not suitable for a child to grow up either Before dawn his mother packed their bags again Holding Meng Ke's small hand she set off once more This time they moved next to a school palace A school palace was an ancient school There students learned the Six Arts rites music archery charioteering calligraphy and mathematics Every morning the sound of reading came from the school palace Meng Ke stood outside the wall standing on tiptoe He saw a group of students in long robes Following their teacher bowing saluting and reading He imitated their movements Hands clasped bowing respectfully Mumbling words he didn't understand His eyes shining with light His mother stood at the door watching all this The corners of her mouth slowly rose She knew this time she had found the right place Mencius' mother moved three times not for her child to become an official or get rich But hoping he would become a person of virtue Environment shapes a person this was her simplest belief Later people wrote this story into books The Three Character Classic says In ancient times Mencius' mother chose the right neighborhood If the child didn't study she cut the loom When Meng Ke grew up he became one of the greatest thinkers in Chinese history People honored him as Mencius He inherited and developed Confucius' thoughts He was called the Second Sage second only to Confucius He proposed the theory of original goodness believing human nature is inherently good He advocated benevolent governance saying the people are most important the state is second the ruler is least important His thoughts were compiled into the book Mencius Becoming one of the Four Books of Confucian classics He once wrote Without compass and square one cannot make circles and squares And the one who set the first rule for him Was precisely that mother who moved three times前往小宇宙评论区与主播互动