Chapter 4:
孝心
A Heart-Mind Respectful Towards one’s Parents
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The following is an excerpt of Chapter Four of Wang Fengyi’s magnum opus; ‘The Record of the Words and Deeds of Wang Feng Yi’ [wang feng yi yan xing lu 王凤仪⾔⾏录], containing more than 200 chapters. Wang Feng Yi is considered a Confucian sage, as part of the Shan Ren Dao movement he cured many people, often from the poor countryside, with his healing system that based the root of all illness and disease within one’s emotions. For more information on his personage see:
王善人说过：
Wang, the Benevolent, said:
我放牛时，每逢年节回家，我妈总给我留些好吃的东西，我都不肯吃。我对我妈说：“东家给吃的东西，咱家里都没有，我吃得太饱了，一口也吃不下去。给弟弟们吃吧。”因为我年纪小，在外给人家放牛，我妈本来就不放心，怕我在外吃不饱、睡不好。若是在我妈面前狼吞虎咽的，不是更叫我妈不放心么？我才一口也不肯吃，好叫我妈放心。
When I was herding oxen, I went home every New Year’s. My mother always left me some nice things to eat, but I was not willing to eat any of it. I said to my mum:
The landlord gives me things to eat, which our home has none of, thus, I have eaten until I was over-full. Even one mouthful to eat will also not go down. Give [the food] to my younger brothers to eat.
Because I am still young in years, an] away [from home] herding oxen for other families, my mother originally is not at ease in her heart-mind, being afraid that I do not eat my fill outside, and that I do not sleep well. If I was ravenously wolfing down in front of my mum, would it not make my mum even more so feel at unease? I then was not willing to eat another bite [of food], which was good at causing my mum to relax.
我家里穷，弟兄又多，我妈给我们做鞋，很困难，哥哥弟弟们，又都争着要新鞋穿，因此我就天天光着脚上山放牛。有一天，东家叫我去给亲戚家送礼钱，我本想回家去拿鞋，又怕我妈为难，就光着脚去了。第二天回家和我妈一说，我妈说：“你不穿鞋，就到亲戚家去（王树德是善人的族兄，所以王树德家的亲戚，也是善人家的亲戚），不是叫人家笑话我么！”我才知道错了。
My home is poor, and I have many younger and older brothers. My mother made us shoes. It was very difficult. All the older and younger brothers argued wanting the new shoes to wear. Thereafter I just walked up the mountain every day bare-feet. One day the landlord called me to deliver some monetary gifts to a relative clan. I originally thought to return home, in order to grab the shoes, but I also feared that my mum would find things difficult, thus, I went exactly bare-feet. Once I spoke with my mum on the second day upon my return, my mum said:
You do not wear shoes, and arrive precisely at my relatives’ home (Wang Shu De is the clan’s elder brother of [Wang], the Benevolent. Therefore, the relatives of Wang Shu De’s family are also the family relatives of [Wang], the Benevolent). Do not cause people’s families to make fun of me!
Only then did I know my mistake.
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Post-Scriptum:
