仲由夫子慈悲囑語 The Holy Teachings of Venerable Zhong-You

November 27, 2003

我曾向老師（孔老夫子）問：「我們為什麼要學習？就像竹子也沒有人去拉它、矯正它，它自然就長得很直；把它砍下來當作箭，可以射得很遠。」

I once asked my mentor, Confucius, “Why do we need to learn? 

Take bamboos for example.

They need not pulled or adjusted and yet they are still straight and natural.

And when you chop them down and make them serve as arrows,

they can shoot to a long distance.”

但是我的老師告訴我一句話：「你如果把箭的前面磨尖了，後面裝上羽毛，射的時候就可以射得更遠。」

Well, hearing this, my mentor just replied,

"But if you could sharpen the arrow's front part and attach some feathers to its end,

it would be able to reach even farther.”

所以不要說，我現在已經很好了。

如果能經過學習，每一個人會變得更好，這樣聽懂嗎？

The point is that, don't feel conceited about yourself, saying you are good enough.

Through learning, everyone can always be better. Understand?

因此不要想說我現在很好，我很聰明，雖然你很好、很聰明，經過虛心的學習，你會變得更好、更有智慧。

Don’t consider yourself good and intelligent already.

Maybe you are good and intelligent now;

however, through humble and stable learning,

you can always become a better and wiser person.