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STORIES OF MENCIAN
MOTHER
Mencius(372---289 BC),an ancient greatest scholar next to
Confucius,was born in the Warring States Period in the State of
Lu(the present Shandong province).After his father's death when he
was three,Mencius was brought up by his mother
herself.
When young,Mencius showed great delights in enjoying playing and
imitating others.Their original house was located near a large area
of tombs.He,with other pals,would play the game of digging and
mounding graves.
Mencian Mother considered that it would have side effect on his son
so that she made up her mind to remove their home to a place near a
market.But then and there,Mencius shouted at the top of his voice
imitating the bargaining of market traders and
butches.Again,Mencian mother thought it was not a good environment
for a child to grow in.
Finally,they moved again to somewhere mear a schoolyard,where young
Mencius began to imitate the pupils learning Confucian and feudal
codes as well as knowledge.His mother was pleased to say that was
just what a young child ought to learn.And they settled
there.That's the well-known story of "Three Removes of the Mencian
Mother"
Mencian mother paid special attention to the education on his
son.Except that she managed to afford him to go to school,she
always urged him to concentrate on his lessons.Once,Mencius played
truant,by escaping from his master's lessons,and returned home when
his mother was weaving on the loom.Seeing what Mencius had done,she
got so angry that she,without any hesitation,took up a pair of
scissors to cut off the already cloth in the loom.Mencius was made
panic and knelt on his knees to demand the why.Mencian mother
scolded him,saying,"Your learning in any way is similiar with my
weaving.Cloth is woven into an inch thread by thread,then inches
into feet,then into zhang(丈),in the end into
bolts(匹).After all these procedures.the cloth can be of grat
use.Knowledge is gained only by days and nights,months and years,no
any cut path.If you are lazy and don't study hard,have half-baked
knowledge or quit halfway,you'll,just like the cloth,become
useless"
Mencius felt ashamed after having heard his mother's advice.Ever
since then,Mencius put all his heart into learning and
reading,earnestly practised what Confucius had advocated or
preached.By and by he got to be one of the greatest
Confucianist,which is respected as"Lesser Sage" by the
followers.
亚圣坊
Lesser Sage Arch
三迁祠大门
The
gate of ancestral temple of three removes
孟子父母塑像
Ststue of Mencian Parents
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