位、以、知、為｜sTANDING, aBLE, uNDERSTOOD, wORTHY

位、以、知、為｜sTANDING, aBLE, uNDERSTOOD, wORTHY

懷才不遇，難免氣餒。
When things are uNDER-aPPRECIATED, people will inevitably feel dISCOURAGED.

《論語》的第四書《里仁》——第十四章：
“The Analects”*₁, Book 4 – Chapter 14 (original written in Classical Chinese):

子曰：「不患無[位₁]，患所[以₂]立；不患莫己[知₃]，求[為₄]可知也。」
Confucius*₂ said: “Don’t worry about not having [sTANDING₁], instead, worry about whether you are [aBLE₂] to stand. Don’t worry about not being [uNDERSTOOD₃], instead, try to be [wORTHY₄] of understanding.”

回想當初，「做過什麼」？
撫心自問，「為了什麼」？
面對未來，「可作什麼」？
Looking back to the beginning, “What you have done”?
Ask yourself, “What for”?
Facing the future, “What you can do”?

..,

nOTES:

*₁: “The Analects” or “Analects of Confucius” – collected sayings and thoughts of great philosopher Confucius; it is one of the important canonical Confucian literature. Traditionally people believe that “The Analects” was written by disciples or followers of Confucius during the late Warring States period (475-221 BC) and its final revision was completed during the Emperor Cheng period (33-7 BC) in late Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-9).

*₂: Confucius (551–479 BC) was an educator, philosopher and official of Lu State in the late Eastern Zhou Dynasty (ca. 1043-256 BC) during Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), he was the founder of Confucianism and developed his Confucian theory of the five virtue elements: benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and trust.