不贪为宝 现实与古戒
[url=http://http://primaltrek.com/blog/2015/01/06/not-being-gr...a-treasure/]http://primaltrek.com/blog/2015/01/06/not-being-greedy-is-a-treasure/[/url]
Not Being Greedy Is a Treasureby GARY ASHKENAZY on JANUARY 6, 2015
[justify]An unusual Chinese charm was recently posted to a popular Chinese coin forum in China.[/justify]
Chinese charm with inscription “Not being greedy is a treasure”
[justify]The charm is shown at the left.[/justify]
[justify]The inscription bu tan wei bao (不貪為寶) is written in seal script and translates as “not being greedy is a treasure”.[/justify]
[justify]The phrase is a reference to a story in the Zuo Zuan (左传), also known as the “Commentary of Zuo”, which is a very ancient text describing historical events during the period 722 BC – 478 BC of the Spring and Autumn Period.[/justify]
[justify]The story appears in the book’s “Fifteenth Year of Duke Xiang” 《左传·襄公十五年》as follows:[/justify]
[justify]宋人或得玉，献诸子罕。子罕弗受。献玉者曰：“以示玉人，玉人以为宝也，故敢献之。”子罕曰：“我以不贪为宝，尔以玉为宝，若以与我，皆丧宝也。不若人有其宝。[/justify]
Zi Han refuses to accept the jade
[justify]The story is about Zi Han (子罕), a high government official of the state of Song, who was known to be virtuous and wise.[/justify]
[justify]One day, a peasant came to see him. The peasant had found a stone which an expert had confirmed was a valuable piece of jade. The peasant wanted to present this treasure to Zi Han.[/justify]
[justify]Zi Han, however, refused to accept the jade.[/justify]
[justify]Zi Han said to the peasant, “You consider the jade to be a treasure while I consider ‘not being greedy’ to be a treasure”. If I receive the jade, you will have lost your treasure and I, too, will have lost my treasure. It would be better if both of us keep our own personal treasures.”[/justify]
Reverse side of charm displaying sycee and land as traditional symbols of wealth
[justify]At the left is the reverse side of the charm.[/justify]
[justify]The objects with the curled ends are meant to represent sycee or silver ingots (yuan bao 元宝) which were a form of money in ancient China.[/justify]
[justify]The square objects that resemble windows are actually the Chinese character tian (田) which means “field” as in farm land. Land was also a symbol of wealth in ancient China.[/justify]
[justify]Liu Xiang (刘向), a government official and scholar during the Han Dynasty, wrote a commentary on the story.[/justify]
[justify]Liu Xiang explained that it was not that Zi Han did not have treasures but that “treasure” meant something different to him.[/justify]
[justify]Liu Xiang illustrated his point as follows.[/justify]
[justify]If one were to offer a small child a cake or gold, the child would pick the cake. If one were to offer a “lower-class” man the legendary “Jade of He” (和氏璧) or gold, the man would definitely take the gold.[/justify]
[justify]However, if one were to offer a wise man the valuable “Jade of He” or a moral principle, the wise man would choose the moral principle.[/justify]
[justify]According to Liu Xiang, the better one understands the true nature of things, the better choice one will make.[/justify]
[justify]It is noteworthy that the members of the Chinese coin forum had not seen a charm like this before and its appearance resulted in a flurry of more than 200 comments.[/justify]
[justify]The forum members universally praised the meaning behind the charm and felt that its posting had been very timely. This is because a well-publicized campaign is currently underway to rid the party and government of corrupt officials.[/justify]
