我曾祖母的教導

The Teachings of my great grandma

我曾祖母是浙江人. 她活到 100 歲 (欠 3 天). 以下是她教我母親, 而母親又教我的. 當我年長信了耶穌後, 我只記耶穌和上帝的教導, 如 (humble like a child, pure as a child, kindness, mercy, steadfast love, faithfulness, forgiving, patient endurance, ....) 等等. 我當老祖母的話為踏腳石 (stepping stone), 引我到耶穌,上帝面前. 但我覺得老祖母的教導很有參考價值, 故我在 internet 寫出來.

My great grandma lived to 100 years old, short 3 days. She was from a seaside village north east of Shanghai. She taught my mother the followings, and my mother taught them to me when I was young.
When I grew old, I believed in Jesus and LORD. And their teachings "return and become like a child, humble as a child, pure as a child, kindness, mercy, steadfast love, faithfulness, forgiving, patient endurance ... " take over. I regard my great grandma's teachings as stepping stones, leading me to LORD and Jesus. I re-produce them here for those who would like to know a little more about Chinese thinking.

明裏去, 暗裏來

Robbed under sunshine, be recompensed in the dark.

(Meaning: if someone robs/wrongs you under bright sunshine, do not be angry. LORD will recompense you in a way you know not.)

吃虧便是便宜

Being wronged is not loss. It is real gain.

(Meaning : When faced with wrongs or injustices, try to reason with the other party. If not avail because he is bent on oppressing you, accept the loss/injustices. It is real gain, in the sight of LORD, as LORD is GOD of justice.)

人善人欺天唔欺

A kind, meek and gentle person will always suffer wrongs in the hands of people, but will not be wronged by LORD.

駡不痛, 打不洞

Insults and humiliation will not cause pain in our body. Hits by people will not make a hole in our body.

(Meaning : patient endurance, endure to the end, bear the cross to follow LORD everyday. Much like Jesus' teachings : "Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have you cloak as well; and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him to miles. ..." [Mt. 5:33-37])

滿飯可以吃, 滿話不可以說.

(註 : 電腦的硬體, 軟體都是人給它的, 我們的身體, 才能都是上帝給的. 故不要驕傲, 自滿, 說跨口驕傲的話.)

You may eat you FULL bowl of rice, but you must not be FULL in your words.

(Meaning : It is O.K. to eat your fill, but be careful with your words, and let not proud words be from your mouth.
In fact, we human are like computers - both our hardware and software are given to us by LORD. Hence we should not boast of our "talents", "capabilities", ... etc.)

來如箭, 去似線

(註 : 意外來得快, 去得慢. 故所有事都要小心, 謹慎.)

Accident/mishap/trouble comes fast like an arrow, but it goes away like a thread.

(Meaning : We must be careful, and not rash nor reckless, in all our doings. As accident/mishap/trouble may come suddenly, and it would take a long long time for it to cure/die away. e.g. We may cut our finger in a second, but it takes days to heal. I saw many people break their spinal cords in violent sports, and be paralyzed for life.)

看看別人擔担易, 自上肩頭嘴都花

(註 : 事情每每都是不容易的, 自己真正做起來, 便會知道不容易.)

When you see a person bearing heavy loads, and walks easily, you will not think so when you bear the load yourself.

(Meaning : nothing in this world is easy, we will know it if we do it ourselves. Do not under-estimate every job, each requires planning, preparation, and hard work.)

人比人, 氣殺人

(註 : 不要和人比較, 那只會激死你 (=氣死你). 意思是不要看不開, 要心存 '祝福的心'. 別人好, 別人有東西, 是很好的事.)

If you compare yourself with others, you will fret yourself to death.

(Meaning : We should have "goodwill", "blessing" towards others. If we see others having certain things, we should be glad, because LORD gives our fellow countrymen such good things (even though I do not have them). To compare and to envy is to vex ourselves to death.)

愈食愈饞, 愈縮愈懶

(註 : 若你追求美食, 你會愈追愈深, 不會滿足停止. 若你貪懶好睡或害怕, 便會愈來愈懶.)

The more you eat, the more you want to eat. The more you sleep, the lazier you will become.

(Meaning : If our goal of life is eating, then we would never be satisfied, and will crave food more and more. If we crave sleeping, we will sleep more and more, and would not have a mind to do work to our society, nor to ourselves.)

這是我在書本學的, 不是老祖母的

有則改之, 無則加勉

(註 : 有很多時候別人會教導我們東西 ... 而我們早己懂得. 便不要想 "你小看我", 而不高興. 而要多謝他們的好心, 自已也可溫習一下.)

This last one is not from my great grandma, but I learnt it from a book,

When someone teaches us something we already know, then do not be bored, it is time for revision, and we should thank him for his kindness. (or if someone approaches us and says that we have done something wrong, where in fact, we did not do that, then listen patiently, and re-affirm our precept of right and wrong, and thank him, possible after offering him some explanation.)

(*) 上帝的法律和誡命