He presented this stone to Prime Minister Zi Han. But Zi Han refused to accept it. The farmer explained, "It looks like just a stone, but there is jade inside. It actually is a piece of treasure and suitable for honorable men like you, not for us common people."
"I know there is jade inside," Zi Han said," but I disagree with you. I think to have the virtue of declining things that do not belong to oneself is the real treasure. "
宋國人有個農(nóng)夫得到一塊含寶玉的石頭后,將它獻給了相國子罕。
子罕拒絕接受這塊石頭,農(nóng)夫解釋說:“表面上它是塊石頭,但里面含有寶玉,是個寶物,適合您這樣的貴人使用,我們普通百姓用它就不合適了。”
子罕說:“我知道里面是寶玉。但我的觀點和你不同,我認為具有不接受不應得的東西的品德才是真正的寶玉。”