This is not a Print!
This Chinese calligraphy painting silk scroll is created by the disabled artist!
Approximate Measurements:
Length of Silk Scroll: 52.6" (133cm)
Width of Wooden Scroll Roller: 18.6" (47cm)
Traditional Chinese Characters
&Pinyin
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Simplified Chinese Characters
& Pinyin
,
This proverb is from the Analects
of Confucius - Lun Yu Chap. 2 , and means "Learn without thinking begets ignorance,
Think without learning is dangerous."
Chapter 2
The Master said, "He who exercises
government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which
keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it."
The Master said, "In the Book of
Poetry are three hundred pieces, but the design of them all may be embraced in one
sentence 'Having no depraved thoughts.'"
The Master said, "If the people
be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will
try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue,
and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have
the sense of shame, and moreover will become good."
The Master said, "At fifteen, I
had my mind bent on learning. "At thirty, I stood firm. "At forty, I had no doubts.
"At fifty, I knew the decrees of Heaven. "At sixty, my ear was an obedient organ
for the reception of truth. "At seventy, I could follow what my heart desired, without
transgressing what was right."
Mang I asked what filial piety
was. The Master said, "It is not being disobedient."
Soon after, as Fan Ch'ih was driving
him, the Master told him, saying, "Mang-sun asked me what filial piety was, and
I answered him,-'not being disobedient.'"
Fan Ch'ih said, "What did you mean?"
The Master replied, "That parents, when alive, be served according to propriety;
that, when dead, they should be buried according to propriety; and that they should
be sacrificed to according to propriety."
Mang Wu asked what filial piety
was. The Master said, "Parents are anxious lest their children should be sick."
Tsze-yu asked what filial piety
was. The Master said, "The filial piety nowadays means the support of one's parents.
But dogs and horses likewise are able to do something in the way of support;-without
reverence, what is there to distinguish the one support given from the other?"
Tsze-hsia asked what filial piety was. The Master said, "The difficulty is with
the countenance. If, when their elders have any troublesome affairs, the young take
the toil of them, and if, when the young have wine and food, they set them before
their elders, is THIS to be considered filial piety?"
The Master said, "I have talked
with Hui for a whole day, and he has not made any objection to anything I said;-as
if he were stupid. He has retired, and I have examined his conduct when away from
me, and found him able to illustrate my teachings. Hui!-He is not stupid."
The Master said, "See what a man
does. "Mark his motives. "Examine in what things he rests. "How can a man conceal
his character? How can a man conceal his character?"
The Master said, "If a man keeps
cherishing his old knowledge, so as continually to be acquiring new, he may be a
teacher of others."
The Master said, "The accomplished
scholar is not a utensil." Tsze-kung asked what constituted the superior man. The
Master said, "He acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his actions."
The Master said, "The superior
man is catholic and not partisan. The mean man is partisan and not catholic."
The Master said, "Learning without
thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous."
The Master said, "The study of
strange doctrines is injurious indeed!"
The Master said, "Yu, shall I teach
you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when
you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it;-this is knowledge."
Tsze-chang was learning with a
view to official emolument. The Master said, "Hear much and put aside the points
of which you stand in doubt, while you speak cautiously at the same time of the
others:-then you will afford few occasions for blame. See much and put aside the
things which seem perilous, while you are cautious at the same time in carrying
the others into practice: then you will have few occasions for repentance. When
one gives few occasions for blame in his words, and few occasions for repentance
in his conduct, he is in the way to get emolument."
The Duke Ai asked, saying, "What
should be done in order to secure the submission of the people?" The Master replied,
"Advance the upright and set aside the crooked, then the people will submit. Advance
the crooked and set aside the upright, then the people will not submit."
Chi K'ang asked how to cause the
people to reverence their ruler, to be faithful to him, and to go on to nerve themselves
to virtue. The Master said, "Let him preside over them with gravity;-then they will
reverence him. Let him be final and kind to all;-then they will be faithful to him.
Let him advance the good and teach the incompetent;-then they will eagerly seek
to be virtuous."
Some one addressed Confucius, saying,
"Sir, why are you not engaged in the government?"
The Master said, "What does the
Shu-ching say of filial piety?-'You are final, you discharge your brotherly duties.
These qualities are displayed in government.' This then also constitutes the exercise
of government. Why must there be THAT-making one be in the government?"
The Master said, "I do not know
how a man without truthfulness is to get on. How can a large carriage be made to
go without the crossbar for yoking the oxen to, or a small carriage without the
arrangement for yoking the horses?"
Tsze-chang asked whether the affairs
of ten ages after could be known. Confucius said, "The Yin dynasty followed the
regulations of the Hsia: wherein it took from or added to them may be known. The
Chau dynasty has followed the regulations of Yin: wherein it took from or added
to them may be known. Some other may follow the Chau, but though it should be at
the distance of a hundred ages, its affairs may be known."
The Master said, "For a man to
sacrifice to a spirit which does not belong to him is flattery.
"To see what is right and not to
do it is want of courage."
Talented Disabled Calligraphy
Artist creates this 'Quote of Confucius' Asian calligraphy art wall scroll!
When I first saw a person without
hands who could not only write but also became a good calligrapher, I was shocked.
(photo on the left）
Disabled artist, Mr. Wang, has sat in a wheelchair more than 30 years after
a catastrophic accident during fieldwork left him paralyzed from the waist down.
Master Wang was gracefully moving and pausing his brush that can be mesmerizing,
and there is one of his artworks on display here. (Photos on the right)
