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: Three Cents Column by Director Bong

Three Cents Column by Director Bong of RGO 24! 'Although I am lacking and my writing is only worth as much as 'three cents...' I share the Sunday messages and interpret them with 'the language of the world.''

칼럼_연재칼럼_Three Cents Column

The reason why you should not leave after seeing only one thing

A customer who came to purchase draperies.

Ahn-hwoe was one of Confucius’ best students. One day, when Ahn-hwoe went to a market to run Confucius’ errands, he saw the owner of a drapery store and a customer arguing about price.

The customer who came to purchase draperies was yelling out loud, “If each drapery is eight cents, three draperies are obviously twenty-three cents but why did you charge me twenty-four cents?” Ahn-hwoe was watching them and he could not stand it anymore so he said to the customer, “3 x 8 is 24. The owner is correct.” However, the customer glared at Ahn-hwoe, raised his voice and said, “Why are you intervening? If you want to see who is right or wrong, bring Confucius!” and he asked confidently, “What if Confucius says that you are wrong? What are you going to do?”

“If I am wrong, I will give you my crown, which is a symbol of my honor. Then what would you give me?” Ahn-hwoe said. “I will give you my head,” the customer said.

They agreed on their bet and called Confucius to come. After Confucius heard their stories, he told Ahn-hwoe with a smile, “You are wrong, so give this man your crown.”

It was an absurd situation but Ahn-hwoe obeyed Confucius’ word and gave his crown to the man who came to purchase draperies. The man was triumphant, and he received the crown and left. Ahn-hwoe could not understand Confucius’ judgment at all so he made up his mind to leave Confucius, thinking, ‘My teacher may have become too old to discern correctly now.’

The next day, Ahn-hwoe made an excuse about his family issues and told Confucius that he was going to visit his hometown for a while and left.

Ahn-hwoe came back to Confucius within one day of his leaving - A teaching of astonishing wisdom

When Ahn-hwoe went to Confucius to say goodbye right before he left, Confucius earnestly asked him to come back right away after he took care of his family issues. Also he told Ahn-hwoe the following, saying that this would be a very important message for Ahn-hwoe.

“千年古樹莫存身, 殺人不明勿動手”

Ahn-hwoe did not ask what this message meant but left for his hometown. After a while, suddenly it started raining with thunder and lightning so he hid under an old oak tree that was next to the road. At that time, the word of his teacher, ‘千年古樹莫存身 (Do not stay close to a thousand-year-old tree),’ came to his mind so he ran away from the tree. Right after that, the oak tree was struck by lightning and shattered. Ahn-hwoe was so surprised by Confucius’ foresight.

After hours had passed, he finally arrived at home and it was already night time. He went into his house and was going into his bedroom quietly where his wife was sleeping. He saw that there were two people sleeping on his bed. He thought, ‘What! She has been cheating on me secretly! How could she do this to me?’ He became furious instantly so he took out a sword and was about to strike them with it. At that moment, Confucius’ word, ‘殺人不明勿動手 (If it is not clear, do not murder recklessly),’ came across his mind so he put his sword back, lit a lantern and checked. It was his sister sleeping with his wife. The next day, Ahn-hwoe went back to Confucius before the sun even rose.

“Because of teacher’s word, I, myself, my wife, and my sister all were able to live. How did you foresee all that could happen?”

Confucius replied, “The weather was dry and hot yesterday so there was a possibility that there would be thunder. Also, you became irrational and took your sword with you because you were enraged when you left so I was able to foresee those kinds of situations. The reason why you went back home was that you judged that I calculated wrongly because I grew old and my discernment was not clear, so you did not want to learn from me anymore, wasn’t it? When I said that ‘3 x 8 = 23’ was correct, you lost just only your crown to that man but if I said that ‘3 x 8 = 24’ was correct, he would have to lose his life. Which one is more important, a crown or a person’s life?”

Ahn-hwoe finally realized Confucius’ actions and after that, he never left Confucius again.

Not taking action thinking only one thing is like this. We should keep in mind that if we look at only one thing, we could harm our own life or other people’s lives and also we could lose something big.

The word, “Check each direction and before taking action on something you planned, truly check to see whether or not other problems will occur,” is truly a teaching of astonishing wisdom.