【大紀元5月21日訊】

肩吾問前令尹孫叔敖道：「您三次當宰相也沒有自負，三次離職也沒有憂色。起初我並不相信，但現可信服了。看您悠然自適，究竟您心裏是怎樣想的？」

孫叔敖回答說：「我有甚麼過人的地方呢？依我看，職位來時，不能推卻，職位去時，也不能阻止。得失不在於我，所以我並不感到難過。我有甚麼過人的地方呢？況且，我並不知道是宰相的職位尊貴，還是我尊貴。如果是宰相的職位尊貴，就與我無關。如果是我尊貴，就與宰相的職位無關。我心滿意足。張目四看大自然的美麗，哪有閒情去理會人間的貴賤呢？」

Ups And Downs

“Though you were appointed Prime Minister three times, you weren’t vain. Though you’ve left the post three times, you weren’t depressed.” Jian Wu told Sun Suao, the former Prime Minister. “I didn’t quite believe it at first, but now I’m convinced because I see you breathe with an air of serenity. How did you actually feel in your heart?”

“What are my fortes?” Sun Suao replied. “I think that when the pots was offered to me, it was beyond me to reject it. When the post was taken away from me, it was also beyond me to stop it. I don’t think the gain or loss rests with me, so I’m not depressed.

“What are my fortes? Besides, I don’t know which commands respect, the Prime Minister’s post or I. If it is the Prime Minister’s post that commands respect, it has nothing to do with me. If this is I that command respect, it has nothing to do with the post of the Prime Minister. I’m happy and content. And with all this beauty of nature around me, where on earth can I find the time to bother myself over the social ranks of men?”

轉自：《翀仔寓言網》@

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