(Unfortunately, I don\u2019t have a professional recording of this performance, thus the poor recording quality and brief gaps in content at certain moments.)<\/p>\n
Below is the English translation for those who are interested:<\/p>\n
\u201cGrinding a Rod into a Needle\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure you have all heard of Li Bai, the famous Tang dynasty poet, right?\u00a0 But perhaps you don\u2019t know that his father was a very successful, wealthy businessman.\u00a0 Growing up, Li Bai had everything a person could possibly want, with servants and maids to wait on him hand and foot.\u00a0 So one might ask, seeing that his father was so successful, why did Li Bai need to study?\u00a0 Why not just follow in his father\u2019s footsteps, learn the family trade, and take over the business when the time comes?\u00a0 That\u2019s right \u2013 if you spend all this time and money getting a PhD but can\u2019t find a job, what\u2019s the use in that?<\/p>\n
Oh, but back in those days, you wouldn\u2019t be caught dead saying something like that!\u00a0 Society back then wasn\u2019t like it is today. They had a special saying to sum things up: \u201cThe worth of other pursuits is small, the study of books excels them all.\u201d\u00a0 If you do business, make lots of money, but don\u2019t have any position in society, you can\u2019t possibly bring honor to your ancestors.\u00a0 If you want to have any kind of future, you must work your tail off studying. What? You don\u2019t think that studying can amount to anything?\u00a0 Well, let me tell you\u2013if you study hard, you can have anything you desire.<\/p>\n
Song Zhenzong (Zhao Heng) said it well in \u201cEncouraging Learning.\u201d In today\u2019s language: If you want to make a fortune, you don\u2019t have to take out a bank loan to invest in more land; you can get rich simply from studying! If you want to live comfortably in a mansion, you can gain a golden house simply from reading a book. If you want to have a home, but have no wife or matchmaker, well, you can get a girl as beautiful as flower and jade just by studying!<\/p>\n
So Li Bai stayed at home every day to study with his teacher. He was young in those days; the Four Books and Five Classics were boring and too deep for him to understand. After a long while of not understanding, he became angry, \u201cWhat fun is there in this? I won\u2019t read for another minute!\u201d The teacher looked shocked, \u201cOh, young master, please don\u2019t stop studying! If you don\u2019t continue on, where will I work?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI, I\u2019m going to the toilet.\u201d After speaking, Li Bai walked out. After using the toilet, he ran out into the street. Once there, Li Bai breathed a huge sigh of relief. And as he raised his eyes, he couldn\u2019t help but feel happy. In front of him were singing birds, opera singers, candysellers\u2014so enticing and exciting! Li Bai walked over.<\/p>\n
As he was walking, he suddenly stopped and stood still. There in front of him was a big rock with an old woman was sitting behind it. The old woman kept grinding on the stone with a big old thick iron rod. Li Bai thought to himself,\u00a0What does this old woman want to shape this stone into?<\/em><\/p>\n It makes sense for him to think this way. He has every kind of stone imaginable in his home\u2019s back garden.\u00a0This old woman in front of me must be using this iron rod to shape this rock into something! How interesting!<\/em>\u00a0Thinking along these lines, he stepped forward and asked, \u201cOld woman , what do you plan to grind this stone into?\u201d<\/p>\n When the old woman heard his question, she said, \u201cWhat? You think I\u2019m grinding this stone? No, silly boy! I am grinding a needle!\u201d Li Bai said, \u201cYou\u2019re going to grind this thick iron rod into a needle?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, why don\u2019t you believe me?\u201d<\/p>\n Can Li Bai believe her? Although he has never done needlework, he has seen what a needle looks like. A needle is so thin! Even when ground down to half its size, this thick iron rod will be impossible to use as a needle. He felt that the old lady must be fooling him.<\/p>\n \u201cOld woman, how is this possible? You are fooling people!\u201d<\/p>\n When she heard this, she replied, \u201cWhy would an old woman like me want to fool you! You are fine with all these other old people out here exercising, why don\u2019t you like it that \u00a0I\u2019m out grinding a needle? What\u2019s so impossible? I grind down a little each day, and one day it will be a needle!\u201d<\/p>\n Wow! Li Bai suddenly understood many things.\u00a0She is right! As long as one perseveres, one can accomplish anything.<\/em>With this on his mind, Li Bai ran home, burst into the house, and went straight to the study. When he arrived at the study, out of breath, he saw his teacher and asked, \u201cTeacher, where were we at in the book just now?\u201d<\/p>\n Seeing as Li Bai hadn\u2019t shown up for quite some time, the teacher asked, \u201cLi Bai, why did you take so long in the toilet?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I, uh, I had a stomachache.\u201d After speaking, he picked up his book and started reading diligently.<\/p>\n The teacher thought to himself,\u00a0That can\u2019t be<\/em>! and said in a commanding voice, \u201cI went to the toilet to look for you and you weren\u2019t there! Li Bai, tell me! Where in the world did you go?\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the lesson in it all:<\/p>\n When young, we are fond of playing and don\u2019t study hard<\/p>\n Reading is boring; it\u2019s like being caged up.<\/p>\n When by chance I meet an old woman grinding an iron rod,<\/p>\n I instantly understand.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_direction_desktop=”default” column_element_spacing=”default” desktop_text_alignment=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_backdrop_filter=”none” column_shadow=”none”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-media"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/customedev.testdevlink.net\/jolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/customedev.testdevlink.net\/jolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/customedev.testdevlink.net\/jolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customedev.testdevlink.net\/jolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customedev.testdevlink.net\/jolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/customedev.testdevlink.net\/jolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235,"href":"https:\/\/customedev.testdevlink.net\/jolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions\/235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customedev.testdevlink.net\/jolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/customedev.testdevlink.net\/jolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customedev.testdevlink.net\/jolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customedev.testdevlink.net\/jolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}