Original text:

My son died of a serious illness. I celebrate his legacy. My son has recovered from his illness. If he is very ill, what is it? The son said, I have heard of it. Life is good for people. Death is harmless to people. My life is not good for people. I can die and hurt others. If I die, I will choose a place where I don't eat and bury me.

Translation:

Cheng: Guo, doctor of Qi.

Celebrate the legacy: Qi people.

Cheng fell ill, very seriously. Qingyi entered the ward and asked him, "Your illness is not serious. What should I do if I get well? "

Gaozi knew that he was asking for his views on the afterlife, so he said to Qingyi, "I heard that a person is always beneficial to others when he is alive, but always harmless to others after he dies." Even if I live in the world, I won't do much good to people. After death, you can't let the grave occupy the fertile land and leave harm to future generations! Just find a piece of land that can't be planted and bury me. "

Postscript:

According to legend, The Book of Rites (also known as The Book of Rites for Little Wear and The Sutra for Little Wear) is a collection of laws and regulations compiled by Dai Sheng, a ritual scientist in the Western Han Dynasty.

The book consists of 20 volumes and 49 articles, which mainly records the pre-Qin ritual system, and embodies the pre-Qin Confucian philosophical thoughts (such as the view of heaven, world outlook and outlook on life), educational thoughts (such as personal cultivation, educational system, teaching methods and school management), political thoughts (such as educational politics, building a harmonious society, ritual system and criminal law) and aesthetic thoughts (such as the theory of material sense and the theory of harmony between rites and music).

Dai Sheng was born in the Western Han Dynasty. According to ancient documents such as History of the Scholars, Guangping County Records, Guide County Records, Hakka Dai Family Tree, Xintai County Records, etc., he was a native of Suiyang (now Suiyang District, Shangqiu, Henan Province) in the Western Han Dynasty.

He used to be the satrap of Jiujiang and studied Confucian classics all his life, especially the study of the Book of Rites. He studied under Hou Cang, the master of Confucian classics, his uncle Dade and Qingpu, and devoted himself to studying Li. When Emperor Gaozu Xuan Di proclaimed himself emperor, Dai Sheng participated in the discussion of Shiqu Pavilion and evaluated the similarities and differences of the Five Classics. He devoted his life to teaching and writing. He compiled all kinds of etiquette works written by Confucius disciples from the Warring States to the early Han Dynasty into a book, which he called Xiao Dai or Xiao Dai.

In this passage in the Book of Rites, there are many similar statements, such as "life is good for people, and death is harmless to people".

Lu You's "Yongmei": "Scattered into mud, crushed into dust, but the fragrance remains unchanged."

Gong Zizhen's "Yi Hai Za Shi" in Qing Dynasty: "Falling in red is not heartless, but turning into spring mud will protect flowers more."

Cang Kejia's Some People: "Some people are alive and he is dead; Some people are dead and he is still alive. "

"Mencius? Dedication: If you are poor, you will be immune to it, and if you succeed, you will help the world. "

Ordinary people can't "be good at the world", so they should "be good at themselves" and "be good in life"!