When Confucius traveled east, he saw two children arguing and asked them why they were arguing.
A child said, "I think the sun is close to people when it just rises, and far away at noon."
Another child said, "I think when the sun just rises, it is far away from people, and at noon it is close to people."
A child said, "The sun is as big as an umbrella at the beginning of sunrise, and it is as small as a plate at noon. Isn't that the reason why things look smaller if they are far, and bigger if near?"
Another child said, "It's cool when the sun just comes out. It's as hot as putting your hand into hot water at noon. Isn't that the reason why you feel hot when you are near, and cool when you are far away?"
Confucius could not judge who was right and who was wrong.
The two children laughed and said to Confucius, "Who said you are wise?"
Original Chinese title: 两小儿辩日
Author: Liezi (about 450 B.C. - 375 B.C., the Warring States Period, died at the age of 75), a representative figure of Taoism in the early Warring States period. He is known as Kou, also known as Yu Kou ("Liezi" is the honorific name of later generations). He is a famous Taoist scholar, thinker, philosopher, writer, and educator. His writings have a profound influence on philosophy, aesthetics, literature, science and technology, health preservation, music, and religion of later generations. His philosophy originated from the Yellow Emperor and Laozi, and belongs to Laozi and Zhuangzi. He founded the Guixu School of Pre-Qin Philosophy (Leninism). He is an important inheritor of the Taoist school between Laozi and Zhuangzi.
Translator: Jian Xu
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