..續本文上一頁 our parents take the right medicine at the right times and in the right dosages (because sometimes sick people have to take more than one kind of medicine). This is one of the reasons we should carefully attend to our parents when they are sick.
病人或者頭昏眼花，或者行動不便，或者飲食無法自主，甚或大小便都不能自理，在在都需要人照顧。尤其是心情的沮喪、煩躁或恐懼，更需要人的支持與安撫。照顧病人是很苦的事情，尤其你若有自己經濟上的困難、家庭的責任、工作或功課上的壓力，還要奔走醫院，服侍一個心理也可能已不平衡的病人，那真會令人心力交疲。中國有句俗話說：“久病床前無孝子。”實在說起來，也不能苛責做子女的，不過孝子之所以是孝子，也正因爲他“難行能行、難忍能忍”，和平常人不一樣。
Sick people may be dizzy, or have trouble getting around, or be unable to feed themselves or to use the toilet; they need other people to help them in all aspects. When they are sad, afflicted, or afraid, they especially need others to support and console them. Taking care of sick people can be very hard, especially if one has financial difficulties, family responsibilities, or pressures from work or school. If one has to make many trips to the hospital to take care of a sick person who may not be in a normal state of mind, one may become physically and mentally exhausted. There. is a Chinese saying, "There are no filial children by the bedside of one who is chronically ill." Yet. one cannot really blame the children. A filial child merits the name "filial" because he or she is able to rise above the crowd, practicing what is difficult to practice, and enduring what is hard to endure.
所以這後兩句文字，說不論白天夜晚都侍奉著，不離開父母的床邊；雖然在今日的社會環境中，有些不可能，總以盡心盡力爲孝。這個“盡”字，便是一種不自私、不自利，一種完全奉獻的心態。做子女的，只要問自己是否盡心盡力了；至于其作法，是可以因人、因時、因地而製宜，不是一成不變的！
The second line of the verse says that we should wait on our sick parents day and night, without leaving their bedside. Although this may not always be possible in our modern society, we should still try our best to be filial. Our spirit should be one of "giving our all" without one bit of selfishness. As children, we should simply ask ourselves if we have done our best for our parents; the methods we use are not fixed, but can depend on the person, time, and situation.
漢文帝親嘗湯藥，名列二十四孝，那是因爲他以九五之尊，萬機之忙，卻不假手他人，晝夜親侍候薄太後，殊是不易。我們可不要找藉口，說皇帝富甲天下，不須要勞累工作，當然他有空閑和精力去日夜照顧母親啰，嘗嘗藥又算什麼！那麼古今中外，有幾個孝子是出在豪門的呀？
Emperor Wen of the Han dynasty personally tasted his mother”s medicine, and he became one of the Twenty-four Filial Paragons of China. Although he was the emperor and was occupied with the myriad affairs of riding the country, he personally waited upon his mother day and night. This is truly remarkable. We shouldn”t try to find an excuse, saying, "Well, the emperor was wealthy and didn”t have to work to make a living. Of course he had the time and energy to take care of his mother around the clock. What”s the big deal about tasting her medicine once in a while
" Yet take a look at history in China and other countries and see how many filial children have come from rich families.
所以“不論白天夜晚都侍奉著，不離開父母的床邊”，這意思是指孝事父母的那個“心”；不要在那個“時間”上鑽牛角尖，而誤解了聖人所說的真義。
The line "Wait upon them day and night, without ever leaving their bedside" is talking about the spirit with which we should serve our parents. We shouldn”t become attached to the details of time and place and misunderstand the true intent of the sages.
讀古書，要以心去領會得書中義理的精神，並行之于日用之間，才能上與古聖先賢遊。斷不能依文解字，以辭害義；否則我們所謂的文字，只不過是古人思想糟粕。若因此一味指責思想落伍，不能産生大用，而人雲亦雲，那是邪知邪見；若是拿糟粕當精華，囫囵吞棗、照單全收，那叫做屈死古人！
In studying the classics, we have to grasp the spirit of the principles and practice them in our daily lives. Then we will be able to roam with the sages and worthies of old. We should not interpret the classics so literally that the meaning is lost, or else we will only taste the dregs of the noble ideas of the ancients. If we insist on condemning all the classics as outdated, we will gain no benefit from them. We are simply repeating what we hear, which is based upon mistaken views. If we treat the dregs as the cream and jump to conclusions like this, we are not doing justice to the ancients.
《弟子規淺釋 Standards for Students 第二章：孝 Chapter Two： FILIAL PIETY - 9》全文閱讀結束。