What is "Idle hands are the devil's workshop"?

What is

The player answered “Idleness is the devil’s workshop”. Of course, this was the wrong answer. After the program gave the answer “Idleness is the devil’s workshop”, the advisor, Dr. Do Anh Vu explained:

“It’s easy for us to understand “Nhân”. “Nhân” means leisurely, to live leisurely; “cư” means “to live”; “vi” means “to be”. And the complete sentence with two words that need to be filled in is the word “ bất phẩm”. That is, “Nhân cư vi bất phẩm”. This sentence means that being too idle is not good. “ Bất” means “ không”, “tình” means “ tốt”. Later on, we also have another sentence that young people often use, “Nhân động tạo nước sự”. The ancients wanted to advise us not to let ourselves be too idle. That is, we must have something to do. And this work must be of a contributing nature, showing something that beautifies life, then people will stay away from vices and corruption. Thank you.”

The above lecture has some points that need further discussion and re-discussion.

Origin: “Idleness is the root of all evil” is from the Great Learning: “A petty person is idleness is the root of all evil, and will do everything he wants. He sees a gentleman and then despises him, and despises his evil, and then does good. He is himself, but if he sees him as a wasteland, what use is he? This has not yet been accomplished in the heart, nor has it been formed outside. Therefore, a gentleman must be careful of his own thoughts. (The Great Learning says: “Idleness is the root of all evil, and will do everything he wants. He sees a gentleman and then despises him, and then does good. He sees him as a wasteland ...形於外, 故君子必慎其獨也). Meaning: “A petty person, when alone, will do evil things, there is no evil thing he will not do. When he encounters a gentleman, he is quick to hide his evil things and show off his good things. But when people see through his heart and soul, what use is there in covering up? That is called the truth inside will be revealed outside. Therefore, a gentleman must be careful even when alone.”

Thus, "Idleness is the devil's workshop" is originally associated with "petty people" and compared to gentlemen, not used for people in general.

2 - “Vi” does not mean “is”

The Chinese dictionary records the word "vi" 為 as having more than 40 meanings, of which the 26th meaning (shi 是) means: is, is.

However, in the sentence "A petty person alone does evil, there is no evil he does not dare to do", the word "vi" means "to do": "A petty person alone does evil, there is no evil he does not dare to do".

When translated into Vietnamese, the two words “tieu nhan” were omitted and “Nhan cu vi bat thien” has a different meaning from the original sentence: Idle people (having nothing to do) often do bad and wrong things. The word “vi” here still means to do. Therefore, “Nhan cu vi bat thien” cannot be understood as “Nhan is not good”. Just like the sentence “Nhan sinh sinh nong no” (actually “Ranh nhi sinh nong no”) that Dr. Vu related, the word “sinh” also means to be born, to become, which is close in meaning to the word “lam”, and cannot be understood as “Ranh nhi la nong no”.

3 - "Idleness" does not mean "leisurely, idle"

Dr. Do Anh Vu said, “Leisure is easy to understand. Leisure means leisure, leisurely living; residence means living...”. However, the problem is not that simple.

In Chinese, "nhan cu" 閒居 has several meanings such as: 1. Avoiding people, living alone; 2. Living leisurely at home; unemployed, having nothing to do; 3. Living in a quiet, leisurely place.

With the sentence “A petty person who is idle and inactive does not do good” in the book Dai Hoc, the two words “idle and active” belong to meaning 1 (living alone). A petty person, when alone (thinking that no one knows, no one sees), should do evil things, there is nothing bad that he does not dare to do. A gentleman is the opposite. Even when alone, no one is watching, no one is seeing, but the gentleman still maintains discipline, consciously controls his words and actions, and is honest with himself (“A gentleman is careful and inactive - 君子慎獨”). The concept of “careful and inactive” in Confucianism is cultivating morality, maintaining caution even in private places, alone, even when no one knows, no one sees.

With the Vietnamese saying “Idleness is bad”, “idleness” no longer means “living alone”, nor does it mean “leisurely, idle” as Dr. Vu taught, but is understood as having no job, unemployed, having nothing to do (meaning 2 of idleness). On the other hand, the two words “bad” must be understood as bad, bad, wrong, against morality, not “not good” in general.

In short, "Idleness is the devil's workshop" does not mean "being too idle is not good", but "having nothing to do, being too idle makes it easy to do wrong and bad things", as the Vietnamese Dictionary (Hoang Phe, editor - Vietlex) has explained.

Hoang Trinh Son (Contributor)

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/nhan-cu-vi-bat-thien-la-gi-268782.htm