What does "idleness breeds evil" mean?

The Vietnamese Language King program requires participants to complete the proverb "Leisurely living leads to...".

The contestant answered, "Idleness leads to immortality." Of course, this was the wrong answer. After the program revealed the correct answer, "Idleness leads to evil," the advisor, Dr. Do Anh Vu, explained:

"Leisure is easy to understand. Leisure means peace and quiet, being at ease; 'cư' means 'to live'; 'vi' means 'to be'. The complete sentence, however, requires two words to be filled in: 'bất thiện' (not good). That is, 'Leisurely living leads to not being good.' This sentence means that being too idle isn't good. 'Bất' means 'not,' 'thiện' means 'good.' Later, we also had another saying that young people often use: 'Idleness breeds mischief.' The ancients wanted to advise us not to be too idle. That is, we should have something to do. And this work should be something that contributes to society, something that beautifies life, so that people can avoid vices and corruption. Thank you."

The above teaching contains several points that require further discussion and re-examination.

Origin: The saying "Idleness breeds evil" is from the Great Learning: "A petty person, idle, does evil, going wherever they please. Upon seeing a virtuous person, they become disgusted, suppressing their evil and focusing on their good. If a person is self-centered, and sees their own self-centeredness, what good is it? This is because they are perfected within and manifested outwardly; therefore, a virtuous person must be cautious of their own selfishness." (形於外, 故君子必慎其獨也). This means: "A petty person, when alone, commits all sorts of wicked deeds. When encountering a virtuous person, they hastily conceal their evils and boast about their good deeds. But when someone sees through their heart and soul, what good is concealment? This is what is meant by 'true feelings within will inevitably be revealed.' Therefore, a virtuous person must be cautious even when alone."

Thus, the saying "Idleness breeds evil" is traditionally associated with "petty people" and used in comparison to virtuous people, and is not applied to people in general.

2 - "Vi" does not mean "is"

The Chinese Dictionary lists over 40 meanings for the character “為” (xi), of which the 26th meaning (是) is: is, is.

However, in the saying "A petty person, when idle, commits evil deeds, there is no evil deed they would not commit," the word "vi" means "to do": "A petty person, when alone, commits evil deeds, there is no evil deed they would not dare to do."

When translated into Vietnamese, the two words "tiểu nhân" (petty person) are omitted, and "Nhàn cư vi bất thiện" (Idleness breeds wrongdoing) takes on a different meaning from the original: Idle people (those with nothing to do) often engage in wrongdoing. The word "vi" here still means to do. Therefore, "Nhàn cư vi bất thiện" cannot be understood as "Idleness is bad." Similarly, in the phrase "Nhàn rỗi sinh nông nổi" (actually "Leisurely people are impulsive") that Dr. Vũ referred to, the word "sinh" also means to give birth to, to result in, close in meaning to "do," and cannot be understood as "Leisurely people are impulsive."

3 - "Leisurely living" does not mean "leisurely, living in idleness."

Dr. Do Anh Vu explained, "Leisure is easy for us to understand. Leisure means peace and quiet, living in leisure; 'reside' means to live...". However, the issue is not that simple.

In Chinese, the term 閒居 (xianju) has several meanings, including: 1. To avoid people, to live alone; 2. To live a leisurely life at home; to be unemployed, to have nothing to do; 3. To live in a quiet, peaceful place.

In the saying "When a petty person is idle, they commit evil" from the Great Learning, the two words "idle" refer to meaning 1 (being alone). A petty person, when alone (thinking no one knows or sees), will commit wicked deeds, daring to do anything evil. A virtuous person, on the other hand, is the opposite. Even when alone, unsupervised and unseen, a virtuous person maintains decorum, consciously controls their words and actions, and is honest with themselves ("A virtuous person is cautious in solitude - 君子慎獨"). The concept of "caution in solitude" in Confucianism refers to cultivating virtue and maintaining caution even in private, when alone, even when no one knows or sees.

In Vietnamese, the saying "Idleness breeds evil" means "being alone," not "being idle" as Dr. Vu explains, but rather "being idle, living a life of leisure." Furthermore, the term "evil" should be understood as something bad, wrong, immoral, or contrary to ethics, not simply "not good" in general.

In short, "Idleness breeds evil" doesn't mean "being too idle is bad," but rather that "having nothing to do and being too idle easily leads to wrongdoing," as explained in the Vietnamese Dictionary (edited by Hoang Phe - Vietlex).

Hoang Trinh Son (Contributor)

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