五、聞逆耳言 懷拂心事

5. It is helpful to hear words unpleasant to the ear and meditate on things unpleasant to the mind.

耳中常聞逆耳之言，心中常有拂心之事①，才是進德修行的砥石②。若言言悅耳，事事快心，便把此生埋在鴆毒③中矣。

【注 釋】

① 拂心之事：不順心或不如意的事情。

② 砥石：磨刀石。此處指磨練品德的逆耳之言和拂心之事。

③ 鴆毒：鴆，傳說中的一種毒鳥。用鴆的羽毛製成的酒叫鴆毒，即飲即亡。

【今文解譯】

耳朵常常聽些不中聽的話，心裏常常有些不順心的事，這樣才有利於我們德行的磨礪和提高。如果聽到的每句話都悅耳，遇到的每件事都順心，這無異於將自己的一生都浸泡在毒酒中了。

【English Translation】

Constantly hearing words unpleasant to the ear and constantly meditating on things unpleasant to the mind are worth a whetstone, upon which we cultivate our moral characters and refine our temperaments. If we contemplate every word we hear being pleasant to the ear and everything we come into contact with pleasant to the mind, it would be no more than soaking ourselves in poisoned wine.