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The 24 Filial Exemplars (23)

Chapter 23: Mèng Zōng 孟宗

23. HE WEPT TILL THE BAMBOO SPROUTED

Mèng Zōng of the Three Kingdoms period was also called Gōngwŭ. His father died when he was small, and his mother was very ill. One winter she longed to eat a soup made with boiled bamboo shoots. Zōng had no means to give her such a thing, and he went out to the bamboo grove where, seizing a bamboo stalk, he wept. His filial piety moved heaven and earth. In a moment, the earth cracked open and many stalks of bamboo shoots appeared. He gathered them and returned home to make soup for his mother. When she had eaten it, she recovered. Verses praise him, saying:
Tears drop; the north wind is cold

And moans through a stand of bamboo;

But winter bamboo shoots come forth!

The wish of Heaven is to bring harmony.*

*-Píng'ān. For a discussion of this complex concept in its specialized application to families, see my book, Gods, Ghosts, & Ancestors: The Folk Religion of a Taiwanese Village, page 92.
二十三、哭竹生笋
三国。孟宗。字恭武。少孤。母老病笃。多月思笋煮羹食。宗无计可得。乃往竹林中。抱竹而泣。孝感天地。须臾地裂。出笋数茎。持归。作羹奉母。食毕疾愈。有诗为颂。 诗曰
泪滴朔风寒。萧萧竹数竿。须臾冬笋出。天意报平安。


23. Kū Zhú Shēng Sŭn
Sānguó Mèng Zōng. Zì Gōngwŭ. Shào gū. Mŭ lăo jí dŭ. Dōng yuè sī sūn zhŭ gēng shí. Zōng Wú jì kĕ dé. Năi wăng zhúlín zhōng. Bào zhú ér qì. Xiào găn tiāndì.Xū yŭdì diè. Chū sŭn shù jīng. Chí guī. Zuò gēng fèng mŭ. Shí bì jí yù. Yŏu shī wéi sòng.
Shī yuē:
Lèi dī shuò fēng hán. Xiāoxiāo zhú shù gān. Xū yú dōngsŭn chū. Tiān yì bào píng'ān.


二十三、哭竹生筍
三國。孟宗。字恭武。少孤。母老病篤。多月思筍煮羹食。宗無計可得。乃往竹林中。抱竹而泣。孝感天地。須臾地裂。出筍數莖。持歸。作羹奉母。食畢疾愈。有詩為頌。 詩曰
淚滴朔風寒。蕭蕭竹數竿。須臾冬筍出。天意報平安。


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