一个富人问禅师："我一生忙于赚钱，请问我应该赚多少才停止？
”禅师在桌子上放了一个杯子，然后用水壶给杯子倒水。
水都溢满整张桌子了，禅师还是继续倒，直到把水壶里的水都倒完为止。
禅师问："你懂了吗？
”富人回答："我不明白这是什么意思？
”禅师说："整壶水是你一生所赚的钱，杯子的容量是你一生所需要花的钱，赚超过自己所需要的财富，只会溢出来，但不能留住。
”
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
narration saved locally, offline — from https://download.mandarinbean.com/audio?source=aHR0cHM6Ly90cmFmZmljLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vbGVhcm5jaGluZXNlL0FfQ3VwLTMwNjEubXAz&filename=A-Cup.mp3&signature=0e6b07dccd79c0fd885ad6e1dd0efb7014d6de00fa9a3cb3ee79d981ef9727c4
| Chinese | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 一 | yī | one / single / a (article) |
| 个 | gè | classifier for people or objects in general |
| 富人 | fù rén | rich person / the rich |
| 问 | wèn | to ask; to inquire |
| 禅师 | chán shī | honorific title for a Buddhist monk |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 一生 | yī shēng | all one's life; throughout one's life |
| 忙于 | máng yú | busy with |
| 赚 | zhuàn | to earn / to make a profit |
| 钱 | qián | coin / money / unit of weight, one tenth of a tael |
| 请问 | qǐng wèn | Excuse me, may I ask...? |
| 应该 | yīng gāi | ought to; should; must |
| 多少 | duō shao | how much?; how many? / what number? |
| 才 | cái | then and only then |
| 停止 | tíng zhǐ | to stop; to halt; to cease |
| 在 | zài | (of sb or sth) to be (located) at |
| 桌子 | zhuō zi | table / desk |
| 上 | shàng | (noun suffix) on; above |
| 放 | fàng | to put / to place |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker) / (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now) |
| 杯子 | bēi zi | cup / glass |
| 然后 | rán hòu | then; after that; afterwards |
| 用 | yòng | to use; to make use of; to employ / (coverb) with; using |
| 水壶 | shuǐ hú | kettle / canteen / watering can |
| 给 | gěi | to / for / for the benefit of / to do sth (for sb) |
| 倒 | dào | to invert; to place upside down or frontside back / to pour out / to tip out; to dump / to go backward |
| 水 | shuǐ | water / (after a name) ... River / (bound form) additional cost; extra income |
| 都 | dōu | already |
| 溢 | yì | to overflow |
| 满 | mǎn | to fill / to reach the limit / to satisfy |
| 整 | zhěng | (bound form) whole; complete; entire; (before a measure word) whole; (before or after number + measure word) exactly / (bound form) in good order; tidy; neat |
| 张 | zhāng | classifier for flat objects, sheet / classifier for votes |
| 还是 | hái shi | still (as before) |
| 继续 | jì xù | to continue; to proceed with; to go on with |
| 直到 | zhí dào | until |
| 把 | bǎ | (used to put the object before the verb: 把[ba3] + {noun} + {verb}) |
| 里 | lǐ | lining / interior / inside |
| 的 | de | possessive particle (of; 's) / modifying particle (used after an attribute to modify a noun or to form a nominal expression) |
| 完 | wán | to finish / to be over |
| 为止 | wéi zhǐ | until / (used in combination 到...為止|到...为止) |
| 你 | nǐ | you |
| 懂 | dǒng | to understand / to comprehend |
| 吗 | ma | (question particle for "yes-no" questions) |
| 回答 | huí dá | to reply; to answer / reply; answer |
| 不 | bù | no; not so |
| 明白 | míng bai | to understand; to realize |
| 这 | zhè | this; these |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only) |
| 什么 | shén me | what? |
| 意思 | yì si | idea / opinion / meaning |
| 说 | shuō | to speak; to talk; to say |
| 壶 | hú | classifier for bottled liquid |
| 所 | suǒ | particle introducing a relative clause or passive |
| 容量 | róng liàng | capacity / volume / quantitative (science) |
| 需要 | xū yào | to need; to want; to demand; to require |
| 花 | huā | to spend (money, time) |
| 超过 | chāo guò | to surpass / to exceed / to outstrip |
| 自己 | zì jǐ | oneself; (attributive) one's own |
| 财富 | cái fù | wealth / riches |
| 只 | zhǐ | only; merely; just |
| 会 | huì | to be likely to; to be sure to |
| 出来 | chu lai | (after a verb, indicates coming out, completion of an action, or ability to discern or detect) |
| 但 | dàn | but; yet; however; still |
| 能 | néng | can / to be able to / might possibly |
| 留住 | liú zhù | to ask sb to stay / to keep sb for the night / to await (classical) |