In the Chinese language, 人 rén person, with one more stroke becomes 大 dà big ， like a person with 2 arms widely open, ready to embrace the greatness. 大人dà ren，a big person, has several meanings in Chinese.
First of all, 大人dà rén, means an adult, a child who has grown up and who is becoming a big person in both age and height. We can also use 大人dà rén to show respect towards people older than ourselves: 父亲大人fùqin dà rén (father), 母亲大人múqin dà rén (mother) ， 兄长大人xiōngzhǎng dà rén (elder brother), full respect to his parents and his older brother preserves harmony in the family.
In ancient times, nobles, officers, high officials were called 大人dà rén, respect of the humble people towards people of power. Today, 大人dà rén is no longer really used to show the social ranking, but unfortunately the spirit still rules.
大人dà rén, is also used to describe a person of noble character and high aspirations, and on the contrary, 小人xiǎo rén (small person) is a mean person and specialist in low blows. A Chinese proverb says that “大人 之 学 也 为 道, 小人 之 学 也 为利 。dà rén zhī xué yě wéi dào, xiǎo rén zhī xué yě wéi lì。”, great people seek DAO the spiritual path, and lousy people run behind the profit. To meditate !
Xiao Ling and Lao Long explain more details in the video hereunder.