Whether it is a blessing or a curse depends on whether you can keep this point of the Book of Changes
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In life, the more you haggling about, the more pain you will have, and the more you haggling about, the poorer you will be.
We often say a word, “There is no such thing as good or bad, only people call on themselves.” Whether it is a disaster or a blessing depends entirely on one’s behavior. Since fortune and misfortune are up to us, how can we be blessed and avoid misfortune?
The wisdom of “I-Ching” tells us that whether it is good or bad depends on whether we can keep our duty, that is, keep our duty.
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Hold your position, don’t act out of position
“I-Ching” said: “Wuwu, Yuanheng, Lizhen. The bandit is right and there is evil, and there is bad luck.”
This sentence is to remind people to abide by their duties and not to do things beyond their ability, otherwise disasters will happen.
The so-called keeping one’s duty is what Confucius said: “If you are not in your position, you will not seek his own government.” It is also what Zeng Zi said: “A gentleman cannot think about his position.”
In “Long and Short Classics · Anti-Classic”, there is an incident between Confucius and his student Zilu.
Once, when Zilu was the governor of Shao, Ji Shi, the official of the state of Lu, ordered the people to open a canal within five months, and Zilu was in charge of this matter.
In order to encourage everyone to work, and the public funds were not enough, Zilu paid out of his own pocket, affixed his own salary, and even got food from home for everyone to eat. When Confucius heard the news, he immediately sent Zigong to pour out the rice that Zilu had prepared for the workers and smash the iron pot.
Zilu was furious, and ran to quarrel with his teacher, saying to Confucius, “Master taught us to be good people and to practice benevolence and righteousness every day. Now I am doing this, but I let Zigong make trouble.” Are you jealous of my benevolence?
Confucius said: Zilu! Don’t be confused, a man who becomes the Son of Heaven loves the world because the world is his own; becomes a feudal lord, he loves the people of his own country; family.
Acts of benevolence and righteousness are of course a good thing, but benevolence and righteousness that exceeds the scope violates the authority of others. It is not good for yourself, for everyone, or for long-term development. (“To exceed one’s love is to invade an official”)
Confucius did this because he showed great kindness to Zilu, and cared for his students like his own son, because Zilu would win the hearts of the people if he did this, but it would inevitably arouse jealousy, and someone would have to kill Zilu. Therefore, even doing things like benevolence, righteousness and loving others, knowing one’s own duty, must be just right.
Think about where you are, know what you should do and what you should not do, and don’t overstep the rules, that is to keep your position and keep your points.
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Hold your heart and make yourself strong
There is a saying in “Tao Te Ching” “Three Knows and Three Guards”: “Know the male, keep the female; know the white, keep the black; know the glory, keep the disgrace… Changde is enough, return to simplicity.”
To put it in the vernacular, it means that you have the strength to be a hero, but keep a soft state without showing your sharpness; you have a clear understanding of everything and everything, but you don’t impose your own opinions and will on others; The status of power and wealth, still able to live an ordinary life, the eternal virtue can be considered complete, and return to innocence and simplicity.
To sum up, a gentleman is a person who hides his weapons in his body, but keeps his duty and does not lose his edge. To do this, you need to guard your heart.
In his middle and later years, Zeng Guofan held a lot of power, but he always stuck to his heart, never corrupted, bribed, sought personal gain, or violated the law.
When Zeng Guofan was the governor of Liangjiang, a county magistrate wanted to bribe Wang Xizhi with a copy of Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty. It was the ancestor of Chunhua Pavilion in the Song Dynasty.
But Zeng Guofan returned it intact after enjoying it for a while, and wrote eight words in his diary that day: “Don’t dare to take the beauty in the world.”
After Zeng Guofan’s death, the property left behind was less than 20,000 taels of silver, which was only equivalent to a year’s maintenance silver for a first-level official. In this way, it is really rare in that drowsy and chaotic world.
As long as you keep your own heart and respond to all changes with the same, no matter how the environment changes, no matter what kind of ups and downs, you will not be disturbed, not tempted, and deal with it calmly, you will not be disturbed by foreign objects, and you will not be troubled by external things. No matter how the environment turns, even if there is chaos around you, you can still stay still.
Those who can keep their hearts are gentle and quiet, just like the earth, which always puts itself in a low place, but no one denies its greatness;
Those who can keep their hearts restrained and reserved, just like the sea, always put themselves in a low place, but no one denies its profundity.
Only by keeping your heart can you maintain calmness and tranquility, and you don’t need to prove yourself through the approval of others, which is the real strength.
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Keeping your mouth shut is your best self-cultivation
“I-Ching” says: “Auspicious people have few speeches, but impatient people have many speeches.” This tells us to keep our mouths shut.
When getting along with others, some people talk too much, thinking that they seem to have a broad vision, profound knowledge, and rich accumulation, but they feel frivolous, superficial, and arrogant.
Auspicious people speak little. Because his mind can be calmed down, once his mind is calmed down, he knows how to judge the situation and observe the situation, so he doesn’t talk much, but when he speaks out, people feel very trustworthy, so he only speaks at the right time.
Zhuangzi sighed in “Human World”: “Whoever speaks, there will be troubles!” Since ancient times, there have been countless examples of misfortunes coming out of the mouth, ranging from offending others to even losing one’s life.
It is recorded in “Ai Zi Hou Yu”: There was a alchemist in Zhao State who was very talkative. He claimed that he had lived for thousands of years and had seen Fuxi, Nuwa, Shennong, Chiyou, Cangjie, Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Emperor Mu, Our Lady of Yaochi and other ancient gods.
One day, King Zhao fell from his horse and was seriously injured. The doctor said that it takes more than a thousand years of blood to cure, so King Zhao ordered the alchemist to be killed to take blood.
The alchemist was so frightened that he quickly clarified that he was bragging, but King Zhao didn’t believe him, thinking that he was lying to save his life, so he killed him anyway.
Keeping your mouth shut is not about not speaking, but about being able to speak, which is what Confucius called “neglect”. Confucius said: “A gentleman wants to be slow in speech but quick in action.” Lao Tzu said: “A great argument is like slowness.”
“Neyan” means to be patient and speak less, to be cautious and slow to speak, to think twice before speaking, and not to speak unrestrainedly.
Keeping your mouth shut means not speaking when you are unhappy; not speaking when your heart is upset; keeping your mouth shut and not speaking when you have complaints or emotions.
A person who sticks to his duty can keep his position, keep his heart, keep his mouth shut, be a serious person, work down-to-earth, don’t steal or cheat, don’t cheat, don’t cheat, don’t be jealous, don’t flatter, he is worthy of God, Be worthy of the ground, be upright, open and frank, you can naturally avoid disasters, and there will be no disadvantages!
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END
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