The wisdom of I Ching

Chapter 104 Life must learn moderation—bitterness, chastity, repentance

【Original Code】

Festival, Heng, bitter festivals cannot be chaste.

"彖" says: Festival, Heng.Hard and soft are divided into hard and soft.Bitter festivals cannot be chaste, and their way is poor.Talking about taking risks, being in a position with integrity, and righteousness with integrity.The festival of heaven and earth is formed at four o'clock.Adopting the system will not harm the wealth or the people.

"Elephant" says: There is water on the lake, festival.A gentleman uses the system to count and discuss virtue.Upper sixth, bitter festival, chaste and vicious, remorse for death.

"Xiang" said: "Bitter festival is chaste and fierce, and its way is poor."

—— "Book of Changes Festival"

【Interpretation】

The hexagram of "Jie" symbolizes temperance and prosperity; but you should not be excessively restrained, and you should stick to integrity.

"Tuan Zhuan" says: Temperance and prosperity are due to the distinction between rigidity and softness, and masculinity is restrained in the middle way.But you should not feel bitter due to excessive restraint, and you should stick to integrity. If you don’t restrain yourself, you will end up in trouble.If you are happy with things, you will have the courage to go through hardships and dangers, if you are in a proper position, you will be consciously restrained, and you will be upright and act without hindrance.It is because of the restraint of heaven and earth that the four seasons can be formed throughout the year.The monarch uses laws and regulations as restraint, so as not to waste property and harm the people.

"Xiang Zhuan" said: There is water on the Daze to build embankments as a defense, which symbolizes restraint; therefore, gentlemen formulate etiquette and legal system as the criterion, and discuss in detail the appropriateness of moral behavior and appointment.The upper six lines say: Excessive restraint makes people bitter; one should keep righteousness and guard against danger, and remorse can perish.

"Xiang Zhuan" said: Excessive temperance is bitter and bitter, and we should keep upright and guard against dangers, which shows that the way of excessive temperance is already difficult.

"Festival" is an attitude of people towards things, which is reflected in people's production and life style.Due to different living environments, conditions, and levels, the scope of "section" for things is also different. "Festival" can be reflected in people's spiritual life, as well as in material life; it can be reflected in family and personal lifestyles, and it can also be reflected in the means and policies of a region and a country's governance.In a sense, "festival" also has different values ​​in different times.

"Festival" is a pursuit of desire in life, an attitude of self-restraint.In this world, one must restrain all kinds of desires. As the saying goes: "Too much is too much." Too much of anything will not lead to good results.Temperance should also emphasize a certain limit, instead of killing it with a stick, it is necessary to implement the golden mean.We must stick to the middle way in everything, and we must be impartial and just right.Life without temperance will lead to disaster, and excessive temperance will also bring danger, so it is best to stick to integrity.

【Category】

Story [-]: The "bitter festival" of the rich man

A story like this in "The Scholars" illustrates the degree of festival.In ancient times, there was a rich man whose family was very rich, but before he died, he couldn't swallow his breath, but now he couldn't speak, but his eyes were wide open, and he stretched out two fingers, his friends didn't understand his intentions.

At this moment, his wife understood what he meant. It turned out that there were two wicks burning in the lamp, but his wife immediately snuffed out one of the wicks, and the rich man died at last.When this kind of person is dying, he is still reluctant to part with a wick or use a little more oil, and he is unwilling to die for this. The behavior of this rich man can be said to be a kind of thrift and temperance, but his kind of thrift is a kind of bitterness. .Of course, this is a kind of irony, but there are indeed such "bitter knots" in real life.

A cartoon depicts a student with "bottle bottom" glasses doing homework under dim light. The title of the cartoon is "Buy Glasses to Save Electricity Bills." Dim light is bad for eyes, and eyes are damaged to save electricity , the result of such abstinence is bound to be pernicious.There is a similar principle of "saving the money to buy vegetables to buy medicines", that is, to save a few dollars, you are reluctant to buy vegetables and eat, and as a result, you get tired and get sick and spend a lot of money to buy medicines.

The hexagram of "Jie" advocates that "when the festival is proper, there is no temperance." That is to say, under certain norms, people should learn to be temperate, but they should not lose "degree" and go to the opposite side to become "bitter festival".There are many things that cannot be excessive. Excessiveness will inevitably bring harm, so we must take precautions.

Story [-]: The Greed of Songjiang Supervisor

During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a supervisor in Songjiang who was eloquent and knowledgeable. He could have made a difference, but he believed in alchemy, and was cheated out of a large sum of money by a liar who claimed to be able to make alchemy.The prison student was naturally angry and hated, so he searched everywhere, trying to catch the person who lied to him.

Suddenly one day, he really ran into that alchemy man in his Lumen in Suzhou.Before he could speak, the liar graciously invited him to drink, and sincerely apologized to him, saying that he was very sorry to the supervisor last time, and begged his forgiveness.

The alchemist discussed with the supervisor again and said: "People like us spend all the money as soon as they get it. Of course, there is no money to return to you. Now I have a way. There is a rich man in Dongshan who has made an agreement with me. Okay, as soon as my teacher comes, I will preside over the alchemy, but my teacher will not come for a while. If you are willing to condescend, you have the right to be my teacher for a while, and the money you took from the rich man will As my payment to you. What do you think of the quick and easy language?"

The prison student agreed to the alchemist's request because he wanted to get back the money he had lost without thinking too much about it.So the alchemist asked the supervisor to pretend to be a Taoist priest, while he pretended to be a student, and treated the supervisor with the etiquette he would treat a teacher.After talking with the supervisor dressed as a Taoist priest, the big family was deeply convinced.The two just talked about it every day, and handed over the matter of alchemy to the "apprentice" of the supervisor, thinking that since the master was there, the apprentice could not go anywhere.

Unexpectedly, seeing that the time was right, the scammer stole the money from the big family and ran away. The family of the big family grabbed the "teacher" and wanted to go to the government to sue him.The unlucky prison student cried loudly and was able to escape after explaining the real situation.Because people like Jiansheng want to get back what they have lost, they don't consider whether it will hurt others, and they don't hold back their greed, but they fall to the point of being laughed at.

After people have greed, they will have selfish desires in their hearts when doing things, and they will not be able to uphold justice in doing things.The greed of an official will bring disaster to the people; the greed of a businessman will ruin the future of cooperation.Only by understanding the meaning of the word "forbearance" can one keep a clear head in front of the word "benefit", and be a shrewd man.

Story Three: Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was murdered for lust

In the fourth year of Emperor Xuanzong's Tianbao, Yang Taizhen, the daughter of Yang Xuanyan, the former Sima of Shuzhou, was named a noble concubine, and Xuanzong loved her very much.In order to please Concubine Yang Gui, Xuanzong sent people to transport fresh lychees from the south, which took a lot of manpower and material resources.There was a poem that said: "When a concubine rides on the world of mortals and smiles, no one knows that it is a litchi."

Xuanzong indulged in the beauty of Yang Guifei and ignored the government. The situation of "Kaiyuan Prosperity" gradually declined, and a generation of prosperous Tang Dynasty finally came to an end. In the 14th year of Tianbao, An Lushan rebelled, and finally captured Chang'an.

Jie, the monarch of the Xia Dynasty, doted on Ximei and let her do whatever she wanted. As a result, the hearts of the people rebelled, and the country perished with his own death.King You of Zhou favored Baosi, abolished Empress Shen and Prince Yijiu, and caused Quan Rong to attack the capital, and was killed by Quan Rong at the foot of Mount Li.The reason why the civil strife occurred in the state of Jin originated from the favor of Li Ji, Duke Xian of Jin.The demise of the state of Wu originated from the favor of Xi Shi, the king of Wu.Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty indulged in Zhao Feiyan's beauty and couldn't extricate himself, so that there was a ridicule of "disaster water" in the Pixiang Temple.These examples of subjugation and prodigal families are all caused by infatuation with women.

As the saying goes: "A calm mind is naturally cool." The key to tempering inner desires lies in the word "calm mind". The more ambitious a person is, the more calm he should be.

【The Heart of the Book of Changes】

"There must be temperance in dealing with things, and temperance in behavior. Temperance is a human virtue, and indulgence is a great evil." Sometimes, the greed of material desires and the needs of life will completely deviate.The needs in real life are limited, but the greed of material desires is unlimited.Those stupid people are completely detached from the needs of life and fall into the extreme greed of material desires. As a result, they can only walk on the "road of no return" of "extricating themselves from society".

There are too many things in the world that make your heart beat. If you don't grasp it well and think about it every day, it will bring a lot of misfortune.It's better to be a man in moderation. If you have too many desires, you will go to great lengths to obtain them.Not only your own inner pain, but also easy to invite unexpected disasters.We should try our best to look down on material life, live a better life if we have the conditions, and live better if we don’t have the conditions.If you have no conditions but want to "create conditions", this is the origin of misfortune.For your own desires, you must calmly and rationally control them.

Life is temperate, life will be happy; if life is indulgent, life will be disaster.Temperance is responsible for oneself, indulgence is betrayal of oneself, and indulgence of one's words and deeds will bring unnecessary troubles.Indulgence does not mean enjoyment, but one's own ignorance of life, and it is a trample on a good life.An unrestrained life will only be entangled in troubles and pains, and the greatest tragedy in life is to indulge yourself.

(End of this chapter)