The wisdom of I Ching

Chapter 116 Success is Diligence and Vigilance——A Gentleman Works All Day, Be Vigilant Every Night, No Blame

【Original Code】

Ninety-three, a gentleman works hard all day long, and is vigilant at night, without blame.

"Xiang" says: Doing things all day long, repeating the Tao.

——"Book of Changes Dry"

【Interpretation】

"Qian" hexagram nine and three lines say: A gentleman works hard all day long, and at night he has to seriously reflect on what he did that day.In this way, disasters can be avoided even if there is danger.The "dry work" in the hexagrams means to forge ahead; "vigilance" means vigilance, fear, and reflection; "li" means danger;

"Xiang Ci" says: stay strong all day long, and reflect on the road you have traveled so that there will be no deviation.

The Nine and Three Lines are composed of multiple masculinities. They do not live in the center, do not reach the sky above, and do not stand on the ground below. Only by constantly improving themselves and keeping vigilant at all times can they avoid being blamed when faced with dangerous situations. The profoundness of the hexagram "Qian" is that it reveals that it has always maintained the mentality of "working day and night". Its spiritual essence is to encourage people to imitate the vigor of the sky, give full play to their own temperament, work hard, move forward bravely, and succeed in their careers.This is a kind of wisdom that guides the general direction of life.

A person's life should be diligent and work hard on the outside, while being in awe and worrying inside.Vigor and diligence make people enterprising, and being aggressive makes people successful. If you have fear, you will not be addicted to the flowers of success, which is conducive to everyone's development.

【Category】

Story [-]: Yan Hui has never been the same

The Duke of Lu asked Yan Hui: "I heard from your teacher Confucius that you will never make a similar mistake twice. Is it true?"

"I've been trying to do that all my life," Yan Hui said.

Lu Guogong asked again: "This is a very difficult thing. How did you do it?"

Yan Hui said: "It's not difficult to do it, you just need to reflect on yourself. I often reflect on what I did right and what I did wrong; I have to stick to the right way, and I have to stick to the wrong way. Take it as a warning. If you can persist like this for a long time, you will definitely be able to do the same thing."

After hearing this, Duke Lu praised: "I often reflect on it, and I never make mistakes. I am really a saint."

We know that there are no people in the world who do not make mistakes, and there are very few people who never make the mistakes that have been made in the past.Yan Hui's spirit of frequent reflection is very valuable.

If a person constantly reflects, reviews, and vigilantly strengthens himself, he will "although there is danger, there is no blame."In fact, in the depths of everyone's heart, there are more or less hidden desires that are not easy to detect. The accumulation of these desires often drives a person to act that endangers himself.

For example, living aimlessly, doing nothing all day long, envious of other people's achievements, bemoaning one's own destiny, even alcoholism, greed for money, addiction to drugs, intemperate eating, excessive sexual indulgence, addiction to consumption, etc. desire.If we are unaware of our own shortcomings or unwilling to restrain our desires, we will push ourselves step by step into disaster. "Concern, diligence and vigilance" is the unity of progress and reflection, and it is the way for a gentleman to establish a career and the treasure of self-protection. Each of us should keep it in mind.

Story [-]: Feng Dao warns Mingzong
The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms was one of the most chaotic periods in Chinese history, with frequent dynasties changing.In this turbulent era, there was an official tumbler, and he was Feng Dao.

Many people are extremely disdainful when they mention Feng Dao, and feel that he has no personal dignity to speak of.In fact, from an objective point of view, Feng Dao has done a lot of good things for the people and the society: as a senior official of the central government for a long time, he has maintained some continuity of policies at least to a certain extent. The years of turmoil are even more precious.We can see some of Feng Dao's good qualities from some small things.

One day, Emperor Mingzong of the later Tang Dynasty asked all the ministers how the situation is now. Out of flattery, the ministers said some words to whitewash the peace, but Feng Dao told Mingzong a story at this time.

Feng Dao said: "When I was in the Prince Jin's Mansion, I was ordered to go to Zhongshan, Hebei to do business. On the way, I had to pass Jingxing. It was a difficult place to walk. When people and horses arrived there, they often tripped and fell, but I was on the way. But I didn’t encounter any obstacles, and walked through Jingxing very safely. Unexpectedly, when I passed Jingxing and reached the flat ground, I fell off my horse. Although this incident is small, it can be used to explain major events. I hope that your majesty will not think that the grain harvest and the world will be peaceful, so you can sit back and relax. Don't indulge in pleasure, but work hard, this is what I want to see!" Feng Dao The words gave Mingzong a warning, and also brought us enlightenment-many people have survived strong winds and waves, but they often capsize in the gutter. If they understand Feng Dao's thoughts, such low-level mistakes can be completely avoided. .

Story [-]: A president who is good at self-reflection
President Franklin of the United States is a person who likes self-reflection, and he reviews his daily mistakes every night.He said he made thirteen serious mistakes, three of which were: wasting time, caring about trivial matters, and arguing with others.The wise Franklin knew that he could not achieve great things without correcting these shortcomings.Therefore, every other week, he will list a shortcoming to be improved and record it every day.He has been fighting with his own shortcomings like this for two full years.Finally became a respected and influential figure.

In the filing cabinet of a famous entrepreneur, there is a private folder labeled "Stupid Things I've Done" with some of the stupid things he's done.Some were written by his secretary at his dictation, but some were written by himself. These things were often so embarrassing and stupid that he didn't have the face to ask his secretary to take notes.

Every time the entrepreneur pulls out that "folly" file and revisits his own critiques, it helps him deal with the most intractable problem of all—managing himself.

This is also his secret to avoiding mistakes. He said: "For several years, I have always kept a notebook to record the appointments in the day. My family never expects me to be home on weekend nights, because they know that I often use weekend nights for self-reflection. Evaluate my work performance during the week. After dinner, I will open my notebook alone and review all the interviews, discussions and meetings of the week. I will ask myself: 'What did I do wrong'? 'What did I do? Right? How can I improve my job performance'? 'What lessons can I learn from this experience'? This weekly review sometimes makes me so unhappy that I can hardly believe my recklessness at times Gradually, this situation became less and less, which is all thanks to my habit of self-analysis, which really helped me a lot.”

If a person cannot reflect on himself, he will not see the problem itself, let alone self-help, and will habitually shift the responsibility to others and make self-righteous mistakes.

Introspection allows us to become aware of the limitations we set, to think about some of the blind spots in our lives, and to become more aware of ourselves.In a quiet state of mind, we can see things clearly, including our own responsibility for problems, new ways of doing things, and avoiding the quagmire that holds us back.We live in a noisy and vain world, and we are often confused by superficial phenomena.Therefore, we must keep a clear mind at all times, and constantly calm down to reflect and summarize, so as to make continuous progress.If you can constantly strive to change and improve yourself, then the final harvest will be even sweeter.

【The Heart of the Book of Changes】

Wang Xinjing, a scholar of Yi in the Qing Dynasty, summed up the purpose of "Book of Changes" in his book "Fengchuan Yishuo" written by himself: "The way of "Yi" is always the way of being diligent and vigilant; Learning is always the study of being diligent and vigilant. It is not necessary for a person to be a sage or a virtuous person. In short, it is only in the process of being diligent and vigilant.” Keep fear.

"Book of Changes" was written by the sage under the impetus of a worrying state of mind. It shows the sage's most rational and long-term concern for social life, and shows some true meanings of life: vigor, diligence, and fear make people successful and humble , so that it will help the next work and life.

Everyone should be vigorous and diligent while having a great sense of awe as if they are in danger or facing difficulties.This kind of awareness of great awe and great anxiety can make people clearly see the road behind when they succeed, and overcome many difficulties; to find a solution to the problem.

(End of this chapter)