The wisdom of I Ching

Chapter 82 Attitudes towards accumulation - use it to see adults, don't sympathize.Nan Zhengji
【Original Code】

L: Yuan Heng.Use it to see adults, don't t-shirt.Nan Zhengji.

"Elephant" says: Wood grows in the ground and rises.A gentleman is Shunde, and a small one is tall.

—— "Book of Changes · Sheng"

【Interpretation】

Sheng hexagram: Very prosperous, good for meeting princes and nobles, don't worry.It is auspicious to occupy this line and develop to the south.

"Xiang Zhuan" said: "Sheng" hexagram Xia Xun Shang Kun, Xun is compared to wood in terms of plants, Kun is the ground, trees are rooted in the ground, absorb nutrients from the ground and continue to grow, wood rises from the ground, This is the hexagram image of the rising hexagram.When a gentleman observes this hexagram, the improvement of his own morality should follow the time, follow the law of natural development, start to accumulate from small things, constantly enrich himself, and gradually reach a noble and perfect state of life.

"Book of Changes" uses the way of nature to describe human affairs and society, so the image of the hexagram "Sheng" says: Trees grow in the earth. After taking root and sprouting, they are moistened by sunlight and rain, and grow taller day by day. The author of "Xiang Zhuan" further associates the objects in nature with society and life, so he said that if a gentleman wants to achieve virtue, he must accumulate bit by bit like the growth of a tree, so that he can gather armpits and gather sand to form a tower.

"Xi Ci Chuan Xia" said: "The villain thinks that small goodness is useless and does not do it, and takes small evil as harmless and does not get rid of it. Therefore, the evil is accumulated and cannot be concealed, and the crime is serious and cannot be explained." For bad things, you can't see the little things. If it is not for prevention, it will develop along with the trend, and it will eventually cause great harm.

To be a person, one should imitate the character of the tree, be cautious of one's own virtue, keep on learning, and after accumulating knowledge and virtue, one will continue to rise.If there is no opportunity to rise, as long as you have the virtues of continuous learning, fortitude and moderation, you will also get the help of capable people. Only by taking advantage of this opportunity can you make your aspirations spread across the world.Conversely, if bad things cannot be prevented early, and if they develop along with the trend, it will cause great harm.

Therefore, when we improve our own moral cultivation, we should start to accumulate from a small place, constantly enrich ourselves, and gradually reach a noble state.

【Category】

Story [-]: Yang Zhen strictly refuses "private money"

Yang Zhen, a famous official in the Eastern Han Dynasty, was diligent and studious when he was young. He became a famous scholar in the world by studying "Shangshu" and reading all kinds of classics.The Confucian scholars of Confucian classics at that time highly praised Yang Zhen and called him "Kansai Confucius".

Yang Zhen has lived in a foreign land for more than 20 years, supporting his elderly mother with the meager income he earned from teaching.Knowing his name, the state and county were unable to be recruited repeatedly. It was not until the age of 50 that he was persuaded by his friends to take up a post in the state.General Deng Zhi heard Yang Zhen's name for a long time, so he was promoted as a scholar. He successively served as the governor of Jingzhou, the governor of Donglai, and the governor of Zhuojun. He was known for his integrity as an official.

Afterwards, Yang Zhen was transferred to the imperial court as a servant and transferred to Taichang.He was praised by the government and the opposition for recommending Yang Lun and a group of talented people as doctoral officers to reverse the situation of false elections.In the first year of Yongning (120), he was promoted to Situ, one of the three princes.

Before Yang Zhen became an official, his family was in a difficult situation, and he lived a poor life of self-reliance for a long time.In addition to teaching students, he also borrowed a piece of other people's land and cultivated it himself to make a living.People at that time respected him very much, but he never accepted gifts from others. He was transferred from Jingzhou to Shandong as the prefect of Donglai (now Laizhou, Shandong). When passing through Changyi County (northwest of Jinxiang, Shandong), Changyi County Let Wang Mitt come to see you.

Wang Mi was a scholar recommended by Yang Zhen when he was in Jingzhou. In order to repay Yang Zhen for his kindness, he took ten catties of gold with him and presented it to Yang Zhen in the dead of night that night.

Yang Zhen criticized him and said: "As an old acquaintance, I still know you better, how can you not understand me as a person?"

Wang Mi thought that he was pretending to refuse, so he said: "No one will know about this at night, please accept it at ease."

"God knows, Earth knows, I know, you know, how can you say that no one knows? Put it away for me!" Yang Zhen reprimanded him seriously.Wang Mi was very ashamed, put away the gold and paid his respects and returned home.

Since then, Yang Zhen's character of "fearing the four knowledges at night and strictly refusing private visits" has been passed down as a good talk by later generations.

There is an old saying that goes well: "If you want people not to know, you can't do it yourself." Now that it's done, how can people not know it?Yang Zhen's lofty qualities not only show his integrity as an official, but also give the world a kind of enlightenment: to be a human being, we must adhere to benevolence and morality. It sublimates, this is not a high-profile self-chanting, let alone take it as a "show" to add false weight to yourself.

Story [-]: Meng Zong consciously restrained himself
During the Three Kingdoms period, Meng Zong of Wu State was a clean and honest official. When he was Guangluqing, he was in charge of the court's meals, but he himself was not contaminated at all.Once, because he forcibly drank someone else's toast, he vomited, and what he vomited was a puddle of barley.Everyone was amazed. Unexpectedly, Meng Zong spent all his time with delicacies and fine wines, but what he ate was ordinary barley rice!Knowing about this, the monarch of Wu State also exclaimed in admiration: "It's so pure and virtuous!"

Meng Zong's incorruptibility and self-defense are inseparable from his mother's childhood education.In the early days, Meng Zong was a military official, and his mother lived with him in the barracks.The military officials have low positions, simple housing, and leaky houses during night rains, making them sleepless all night.Meng Zong felt very sorry for his mother, and let his mother suffer with him, so he was so sad that he cried.

Mother Meng told him that he should use this to encourage himself to make progress, how can he cry?Later, Meng Zong was promoted to an official in charge of fishing, and he personally fished with nets and dried them into dried fish to honor his mother, but all of them were sent back.His mother accused him of not taking advantage of his position for personal gain, and should avoid suspicion.In order to strengthen her son's determination to be an honest official, Meng's mother no longer eats fish.

Later, he was transferred to manage the grain and grain. He refused on the form, saying that I used to be the supervisor of Leichi, which made my mother stop eating fish.If I were to manage the grain, I am afraid that my mother will not eat rice for three years. I will not dare to accept this job until I die!
Only those who know how to restrain their words and deeds can do a job with ease in a materialistic society.As a human being, don't establish an indifferent attitude in your heart just because it is a trivial matter.Sometimes, if the small things are not grasped properly, it will bring big losses.On the contrary, if you can do better in small things, you will only add a personality charm to yourself.

Story [-]: The treasury official steals a coin every day

When Zhang Bingya, the county magistrate of Chongyang in the Song Dynasty, saw a treasury official coming out of the warehouse, he put a copper coin into his pocket.After careful observation, it turned out to be like this every day, so the treasurer was arrested.The treasury official said dissatisfiedly, "what's a penny worth?"

Zhang Bingya said angrily: "With little money, greed every day becomes huge greed, and greed every year is a heinous crime." Finally, Zhang Bingya wrote on the treasurer's confession: "One money a day, a thousand dollars a thousand days; If the rope is sawn, the wood will be broken, and the water will be dripped through the stone; if the corrupt officials are not killed, the people will be in trouble.” Finally, the treasury official was sentenced to death.

The treasurer's method of guarding and stealing himself is very cunning.Of course, no matter how cunning he was, he could not escape the fate of punishment. The ancient saying "Don't do good because it is small, and don't do evil because it is small" should also become our motto today.

Story [-]: Fan Xiaojie lost the big because of a small loss

During the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, in the shop of Lianji Bookstore on Yanshousi Street in Beijing, a young man who looked like a scholar stood by a bookshelf not far from the cash register and read a book.At this time, a young man in front of the counter was paying for a copy of "Lushi Chunqiu". A copper coin fell on the ground and rolled to the young man's feet. stepped on the bottom of the foot.After a while, the young man paid the money and left the shop. The young man bent down and picked up the copper coin under his feet.

Coincidentally, the scene of this young man stepping on and withdrawing money was seen by an old man sitting on a stool in the shop.Seeing this scene, he stared at the young man for a long time, then stood up and walked to the young man, chatting with the young man, he knew his name was Fan Xiaojie, and learned about his family situation.

It turned out that Fan Xiaojie's father was a teaching assistant in the Imperial College, so he followed his father to Beijing and had been studying in the Imperial College for many years.I walked through Yanshousi Street occasionally today, and saw that the prices of books in Lianji Bookstore were lower than other bookstores, so I came in to have a look.The old man smiled coldly and left.

Later, Fan Xiaojie entered the transcription office as a student supervisor.Soon, he passed the examination in the Ministry of Officials and was selected to serve as a county lieutenant in Changshu County, Jiangsu Province.Fan Xiaojie traveled both land and water, and went south to take up his post.On the second day after arriving in Nanjing, he first went to Jiangning Mansion, the superior yamen in Changshu County, to post a post and report for duty, requesting an audience with his superior.

At that time, Tang Bin, the governor of Jiangsu, was in the Jiangning government office. After he received Fan Xiaojie's name card, he did not meet him.Fan Xiaojie had no choice but to go back to the post house to stay.One day later, I was not interviewed again.This went on for 10 days.On the 11th day, Fan Xiaojie patiently went to meet again, and the majestic government guard conveyed to him the governor's order: "Fan Xiaojie doesn't have to go to Changshu County, your name has been written in the impeachment memorial, you Has been dismissed."

"My lord, to impeach me, what crime did I commit?" Fan Xiaojie asked impatiently, puzzled.

"Greeting money." The guard replied calmly.

"Ah?" Fan Xiaojie was taken aback, thinking to himself: I haven't taken office yet, how could there be evidence of corruption?The governor must have made a mistake.Hastily requested to present the facts to the Governor in person.

After the guard went in to report, he came out again to convey the governor's words: "Fan Xiaojie, do you still remember what happened in the bookstore on Yanshousi Street? You will rack your brains for corruption and become a robber wearing a black hat. Please take off your official seal and leave here immediately, so as not to make the people here suffer.”

It was only then that Fan Xiaojie remembered that the old man he met in the Lianji bookstore was Tang Bin, the governor of Jiangsu today.It is a surprising thing for an official to be impeached before taking office.

This story can be an exhortation to those who are greedy for small profits and behave badly.Therefore, you must be kind and honest, and you must not be greedy for small gains, otherwise you will only plunge yourself into a desperate situation.

【The Heart of the Book of Changes】

Good character is extremely important to everyone. It is composed of various principles and values, which endow people with the correct direction, extraordinary meaning and profound connotation.Morality constitutes a person's conscience, which enables people to understand things, rather than just judging right from wrong based on laws or codes of conduct.

Integrity, honesty, bravery, fairness, generosity and other qualities become the primary choice when we face major choices.

Morality is not just a tool to decorate the appearance. No matter how talented a person is, as long as there are defects in morality, he will not be a great tool after all.Human talents are not enough, only the power of morality can be invincible.For any field, morality is also the primary factor for victory. Ability alone cannot form strength. Only by applying noble moral qualities to practical actions can the effect of strength be shown.

Therefore, you should not use too much skill in doing things, otherwise your talent will be blinded, you will lose the backing of your character, and your ultimate success will be unsustainable.The success obtained by resorting to external forces often cannot stand the test. To do things, one must cultivate one's noble character in essence.

Human self-cultivation is a process of accumulating a little to make a lot. People should "don't do good things because they are small, and don't do evil because they are small."If we can't prevent small things from happening, small evils can accumulate into big evils; problems in small details will lead to mistakes in big ones.Therefore, a gentleman should always "respect what is straight inside, righteousness should be outside what is outside, respect righteousness and establish virtue without loneliness" ("Wen Yan Zhuan"), and unremittingly practice it all his life, only then can he get rid of evil and keep approaching good, and his personality can be justified. It will be perfected day by day, and life will be more perfect.

Self-cultivation can be carried out at any time, regardless of age. The key is to know what you know and introspect yourself, and extend yourself to others.From the point of view of putting oneself in touch with others, there must be a "small self" before the victory of the "big self".If you are used to cultivating your character from the small things in life, you will be more able to shape the perseverance to deal with major things in the future.

Morality is a reflection of self, and the cultivation of morality is cultivated from the inside out. Once a virtuous circle is formed, it will elevate us to a higher realm of life.

(End of this chapter)