The Complete Collection of Ice Books

Chapter 15 Hard and soft (3)
Wang Chong's discussion on the "destiny" of human beings starts from the Taoist "natural self-transformation theory" and "Yi Xue", and believes: "Why do you think that the sky and the earth are furnaces, all things are copper, yin and yang are fire, and nature is engineering?" It uses the fire to flicker the copper sowing device, so it is also. But the sky and the earth give birth to people for no reason, and the puppet knows the ear! It can be said that the molder does not make the device for a reason, but the puppet is self-contained? If you don’t say it’s true, you can’t say it’s true.” (Lunheng, Volume [-], “Wu Shi Pian”), so he criticized the idealism of the Five Elements theory of human “fate”.It is believed that "a person's body contains the qi of the five elements, so a person's actions have the practice of the five constants. The five constants are also the way of the five constants. The five treasures are contained, and the energy of the five elements is all there. The qi of the five elements is often harmed by the thieves. One person's body, with the five treasures in his mind, is the thief of the self-phase." From this, he also made a deep criticism of the theory of "zodiac signs".

This article believes that people's "innate" character and destiny can be compensated by the method of "replenishing what is insufficient, and venting what is surplus", which also inherits Taoist thought to a certain extent.However, Zeng Guofan meant more than that.For example, if gold is too hard, it will be easily broken; if a person is too rigid, he will be prone to bad things. If a person is too rigid, he should use the method of "venting" to make him softer, which is in line with the golden mean.If a person is too weak, he should make up for it, just as he should make up for a sick person.In terms of the five elements, it is: if the wood energy is too strong, you should set fire to burn some of it, and use the fire to "vent" the wood, and the wood will be usable; if the wood is too weak, you should cultivate the soil carefully and water it frequently , Timely fertilization, so that the wood will be available slowly. "Using tonic" and "Using to vent" are relatively abstract explanations for yin and yang and five elements, but using this principle to observe, know and employ people is very clear and practical.There are many words that illustrate this truth: when drawing a bow, one should be strong, and when employing people, one should be long;These words contain profound truths.

Utilize the world
In terms of nature, hardness and softness are yin and yang, rigidity is yang, and softness is yin. They are two sides of things. Masculinity is on the outside, and yin and softness are on the inside. Things change.To be too soft is to be docile and boneless, but people are not upright. Zeng Guofan's fame in his life was ruined in Jinmen, that is to say, too soft.If you are too rigid, you will be quite independent, but things will not be far away. Hai Rui's life has been rough because of too rigid.

Hai Rui, courtesy name Ruxian, was born in Qiongshan County, Qiongzhou Prefecture.In the 28th year of Jiajing (1549), Hai Ruizhong promoted people and entered the capital the next year. He submitted the "Pingli Policy" to the imperial court, hoping to open up roads and establish counties to stabilize the countryside.This policy was widely read and praised by knowledgeable people after reading it.

Later, Hai Rui taught Ping County, Fujian Province.An imperial official came to inspect the school, and all the officials in charge of the school knelt on the ground to pay respects. Only Hai Rui stood tall and bowed to him. Where teachers teach students, one should not kneel down." Later, he was promoted to magistrate of Chun'an County, Yanzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang Province.He wears a cloth robe, eats brown rice, and asks his old servant to grow vegetables for himself.

When the son of Governor Hu Zongxian passed by Chun'an County, he was angry because of the incomplete supply of the post station, and hung the post station officials upside down.Hai Rui said: "In the past Mr. Hu inspected his subordinates and ordered him not to set up food, wine, tents and other things in the places he passed. Today, people who come to pretend to be rich must not be Mr. Hu's son." He ordered to count all the thousands of taels of gold in Mr. Hu's bag. Included in the public treasury, and told Hu Zongxian about it.But Hu Zongxian was helpless.

Yan Song's party members, Yushi Yan Maoqing, Premier Yanzheng, inspected his subordinates and passed Chun'an County, and the supply was meager. Hai Rui loudly said that Chun'an is a small county and cannot accommodate horses and horses.Yan Maoqing was very angry, but he had heard of Hai Rui's reputation, so he could only restrain his prestige and leave.

At that time, Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty had been in power for a long time, and he did not listen to the government. He lived in Xiyuan and devoted himself to setting up a Taoist temple to pray to gods and Buddhas.Since Yang Zui and Yang Jue were convicted of admonishing the court, no one dared to discuss the political affairs of the court.Only Hai Rui dared to speak out, saying: "Everyone in the world thinks that His Majesty is incompetent."

After Ming Shizong received Hai Rui's memorial, he couldn't hold back his anger, threw the memorial on the ground, and said to his courtiers: "Catch Hai Rui quickly, and don't let him escape." The eunuch Huang Jin said beside him: "This man He has a reputation of ignorance and madness. I heard that when he went to the Shu, he knew that offending the emperor would be a death penalty, so he bought a coffin, bid farewell to his wife, and waited for the court to question him. All the servants in the family ran away and left no one behind. I am not planning to escape." The emperor therefore left the memorial and did not issue instructions for several months.

When Shizong was sick and depressed, he summoned his cabinet minister Xu Jie to discuss the matter of the inner Zen emperor, and said to him: "What Hai Rui said is correct. This man can be compared with Bigan in the time of King Zhou of Yin." , but I am not the king of Yin Zhou. I have been ill for a long time now, how can I listen to the government." He also said: "I did not cherish it carefully, which caused such embarrassment. But if I go out from Xiyuan and return to Da Nei Doesn’t that mean you’ve accepted this person’s insults?” So he hand-criticized Hai Rui’s memorial “抓主被君”, arrested Hai Rui and imprisoned him, and prosecuted the chief envoy.Soon, it was handed over to the Ministry of Punishment for the death penalty.But the memorial of the Ministry of Punishment still stayed with Sejong without any instructions. Why did the Secretary of the Ministry of Households guess that the emperor had no intention of executing Hai Rui, so he went to the Shu and asked for Hai Rui's release.Shizong was furious, and ordered Jin Yiwei to beat him a hundred times with a stick, put him in chains, and torture him day and night for interrogation.Two months later, Sejong died, Mu Zong came to the throne, and Hai Rui and He Yishang were released together.

When Shizong first died, most of the officials outside the court did not know.The head of the criminal department heard the news and thought that Hai Rui would be reused in the future, so he arranged wine and food to entertain Hai Rui.Hai Rui suspected that he was going to the Xishi execution ground, so he ate and drank leisurely without any scruples.The head of the criminal department leaned close to Hai Rui's ear and told, "Emperor Jiajing has just died, and it will be very useful for Mr. to be released from prison now." Hearing this, Hai Rui cried loudly, vomited out all he had just eaten, fainted on the ground, Woke up and cried all night long.Later, Hai Rui was released and resumed his original official position.Soon, Hai Rui was appointed as the head of the Arsenal Department of the Ministry of War.At the beginning of the following year (1567), he was promoted to the Secretary of Shangbao and transferred to Youcheng of Dali Temple.

Hai Rui successively served as the envoy of the two capitals, in charge of the left and right.In the summer of the third year of Longqing (1570), he was promoted to the right deputy capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.All the officials under his control were afraid of his prestige, and most of the greedy and dishonest people abandoned their officials.The gates of powerful houses were originally painted red, but now when they hear that Hai Rui is coming, they are painted black.The eunuchs who supervised weaving also reduced the manpower of carrying sedan chairs and attendants.

Hai Rui's order was as swift and violent as a storm, and the subordinate officials followed it with fear, and the capable people even fled to other counties to hide.And treacherous people mostly take the opportunity to expose other people's secrets, and people from aristocratic families are often falsely accused and wronged.Hai Rui also saves the redundant cost of delivering official documents, transshipping goods, or officials going to rest in the post station.As a result, the people who served as residents on business trips here were not arranged, and there were many people who resented Hai Rui because of this.

Shuhua was given to the matter, and the Shangshu blamed Hai Rui for being sluggish and not understanding the political system. He should be placed in a leisurely official position in Nanjing.Before long, Dai Fengxiang also impeached Hai Rui for sheltering treacherous people, bullying powerful bureaucratic landlords, hunting reputation and corrupting politics, and so on.As a result, Hai Rui was changed to be the supervisor of Nanjing Grain Storage, but was dismissed within half a year.Later, Hai Rui went to Yunnan to take up his post, but it happened that Gao Gong was called to be in charge of the official department. Gao Gong always resented Hai Rui, so he merged Hai Rui's position into the Nanjing household department, so Hai Rui resigned because of illness and returned to his hometown.

In the early years of Wanli (1573), Zhang Juzheng was in charge of state affairs. He didn't like Hai Rui either, so he ordered the inspector to visit Hai Rui.The censor came to inspect the deep mountains in Qiongshan County. Hai Rui killed chickens for millet and ate them opposite the censor.Zhang Juzheng was afraid of Hai Rui's sternness and uprightness, so although he was recommended by ministers inside and outside the court, he still refused to call him.

Shenzong repeatedly wanted to call Hai Rui to serve in Beijing, but because the minister in charge of state affairs secretly prevented it, Hai Rui was promoted to the right capital censor of the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate.The officials of the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate are usually lazy and lazy, but Hai Rui leads by example and is honest and selfless, so he offended the officials, and they went to the public to slander Hai Rui.Hai Rui also asked for retirement many times, but Shenzong encouraged him to stay in his post and refused to resign. In the 15th year of Wanli (1587), Hai Rui died in Nanjing.

Hai Rui's lifelong study focused on Gang, so he called himself Gang Feng, and people all over the world called him Mr. Gang Feng.He was staunch all his life, but he was besieged on all sides, his ambitions were not fulfilled, and he finally passed away with regret.

To overcome rigidity with softness is the ideal state for Chinese people to live in the world.Softness can overcome rigidity, which is the firm belief of Chinese people in dealing with the world.Softness contains hardness, rigidity preserves softness, hardness and softness complement each other, and impartiality is the authentic way for Chinese people to live in the world.This idealized way of dealing with the world is best represented by a small Tai Chi diagram.There is a white yang fish and a black yin fish in a circle, the head of the yang fish embraces the tail of the yin fish, and the head of the yin fish embraces the tail of the yang fish, they are entangled with each other, harmonious and tactful, just forming a circle, without beginning and end No head, no tail, no front, no back, no height, no bottom.The most wonderful thing is that there are yang eyes in the yin fish, and yin eyes in the yang fish, which contain each other, contain each other, stimulate each other, transform each other and promote each other.We once criticized this way of life vigorously, but when we stare at this small Taiji diagram today, we cannot but admit that it contains the truth in the universe, and it is also an important measure for us to deal with human affairs .

Business utilization
In the field of business, the status of women is becoming more and more important.Because in a masculine workplace atmosphere, women's soft attitude and way of handling things can often achieve better results.

Ah Hui is the general manager of a bathroom company. The company's customers come from all over the world, so there are more opportunities to negotiate with foreigners.Many foreigners have a certain discriminatory attitude towards Chinese bathroom products, and often think that it is a kind of favor to give their orders to Chinese companies.In such a situation, Ah Hui maintained a calm attitude from beginning to end, winning negotiations and respect without being humble or humble.

There was once a client who placed an order of more than 100 million US dollars for Ah Hui, but the price was already lower than the bottom line acceptable to the company.Moreover, the crux of the problem is not only the price, but the attitude and momentum of the other party are also unacceptable.Facing the high-ranking opponent, Ah Hui's attitude was rather tactful: "I'm sorry, I have to think about this price, but I guess the situation will not be too optimistic, because what we sell is quality."

Finally, the customer stood up and left as soon as he slapped the table.Two days later, he flew back from Europe and said that he must see Ah Hui immediately. Ah Hui replied: "Sorry, I won't have time until two or three days later." Later, the business was closed with a win-win result.In this negotiation, although the client wanted to overwhelm Ah Hui with arrogance, Ah Hui did not give in, she responded with a calm and tactful attitude.

When negotiations reach an impasse, women's advantages are often manifested.Ahui in the above example would often use other topics to relieve the awkward atmosphere, such as complimenting the other party, the shirt you are wearing today is very beautiful, what brand is it, the tie goes well with it, etc.

In fact, men like to hear such words very much, because few people praise them, especially in person.So when you have nothing to say during the negotiation, you might as well praise the men at the negotiating table, they also need praise.

When beauty queen Mary Kay Ash opened her first store in September 1963, she had only 9 square feet, nine beauty consultants, and her secret weapon—a concept she called the golden rule: you Treat others as you would like others to treat you.

Mary Kay's sales hit $19.8 a year later and $2007 billion in 24.

Mary Kay’s golden rule of management can be interpreted in other words, let’s call it the PL model—the letters “P” and “L” represent not only profit (Profit) and loss (Lost), but also people (People). ) and Love.

Mary Kay loves pink, and the color pervades the company, from pink Cadillacs to pink small cards.This style, we call flexible leadership.At its core, it is achieved not through the "cannibalism" competition that is common in large companies, but by focusing on the needs of others.

This is a management style of "overcoming rigidity with softness".On the one hand, it matches well with Mary Kay's female-dominated employment model. On the other hand, it provides a new possibility—how to fully and effectively develop human potential.Under the crisis, this kind of power of "overcoming rigidity with softness" is even more special.

Mary Kay believes that everyone is special and everyone wants to be outstanding.Whenever Mary Kay sees someone, she imagines that the other person carries an invisible signal: making me feel important.Mary Kay will respond to this signal immediately, and the result is unexpected every time.

Let employees know that the CEO appreciates them.This is something that many company CEOs are good at, but Mary Kay has done it to the extreme and integrated it into the corporate culture.For example, when the business supervisors of Mary Kay visit the head office, the head office will roll out a red carpet to welcome them, and everyone in the company will also entertain them graciously.Even, the company will grant the right to use pink Cadillac sedans to excellent business supervisors.Mary Kay's logic is: "From the beginning, I made sure that my sales force wanted first-class stuff. If that kind of thing was too expensive, we simply didn't use it, and we wouldn't replace it with second-rate stuff."

Don't think that Mary Kay can only praise and love, she is better at criticism.Mary Kay's criticism strategy is that no matter what you want to criticize, you must find out the strengths of the other party to praise, both before and after the criticism.This is not a compromise, this is a clever communication logic: managers must stick to principles and speak straight to the point.If you're not happy with a report's work, you shouldn't be sloppy -- you have to express your feelings, and you have to be firm and soft.In other words, you have to put yourself in the other person's shoes.

The character that a good leader should have is strong and strong, but not stubborn, gentle and gentle, but not weak, which is commonly referred to as the combination of hardness and softness.Blindly being soft and weak will reduce one's strength and lead to failure; blindly being strong and strong will lead to self-willedness and doomed failure.Therefore, both softness and rigidity, and the combination of rigidity and softness are the most ideal character traits and the best state.

The five elements are born together, firmness and softness know people

Original text
The five elements have a law of harmony ①, wood combines with fire, water combines with wood, and this is smooth and combined ②.Those who follow are rich, even expensive is also in the ups and downs.Metal and fire have hatred ③, and sometimes they combine with fire, and those who push water and soil are the same. If they are inverse and combined ④, they are very expensive.However, the so-called reverse combination, if the metal shape has fire, it will be ⑤, if the fire shape has gold, it will die at thirty; If the gold shape is with wood, the sword will be with you.In addition, pulling together ⑥ is all miscellaneous, and it does not enter the literati's theory ⑦.

注释
①Combination: Refers to the interaction between the five elements, such as water for wood and wood for fire. ② Shun Erhe: Refers to the intergenerational inter-generation of the five elements, all in one go, water generates wood, wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal, and metal generates water. ③ Enemy: fire can overcome gold, so gold regards fire as its enemy. ④ Reverse and combined: fire can overcome gold, fire is the enemy of gold, but fire can also refine gold and make gold into useful things. This kind of fire can overcome gold, which is called reverse combination. ⑤ Zeran: That's it, referring to the fire in the gold shape is a reverse combination. ⑥Pull: Reluctantly close. ⑦Theory: Orthodox theory.

Translation
There are three kinds of relationships among the five elements: mutual generation, mutual restraint, and mutual hatred. This relationship is called "combination";For example, wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal, metal generates water, and water generates wood.Most of the people whose appearance and appearance are in harmony will become rich, but they will not be honorable. Even if they are honorable occasionally, they will always be ups and downs, ups and downs, and it is difficult to maintain them for a long time.Gold takes fire as its enemy, because fire can overcome gold, but sometimes fire and gold complement each other, and gold cannot be refined without fire.By analogy, the relationship between fire and water, water and earth, earth and wood, wood and metal are all like this, which is the reverse combination.A person with this inversion in appearance will be very noble.However, in the so-called inverse combination, if the golden person has the fire appearance, he is very noble; on the contrary, if the fire person has the golden appearance, the gold will be reversed. Live to be 30 years old and die.If a water-shaped person has an earth-shaped appearance, then he will be lonely all his life; if a wooden-shaped person has a gold-shaped appearance, he will be very noble. On the contrary, if a golden-shaped person has a wood-shaped appearance, then There will be disasters of swords and murder.And so on for the rest.As for other far-fetched statements, they are miscellaneous and cannot be included in the orthodox theories of literati.

Interpretation
In the original scriptures, there are "Shunhe" and "Naihe": it means that there is a relationship between the five elements that generates and restrains each other.The relationship of mutual restraint is called "inverse combination", such as wood restrains earth, earth restrains water, and water restrains fire.

"Bingjian" says: "The one who follows the rules is richer."Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth are interdependent and mutually promote and promote each other. The fortune is smooth, and the prospect is bound to flow with the trend. You will ride the wind and waves without danger, and you will naturally be handy in doing business. So it is easy for such a person to get rich.But the harmony of the five elements is rich and not expensive, and even if you are expensive occasionally, it will not last long.Therefore, it is difficult for a conformist person to rise to nobility, hold great power, and have less possibility of making meritorious deeds.But in ancient times it was possible to buy officials with money, and even so, their expensiveness fluctuated between ups and downs.Shunhe people have more than enough form, so most of them are rich.

"Negative combination" refers to the mutual restraint between the five elements, such as fire can overcome gold, but sometimes gold can combine with fire, that is to say, gold cannot be tempered without fire to make utensils, such as earth can restrain water, but water can sometimes combine with earth, that is, earth has no water It cannot nourish all things.Therefore, water and gold, earth and fire are complementary to each other, and it is advisable to use balance to form a momentum, and one should not be biased. If there is partiality, it will naturally fail.

(End of this chapter)