Life is but a thought: Nan Huaijin's 15 Life Wisdom Lessons

Chapter 8: Love and Selflessness (3)
When Liu Zhuang, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty, was the crown prince, Huan Rong, a doctor, served as the prince's Taibao, that is, as his teacher.Later, after Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty succeeded to the throne, he "respected Huan Rong and taught him etiquette".He once went to Taichang Mansion in person, let Huan Rong sit west to east (the most distinguished seat), and set up a few sticks, just like when he was giving lectures back then, he still listened to the teacher's teaching.In addition, he also summoned hundreds of Korean and Chinese military officials and students taught by Heng Rong to the Taichang Mansion to pay homage to Huan Rong as disciples.After Huan Rong fell ill, Emperor Han Ming sent a special visit for condolences, and even visited him in person.Every time he visits a doctor, he gets out of the car and walks as soon as he enters the street to show his respect for the teacher.After entering the door, he always held the teacher's skinny hand and wept silently, sitting on the side for a long time before leaving.When the emperor of the dynasty set an example like this, how dare all the subordinates dare not obey?Therefore, "the princes, generals, and doctors who asked about illnesses did not dare to go to the door by car again, and all worshiped under the bed."When Huan Rong passed away, Emperor Ming also changed into mourning clothes, went to the funeral in person, and made proper arrangements for his children.

Regarding the spirit of teaching, the ancient sages have already said that preaching is the first essence of being a teacher.Tao is a kind of direction and guidance. The first thing a teacher should do is to guide students to the right way.On the road of seeking truth, goodness and beauty, being a teacher is to a certain extent a guide, so there is a basis for teaching karma and solving confusion on the right way.Therefore, in essence, the teacher should be the shaper of the spirit, so first of all, he is required to be the pioneer of the spirit and the times, and he is a person who persistently pursues the truth and has the courage to spread the truth.

Then, the forerunners of the truth are often the forerunners of the times, so we need to have the courage to compete with the tradition.Amidst fear and laziness, many people dare not move forward to follow what others say, and only want to think what should be thought, and only speak what should be said.As a result, those who are teachers lose their dignity as teachers, and instead become assembly line workers who manufacture products.Therefore, a teacher should have a certain amount of courage, dare to challenge cutting-edge issues, and dare to dispute doubtful issues.

However, the real meaning of a teacher is not only to teach students knowledge, to communicate with students like friends, but more importantly, to help students "settled down" from the standpoint of a parent - to establish good values, outlook on life, and world outlook. The three outlooks of the students can make students become independent personalities and make outstanding contributions to society.From this point of view, the teacher's responsibility is not insignificant. This is equivalent to being the leader of the spiritual life of the students. This kind of responsibility is comparable to "parents".

To borrow Havel's words: "We don't know which student in which corner has seen your actions and listened to your words, which has changed the world." It can be seen that, in a sense, being a teacher China's honor does not lie in professional titles or awards, but in how many free-growing, sunny, healthy, scientific and truth-seeking "people" have been cultivated, how many firm beliefs have been conveyed, and how much justice and love have been produced for this era.Today's society is developing and changing very rapidly, and many concepts are also changing, but such moral concepts as "respecting teachers and emphasizing morality" that embody our national tradition should have a long history and must not be discarded.

The love I still hold when I come back——filial piety
Filial piety is also the foundation of all morality. All the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation begin with the word "filial piety".At the same time, filial piety is also a comprehensive expression of a person's kindness, love and conscience.

Quotations from Nan Huaijin: "As a child, honor your parents, don't wait for time, space, or circumstances, just do your best. I live in a straw shed today, so I live in a straw shed to honor my parents; I can only afford one Fried dough sticks, I want to eat, and my father and mother also want to eat them. I don’t want to eat them, so I give them to my father and mother. I only have this strength, so I will do my best, which is also called "the ultimate filial piety."

Once, when Mr. Nan Huaijin was giving a lecture, he also talked about the little things between himself and his parents.At that time, Mr. Nan Huaijin left his hometown and stayed outside for decades. The war was chaotic and he couldn't keep in touch with his relatives. He didn't even know the life and death of his parents.When others asked how his high school was, he didn't dare to answer, for fear that he would be sad if he mentioned it.At that time, he used two lines of poems to describe his feelings: "Through the calamity, I can almost be whole flesh and blood, and I dare not talk about life and death to people."Later, Mr. Nan Huaijin received a letter in Taiwan that his mother was in poor health, but he was unable to visit the mainland. At that time, he lamented: "I'm afraid I won't be able to meet my mother!" He returned to his hometown, but his mother had been dead for a long time.Even when Mr. Nan Huaijin was ninety years old, his filial piety to his parents remained undiminished.He still reads scriptures to his parents every morning and evening.He said: "No matter how busy things are, I still have to read it. It is often the seven or five volumes of the "Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra".

There is an old saying: "Filial piety comes first." Therefore, filial piety is also the foundation of all morality, and all the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation begin with the word "filial piety".At the same time, filial piety is also a comprehensive expression of a person's kindness, love and conscience.Honoring parents and respecting elders is the duty of being a human being, which is the prerequisite for the development of various qualities and morals.If a person cannot even honor his parents and repay the kindness of upbringing, then he cannot be called a "person". Although he will not be punished by law, he will be despised and condemned by everyone in the society.And "filial piety" itself is a kind of reciprocal love, so the ancients often used crows to feed back to educate their children not to forget their loved ones.

Parents always give everything to us. In front of them, we are always children who need to be taken care of.Parents are like a big tree with luxuriant foliage, sheltering us from wind and rain in summer, resisting the scorching sun, and resisting severe cold and wind and frost for us in winter.When we were young, we always climbed the tree trunk to play, and we didn't even want to go down the tree, and we rested on the tree when we were tired.When we grow up, when we leave the big tree, the big tree presents us with abundant fruits.After that, the tree trunk dedicated its branches to build our family with bricks and tiles.Parents are always selfless for us, always happy for our joy, sad and sad.But we are always busy, working hard for our careers, fighting back and forth for our families, and have no time to take care of our elderly parents, but when we are in trouble, the first thing we think of is our parents.

We always ask for everything from our parents, but we don't think about it in return, and we only think of our parents when we are in trouble.In ancient my country, there was a popular song "Song of Encouraging Filial Piety", in which there are two sentences: "People who are not filial to their relatives are not as good as birds and beasts." The meaning is very simple and direct. Relatives, then even worse than beasts.It clearly and profoundly explains that filial piety is the root of all morality and love, and it is also the foundation of our conduct as a human being, and it is also the basic requirement of being a human being.

After the reform and opening up, Wenzhou planned to build the Wenzhou-Jinhua Railway, but it was delayed due to lack of funds.Liu Xirong, the mayor at the time, knew that Mr. Nan Huaijin had many students abroad, and wanted to use Mr. Nan Huaijin to help him win overseas investment in road construction.Knowing that Mr. Nan Huaijin is a filial son, Liu Xirong wanted to use filial piety as the starting point to impress Mr. Nan Huaijin with sincerity.It happened that Mr. Nan Huaijin's wife in mainland China left a lot of Nan Huaijin's mother's hair when she combed her mother-in-law's hair. Therefore, Liu Xirong invited an embroidery worker to embroider a portrait with Nan's mother's hair for Mr. Nan Huaijin.

Mr. Nan Huaijin had moved to Hong Kong at that time, so Liu Xirong went to Hong Kong to meet with him.After the meeting, when Mayor Liu lifted the silk cloth outside the frame, Mr. Nan Huaijin, who didn't know it beforehand, saw the portrait of his mother at first sight.When he learned that the portrait was embroidered with his mother's hair, he was even more excited and surprised. Of course, he promised to do his best for the construction of the railway.Later, with the help of Mr. Nan Huaijin, the Jinwen Railway was successfully built.

It is natural to be filial to our parents. Parents have raised and educated us, so we should love and be filial to them as a matter of course. Mr. Nan Huaijin’s filial piety to his mother can also be seen. In life, only with a filial heart can we be successful in life .

Some people always say that when I have money, I will spend a lot of money to honor my parents and let the old people spend it freely; when I have time, I will take my parents to travel around... But time waits for no one, sometimes When you are free, when you have money, the person you want to respect is no longer there. This is also the pain of "the son wants to support but the relative does not wait".

Filial piety does not matter how big or small it is, even small daily tasks can be considered filial piety, and you don't have to wait until you are free or rich to complete them.Have you ever served a cup of warm tea to your tired parents?Do you offer your greetings and comfort when they are lost?Did you clean the room for them?They always devote their whole lives to us, but how have we ever experienced their hard work?If you look carefully, you will find that the strands of silver in your parents’ hair and the wrinkles on their faces remind you that they are no longer young, and now it’s time for you to be considerate of them and repay them with your heart.As long as you can do small things and use this occasional opportunity to express your gratitude, that is a great comfort to parents.

(End of this chapter)