12 Mindfulness Lessons Listened to at Tsinghua University

Chapter 14
People often say that literati look down on each other, but in fact, non-literati are not much better: city people look down on outsiders, regular workers look down on temporary workers, bicycle riders look down on walkers, sons look down on daughters, second wives look down on third wives, Big hooligans look down on little hooligans... In a TV program, the host even told such a joke in the opening remarks: At the gate of a certain university, two post-[-]s were in a relationship. Suddenly, the girl suddenly became angry, pointed at the boy's nose and said: "Go back and find your old woman of eight or nine years!" A little advantage in innateness and age, and a little advantage in different people's opinions, can make people so proud, you think there is nothing more incomparable!

But is someone who looks down on others really better than others?not necessarily.The plump ears of rice always face the earth, and only the frivolous weeds will deliberately show their vulgarity and superficiality.So, one should stand up, but one must also bend down.We need to take off the coat of superiority that we impose on others, and we should also take off the false brand of inferiority that appears to be superior but actually inferior to ourselves, and restore a naked self.

The world is flat, and people's hearts should be flat too.Looking at the world and yourself at the same level is not only an important lesson in self-cultivation, but also in self-cultivation.Throughout the ages, how many people have betrayed their personalities for a little profit and vanity, slavishly, servilely, and lived for a lifetime, and after death, they were engraved on the pillar of shame in history and scolded by others; Perverted, arrogant behavior, only knowing oneself, not knowing others, and finally committing the taboo of being a human being, frustration, setbacks, blows, and giving up all previous efforts, those are all trivial, and maybe even the guy who eats will be lost!How can people not learn a lesson today!
4.How can I fulfill people's wishes, but I want to be worthy of my heart
There is an old saying: "Learning well will make you an official". In fact, there are often many choices in life, so I want to change this sentence to "Learning well will make you fit", that is, a person must have a strong adaptability.To be an upright person, to be a solid academic with a clear conscience.

——Fan Chongcheng (Professor of Tsinghua University)
There was once a Zen master named Moon Boat in Japan. He was a master of painting, but he had a condition for painting, that is, he must pay first, otherwise he would never paint, so he got the notoriety of a "stingy painter".But Moon Boat remained unmoved and remained the same.

Once, a geisha came to her door and asked Moon Boat if she could draw a picture for herself.Yue Chuan agreed without asking any further questions.The next day, Moon Boat came to the geisha's house as agreed, and the geisha was having a banquet with several clients.Yue Chuanxin has no second choice, and the pen is a dragon and a snake, and a painting is completed in a few strokes, and then he asks the geisha for payment.After the geisha paid the reward, she turned to several customers and said, "Look, this monk's paintings are good, but his heart is dirty, and he only wants money. His works come from a dirty heart, how can they be hung in the hall? I It's only suitable for a pair of my underwear." After that, she took off a pair of underwear on the spot and asked Yue Chuan to draw another one on it.

Moon Boat asked quietly: "How much can you pay?"

The geisha snorted contemptuously and said, "Whatever."

Yue Chuan set a very high price, and then painted a picture as requested, and left after taking the reward.

Soon, the story spread, and people accused Yuechuan one after another, saying that as a monk, he disregarded the humiliation of others to draw money, which was really an insult to Buddhism.Some even wanted to drive him out of the temple.Later people learned that Moon Boat is actually a great benevolent man. In order to save all sentient beings and help the poor near the temple, he built a secret warehouse full of grain, and all the money for buying grain came from his paintings.At this time, people realized that the moon ship was wrongly blamed.

It is inevitable to encounter similar things in life.Sometimes, we have been busy for a long time with good intentions, hoping to surprise our family members and satisfy our leaders, but who knows that the other party does not appreciate it.Anyone who encounters this situation will be angry, but this situation is also the time to test our cultivation.The ancients said: How can you be as good as you want, but I want to be worthy of my heart.People who are upright are not afraid of the slanting shadow, and should not care about the slanting shadow. As long as our goal is noble, as long as our behavior is kind and does not harm others, then let others talk and think.The day the truth came out.

This mentality applies to business as well.There is a short story on the Internet called "The Nine-Nine Family", which is recounted as follows:

There was a king who was rich all over the world, but he was always unhappy.One day, the king got up early and wandered around the palace.When he walked to the imperial dining room, he heard someone humming a little song happily—it was a cook, his face was full of happiness and joy.The king was very surprised, so he asked the cook what he could be happy about.

The cook replied: "Your Majesty, although I am a little cook, I have always tried my best to make my family happy. We don't need much. We have a few thatched huts and food when we are hungry. Enough is enough. My wife and children are my support, and if I bring back from the palace even a small piece of your leftover pastry, they will be happy as hell. I am happy because my family is happy. My My family is happy because I am happy." The cook said the same thing, but the king became more and more confused.So he asked the cook to step down first, and ordered the prime minister to be called for questioning.

The prime minister is worthy of being the head of all officials. As soon as the king finished speaking, he pointed out the crux of the problem: "Your Majesty, I'm sure this cook hasn't become a 'nine-nine family' yet."

The king was very puzzled: "Ninety-nine family? What?"

The prime minister replied: "Your Majesty, if you want to know exactly what the nine-nine family is, you have to do one thing first: put 99 gold coins in a cloth bag, then put it at the door of the cook's house, and send someone secretly Watch them."

The king complied.Soon, the cook found the cloth bag. When he opened the cloth bag with curiosity in the room, he was suddenly ecstatic: gold coins!All gold coins!Then the cook began to count the gold coins, but after counting, he was a little unhappy: why are there only 99 coins?It stands to reason that it should be a hundred pieces!With this feeling in mind, the cook counted over and over again, and later brought his wife and children to count, but he was still not satisfied with the number of 99.So he thought again, did I drop one?So the whole family began to search, searched the room, searched the yard, and of course he couldn't find it, and he could only become more frustrated.

That night, the cook lay on the bed exhausted physically and mentally, but couldn't fall asleep.In the early hours of the morning, he made a decision: starting tomorrow, he would work harder and earn back one gold coin as soon as possible, so that his wealth would reach a full hundred.

The next morning, the cook got up a little late and was in a bad mood because he didn't have a good night's rest. He yelled at his wife and children, blaming them for not waking him up in time, which prevented him from earning a hundred gold coins early. realization of the goals.

The family looked at him in amazement, as if looking at a stranger.He had never been like this before!
The cook came to the imperial dining room in a hurry, but he was no longer in high spirits as in the past, and he did not hum a little song. He just buried himself in his work and did not even notice that the king was watching him.

As a result, the king was even more puzzled. He asked the prime minister: The cook should be overjoyed when he got so many gold coins out of thin air. Why did I find that he is not as happy as before?
The prime minister replied: "Your Majesty, that's because this cook has now officially joined the 'Nine-Nine-One Clan'. The so-called Nine-Nine-One Clan is such a type of people: they have a lot, but they are never satisfied, they work hard, Just for the extra 'one', to achieve 'hundred' as soon as possible. But whether it's life or career, including your Majesty's governance of the world, there is no 100%! Therefore, these people will never be happy!"

Why aren't we a nine-nine-one family?For our careers, we always hope to make great achievements and make further progress; for our lives, we always hope for perfection and everything goes well; for our friends, we always feel that they help us too little; for our children, we always feel that we owe them too much... Before , we don’t understand, it’s not our fault; in the future, especially after reading this story, can you have an epiphany?

5.If you can't be a saint, just be a layman

Li Ao and I are colleagues now, he is doing a show for us, so it should be said that we are relatively familiar.As for Li Ao, let’s talk about this talent today: Li Ao is a talent, and he claims to be the best in vernacular Chinese in 500 years. The old man asked him: "You said that you are the best in 500 years, why do you say that?" Li Ao didn't answer directly, but just said a little bit and then fooled it. There was this meaning in his words, that is, I That's the only way to get someone's attention.So, what kind of talent is Li Ao? I think there is only one type of talent like him.He is not only crazy, but also mainly his knowledge, and his strength in fighting the Kuomintang. I admire him quite a lot for this, and few people can be like him.

——Cao Jingxing (Senior Media Professional, Senior Visiting Scholar of Tsinghua University)
One summer many years ago, when I was still in school, I went to work in a construction site in Shijiazhuang with a fellow villager named Zhang during the summer vacation.Lao Zhang is a carpenter. Since he has not formally worshiped his master, his skills are not very comprehensive. In addition, we are the only "outsiders" in the whole construction site. We are alone and lonely, so we are discriminated against.If others don’t work overtime, you have to overtime; if others don’t want to do the work, you have to do it; others can borrow 100 yuan, but you can only borrow 50 yuan... The most annoying thing is that once there is a problem at work, they always refuse to work. To the honest Lao Zhang: This is what Lao Zhang did!At first, Lao Zhang didn’t say anything, until one day, he couldn’t bear it anymore: “I did this too, I did that too, what did you do? You don’t do anything, be natural It’s not a bad job!” The boss happened to hear this, and he appreciated the philosophy of Lao Zhang’s words very much, and soon transferred Lao Zhang and me to another construction site, and Lao Zhang was immediately promoted to a small foreman.

Similar phenomena abound in society, especially in the workplace.You try hard to be a good person, but in the last group of people you are not good; you try hard to be a saint, but in the end you are not even as good as an ordinary person;There is an idiom called "hard work without complaint", if you can both give and endure all kinds of criticism, then you have reached the realm of a saint.It is said in the Buddhist scriptures: "Those who cannot endure slander, criticism, and abuse like drinking nectar cannot be called powerful adults!" The question is, why do we have to be "powerful adults" in the eyes of others?Trying to please everyone is foolish and unnecessary.

(End of this chapter)