Recently, I learned from the writings of The Confucian Master Masatoshi Yasoka (1898-1983), a well-known philosopher in Japan, and shared with you the teachings on "knowledge", "insight" and "courage".
A brief introduction to Mr. Masatoshi Yasoka, Masatoshi Yasoka was born in 1898 in the central region of Japan. Although Japanese, he has studied the unusual love of Chinese Confucianism.
When I was in elementary school, I studied four books, including "Analects", "Mencius", "Zhongyong", and "University", and further read The Book of Taiping, Foreign History of Japan, Eighteen Histories of the Eighteenth Dynasty, and Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms.
In high school, he wrote a long thesis on "The Life and Personality of Su Dongpo" published in the academic journal "Todai Literature" of the University of Tokyo, and because of the accuracy of the brush strokes and the proper analysis, it was once considered to be written by a professional professor.
Later, he graduated from university in 1922, and his book "Lectures on Chinese Thought and Characters" published at the school became a marvelous text in the academic and economic circles at that time.
Mr. Masatoshi Ayaoka has a particular preference for the study of emperors (Confucianism) in China, especially the classic works of Wang Yangming, a master of the mind.
In addition to his efforts to promote the self-cultivation of Confucianism, Masatoshi Yasoka was also committed to combining classical Chinese classics with modern industry and commerce, and because of its own influence, Confucianism prevailed in Japan at that time, especially in the economic and political circles.
Reading mr. Masatoshi Yasoka's works, the biggest gain and insight I put forward was his theory of "three stages of human power improvement".
In Mr. Masatoshi Yasoka's view, understanding human nature must be improved according to the three stages of "knowledge, insight, and courage", otherwise any effort will be in vain.
He believes that knowledge is a person's underlying thinking framework, and in order to obtain a better life, people need to have multiple knowledge to resist the risks that may come at any time.
But knowledge alone is not enough, the acquisition of knowledge can be learned as long as you open the encyclopedia or dictionary, there is no need to memorize, nor do you need to over-absorb it, otherwise it is just a matter of common sense.
Rather than absorbing knowledge, it is more important to combine knowledge into an organized and confident insight that is more useful than knowledge.
With insight, Zhiguo does not deeply practice these ideas and verify the authenticity, which is still of little help to enhance one's own humanity.
Just like in life we often meet people who have "seen people", but if insight does not create more value or affect more people, there is not much practical use.
After having insight, if you want to further improve your human strength, the most important step is to raise your insight to courage. This is also an ability that most people lack.
The so-called courage is to have a strong determination and the belief that "it must be so", and to be able to hold the belief that "no matter what resistance is encountered, we must carry it through to the end" at a critical moment. Only such a person can be called "courageous", a person who can embrace the pearl and jade without dusting it.
It can be seen from this that if you want to become a person with courage as Mr. Masatoshi Yasoka said, the threshold is actually very high.
Because the courage in his eyes does not exist in isolation, nor is it the courage that ordinary people understand.
Rather, it is the combination of the Tao, the Fa, the Technique, and the Instrument that a person needs to practice all his life, and it is a synthesis of all knowledge and insight.
What is the combination of tao, dharma, technique, and instrument?
"Tao" can be understood as the core ideas, concepts, rules, and strategic directions that govern the mind of human behavior, such as outlook on life, values, attitudes, and mastery of objective laws.
"Law" refers to social order and good customs, rules, regulations, systems, and methods, and is an inviolable principle and bottom line formulated on the basis of the Tao.
"Technique" can be seen as the behavior, technique, and means used to implement the Tao.
"Instrument" refers to the tool, which is the so-called "work to do good things must first use the weapon." The instrument is the bridge that carries and links dao spells. The device here can refer to skills, technology, and all available human resources.
In other words, in the view of Mr. Masatoshi Yasoka, the real courage is courage and insight. Of course, the premise of courage is that there must be knowledge. Having courage and ignorance is the practice of the takefu, and if you are brave for a while, you will eventually fail.
To have knowledge is to have knowledge and insight, that is, what the classical Chinese philosophers called "Taoism." Having the courage to be knowledgeable is the most common mistake for readers, so that the brain reads a bunch of empty and useless theoretical concepts, but there is no place to implement them in reality.
Having courage and knowledge means having both the ability to "daofa" (knowledge and insight) and operate (techniques, instruments), and it is the strong execution power that erupts after thoroughly grasping the law of things and the truth of development.
And the execution of this foot in the door is courage.
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