In order to cultivate his personality, Zeng Guofan thought of two ways? Why it is difficult for ordinary people to persist for a long time

Zeng Guofan, together with Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang and Zhang Zhidong, was known as the "Four Famous Ministers of the Late Qing Dynasty" and was a theoretician, writer, and politician. At the same time, Zeng Guofan, together with Confucius, Zhuge Liang, and Wang Yangming, was called the three half-saints in Chinese history.

Zeng Guofan was diligent and thrifty, self-disciplined, and made great contributions to the late Qing Dynasty of China, proposing to build China's first steamship, printing and translating the first batch of Western books, arranging the first batch of students to study in the United States, and so on.

The popular understanding of the so-called "existence of heavenly reason, annihilation of human desire" is that people's desires must have a degree, and the "human desires" refers to desires that exceed people's basic needs, such as selfish desires, greed, etc.

When Zeng Guofan was young, he also liked to linger in the flowers. In the Qing Dynasty, men had three wives and six concubines, and it was very normal for men to go to that kind of place, as evidenced by the example of Zeng Guofan when he was young:

Story 1: "It's like a dream, and the girl loses her soul from here"

The meaning of the phrase "it is like a dream, and the soul is destroyed from here" means that life is probably like a dream, so it is a spring supper in this place! This is written by Zeng Guofan and included in the Complete Works of Zeng, which is the last of the seventy-seven pairs of bangs in it.

Zeng Guofan, who was really temperamental, once took this woman's name as a concubine, and the eldest aunt died, so he wrote a vice-couplet.

Story 2: "I might as well go back, just ask Qing Yu Yiyun What?" ”

This is a poem written by Zeng Guofan to another woman, which means that everyone says that it is not good for me to stay with you, and they all say that I might as well leave here, what do you think?

This is again a literati expression of Zeng Guofan's true disposition when he was young! I want to leave, but I don't want to leave, but I deliberately ask.

Later, Zeng Guofan suddenly woke up, and he felt that his first priority in daily life was to be pure in his heart! So how did he do it?

First, meditate and write a diary

The "Letter of ZengZi's Family" is a letter written by Zeng Guofan to his family, both to his brother and to his wife and children, and has been passed down as a traditional Chinese study to the present. It's real, it's wonderful, it's worth learning.

Later, Zeng Guofan himself felt that if he wanted to calm down, the first thing to do was to practice meditation, he took the time to sit quietly for a while, did not think of anything, put himself in detachment, and completely integrated with nature.

In addition to sitting quietly, Zeng Guofan wrote a diary to reflect on himself in order to achieve the purpose of self-cultivation and purity of heart. For example, that day at a friend's concubine banquet, he felt itching at the woman of the family, so he scolded himself as a beast. One day, I spent a long time with my wife, and I also did deep reflection, which was reduced later. Because, he slept in a separate room with his wife in the later stage, and he didn't want to see it.

Second, keep yourself busy and strain your bones

It takes a lot of time to do it, so Zeng Guofan first let himself get busy and work hard. Every day is busy work, busy work, busy busy, every day is tired, when you get home, you can quickly rest, where there is time to think about anything else.

These two things are easier said than done, and the difficulty is to persist consistently, so for ordinary people, it is really difficult, Zeng Guofan has made a good effect, achieved the purpose of self-cultivation, achieved the ultimate, and is really accustomed to nature.

In fact, it is difficult to say that it is simple to do, meditate and write a diary, and keep yourself busy, some people are very good at saying, very simple, I can also, but did not insist on two days to give up. In fact, it is easy to do one thing for three days and two days, but it is not so easy to insist on doing it for a lifetime. This requires a tenacity and patience, and a self-discipline ability that is strict with oneself.

As a saint, Zeng Guofan did it, he did it to the extreme. Therefore, Zeng Guofan has done these two small things to the extreme, but for us ordinary people, it is difficult to persist for a long time.

If zeng guofan had not thought of two such good methods himself, it is estimated that he would not have achieved such outstanding achievements and would not have won the respect of so many people.