Rong Qiqi was a famous hermit in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and in the turbulent years, this believer in Lao Zhuang believed in the rule of inaction and sought his own peace and satisfaction in nature. He lives in seclusion in the mountains and is self-sufficient. When Confucian strategists actively fought for their own ideas and fame and fortune to join the WTO and shuttled between countries, Rong Qi period kept the cold and enjoyed themselves.
One day, Rong Qiqi had just finished his work in the field and was happily walking in the countryside. He was dressed in a rough leather coat with a rope tied around his waist, dirty and scruffy. He was thin and dark-skinned, and he looked like a man who had worked hard all year round. But he happily played the piano and sang at the same time, carefree.
Rong Qiqi walked to the halfway point and met Confucius, who had been traveling all over the world at this time, confucius looked at his behavior, somewhat incomprehensibly, and asked: "You are so poor but so happy, why is this?" ”
Rong Qiqi replied, "There are too many reasons why I am happy. Nature has bred all kinds of birds and animals, insects, fish and shrimp, and only people are the most honorable. I can be human, and that's the first joy. There is a distinction between men and women, the honor of men, and the lowliness of women. I was born as a man, and that's the second joy. After being born, some people died without seeing the sun and the moon, and some died short before they left the arms of their mothers, but I lived to be ninety years old, which is the third happiness. Poverty is the general condition of man, death is the inevitable result of man, and what people fear and fear is only the general situation of life and the final result. The reason why I can face it so peacefully is only to be content with the general situation and wait for the inevitable result, what worries? ”
Although some of the contents of Rong Qiqi's monologue touch on the limitations of the history at that time, it does not prevent us from appreciating his attitude towards life. It is like "The lonely cloud comes out of the sky and leaves nothing to tie; the mirror is suspended, and the quiet and restless are irrelevant."
That is to say, we must always maintain the peace of mind, listen to the inner voice, and do not be involved in unrelated things and lose a leisurely and self-sufficient life. Today, let's walk into "Cai Gen Tan" and taste its wisdom together.
I. "Frugality, virtue, too much is miserliness, for contempt, and against the ya dao; let, Yi Xing also, too much is enough to be respectful, to be curved, and to be more clever." ”
Buddhism teaches the Middle Way, Confucians talk about the Middle Way, everything is too late, "too" and "not enough" are not advisable, it must be just right. In life, frugality and frugality are indeed a virtue, but if you are excessively frugal and frugal, it will become calculating and stingy, but it will hurt the elegance of interacting with people. Being humble and courteous is a noble act, but if you are too humble, it will appear to be condescending, too cautious, but it makes people feel that this person has too many intentions and the city government is too deep.
The Yan Jiansheng in the "History of Ru Linwai", whose family is rich, is called a miserly ghost because of excessive frugality. When Yan Jiansheng was critically ill, his relatives and friends all came to see him, and they all crowded into the room where he lived, and there was a lamp on the table. Before Yan Jiansheng died, he could not speak, but he held out two fingers and could not stop breathing. Others guessed what he meant, no one guessed correctly, and later Zhao Shi understood him, saying that the old man was lighting two lamp grasses for the lamp, afraid of costing oil, so he was not at ease. Then Zhao Shi picked out a lamp grass, and Yan Jiansheng nodded and stopped breathing.
This story looks like a joke, but in fact, such people are not uncommon. Many people are very frugal in life, some food is expired, or reluctant to throw away, after eating these things, it is easy to cause physical illness, is this not eating sesame seeds, losing watermelon.
Second, the fat and spicy sweetness is not the true taste, the true taste is only light; the magic is not to the person, to the person is only constant.
The real delicacy is not the ultimate "sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and salty", but in the lightness, in the cabbage can eat the taste of cabbage, pork can eat the taste of pork; a truly outstanding, extraordinary achievements, not just expert academicians, truly remarkable people, is an ordinary and ordinary majority.
There is a myth in the Classic of Mountains and Seas: In the middle of heaven and earth, there is a ruler named Hun Chaos, who has no love and hatred, but only knows how to treat people kindly. One day, the ruler of the South China Sea and the North Sea came to play with Chaos, and found that although Chaos was friendly, he could not feel joy and sorrow, which was a pity, so he chiseled his facial features and seven tricks for him.
But after seven days of chiseling, chaos was chiseled to death by them. After opening the five senses and seven tricks, Henchao found that he was extremely susceptible to interference from various things, and eventually he would lose his "original heart", and for Chaos, losing his "initial heart" was more painful than death.
The ancients said:
When I was a child, I looked at mountains as mountains and looked at water as water; when I grew up, I saw that mountains were not mountains, and I saw that water was not water; later, I looked at mountains or mountains, and I saw that water was still water. After going through the world, we understand that the essence of life is the "original heart", that is, the world we see when we are at our purest.
03
As the saying goes, "If you are poor, you will change, and if you change, you will be general." "Cai Gen Tan" is a collection of quotations on cultivation, life, life, and birth collected and compiled by Hong Yingming, a Daoist in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, which perfectly interprets the truth of people's life, integrates the ideas of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, and summarizes the essence. Whether you want to cultivate yourself, improve your mental character, or promote worldly deeds and treat people in the world, you can find wisdom and mysteries, understand the meaning of life, and feel suddenly cheerful after reading it.