The achievements of Zeng Guofan are obvious to all. From a stupid child in his youth, to the frivolity and arrogance after middle age, and then to the maturity of the last step, he slowly became sophisticated, and cultivated himself into a generation of great Confucians, which can be described as becoming holy. Becoming a lifelong set of "Lide, Spoken, Meritorious" three immortals, has to be amazing. Even the great man praised him: Give to his neighbors, and serve Zeng Wenzheng alone.
Talking about the key to Zeng Guofan's achievements in life, or his greatest strength, is his self-discipline. It can be said that he relies on tenacious self-discipline to achieve one leap after another of his own.
When he was a child, he was a stupid kid and not very talented. There is a very famous story, when I was a teenager reading. Because I read an article repeatedly, but I couldn't remember it, I stayed up late at night. What he never expected was that on the beams of his house, there was a thief who had been staying.
At this time, even though the thief jumped down from the beam, he breathlessly said to Zeng Guofan: Isn't it such an article? You've been reading it for so long and you can't recite it. Then, the thief sprinkled it, from beginning to end, and recited it word for word. He opened the door with a big wave and walked out. It seems that he has forgotten his identity as a thief and the purpose of coming here.
He originally wanted to wait for Zeng Guofan to finish reading the book and turn off the lights to steal, but he kept waiting to listen to his endorsement, and as a result, he had already memorized it, but Zeng Guofan still did not recite it, so there was a scene just now.
In middle age, Zeng Guofan passed the imperial examination and became an official in the capital. At this time, he was very frivolous and slightly arrogant, and at the same time, he also left a lot of vices on his body. It can be said that his appearance at that time was almost the same as many ordinary people now.
He is arrogant and impetuous, likes to smoke big cigarettes, likes to play chess, and is very. When he heard that his friend had adopted a new concubine and looked very pretty, he couldn't help it, and he must have wanted to look at her more and tease her with very debauched language.
Even his father came to visit him in the capital, but in the end he left a letter and returned to his hometown because he really couldn't look at it. In the letter, he warned Zeng Guofan to abstain from sex, work, and diet. Zeng Guofan was ashamed after seeing it. It can be seen that zeng guofan at this time is completely incompatible with the word saint.
But later, relying on tenacious self-discipline, he achieved an essential leap and reached an unattainable height. He once made a great ambition at the age of 30, not to be a sage, but to be a beast. Because any mortal person has the qualifications to become a saint, the sage is cultivated step by step from ordinary mortals, the key is to see if you can maintain self-discipline and know how to self-discipline.
On the contrary, if people want to indulge themselves, they can easily and effortlessly. Once you allow your desires to grow, eventually you will gradually degenerate and become no different from beasts.
At that time, he made up his mind and set 12 daily lessons for himself. These include: getting up early, reading, meditating, worshipping, reading history, journaling, writing, not going out at night, and so on.
He executed these 12 points one by one until the moment of his death. It is this high degree of self-discipline and self-discipline that has made his extraordinary life. So, as a mortal, do you have the confidence and perseverance to challenge yourself and become holy?