Author: Insight Jinshan Yue
Just by looking at its weather, we can know the depth of human cultivation.
Zeng Guofan suffered five major losses in his life, and it was for the "Five Trenches".
One of the worst was the "fifth graben" - the siege of Jiangxi.
That year, he was sent to Jiangxi to fight the Taiping Army, and his eagerness to win made him more submissive and rude to his superiors.
As a result, before the battle was fought, he was squeezed by the court and returned to his hometown.
He thought about it behind closed doors, read the classics hard, and finally had an epiphany.
When he came out again three years later, he seemed to have changed as a different person.
No longer only promises, no longer full of coldness, but there is no lack of cleverness in the roundness, and there is no loss of progress in the calm.
The powerful aura that exudes from his body impresses everyone and helps him start smoothly.
After this, Zeng Guofan said with emotion:
"A country has the qi of a country, a family has a family's qi, a body has a body's qi, and those who are energetic are also angry, and those who can nourish their vitality are becoming more and more prosperous."
Only by making your aura strong can you get the kindness of this world.
01
- Slow: Handle things carefully and slowly.
Liu Zongyuan wrote about a master of tree planting in "The Legend of Guo Qiqi Camel Planting Trees".
This man knows the magic of planting trees, and the trees planted are all luxuriant and towering.
And his planting method is also very simple, but follow the laws of nature, let it slowly germinate and grow slowly.
Liu Zongyuan's metaphor for people is nothing more than to warn the world: in everything, if you want to be fast, you can't reach it.
When Zeng Guofan was young, he was looking forward to a blockbuster, and his overly eager enterprising spirit made him hit a wall everywhere.
And when he slowed down and found his own rhythm, he gradually opened up the second pulse of fate.
He reads slowly, does not understand a sentence, does not read the next sentence; If you don't understand today, read it again tomorrow;
He does things slowly, thinks big and starts small; Keeping the mouth in groups, living alone and guarding the heart;
He marched slowly, set up hard forts, fought stupid battles, built fortified cities, and dug thousands of miles of ravines.
Zeng Guofan calmed his mind, used slow kung fu, and refined his temperament with a soft knife that was not impatient.
Those who have been in the air, fly high.
If you take it slowly, you will be able to achieve it; Unhurried, in the end, it will be complete.
Just as Zeng Guofan said: Dealing with things is expensive and thoughtful, thinking carefully is the favor, and the relaxation is appropriate.
Only by slowing down the pace can the road be wider, fast and slow, and only then can you cultivate a calm posture.
02
- Steady: Calm and calm, can be a big deal.
As the leader of the Xiang Army, Zeng Guofan fought fiercely with the Taiping Rebellion for ten years.
In the decisive battle to besiege Tianjing, all the generals looked forward to a quick victory, especially Li Hongzhang, who formulated a strategy of dividing troops and advancing quickly.
Zeng Guofan, however, resolutely opposed a quick war, and instead proposed the strategy of "encircling iron barrels".
He mobilized a large number of troops and dug two long trenches around the east, north and west sides of the city.
The inner trench was used to besiege the Tianping Army in the city, and the outer trench was used to block the reinforcements of the Taiping Army. Between the two trenches, hundreds of solid and stable fortifications were also built.
Everyone was puzzled, it was clear that it could be conquered in one fell swoop, why bother so much.
Zeng Guofan explained: The Taiping Army is good at field and hand-to-hand combat, and this decisive battle has gathered the most elite troops. If it attacks blindly, the Xiang army has little chance of victory. The safest way is to use siege instead of attack and protracted combat.
He always firmly believes that fighting wars, like doing things, must seek stability first and change second.
In the end, Zeng Guofan besieged the Tianping Army for two years and achieved an absolute victory.
He has advised his juniors more than once: do not panic, deal with it calmly, and be the first way to deal with things.
In dealing with people, we should put stability and reliability first.
In case of trouble, do not panic, act steadily, this calm momentum is prohibitive.
03
- Patience: The first guild endures humiliation and patience.
When Zeng Guofan was studying at Yuelu Academy, he met a very arrogant classmate.
This person has a good family background, and he will find trouble with people at every turn.
One day, he felt that Zeng Guofan was blocking his light and forced Zeng Guofan to move the desk to the corner.
After Zeng Guofan raised people in high school, this person came to find fault again, saying that Zeng Guofan had taken away his good feng shui and cursed in public.
Others were all upset for Zeng Guofan, but on the contrary, Zeng Guofan not only was not angry, but also persuaded everyone not to care.
This scene happened to be met by Dean Ouyang Tanzhai, and the old man couldn't help but praise Zeng Guofan: Extraordinary temperament, will become a great weapon.
It is normal to walk in the world, encounter trouble, encounter troublesome people.
Some people are like artillery battles, they will explode at one point, and there is no cultivation at all, while others can hold back their temper and deal with it calmly, reflecting their upbringing.
There is a saying in the "Jia Yi Theory": Where a gentleman takes far, he will be treated; Those who do great will endure.
Don't be impatient when things happen, be tolerant of people, and be tolerant of ninjas, it is for gentlemanship.
04
- Accurate: Insight into the situation and discernment of the sky.
Some people ask the wise man: How can we do everything without losing our accuracy?
The wise man replied: Listen to his words, observe his things, discuss all things, and distinguish between male and female, although it is not his business, see the subtle knowledge.
If you want to avoid detours, you must have a certain insight and be able to see the essence of everything.
The brute force that floats on the surface is the work of a reckless man; Being able to see the subtleties and have a target is the performance of wisdom.
During the Ming Zhengde period, Wang Yangming went to Gannan to suppress bandits.
Prior to this, the local officials either attacked the bandits or left them alone, and the result could not be eradicated.
After Wang Yangming arrived in office, he did not rush to catch the thieves, but first conducted field investigations, and then made overt inspections and covert visits.
He found that the terrain of Gannan was complex and the ravines were crisscrossed, making it unsuitable for armed attack.
It was also discovered that the local thieves were mostly desperate people who were forced by exorbitant taxes and taxes.
He realized that the suppression of bandits should not cure the symptoms but not the root cause, and that in order to completely solve the problem, we must start from pacification and education.
So he posted a notice, promising that as long as the thieves reformed their evils, they would not be blamed in the past, and they would not only be allocated good land, but also study in rural schools.
As soon as this move came out, within a month, Wang Yangming eradicated more than ten years of bandits and won the hearts and voices of the people.
Truly powerful people can see the situation, see through the sky, and can see far-sightedness, which is surprisingly fickle.
Their outstanding thinking ability and the wisdom they radiate from within are convincing.
05
- Decision: Let go and look ahead.
In 249, on the eve of Sima Yi's coup d'état at Gaopingling.
The eldest son, Sima Shi, and the second son, Sima Zhao, were called to discuss specific matters.
Sima Yi was worried, Sima Zhao was worried, but Sima Shi was determined to do it.
He told his father that the 3,000 dead soldiers cultivated in secret, and the eyeliner inside and outside the court, had been arranged, and only waiting for an order, he could quickly seize the military and political power.
As Sima Shi expected, they acted quickly and became the biggest winners in the Three Kingdoms hegemony.
Three years later, Sima Yi died, and Sima Shi led the rank of general, and together with Sima Zhao, he set out to conquer Eastern Wu.
Sima Zhao's battle led to his defeat in the first battle, which attracted countless condemnations.
At a critical juncture, it was Sima Shi who took the lead, took all the blame, and immediately adjusted his strategy and led his army to successfully break through the encirclement.
When the brothers returned with their army, Sima Zhao was still unable to convince the public, even though he also had a reward.
On the contrary, it was the decisive Sima Shi, who eventually became a generation of Wang Zuozhi.
Resolute people have their own vigor, act with short knives and straight forward, and never drag mud and water.
If you want to do something big, you need to cultivate the momentum of thunder and forge the ability to make decisions immediately.
06
- Jing: It's all the same.
Zeng Guofan had just taken the entrance examination for the Jin Shi Na Hui, and once he had achieved his aspirations, he could not help but be arrogant.
Especially in the Hanlin Courtyard, he lost his temper at every turn and argued with people.
Regardless of his superiors and colleagues, even his younger brother Zeng Guoquan, who defected to him, could not stand his noise and returned to his hometown angrily.
And Zeng Guofan himself was also miserable due to his impetuosity in his heart.
He asked his teacher, Wajin, for advice, and Waren gave him only one piece of advice: work on the word "quiet".
Wan Ren said: Calm mind is to observe the essence, and restraint also saves effort. If you are driving eastward and westward, there are drowning and do not know, and those who do not know how.
This means that people must first calm down, and then they can judge the situation and make objective and rational judgments.
Since then, Zeng Guofan has taken "meditation" as his own priority.
Restrained temper, reflected behind closed doors, and went to enlightenment alone until there were no distractions, reaching the supreme state of "quiet mind and wisdom life".
"Yan Leng Sutra": If the madness rests, the rest is Bodhi.
To the extremes of voidness, to keep quiet, to stop delusional thoughts, not to be disturbed by the mundane, not to be confused by fame and fortune, is a person's lifelong practice.
▽
Someone asked Zeng Guofan: How to recognize people?
He said: Without him, just by observing its weather, you will know the depths of cultivation.
Do not be impatient, act steadily and ruthlessly, and hope is as if it were warm.
Such a person has a strong aura, great energy, and his own cultivation is profound, and he is easy to gain the admiration of the world.
Give it a thumbs up, when you cultivate a powerful aura, the whole world will be happy with you.