Sample essay for the 2014 National College Entrance Examination Paper II

The way of heaven follows nature

Zhang Mojun, Class 33, Grade 2, No. 11 High School, Changchun City

The grass will not thank you for its glory in the spring breeze, and the tree will not complain when it falls. In autumn, whoever whips the whip drives the four fortunes, and all things rise and fall naturally. Herbs have spirit, water and stone have charm. It is precisely because they follow the laws of nature and follow their own nature that they have the beauty that makes people look forward to it. The dust is rolling around, why not calm down, let the soul return to its original state, and capture the lingering sound in the wind from thousands of years ago and the chants of the sages: God's behavior is constant, and Tao follows nature.

I don’t know who made a loud statement after misinterpreting the meaning of man’s victory over nature, and people began to go further and further down the wrong path. The original intention of keeping one's duty has become a cover for doing whatever one wants and being self-righteous. People are always eager to express their kindness, completely forgetting the teaching of "a few grains of rice will not enter the pond, and a pound of ax will not enter the forest in time". They forget that sometimes they should not do to others what they want. If you don't follow the laws of nature, love will often turn into poison in a moment. Feeding wild animals without scruples causes them to lose the wildness and instinct that nature has given them to survive. Excessive mining, hormones, and chemicals have also led to resource depletion, geological disasters, and congenital malformations. People who have lost their most basic respect for nature happily kill themselves in violation of laws. If I had known this, why would I have turned a deaf ear to the motto of Taoism and Nature, and had to go to the end of the road before I regretted it and took a long breath to cover my tears.

The tiger roaring in the wild has the majestic appearance of life, and the splendor of life can be found when people keep their nature. Youth and dreams are expressions of individuality, not assembly line factories. The education of preaching, imparting knowledge and solving doubts has been around to this day. When the disability system makes educators helplessly shout the so-called standards, when indoctrinating education makes students become lazy and enjoy the benefits. A nation that has lost the ability to create, loses its multi-angle vision, loses its vivid personality and passion for exploration is equivalent to losing its instinct for survival and development, which will inevitably endanger the country in the long run. Russell once said: "It must be understood that diversity is the source of happiness." Zhuangzi can keep his nature, hold the pole regardless, and be free through the ages; Tao Qiang can keep his nature, drink wine on the east fence, and dream of peach blossoms. Those who can reap wonderful things are those who are not attached to the world and do not forget their true nature. It is these people who hold up a different kind of sky in history.

Nature has the way of heaven, and society also has humanity. Complying with nature does not mean doing whatever you want, nature has its own course. If you only limit yourself to human nature, you will only be able to remain stubborn and superficial. The true avenue is the perfect fusion of nature and reason, and it is to stand on the commanding heights of history and nature and overlook the magnificence of oneself and the world. The law of humanity is to comply with the rules of society, which is law, morality, and belief. People have to do something and not do something. As the saying goes, those who are enlightened will get more help, while those who are unfaithful will have little help. It is the undefeated truth to stick to our original intention, base ourselves on the laws of history and society, not go against the grain, and adapt to the development of the times. Taking history as a mirror, the lessons of history allow us to have a more majestic and broader attitude, and also allow us to move towards a brighter future with a greater reverence for nature and heaven.

The laws of heaven are constant, and the Tao is natural. If you follow it, you will prosper; if you go against it, you will perish. The philosopher Novalis said: Philosophy is looking for home with eternal nostalgia. And the highest philosophy of life is at the origin of the eternal way of heaven and nature.