? The golden mean lesson 54

The following is chapter 14 of The Doctrine of the Mean:

A gentleman walks in his own position and doesn't want to be outside. Sue, be rich; Poverty is poverty; Su Yi emperor, walking in the Yi emperor; When there is trouble, there is trouble, and a gentleman is not complacent. Don't help superiors, don't help subordinates, and if you are right, don't complain or ask others. I don't complain, but I don't care about others. Therefore, a gentleman is easy to live in, and a villain is desperate and lucky. Confucius said, "Shoot like a gentleman, not right-handed mandarin fish, but want it.

Let's start by saying, "A gentleman does his own thing without overstepping the rules." "Su" is normal, and has the same meaning as "Yong", but "Su" has the meaning of daily state. Now it's common, and the ancients said everyday. "Status" refers to a person's status and social status, or, in today's fashionable words, it is called survival status. "Doing" is action, and wish is desire and pursuit. A gentleman decides how to act according to his social status and living conditions, and does not pursue anything beyond this.

This is a general program. Don't explain in detail first, look at the following first, because after explaining the following sentence, we will have a deep understanding of this sentence. Here are some examples to illustrate what "walking in its place" means.

"The first example," Su Hang on wealth ". You are now in a state of being either rich or expensive. Money means money, and expensive means high social status. Your current state of existence is: rich, with a very high social status, then your behavior should start with the word wealth here, and your behavior should match your wealth life state. This is called "having money means having money". "

The second example is just the opposite of the previous one. "It's almost poor." My living condition is poverty, poverty means no money, and meanness means low social status. Then my daily actions must match my living conditions, and my practices are consistent with my lack of money. Then you have no reason to accuse me and laugh at me.

There is no uniform standard for things in life. Unlike shopping malls, plain code and real price are all a standard. How to deal with the problems in life? Confucianism tells us that there is no uniform standard, and it should match your own living conditions. The same thing, that is, eating noodles and bargaining, happened to the boss, which we think is a negative evaluation; It happened to laid-off workers, and we said he would live. This is a positive evaluation. Why? The key is to match his living conditions.

Yan Hui is a typical poor man under Confucius. If he doesn't become an official, the poor will be finished. But "a person can only eat and drink, and in a mean alley, people will be worried if they can't bear it, and they will not change their fun when they go back." What he does matches his life. He doesn't feel inferior to others, and he doesn't feel that this life is a kind of trouble to him. He still lives happily.

Why does Confucianism advocate "wealth is wealth"? In a big way, as a rich man, you should fulfill your social responsibility. In addition, Confucianism believes that the rich should not compete with Wang for profits, so it advocates "being rich."

So what you do should match your social status, and what you don't want to do is what you want to do, that is, don't pursue anything else. It is wrong for the rich to pursue the lifestyle of the poor, and it is also wrong for the poor to pursue the lifestyle of the rich. You should determine your goal in life according to your social status, and you can't pursue anything else.

For example, I haven't graduated from primary school yet, and my ideal in life is to be a university professor, which is too "foreign". If I don't pursue it, I will feel guilty. In fact, many entanglements and pains in life are due to the pursuit of things other than usual, so Confucianism says that it is unwilling to surpass and not pursue things other than your social status.

Everyone has everyone's pursuit. There is no uniform standard, no distinction between high and low. According to Confucianism, the personality of the poor is not lower than that of the rich, but the key is that you should be "unwilling to ignore" and "upright without desire" I like Yan Hui. Although he is poor, firstly he is peaceful and happy. Secondly, no one dares to look down on him. On the other hand, if that's not what Yan Hui is after, he's going to curry favor with the rich, right? Let people look down?

What you pursue is basically impossible for yourself, but you must pursue it and you won't get it in the end. Don't you struggle? The mentality is not harmonious, happiness is gone, life is unhappy, and personality is reduced. Why bother? Therefore, "unwilling to be outside" is a very important life criterion.

The above two examples are one positive and one negative, talking about economic conditions and social status. People with good economic conditions and high social status, as well as people with poor economic conditions and low social status, should "keep their place, not stay out of it."

The third example is about cultural customs, saying, "If you were a barbarian, you would do it." . Yidi is the collective name of China ancient Zhongyuan people for ethnic minorities, and does not refer to any ethnic group in particular. "Doing what you want is doing what you want", that is, what your original customs and cultural habits are, so you can act from this angle, and you don't want everyone to agree.

What are your living conditions, your own cultural customs and living habits? There is nothing wrong with you insisting on this and starting from this. Be a man and do things from your own living conditions, don't be melodramatic, and don't deliberately package yourself into something.

The fourth example is about the experience of life. "It is always difficult to do anything." .

Suffering, suffering, for example, my daily life is full of suffering, so I can do it from this angle and deal with the problem. For example, I have had many accidents recently, so I should be careful in everything I do. Check whether the door is locked when you go out and before you leave. Do you think it's strange that you usually do this? Say whether this person has obsessive-compulsive disorder? I'm not saying this is normal. I've had a lot of accidents recently. I must be careful. This is "always in trouble, always in trouble."

The above * * * refers to four examples, which are divided into three levels to explain what "a gentleman does what he wants, but he doesn't want to go outside." The first level comes from economic conditions and social status, the second level comes from cultural customs and living habits, and the third example comes from life experience. This is a very important life concept of Confucianism, and it is also the basic principle to guide life behavior.

Dealing with problems in daily life should be based on this basic principle, "Do what you want, not what you want." This is what I said in the last paragraph, but I didn't tell you earlier that "you should mind your words, you should mind your words".

How can we achieve "the journey of virtue is a journey without words"? Based on a basic principle, "do what you want, don't want to be outside."

From: Don't Speak the Mean by Yang Jun.