14.29 A native of Zigongfang. Confucius said: "Isn't it virtuous to give him a gift? Husband, I have no time for it."

14.29 A native of Zigongfang. Confucius said: "Is it virtuous to give it? I have no time for it."

"Fang" is a metaphor, which is shorter than longer. Zigong usually liked Zang Fu's characters, comparing them to short and long ones, who was good and who was not so good. The teacher got tired of hearing this and said to him: "Zigong, you don't look down on this, you don't look down on that, you yourself Are you so virtuous? If it were me, I wouldn't have that much time to talk about others!" There is also an explanation. To say "Fang" is to slander, and to talk about someone's faults is not to say good things.

Zhu Xi said: "It is unreasonable to compare the shortness and length of a person, but if you specialize in this, your mind will be outside, and the person who is autonomous will be sparse." If you have old eyes If you stare at others, you will be neglecting your own cultivation.

For a person, you divide the list of his advantages and disadvantages into two sides, and learn from the advantages one by one, and think about the talents when you see them. As for the shortcomings, check and correct them one by one. Do I have this problem? If there are any, then correct them; if not, then encourage them. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty once said: "You can judge your gains and losses by looking at others." As for Zigong, he probably was too preoccupied with criticizing others and forgot that the purpose of criticism was self-study, so he was scolded by his teacher.

Good morning everyone! Daily speeches to make your dreams come true! Write and speak, grow seven times faster! The more you give, the richer you become.

It’s 6:30 again, let’s continue studying the Analects of Confucius. As usual, let’s review what we learned yesterday.

Chapter 28 of The Analects of Confucius. Confucius said: There are three principles in the way of a gentleman, why am I incompetent: a benevolent man does not worry, a knowledgeable man does not confuse, a brave man does not fear. Zigong said: Master, you have your own way!

One day Master Confucius sighed, saying that there are three criteria to measure whether a person is a gentleman, but I couldn't achieve it! What are the three standards? The distinction is that the benevolent do not worry, the wise do not be confused, and the brave do not fear.

What I want to explain to you here is that benevolence is the highest state of Confucianism. It is said that this benevolence can include wisdom and courage, but here they are expressed separately, that is to say, in The benevolence here has some differences in conceptual scope from the benevolence we usually talk about in Confucianism.

We all know that the word benevolence is composed of the two words "ren" and "ren", which refers to the relationship between people. A benevolent person loves others. This is a definition given to us by Confucius. First of all, he must have a heart of fraternity and be able to properly handle interpersonal relationships.

A person with benevolence will not feel worried and can deal with anything calmly, whether it is the country's affairs, other people's affairs, or his own affairs.

A wise person who is not confused is a wise person. He can see many things and will not be disturbed by the appearance of external objects.

At the same time, I will not be tempted by external things. For a little benefit or a little fame, I will be led away by others. This is not the style of a wise man. A wise man can think and judge clearly and know what is right, what is wrong, what should be done and what should not be done.

What does it mean to be brave without fear? A truly brave person is one who, because of his open mind, will not be afraid as long as justice lies. Just like the scholar we talked about in the past, he may only be a scholar, but he dared to go deep into the army, dared to go on an envoy, fought against millions of people with a small tongue, and was able to win the battle. In fact, if he failed, he might be cut to pieces, but he dared to do it. This is a kind of courage. He truly has the world in mind, regardless of personal safety. I won't be afraid of this or that, and I will always think about my own interests and gains.

Confucius said that he has not reached the goal yet, which is a self-effacing statement, showing the humility of a sage. He always says that he has not reached the end, but is still on the road. This is the attitude of a gentleman in his pursuit of learning.

As his student, Zigong told other students that this was just Confucius’ self-humility, and he had already done it.

Okay, after a brief review of yesterday's content, we will study a new chapter today. This chapter is Confucius's evaluation of Zigong.

As for Zigong’s Fang people, should we be Fang people? Is Confucius a good person or not? How do you view this matter? Let’s look at the original text first.

Chapter 29 of the 14th Xianwen Chapter of The Analects of Confucius. A native of Zigongfang. Confucius said: "Is it virtuous to give it? I have no time for it."

The "square" here is a metaphor, which is shorter than longer.

After studying for such a long time, we should already have an understanding of Zigong. He was a person who loyally followed Confucius, whether it was during Confucius's lifetime or after his death. After Confucius died, while other disciples observed mourning for Confucius for three years, he observed mourning for six years, which shows his respect and recognition for Confucius.

The other one, this person is really extraordinary. One is one of the ten philosophers, one of the ten most outstanding students of Confucius.

The other one has a talent for business and is the ancestor of Confucian businessmen. He has the ability to make money. I think he should be envied by most of us!

The third is that he is very eloquent and has diplomatic skills. He is no less inferior to Su Qin and Zhang Yi later. In addition, he is modest and studious. He is a disciple of Confucius, so this person is from all aspects. , he is quite extraordinary.

So much so that at that time or after Confucius's death, many big figures at the time thought that Zigong was more powerful than Confucius. However, Zigong said that there was no comparison between me and my teacher, the difference was too far.

After talking about Zigong, let’s talk about the real content of this chapter. It was Zigong who was so good at eloquence, so he preferred the people from Fang, that is, Zang Fu, who was shorter and longer than him. Who was better? Who is not good?

This annoyed the teacher and said to him: Zigong, you look down on this and look down on that. Are you that virtuous? Are you the only one who is virtuous? If it were me, I wouldn't have that much free time to talk about others.

When evaluating others here, his method generally refers to criticizing others rather than praising others. Praising others and criticizing others are two completely different concepts.

In this sentence, it is obvious that Confucius disapproved of Zigong's behavior.

Then Confucius himself was never polite? Never judge others? Neither. Confucius has many chapters in the Analects, which are about his evaluation of others.

For example, he has comments about Yu, Shun, Yao, Kong Wenzi, etc., etc. But have you noticed that he gives more positive praise?

You are the one who talks about it most. For example, how many people did Shun have? And the rule of the world generally has this kind of positive evaluation of positive people, so as to set a benchmark for others and let everyone know Who should I learn from.

For example, in the chapter we studied earlier, there are three people walking in it. There must be a teacher. I choose the good ones and follow them, and change the bad ones.

It doesn’t mean that he must be taller than me to be called a teacher, nor does it mean that he must do it right to be called a teacher. What does that mean?

We should learn from what he did right, and we should examine ourselves from the negative side of what he did wrong. Do I have such a problem? If so, change it quickly!

Because I saw other people doing this, and something went wrong. If I didn’t change it, I would have the same problem, and I would be laughed at by others!

In this way, no matter whether others do well or not, we can all learn from them and we can all learn something from them.

Confucius also once criticized people. At that time, most of them came when students asked or based on the needs of the situation, instead of us criticizing others casually and criticizing with our mouths. Others are actually wrong.

Zhu Xi once commented: For example, it is reasonable to compare characters with their short and long ones. Observing others is also an important way to learn self-cultivation. Laozi also said something similar in the Tao Te Ching, so good people are not good people. The teacher who is not good is the resource of good people.

What do you mean? That is, progressive people are teachers of backward people. That is, you are better than me, more powerful than me, and have higher moral quality than me. Then you are my teacher and I want to learn from you.

The backward people are the resources of the progressives. What resources are they? It is equivalent to the defective product site in the production workshop. Defective products are placed here for everyone to see why problems occur. Let’s study and compare, and be careful not to produce such defective products. This is also a very modern management method, called wrong assets.

Let me tell you a story. Have you ever eaten Xibei noodles?

It is said that in Xibei Noodle Village, if you want to go to eat, he will make a publicity, saying that everything you order with your eyes closed will be delicious.

Some people will ask, what should I do if it doesn’t taste good? If it doesn’t taste good, you don’t have to pay for it. If you say which dish doesn’t taste good, the waiter will take it away right away for you, free of charge, and give you another plate.

Where does this plate of food go? It is not thrown into the trash can. It is a wrong asset. It is the property of a good person. How can it be thrown away?

Next time you go to Xibei, pay attention. There is a red refrigerator in the hall. This Xibei red refrigerator is specially designed to store dishes that customers have returned because they said they were not delicious. After closing every day, the chefs would look at how many dishes had been returned today and review the cooking process of each dish to find the real cause of the problem. Then improve immediately. The important thing is that employees grow while participating in this improvement process.

Let’s see, if we can have this attitude towards our own mistakes, first admit it, and then think about improvements to avoid similar situations again, will our level improve and improve? Improvement, that's for sure.

If when we see other people’s mistakes, we can see the crux of the problem and avoid making such mistakes ourselves, wouldn’t we be great too?

No matter who makes the mistake, it is actually an asset and a mirror that allows us to improve and improve. What a good thing.

But if we just criticize him based on his mistakes and shortcomings, just to make ourselves quick-tongued, just say it through comments, you see, he is too low, so we feel complacent. So pretentious, what can you gain from it? I believe not! What you gain is just your own feeling that I am better than you, which is just a sense of psychological satisfaction.

Zigong Fang was a person who evaluated other people’s strengths and weaknesses. Why was he criticized by Master Confucius?

In fact, it may be that we just criticize others from the perspective of outsiders, just to express our opinions quickly, without really looking at the words and deeds of the other party, such as what we have done well, what are the things we deserve? Those who study, study and study. If you did something bad, compare it with yourself to see if you have made such mistakes anywhere.

If you make a mistake, change it quickly to avoid embarrassing yourself in public. If not, pay attention to where he fell. I don’t want to fall here again, then if I fall again, I will be like him.

This is what Zhu Xi said: For example, a person may be short or long. Although he is also a person of poor rationality, he specializes in this and his heart is outside, so those who are autonomous are sparse!

It means that if you keep staring at others, you will be neglecting your own cultivation. And what do we really want to do? It’s about cultivating and improving yourself, because that’s how it is in this world. Everyone’s situation is different. Some are better than us, and some are not as good as us.

If we always stare at those who are inferior to us, we will develop a condescending and self-aggrandizing mentality.

But in fact, if you look forward, there are others who are smarter than us. Don't always look for superiority among inferior people, nor always feel inferior in front of outstanding people, but see the essence of the problem.

What should we do about Zang Fu?

In fact, we still need to see the essence of the problem, that is, when we comment on others, we do not comment on others to judge or characterize them, but to compare ourselves, to choose the good ones and follow them, and to choose the bad ones. Change it. You divide a list of a person's advantages and disadvantages into two sides, and list the advantages one by one. Compare the shortcomings one by one, self-examine and self-correct. Do I have this shortcoming? If so, I will correct it. If not, I will encourage it.

Taizong of the Tang Dynasty once said: Learning from others can help us understand gains and losses.

Here Zigong probably just criticized others, so he was criticized by Confucius. What should really be used is to use people as a mirror, so that we can understand the gains and losses, and we can cultivate and improve ourselves.

It can be seen from this that Master Confucius had very strict requirements for his students. No matter how good you are, since you are my student, I will hit you where I should. Because Zigong is excellent, he relaxes his requirements for Zigong.

Zigong is indeed a very good person. I believe that after listening to Confucius's words, he will also reflect on himself, and he will pay attention when he evaluates others in the future.

In fact, talking about other people's shortcomings and evaluating other people's rights and wrongs is really something we should pay attention to, and we should pay special attention to it, because doing so will bring great risks.

It often makes others feel uncomfortable, thus setting up an opposition and offending others.

After you offend someone, you will find that it is actually difficult for you to deal with others. If we are criticized and criticized by others, we will definitely feel bored and do not do to others what we do not want others to do to us, so we should not do this.

Ma Yuan, a famous general of the Eastern Han Dynasty, had two nephews, one was Ma Yan and the other was Ma Dun. They all like to talk about others behind their backs, and they all make friends with frivolous people

When Ma Yuan was conquering South Vietnam, which is now Vietnam, he specially wrote a letter from the army to warn them, saying, I hope you will do it again in the future. Hearing other people's stories is like hearing the names of your parents. You can hear them with your ears, but you can't speak them out of your own mouth. I like to talk about other people's merits and make random comments on proper etiquette. This is the behavior I dislike the most. , you all should know the disadvantages of this kind of behavior. The reason why I want to remind you now is that I hope you will never do it again in your life.

Ma Yuan was well aware of the dangers of talking about other people's rights and wrongs, so he warned his nephew to be strict with himself and beware of misfortune coming from his mouth.

Then we must also pay attention to the fact that we are not as virtuous as Zigong, so we should less criticize and comment on others. If you look at someone who has done well, it is okay to praise them, either in person or behind their back, but be careful when you criticize others, because it is a kind of negative energy that does not bring any harm to ourselves. What good.

Confucius said, "My husband and I have no time to spare" means that if it were me, I wouldn't have that much spare time.

Tell us that the most important thing is to focus on ourselves and improve ourselves. This is what we have always emphasized. The most important core idea of ??Confucianism is benevolence, and the most important thing is practice. The key is In self-cultivation, the focus must be on yourself, not on the rights and wrongs of others.

Okay, the time has come. We have finished studying this chapter. At 6:30 tomorrow morning, we will continue to study the next chapter.

Confucius said: "Don't worry about what others don't know, but worry about what you can't do."

What does this chapter mean? We will study and discuss together tomorrow morning. Thank you for your listening and feedback. See you tomorrow.