Liang Qichao > There is a reason to demonstrate in business, and an example to demonstrate in pleasure.

Dedication and happiness

Liang Qichao

My topic is made out of the words "respect your career" in The Book of Rites and "live in peace and enjoy your career" in Laozi. Whether what I said is consistent with the original intention of The Book of Rites and Laozi,

there is no need to ask deeply; But I am convinced that the word "dedication" is the only way to human life.

naturally, it is the word "respect" and "joy". But you must have a job first, and then you will have a respectable and cola subject, which is easy to understand. Therefore, before the text of the speech, we should first talk about the necessity of having a job.

Confucius said, "It's hard to eat all day long and have no intention!" He also said, "It's hard to live in groups all day, but it's not as good as words, and it's hard to be kind and wise!" Confucius was an educator, and there was no one in his mind who could not be taught. He only shook his head and sighed at these two kinds of people and said, "Difficult! Difficult! " It can be seen that all the problems in life can be cured by medicine, but the unemployed, although the great sage touched him, can't do anything about it.

In the Tang Dynasty, there was a famous monk, Zen Master Baizhang, who often taught his disciples two aphorisms, saying, "If you don't do anything, you won't eat for a day." Apart from what he said in class, he had to sweep the floor, clean the table and do the laundry himself every day until he was eighty years old. Once, his protege wanted to serve him and quietly did all the work he should do today. The old Zen master, who cared about words and deeds, was honest and impolite, and he absolutely refused to eat that day.

I quote these two paragraphs of Confucianism and Buddhism, which prove that everyone should have a proper career and work constantly. If someone asks me, "what comes first in a hundred lines?" What is the first evil? " I replied without hesitation: "All trades are the first, and all evils and laziness are the first." Lazy people who have no occupation are simply Mi Chong in society and thieves who "rob others of their hard work". We should make a thorough crusade against such people and never forgive them. What I'm going to talk about today is for people-students-who have jobs and are preparing for their jobs now, and tell them what attitude they should adopt towards their current jobs.

first, be dedicated. The word "respect" was the simplest and most straightforward way for ancient sages to teach people to be human beings, but it was unfortunately said too subtly by some people later, which made it impractical. Only Zhu Zi can explain it best. He said, "If the Lord is at a loss, he is respectful." In today's words, if you do something, you will be loyal to it, and you will concentrate all your energy on it, which is respect. What is respectable about karma? Why should I respect it? On the one hand, human beings work for life, and on the other hand, they live for labor. Since human beings are not specially made by God to act as machines for digesting bread, it is natural for each person to decide one thing to do because of his position and talent. Everything that can be called a thing is respectable in nature. Being a president is one thing, so is pulling rickshaws. The name of the matter, from the layman's eyes, seems to compete; The nature of things, from the theoretical anatomy, did not compete. As long as the person who is a big president believes that I can be a big president, I will really take the president as a serious matter; People who pull rickshaws believe that I can pull rickshaws before pulling them. Truly, pulling rickshaws as a serious matter is a reasonable life. This is called the sanctity of profession. No occupation is not sacred, so no occupation is not respectable. Only in this way, so we have no choice in various occupations. In a word, in life, you have to work every day. Working is a virtue, and not working is a sin. As for what kind of work should I do? It all depends on my ability and situation. Because of one's own talent and situation, doing a kind of work to perfection is the first person between heaven and earth.

how can we complete a kind of work? The only secret is loyalty, and the psychological source of loyalty is respect. "Zhuangzi" remembers the story of a rickety husband, saying: "Although the world is big, there are many things, but only my wings know." Anyone who does something will regard it as my life, and no matter what other benefits, he will not sacrifice what I am doing to exchange with him. I believe that I, as a carpenter, can make a good table, which has the same value as your statesmen. I believe that cleaning up the toilet when I am a dung picker is as valuable as beating a besieged enemy when you are a soldier. We all work for the society, so you don't have to envy me, and I don't have to envy you. I'm afraid I didn't do it properly, so I'm sorry for the food I ate this day. So when I do this, I won't be distracted at all. Ceng Wenzheng said: "Sitting on this mountain and looking at that mountain will accomplish nothing." A person who is disrespectful to his profession, from the academic point of view, blasphemes the sanctity of his profession; In fact, you must have done something bad and ended up hurting yourself. Therefore, professionalism is the most necessary and beneficial to life. Zhuangzi said: "It is not divided by ambition, but by God." Confucius said, "Do what you want, not what you want." When I say dedication, that's all.

the second thing is to be happy. "It's hard work!" This kind of sighing voice, no matter who will often reveal it in the mouth. But I want to ask him, "It's hard to work, isn't it hard not to work?" In today's hot weather, I'm here to shout my throat out, and you guys are pulling your ears straight to listen. Some people look at us so hard; On the other hand, if we go to gamble and eat wine, aren't we just trying to find god? Isn't it bitter? It is important to know that all the joys and sorrows are subjective, not objective. From the moment of birth to the second of death, you can't put your limbs and five senses aside except sleeping. As long as you use it, it's either fascinating or laborious, and hard work is always inevitable. People who can use abacus can only find happiness from hard work. I think the first-class miserable person in the world is nothing more than being unemployed and wandering around all day, not knowing where to put your body and heart. Their life is really sad. The second-class bitter people are those who hate their own jobs. They obviously have to do it, but they are full of reluctance to do it. Can you escape if you don't want to do it? You can't. The result is still frowning and sad to do it. Isn't this a joke for yourself? I'll tell you a word honestly: "Every occupation is interesting. As long as you are willing to continue doing it, interest will naturally happen." Why? First, because every profession always has many layers of fatigue and twists and turns, it is most intimate and interesting to see its changing and progressing state if you can get into it. Second, because the achievements of every profession are inseparable from struggle; Struggle forward step by step, and increase the weight of happiness from hard work. Third, the professional nature, often compared with people in the same industry, like a ball game, because of winning the game and getting happy. Fourth, when you concentrate on a career, you put an end to many wandering thoughts and delusions, and save yourself endless troubles. Confucius said: "Those who know are not as good as those who are good, and those who are good are not as good as those who are happy." Life is valuable only if you can appreciate the fun from your career. Confucius recounted his life, saying, "He is also a human being, who is angry and forgets to eat, enjoys forgetting his worries, and doesn't know that his old age is coming." This kind of life is really an ideal life for human beings.

There are two sentences that I have enjoyed most in my life: one is "responsibility" and the other is "interest". I often strive for the realization and reconciliation of these two sentences myself, and I often force these two sentences to my friends. Today, dedication is responsibility, and pleasure is fun. I firmly believe that a reasonable life of human beings should always be like this, and I hope you can enjoy it with me!