values
The Bohai official has recommended it many times in the public account. The author said that he met an old man when he was a child and made predictions for him to be ranked fourteenth in the county examination, seventy-one in the government examination, and ninth in the academic examination. All of them came true. , and then divined his life, telling him which year he would rank in the examination, which year he would be a supplementary student, which year he would be a tribute student, and then he would become a Yin of Sichuan, but he would have no son. He even calculated that he would live to be 53 years old. All changes after that could not escape the calculation of the old man, except for one thing: the old man said that after receiving ninety-one stones and five buckets, he could become a Gongsheng student, but he ended up becoming a Gongsheng student after receiving seventy-one stones, which is why he was concerned about this. He must have been suspicious, but later he was dismissed as a Gongsheng student. Until one day, a grand master found his test paper and thought that it was the same as the memorial written by the emperor, so he helped him write the application to become a Gongsheng student. In this way, he received ninety-one stones and five buckets. , the calculation was exactly the same as that of the old gentleman, and from then on I believed that everything in this world was fixed, and I no longer pursued anything in vain.
However, the author's "Four Lessons from the Moral" is a book of commandments, written for his son. At the same time, he finally lived to be more than seventy years old, much longer than the fifty-three years mentioned above. This is why? This is the purpose and content of this family instruction, and how the author knows and changes his fate.
The author later visited a Zen master in the capital. He sat face to face with the Zen master in the Zen room and did not close his eyes for three days and three nights. The Zen master asked him that most people do not realize the Tao because they are obsessed with distracting thoughts, but you can do it for three days and three nights. No waves, why? He expressed the idea that everything has a certain fate. As a result, the Zen master laughed and said that everyone in the world is bound by yin and yang to have their destiny, but only ordinary people will be bound by this, and the extremely good people and the extremely evil people are not bound by this. , saying that the author has been considered dead by him for more than 20 years and does not want to break free. He is just an ordinary person. Afterwards, the author asked the Zen master for advice on how to get out of trouble. The Zen master said:
I make my destiny and seek my own blessings. What the poems and books call it is Ming Xun. It is said in my teachings: If you seek wealth, you will gain wealth; if you seek men and women, you will be male and female; if you seek longevity, you will live long. Lies are the great precept of Sakyamuni. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, how can they lie and deceive others?
Later, the Zen master said that if you only seek externally but cannot keep up with the inner world, you will eventually lose it. He also asked him about his specific destiny and asked him to think about whether he should take an exam and whether he should have a son. The evil he has done can be changed (the evil done by God can still be violated), so that he can do more good deeds and accumulate more negative virtues from now on.
So from then on, the author worked hard every day and kept track of his merits. As a result, he came first in the imperial examination the next year, while the old man was ranked third. Later, he performed three thousand good deeds and made the desire to perform three thousand good deeds. Later, he gave birth to a son. After doing these three thousand good deeds, I made the wish to do ten thousand good deeds. Later I was admitted to Jinshi. After I became the county magistrate, I reduced taxes for the people. This is equivalent to doing ten thousand good deeds. I should have lived to be fifty-three years old. As a result, the author wrote this book "Four Lessons on the Moral" when he was sixty-nine years old.
The author thought, "It's hard to predict, but destiny is unpredictable." To say that misfortunes and blessings are all caused by oneself is what the sages say, but to say that fate is all determined is just the opinion of ordinary people.
The above is the content of the first training. The author uses his own experience to explain his own values. The next three trainings are to correct mistakes, accumulate kindness, and be modest , which is the methodology.
The author tells a story in the Chapter of Accumulating Good Deeds, where Confucian scholars visited Monk Zhongfeng and asked why some good people had no good rewards, while some evil people had happy families. Monk Zhongfeng replied that it was because everyone's desires had not been purified and their eyes had not been opened. He said that there are too many times in the world that good things are evil things and evil things are good things. It is your own fault. Why should you complain that God is not open-minded? Finally, Monk Zhongfeng expressed his values: What is good for others is good, and what is good for oneself is bad. Based on this logic, if beating and scolding others is good for others, it is also good.
If this is the case, although the author's article warns not to do good deeds for the sake of doing good deeds, but to correct your own heart first, I have a new view here. Since things on the surface are not necessarily true, that is to say, the road is very tortuous. , and the so-called "beneficial to people" means beneficial to the environment, beneficial to the whole, and beneficial to the people. Physically speaking, it is "entropy reduction", so in essence, what is conveyed here is the values of joining the world, and we must do things to promote social progress.
Including the part about goodness later, it is mentioned that ancient sages would rather imitate those who are bold and orderly than those who are prudent and honest. They all explain that they should not stick to the surface and when doing so-called good deeds, ask themselves whether they are beneficial to society and whether they are beneficial to society. Whether it satisfies selfish desires, etc., is essentially in line with our socialist values and Confucian values.
Combining the author's final values, the conversation with the Zen master, and what the author said later, I personally think that he revealed the idea of being proactive and becoming strong at the bottom, because they, including the Zen master, have a "seeking" mentality, that is, encouragement Pursue what you want instead of following the so-called fortune telling, but their methodology is to do good deeds and accumulate good deeds. I personally think this is a limitation of the times. The best way for the mainstream values at that time was to do good. In fact, Doing good is essentially "entropy reduction". Benefiting the people and reducing taxes is the ultimate means of doing good, which can be worth ten thousand good deeds. Then using science to improve social productivity and thereby "reducing entropy" is also a good deed, and it should be a great merit. , after all, the benefit may not be to one group of people, but to everyone it can come into contact with.
In addition, the author revealed that the strong think, the weak follow the arrangements, and the extremely good and extremely evil people (the strong) have their own path, which is actually in line with the logic of social operation. In short, what I think here is: don’t be constrained by one pattern. , do good deeds that are good for yourself and others.
methodology
- Correction: feel shame, fear, and courage;
- Accumulate good deeds: A house that accumulates good deeds must be blessed; be good at distinguishing between true and false, right and wrong, yin and yang, right and wrong, right and wrong, half-full, big and small, difficult and easy; should be kind to others, have love and respect in mind, be beautiful as an adult, persuade others to do good, and save people in crisis. Build great profits, sacrifice money for blessings, protect the righteous Dharma, respect elders, cherish things and life;
- Qian De: The hexagram of Qian, all six lines are auspicious; when heaven is about to send blessings to this person, it first sends out its wisdom. Once this wisdom is revealed, those who are arrogant will self-realize, and those who are unruly will restrain themselves.