The Art of Living Chinese Proverbs and Wisdom. Hong Yingming
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Название: The Art of Living Chinese Proverbs and Wisdom
Автор: Hong Yingming
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Здоровье
isbn: 9781602201767
isbn:
58. The suffering heart often contains a hint of joy but satisfaction can breed disappointment.
The Confucians say: “Wisdom to the utmost but follow the Middle Way.” In all life’s circumstances, whether easy or hard, in joy or in grief, one should not adhere to one particular side but deal with things in an evenhanded way. As one puts painstaking effort into the pursuit of an aim, one should snatch a moment of leisure from the midst of toil, a moment of joy from sorrow, so that tension and relaxation are in balance and so that taking and giving can be exercised freely. One should be particularly careful at the moment of successful achievement to prevent tragedy springing from joy and bad from good.
59. Riches and reputation derived from virtue grow slowly and unforced, like the flowers of the forest; if they derive from achievement they are like flowers in a pot, always in danger of being moved or thrown away; if they derive from power they are like rootless flowers in a vase, they cannot grow and can only stand and wither.
There are three ways to riches, reputation and the enjoyment of wealth and position: through morality, through achievement and through power. Zuo’s Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, a famous work of Chinese historiography says: “At the very summit stands morality, then achievement and then words,”—if a gentleman seeks to win an untarnished reputation, it is first established through morality, next through achievement and finally through writing and the establishment of theory. Wealth and position won through morality last the longest; that won by achievement contains many variables; that won by power may disappear in the blink of an eye. Wealth and position are, of course, a beautiful aspiration. The crux of the matter is whether or not you have the deserved good fortune to be able to control them.
60. Spring arrives softly, flowers spread in color and birds warble in song. Yet if gentleman scholars of outstanding talent, warm and well-fed once more, think not of fine words or virtuous acts, though they may live a hundred years, it seems as if they have lived not a day.
As we live this life, apart from individualism we must make a contribution to others, otherwise it is a life lived in vain. The Tang dynasty poet, Li Bai (701–762) said: “Heaven gave me talent. It must have some value.” If spring flowers can adorn the beauty of the world and birds in spring offer the beauty of their song, then how much more can scholars with a bellyful of talent offer? If a person of sensibility, with wind in his sails and possessed of outstanding talent writes nothing of value and does nothing good, it is a betrayal of heaven and an insult to self.
61. The scholar requires a prudent mind but also a sense of the unconventional. To be restrained in misery by self is like death in autumn rather than birth in spring, how then may all sentient beings flourish?
Scholarship obviously requires diligence and effort but it should not, because of this, resemble an ascetic monk who has reduced himself to a state of total lifelessness. Apart from diligence and application there should also be a sense of the enjoyment of life. To turn oneself into a pool of stagnant water, where then is the enthusiasm and warmth that can enrich the lives of others and bring warmth to the world as a whole?
62. The truly honest do not seek a name for honesty, those that establish such a name for themselves are fishing for fame; the wise do not flaunt their wisdom, those that do, do so to conceal their stupidity.
The Daoist philosophical work Daodejing says: “The honest appear crooked and the ingenious appear clumsy.” The upright man may seem easygoing and the wise man may appear simple. The incorruptible man has no need to advertise his incorruptibility; the wise man has no need to win fame through cunning trickery. Cheating may win a moment but will lose a lifetime in the end.
63. A water ewer may tip when full and a money box split when crammed. Hence the gentleman would rather live in detachment than engagement and in insufficiency rather than sufficiency.
The Book of Changes explains the way of change. Almost each one of its 64 divinatory hexagrams forecasts evil in the midst of good and vice versa. There is only a single exception that is entirely good; this is the trigram qian—modesty. Water when full, spills; man when full of himself, falls. A man puffed up with arrogant self-satisfaction will finally tip over to destruction like an overfilled ewer. The gentleman of wisdom will conduct himself modestly and prudently, leave space for others in all things and not seek to secure all advantage to himself.
64. Those who have not pulled up the roots of fame, though they may despise wealth and position and willingly live a simple life, will always fall prey to the passions of the secular world; those who cannot absorb and transmute the influences of the outside world, though their benevolence may fill the four seas and benefit endless ages, in the end that benevolence will be mere superfluous trickery.
This flourishing world is limitless in its extent. Without the will to stand aside it is impossible to abandon attachment to fame and profit. There are people who distance themselves from the red dust, their spirit dwelling with hills and water and at ease amongst forests and springs, who cannot break this attachment to fame and profit. It matters not how noble they may appear, that affinity for mud remains in their bones, its vulgarity reaching the heavens.
65. An openhearted man is like the blue sky in a darkened room; dark thoughts are like devils in daylight.
The three philosophies of China—Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism—all emphasize the bright purity of man’s heart. Kindness of heart can illuminate even the darkest of rooms in which we may find ourselves but deceit and treachery will seem as if malign spirits are abroad on even the finest days. With Buddha in the heart all will seem Buddhas. If there are demons in the heart then every sentient being is a demon. The external world you see is a projection of your own inner heart.
66. Man knows the joy of fame and position but not the true joy of neither fame nor position; man knows the suffering of hunger and cold but not the deeper suffering of neither hunger nor cold.
Daoism emphasizes that “have and have not, with and without are born of each other.” If life is to be complete, there must also be loss as well as gain. In society today, however, we are only aware of the joy of “with.” We enjoy the success of “gain” and find it difficult to comprehend the existence of “without” or to accept the regret of “loss.” Life is not all bouquets and applause; we should be able to enjoy its bustle and excitement СКАЧАТЬ