The wisdom of I Ching

Chapter 71 Give in at the right time to avoid disasters - Department of escape, severe illness, animal ministers and concubines
【Original Code】

Sixty-two, stick to the leather of yellow cattle, Mo Zhisheng said.

"Elephant" says: To hold on to the yellow ox is to strengthen one's will.In ninety-three, it is a escape, there is a disease, and the animal minister and concubine are lucky.

"Xiang" said: "The severeness of escape is also accompanied by illness and exhaustion."Animal ministers and concubines are auspicious, not a big deal.

—— "Book of Changes: Escape"

Gen, if you carry your back, you will not get your body; if you walk in your court, you will not see your person, so there is no blame.

"彖" said: "Gen, stop."When the time stops, it stops, when the time goes, it goes, the movement and stillness do not lose the right time, and the way is bright.

"Elephant" says: Jianshan, Gen.A gentleman can't think of his position.

—— "Book of Changes Gen"

【Interpretation】

"Dun" hexagram six and two lines say: Use a rope made of yellow cowhide to tightly bind the caught thing so that it cannot be released.

"Xiangci" said: Binding with a yellow leather rope means stubborn refusal to change in thought.

"Dun" hexagram nine and three lines say: Being dragged down and unable to retreat decisively is like being seriously ill and in a dangerous situation.In this case, it is beneficial to keep slaves.

"Xiangci" said: The danger caused by being dragged down and unable to resolutely retire is like being exhausted by illness.It is auspicious to keep slaves and maidservants, which means that you can temporarily recuperate your illness and heal your injuries, and you should not act rashly.

Hexagram "Gen": If you stop what you do in a timely manner, selfish desires will not be entangled; if two people walk in the courtyard with their backs facing each other, they will not see each other's suppressed evil, and they will not bring harm.

"Tuan Zhuan" says: "Gen" means restraint.Restrain when restrained, and move forward when moving forward; when movement and stillness are appropriate and not contradictory, the road of restraint becomes bright and bright. The meaning of the hexagram "Gen" is a symbol of restraint, which means that restraint is in place, and you will not be blamed.

"Xiang Zhuan" said: The two mountains overlap, symbolizing restraint; a virtuous person restrains his inner evil desires by himself, so that his thoughts and concerns will not exceed the standard.

The hexagram "Gen" talks about the wisdom of not thinking beyond the standard. The upper and lower hexagrams of "Gen" are Gen, and Gen is a mountain. The two mountains overlap and are extremely stable.Gen also means restraint. A gentleman restrains his inner evil desires by himself, and does not think beyond his standard.The key to maintaining a stable body lies in the back, and the key to maintaining stability in action lies in recognizing the heart.Peace of mind, focusing on one thing, will not be affected by the external environment.

Tolstoy once said: "The smaller the desire, the happier life will be." Excessive material desire will drive people's soul to change, become insatiable, and there will be no peace and happiness in spirit.Sometimes the reason why people are unwilling to give in is because they have attachments and are troubled by foreign objects.

If a person wants to make progress, he will gain something, and if he retreats, he must give up something.If you are unwilling to retreat when you should retreat, or even think about retreating at all, you will only be in deep danger.Therefore, in real life, we must be good at grasping the timing accurately, and advance and retreat in a timely manner, so that the road of life will not be full of thorns.

【Category】

Story [-]: Empress Changsun's Way of Concession

After Li Shimin became emperor, Changsun was canonized as queen.As a queen, her status changed, and she thought more about it.As the mother of the country, she is well aware of the impact her behavior will have on the emperor. Therefore, she always pays attention to restraining herself, being a model for the concubines, and never going too far to affect her status.

Empress Changsun does not pay attention to luxury, and has no other requirements for food and clothing other than those provided by the palace.Her son Chengqian was established as the prince. Several times, the prince's wet nurse told her that there were too many things missing in the East Palace, and they hoped to add some.She never squanders her wealth recklessly, and never engages in specialization, so she refuses Donggong's request.She said: "The most worrying thing about being a prince is that he can't be established and famous. How can he only think about what is lacking in the palace?" Formed gangs in name, threatening the safety of Li Tang Dynasty.

For this reason, Li Shimin respected her very much, and often discussed matters related to rewards and punishments in court, but she never took her own point of view particularly important.The emperor wanted to appoint her brother to take on important tasks, but she firmly disagreed.Li Shimin asked Changsun Wuji to be the general of Zuo Wu, the minister of the official department, and the right servant, while the queen sent someone to do the work of his elder brother and asked him to resign voluntarily.As a last resort, Li Shimin agreed to appoint his eldest grandson Wuji as the third division of the Kaifu Yitong, and the queen was relieved.In the subsequent government affairs, Changsun Wuji was often persuaded by her kind words and became a loyal and good generation.

Empress Changsun did not take all the advantages and all the fame, and she well adhered to the principle of "stopping desires at the right time and giving in at the right time".By doing so, not only will you not incur any damage to yourself, but you will also be able to advance and retreat with justification and ease up and down in your life journey.

Story [-]: Fan Zhongyan bravely retreats from the rapids
In the mid-Northern Song Dynasty, in order to get rid of the social predicament at that time, Song Renzong adopted the suggestions of Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, Wang Su and others who advocated reform, and carried out a tentative reform aimed at the current disadvantages.Fan Zhongyan served as a political adviser, and Fu Bi served as a privy envoy.

In September, Fan Zhongyan wrote in the "Shang Shi Shi Shu" to Renzong: "The first is to dismiss officials"; "Equal public land"; "Sixth is thick farming and mulberry"; "Seventh is military training";After Renzong's review, most of them were promulgated and implemented in the form of imperial edicts. These ten propositions are also the main content of the "Qingli New Deal".

However, the content of the reform violated the political and economic interests of the bureaucratic landlord class, so they joined forces to continue to destroy it.Prime Minister Zhang Dexiang instigated Taiwan admonition officials and others to attack Fan Zhongyan and others.Xia La, who has a lot of personal ambitions, has even more despicable methods. He asked his subordinates to imitate Shi Jie's handwriting and forge the imperial edict written for Fu Bi.

Renzong didn't believe this was true, but after hearing the news, Fan Zhongyan felt that the reform would be difficult to succeed, so he made the decision to retreat bravely.

In June of the fourth year of Qingli, he resigned from his post in the name of an autumn visit and became the Xuanfu envoy of Shaanxi and Hedong.Later, Du Yan, Fu Bi, Chen Zhizhong and others were squeezed out of the court successively, and the reform failed.

"One emperor, one courtier" is an eternal phenomenon in feudal society.When the old and new dynasties change, when the new and old emperors change positions, for some people, it may be an opportunity to advance, while for others it is the end of their official career.At this time, if you can advance and retreat freely, it is an excellent thing.The freedom to advance and retreat in the military means initiative; the freedom to advance and retreat in the official career shows freedom; the freedom to advance and retreat in the road symbolizes freedom on the road.

Anyone who knows how to play chess knows the principle of "throwing pawns to save the rook".Because pawns can only advance and cannot retreat, only the rook can grasp the initiative to advance and retreat freely.

Story Three: What Happened to Nian Gengyao
Nian Gengyao was an important official during the Qing Dynasty. His ancestral home was Huaiyuan County, Anhui, and later moved to Shanhaiguan.

Nian Gengyao's official career went smoothly in the early days. In 1700, he passed the Jinshi examination and became an official in the court.This period was a period of many wars in the northwest frontier of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, Emperor Kangxi used Nian Gengyao again, and the purpose was also to hope that he could lead the army to quell armed rebellions in Tibet, Qinghai and other places.

Nian Gengyao did not disappoint Kangxi.In the process of suppressing the Tibetan rebellion in 1718, Nian Gengyao showed extraordinary talents.He was in charge of the logistics support of the Qing army at that time, because he was familiar with the situation in the frontier and had a good relationship with the Manchu and Han generals in the Qing army. With hard work, the supply of food and salaries for the Qing army has always been sufficient, thus creating good conditions for the victory of the war.Therefore, in the second year, he was promoted by Emperor Kangxi to be the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces, and became the most important governor of the Qing government in the western region.

In September of this year, another rebellion broke out in the Qinghai area.This time the imperial court appointed Nian Gengyao as the commander-in-chief to suppress.Before dispatching troops, Nian Gengyao ordered: "Before departure, every soldier must bring a piece of wood and a bunch of hay." The soldiers didn't understand why, but they didn't dare to ask, so they had to obey orders.When the army entered Qinghai, it encountered a large area of ​​swamp, and it was difficult for the team to pass through.At this time, Nian Gengyao ordered the soldiers to throw the hay into the mud pit of the swamp, and then spread wooden boards on it.In this way, the army passed through the swamp smoothly and quickly.This swamp was originally a great natural danger for the rebel army to rely on. They thought it was impossible for the Qing army to pass through the swamp, so when Gengyao's army suddenly appeared in front of them, they were panicked and quickly defeated, so Nian Gengyao's army Also won.

Another time, when Nian Gengyao's army camped at night, a westerly wind blew suddenly in the middle of the night, but it stopped soon.When Nian Gengyao sensed it, he immediately called his general and ordered him to take hundreds of elite cavalry and rush to the dense forest southwest of the barracks to destroy the ambush enemies.The general under him didn't have time to think about it, so he took his soldiers and horses and went. Sure enough, he found the enemy ambushing in the dense forest and wiped them all out.

His subordinates were puzzled, and they all asked him how he knew there was an ambush buried in the dense forest. Nian Gengyao smiled and said: "The wind suddenly died down after a while. It should not be the sound of the wind but the sound of birds flying by. In the middle of the night Birds are not supposed to fly out, they must have been frightened by people. There are many birds in the dense forest ten miles to the southwest, so I guess the enemy will set up an ambush there." Hearing this, the subordinates couldn't help but respect him secretly .It can be seen that Nian Gengyao's resourcefulness, good decision-making, and ability to conquer and fight are not comparable to ordinary people.Since Nian Gengyao lived in Yongzheng's house since he was a child, he always regarded Yongzheng as his master, and Yongzheng could be the emperor of Kangxi, and Nian Gengyao also made great contributions. Therefore, after he ascended the throne, Emperor Yongzheng trusted him even more .Nian Gengyao was responsible for all the military and civil affairs in the northwest region, and Yongzheng often followed Nian Gengyao's opinions in the appointment of officials.Yongzheng took good care of not only Nian Gengyao himself, but also his family members. Basically, everyone in the Nian family, big and small, received awards from Emperor Yongzheng.

However, with the increasing expansion of power, Nian Gengyao often regarded himself as a hero, and gradually became defiant.Once when he returned to the capital, all the princes and ministers in the capital went to the outskirts to meet him, but he didn't even look at these people, which seemed very rude.He sometimes seemed disrespectful to Emperor Yongzheng. Once when he received an edict from Yongzheng in the army, he should kneel down to accept the order on an incense table, but he accepted it casually. This incident made Emperor Yongzheng very sad. angry.

In addition, he also accepted bribes wantonly in the local area where he was in power, and appointed officials at will, disrupting the national order.When he himself went out, he was majestic and majestic. Even when a teacher of his family returned to Jiangsu, he asked the governor of Jiangsu to go to the suburbs to greet him.Emperor Yongzheng gradually became intolerable to his behavior.

At the beginning of 1726, when Nian Gengyao sent his congratulatory message to Yongzheng Jin, he wrote the wrong message, and the words of praise became words of curse.Yongzheng used this as an excuse to punish Nian Gengyao. After that, Yongzheng listed many of his crimes, and finally made Nian Gengyao hang himself in prison.

It can be seen from this that no matter who it is, no matter what position a person has achieved, he should not be too ostentatious in his life, but should give in in a timely manner. Retiring after success is the best choice to avoid disaster and seek good fortune.

【The Heart of the Book of Changes】

It is often heard that someone makes such an exclamation: Alas!What a tiring life!This "tiredness" does not refer to physical tiredness, but mental tiredness, because it is too difficult to be a human being.Usually people have a lot of desires, but too few of them actually fulfill their wishes, so it is difficult to appreciate the happiness that already exists in life. How can people not feel "tired" in this way?

Greed will blind people's eyes and block people's minds.The greater the desire, the more greedy, and the more disasters in life.Throughout the ages, there are countless greedy people who have lost their lives in the insatiable desire.Greed is a manifestation of endless desire, which makes people never satisfied.And never being satisfied is a kind of pathology, and its cause is mostly caused by greed for power, status, money, etc.If this kind of pathology continues to develop, people will become greedy, and the ending can only be self-destruction.

In today's world, material desires are endless, but life is limited.If a person wants to get everything in the world, disasters will follow.To be a person, one must see through, and one must have an epiphany in life.If you can do this, you will be able to think about things, let go, and live a relaxed and comfortable life.

Whether you are a person or doing things, you must be good at grasping the timing accurately, advance and retreat at the right time, and must retreat when it is time to retreat.Let nature take its course, treat material enjoyment in a flat way, without joy when you get it, and no regrets when you lose it. "No extravagant love for things outside the body" is the sobriety after enlightenment. It not only transcends the wisdom and courage in the world, but also a kind of open-mindedness looking to the future.

Being good at choosing to avoid is a manifestation of the wisdom of a person who is broad-minded and wise.In particular, a leader or manager should consciously and proactively back away when objective conditions do not allow him to move forward, or when he endangers himself while advancing.This is a very important strategic thought for self-preservation, and to achieve this, one must have a high level of self-cultivation, be good at restraining and restraining oneself, and it is impossible for people without self-cultivation to do this.

The development of history proves that being good at retreating and being good at advancing has the same strategic value, and a person who is only good at retreating but does not want to retreat is by no means a wise person; only a person who organically combines the two and uses them flexibly can be called a Smart people.

Concession and dodging does not mean passively avoiding danger, but temporarily hiding one's tracks and waiting to move.Retirement is unavoidable, even if it is retreated, it must be active, conscious, and not revealing, so that in the future when the time is right, we can move forward.This kind of retreat cannot be equated with running away, but a part of advancing, which is a better preparation and prelude for moving forward. Only this kind of retreat can be called a superior strategy.

(End of this chapter)