The wisdom of I Ching

Chapter 89 Only by being subtle and upright can you conduct yourself in the world——Hanzhang, Kezhen, or follow the king's affairs

【Original Code】

Sixty-three, with chapters, can be chastity, or follow the king's affairs, there is no success and end.

"Xiang" said: "Containing chapters can be chaste, and they can be issued in time."Or from the king's affairs, knowing the greatness.

—— "Book of Changes·Kun"

【Interpretation】

"Kun" hexagram six and three lines say: Possess virtue but not reveal it, so as to maintain the righteous way.Assisting the king in government affairs, not taking credit for pride and always doing his job well, and finally succeeding.

"Xiang Zhuan" said: Contain virtues but not reveal them, keep the integrity and wait for the right time to display your talents.If you do things for the king, regardless of personal gains and losses, honors and disgraces, and finally complete the task, it shows that he is wise.

In the real society, people are sophisticated, complex and changeable, and materialistic, and it is not easy for a person to be truly reserved and upright.A proactive person must know how to be humble and not take credit for himself.

In addition, those who can achieve great things are good at keeping quiet and hiding deep in the city.In life, if a person is able to not show his emotions in everything, but shows his inner good emotions in the subtleties, he will give people a kind, beautiful, gentle and elegant feeling, and people can't help but be attracted to you.

Emotional and angry behaviors are very superficial, and this kind of person will only make himself run into walls everywhere.And people who stick to the golden mean in life can be indifferent, calm and steady, observe everything calmly, be confident and optimistic, and thus exude a distinctive personality charm.

【Category】

Story [-]: Yang Xiu's "smartness"

During the Three Kingdoms period, one year craftsmen built the gate of the Prime Minister Cao Cao's mansion.

When the door frame was finished, Cao Cao was just about to make the rafters on the top of the door. Cao Cao happened to pass by to watch it. After reading it, he wrote the word "living" on the door frame and left.

Yang Xiu, Cao Cao's counselor, saw the inscription on the door frame, and immediately asked the craftsmen to tear it down and redo it, and said: "The word 'huo' inscribed on the door frame by the prime minister means that there is 'huo' in 'door' and it means 'kuo'." The word means that the door is made too big, so it needs to be dismantled and redone.”

Another time, someone gave Cao Cao a box of cheese, and Cao Cao wrote the word "He" on the lid and handed it to a civil official.Civil servants couldn't understand what it meant, and everyone passed it on to each other and couldn't understand what it meant.When it was passed to Yang Xiu, he took a bite of the cheese and said, "Everyone, the word 'he' means 'one mouthful'. The prime minister told us to have a bite!"

In the 24th year of Jian'an (219), Cao Cao and Liu Bei competed for Hanzhong, but failed repeatedly, so Cao Cao used the word "chicken rib" as the night password.The soldiers didn't understand what it meant, but only Yang Xiu understood: "Chicken ribs are the meat between the chicken ribs. They don't taste very good, and it's a pity to throw them away. The prime minister means to ask us to withdraw our troops." He told everyone to clean up in private Pack up, and the generals lead the way.

Not long after, Cao Cao ordered the withdrawal of the troops, but Cao Cao charged Yang Xiu with "leaking military aircraft" and beheaded him.

Ming Dynasty writer Feng Menglong mentioned this story in "Think Tank", and then commented: "Yang Xiu's intelligence is too obvious, so he aroused Cao Cao's jealousy and hatred, which led to his death! The Emperor Song of the Southern Dynasty liked to compete with ministers in poetry. Everyone has learned the lesson of Yang Xiu's murder, the great writer Bao Zhao deliberately wrote some procrastinated articles, and the calligrapher Wang Sengqian used very poor calligraphy to prevaricate. The killing of the boss." The meaning of this passage is very clear, a wise and intelligent person knows not to show his strong ability in front of his superiors, otherwise he will be envied and hated and bring disaster.

Story [-]: Li Le gets angry
During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the official Li Le was an upright and honest official.Once he discovered cheating in the scientific examination, he immediately wrote a memorial to the emperor.The emperor ignored the matter, and he played it again, which annoyed the emperor. He ordered Li Le's mouth to be sealed for the crime of deliberately exposing his fault, and stipulated that no one was allowed to expose it.

Sealing his mouth and not being able to eat is tantamount to condemning him to death.At this time, an official stood beside Li Le, walked in front of Li Le, and scolded loudly, "You should talk too much, you deserve it!" up.Since he was helping the emperor to scold Li Le, the emperor naturally couldn't blame him.

This person is Li Le's student, and at this critical moment, he cleverly saves his teacher by being flattering.If he disregarded the situation and made a "straight" remonstrance, not only would he not be able to save the teacher, but he might also be implicated.

Li Le didn't understand the principle of "lubricating first" among people, and he was far behind his own students.In the face of inappropriate words and deeds of your boss, if you argue and criticize tit for tat, it will be difficult for the other party to truly accept it from the heart, and it may even make you "get angry".A little more euphemism in the way of expression, the effect may be much better.The traditional art of speaking is very particular about "circling around". Especially in the ancient officialdom, "accompanying the king is like accompanying a tiger".

【The Heart of the Book of Changes】

Reservation is the great wisdom of being in the world, reticence is a virtue, introversion is wisdom, and neutrality is the law.If you can keep your inner emotions from showing, keep the integrity and restrain yourself, good luck will accompany you all your life.

In fact, hidden intentions can be used, but not abused.All intellects must be concealed, because they are apt to be suspected; and even more so are hidden intentions, because they are hated.Think twice about everything, and you will always benefit a lot.

In interpersonal communication, due to various reasons, people sometimes have to deal with others against their will.In this situation, it is necessary to adopt a strategy of roundness in the square.With integrity and self-denial, it is important to be flexible and not stubborn.Lack of flexibility in dealing with the world, no matter where you go, you will be considered as a hindrance by your colleagues.

As the saying goes: round things are unstable, square things don’t roll.The circle stands for flexibility and adaptability to changing circumstances. Specific situations should be analyzed and dealt with in detail.The principle is to stick to certain rules, and to respond to all changes with the same.The outer circle and the inner square include the essence of self-cultivation and life.The square is the principle, the goal, and the essence; the circle is the strategy, the way, and the means.In short, "every change is inseparable from its origin", the circle is the ever-changing, and the square is the origin.Taking a square to make a circle is self-cultivation, and being square will lead to wisdom.Following the circle with the circle is to do things, the circle is to use wisdom, the square is to act, and the circle with wisdom is to do things squarely.

"Only knowing the square, not knowing how to change" usually hits a wall, and nothing can be accomplished; while "only knowing the circle, many ingenuities" is a fool without a strong opinion; the principle of square and circle is the way to success with wisdom and mastery.To be a person, you need to be square inside and round outside. If you are too strong, you will break it, and if you are too stretched, you will lack it.The same is true when getting along with others. You can't be too stubborn and upright, otherwise you will really become a lump of elm.

You must be principled and flexible in your conduct.As the times change, the development of things will also change accordingly, so the countermeasures will also change accordingly.Must be upright inside and out, flexible and tactful outside.Straight trees cannot provide shade, and people who are too straightforward will easily offend others.When dealing with things, you must be decisive while being fine; you must be understanding and flexible while understanding the truth, so as not to be rigid.

Fang Yuan seems to be contradictory, but in fact they are unified.Not only insisting that what you want to do cannot be shaken, it is for Fang Gang, but you must also advance softly, which is beneficial to yourself and others; it has achieved your goal, but it has made others unable to express any dissatisfaction.This strategy is worthy of our reference and emulation.

(End of this chapter)