Confucian Cultivator Under One Person

Teacher Shi thought about it, clapped his hands, and said, "Okay, then calligraphy and flute!"

A few days later, the first grade started to learn interest classes. The school purchased calligraphy brushes and flutes, as well as calligraphy ink copybooks and flutes, with each student paying 67 yuan.

The students were all from nearby villages. They were not rich, but not poor either. The next day, everyone started tutoring and received their own brushes, ink, copybooks and flutes.

Then the whole classroom was filled with the sound of gas breaking, and the students who went home had ink all over their hands and faces...

Some people even spilled their first bottle of ink all over the floor that very day...

Teacher Shi gave Fu Yuan some private lessons, and then handed the two courses to Fu Yuan to teach. She enjoyed learning from them very much.

Because Fu Yuan can play the flute and write calligraphy. Although he is not proficient in it, he is better than Teacher Shi who is just cramming at the last minute.

For children, these are just two interest courses, but for adults, this is a business... Teacher Shi is from the city, and she is a young girl, and she probably doesn't have the nerve to do this.

After all, it’s all the principal’s fault!

……

Confucianism talks about "cultivating oneself and improving one's nature", which has a similar meaning to Taoism's "cultivating both nature and life". Both are aimed at allowing the body and mind to reach a perfect state so that one's nature is not harmed.

The Taoist "dual cultivation of nature and life" is the coordination of static exercises, dynamic exercises, breathing exercises, and mental methods.

The Confucian idea of ​​"cultivating oneself and nourishing one's nature" is to cultivate virtue and nourish the mind. People often say "be quiet to cultivate oneself and be frugal to cultivate virtue" is one aspect of this idea.

It’s just that Taoism requires reducing desires, being ruthless, desireless, and sexual, without joy, anger, sorrow, love, hate, and vengeance, without greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt, and without extravagant demands for birth, old age, sickness, and death, food, clothing, housing, and transportation.

Confucianism, on the other hand, controls all of this. One cannot be excessive, cannot be without restraint, and cannot be driven by these things. One must "keep to the middle", "achieve harmony", and be "moderate"!

Fu Yuan has been practicing self-discipline and self-cultivation for over a year. Although he doesn't know how to nourish his qi, he has made great progress in "calming his body and mind."

He can calm his body and mind, making them no longer restless, and be able to concentrate on doing something.

Once people focus and devote themselves wholeheartedly, they will not be easily disturbed by the outside world and will achieve "peace and tranquility".

In tranquility, the mind can find peace.

So whether it is playing the flute or writing calligraphy, Fu Yuan can not only devote himself wholeheartedly, but also make rapid progress.

There is a phrase called "having a complete plan in mind" which means that the perfect image of bamboo is already in the mind before painting it. It is also a metaphor for having a complete plan before dealing with things.

This is called "careful consideration"!

When writing Chinese calligraphy, the stroke structure of the character, including horizontal, left, right and vertical strokes, are all well-planned in mind. With careful consideration, the writing comes naturally and fluently.

The same is true for playing the flute. The turns in the melody and the breathing in and out have all been carefully considered in the mind, so the flute comes out naturally and smoothly.

So within just one month, Fu Yuan not only regained the skills from his previous life, but also took a big step forward on his original basis and achieved "sincerity"!

If you have "sincerity", the speed at which you learn things can be described as "flying"!

At the end of the year, Teacher Shi had already planned to take Fu Yuan to participate in elementary school competitions starting next year.

……

The school is on winter vacation.

Fu Yuan copied books with a brush at home, often copying hundreds or even thousands of words without a single typo. This is what it means to be "honest".

Let alone children, even adults, how many can write a thousand words without making any typos? This is because ordinary people's minds are scattered and interfered with by various distractions!

Fu Yuan's mind was fully focused, without any distractions, so naturally he wouldn't be "absent-minded" or "careless", and he wouldn't make mistakes "accidentally".

However, a few days before the Chinese New Year, Fu Yuan made spelling mistakes repeatedly, which showed that his spiritual cultivation was not enough.

It was influenced by my grandparents.

As the New Year approaches, my grandparents become more and more restless. Even when they are eating, they will suddenly stand up and walk a few steps to the door, and then come back to continue eating.

Fu Yuan knew what they were worried about, but there was nothing he could do to comfort them.

Sure enough, on the night of New Year’s Eve, my grandparents’ worries became reality and hit the old couple hard.

Mr. and Mrs. Fu, no notice, no phone call, and no coming back for the New Year!

Chapter 14: Inheritance Causes Dispute (Part )

The first ten years of a person's life are called "youth", when he studies; the twenty years are called "weak crown"; the thirty years are called "strong", when he has a wife; the forty years are called "strong", when he becomes an official; the fifty years are called "old", when he serves in government; the sixty years are called "elderly", when he gives orders; the seventy years are called "old", when he passes on his legacy; the eighty and ninety years are called "old age".

The age of ten is called childhood, which is the age of learning, and the age of twenty is youth.

By the age of thirty, one has achieved academic success, has fully developed physically and mentally, has a family, and can begin to strive for one's life ideals. This is also called "standing on one's own feet at the age of thirty."

At the age of forty, one is strong and has no doubts. One can enter the official career or enter the world, and be "free from doubts at forty".

At the age of fifty, one understands the world, has compassion, can control himself, and can serve as an official and engage in politics. At the age of sixty, one has accumulated enough experience.

At the age of seventy, one begins to let go of one's own affairs and entrusts them to future generations, and enjoys one's retirement at the age of eighty or ninety.

……

Grandpa and grandma are over seventy years old, but they are still worried about those two people. To be honest, Fu Yuan doesn't know how to persuade them.

On the night of New Year's Eve, the sound of firecrackers rang out outside, but the house was silent.

Grandpa smoked and refused to speak for a long time.

Grandma sighed from time to time and consoled Fu Yuan, saying, "Maybe your parents were busy at the company... or maybe they didn't buy the ticket..."

Fu Yuan looked at his grandfather, then at his grandmother, and said, "Grandpa and grandma, it's okay, I'm still home. I'll stay with you and don't bother with them!"

Grandma hugged Fu Yuan and tears immediately came down.

Grandpa took a deep breath, stubbed out his cigarette, and said, "Erxiao is right. We can't rely on those two. We still have Erxiao at home! It's New Year's Eve, and for those two... it's not worth it!"

Fu Yuan nodded heavily and said, "Grandpa is right, it's not worth it... Grandpa, take me to set off firecrackers!"

"Okay, grandpa will take you to set off firecrackers!"

"..."

……

The old couple said they had let it go, but how could it be that simple?

Even though Fu Yuan tried to persuade them again and again and comfort them, the old couple still didn't have much energy during the New Year.

However, Fu Yuan would not resent those two people. He had made up his mind last year. Those two people were just strangers. Fu Yuan would not resent them, defile his soul, or interfere with his spiritual cultivation.

Fortunately, after the Chinese New Year, a big business came to the village and diverted my grandparents' attention.

A wealthy businessman came from nowhere and planned to contract a piece of land in the village to grow Chinese medicinal herbs. He needed to hire someone to take care of it, preferably an elderly person with rich farming experience. The salary he offered was higher than working outside.

Moreover, the medicinal fields are managed by experts, and the hired people only need to help. The work is easy and they get paid more.

There isn't much else in the village except for the elderly, and they have been farming all their lives. Who isn't a good farmer?

People in the village are scrambling for this job.

My grandparents were no exception. They even gave up their work at the paper mill and the sand and gravel factory and ran to the village secretary's house all day long.

In May, the medicinal field was built and the candidates were decided. As expected, Fu Yuan's grandparents were among them.

The old couple smiled from the heart for the first time in a long time.

Then he simply quit his original job and started working in the medicinal fields.

In order to do this job well, the old couple also began to learn to identify herbs, and took the "Habits of Chinese Herbal Medicines" distributed by the medicine field and asked Fu Yuan to explain it to them every day.

Just for the smiles of the old couple, Fu Yuan felt grateful to Xu Xiang from the bottom of his heart.

……

The following year, Teacher Shi actually found a way. He asked Fu Yuan to write several large characters, and then mailed them to an unknown place to participate in the competition.

In June, I received a reply letter saying that I had won first prize in the elementary school students' brush calligraphy competition, and a certificate was attached.

The school specially broadcast the news on the radio, and then the village also reported it. The old couple held the certificate in their hands and smiled from ear to ear.

Teacher Shi was very happy because this new feature has been added to his teaching qualifications.

Everyone benefited, but unfortunately, there was no bonus.

In September, Fu Yuan was promoted to the second grade. In the same month, the village paper mill was ordered to close due to severe pollution.

At the end of the year, the sand and gravel plant was quietly abandoned because it had no business. Even the mixer was taken away and sold as scrap metal.

This year, Mr. and Mrs. Fu still did not come back to celebrate the New Year.

However, Fu Yuan's calligraphy won the first prize for primary school students nationwide. Although Fu Yuan had no idea where the award was given or where the competition was mailed to, the joy diluted the old couple's worries.

On New Year's Eve, someone in the village brought money and asked Fu Yuan to write couplets.

The money was not much, just one dollar, and the red paper was brought by others, but my grandparents were still very pleased and proud.

Fu Yuan also put the dollar into his pocket.

It was from this year that Fu Yuan took charge of writing couplets for the entire village.

……

Second grade, third grade, fourth grade...

In the blink of an eye, Fu Yuan was in junior high school.

The village primary school is short of teachers, and there is often only one teacher teaching from first grade to sixth grade.

The same was true for Teacher Shi, who taught from first grade to sixth grade. Because Fu Yuan won various awards, she was transferred away with full qualifications.

Before leaving, she hugged Fu Yuan and cried bitterly, saying that her classmate was a teacher in another school and had been made to cry by students countless times.

She was lucky enough to meet Fu Yuan. With Fu Yuan suppressing the young men, she hardly had to put in any effort and still got such good qualifications. She was so lucky.

Before leaving, she left her transferred address to Fu Yuan and told Fu Yuan to write to her.

I had to go to junior high school in town, which was even farther away from home.

In the past, my grandfather would go to town in the morning and return in the evening. Even if he rode a bicycle, it would take more than an hour.

Fu Yuan had no choice but to live on campus and go home once a week.

However, before the first week of school was over, Fu Yuan was hurriedly called home.

Grandpa is sick!

……