-"The Analects of Confucius, Volume VII, Question 14"
Ji sent someone to meet Confucius. Confucius asked him to sit down and asked him, "What is your husband doing recently?"
The messenger replied, "Our husband wants to make fewer mistakes, but he thinks he can't."
After the emissary resigned, Confucius said, "What a good emissary! What a good messenger! "
Reading thinking:
? Qi Apollo wants to be a perfect person. All his servants know that his master is completely honest. "He thinks too little and fails.". But how can a man be widowed if he wants to make contributions, serve the country and benefit the people? In desperation, Qi can only stay at home. Confucius greatly appreciated Qi Apollo's personality and liked to associate with him. He even stayed at home twice while defending his country. Confucius believes that being with Qi is a friend of a gentleman and can purify himself. But Confucius has a pursuit in his heart, and his old man hopes to "help the world." Although it is said that "there is no way in the world", Confucius is constantly pursuing and expecting the emergence of a wise king.
Confucius didn't dare to be like Qi Apollo. He once said, "If you leave me for a few years, I can still learn Yi at the age of 50 and make no big mistakes." He hopes that he will not make big mistakes, but also under the guidance of Yi. This is not Confucius' modesty. If you want to do something, you should be with that person at the right time and let nature take its course. And those objective conditions are always changing. Especially the human heart, is unpredictable, how can we accurately grasp it? So Kong dare not say "nothing wrong", he can only "know the destiny" and "obey the destiny".
A gentleman does not hide his mistakes. Zi Gong, one of the most outstanding disciples of Confucius, once said, "A gentleman makes mistakes, just like an eclipse of the sun and the moon. If you make a mistake, everyone can see it; After making a mistake, find it and change it, and people will look at you with new eyes. " (Zi Gong said: "A gentleman is mistaken as the food of the sun and the moon. Everyone saw it and everyone admired it. " How can a gentleman be afraid of making mistakes when he is alive? If you make a mistake, you can introspect and correct it, and you will be admired.
Qi has a reputation of leading an honest and clean life, and this Confucius knows it. When Confucius met the emissary of Qi, he was also curious. What does this old gentleman who cares about his reputation do at home all day? The messenger's answer was somewhat general, "Your Majesty thought too little and failed." It means that my master is not at fault, and he wants to cut back all the time, but where can he find it?
Is the messenger's answer good?
Confucius' evaluation is: "Make it! Make it! " It means "what a messenger!" But don't forget, Chinese has different expression effects in different environments, even the opposite, due to different tones. The tone expressed by Confucius at that time is unknown today; But what is certain is that Confucius took the road of the Bank of China. "Too much is not enough" is what he often emphasizes to his disciples. Qi Apollo lived a clean and honest life, worrying about what mistakes he would make all day, letting his family see everyone and praising his master. This is too much.
In our daily life, we will meet some people who are neat. Although they will be respected by people, it is not easy to get used to dealing with them. Excessive pursuit of moral restraint may also lead to "spiritual cleanliness", which will lead to inadaptability or even escape in the big dye vat of society. Although we emphasize "reading for ourselves", we can't ignore "reading for others". "Reading for yourself" is to improve one's quality and ability. The purpose of reading is not to "escape from the world", but to go out to the society and serve the public.
Qi is a famous doctor of Wei, and Confucius is suitable for Wei. He has nothing to do at home. Why? At that time, sages who defended the country, such as uncles, Confucius, Wang, and of course, were all in the court, and Mrs. Nanzi always intervened in the political affairs. Qi couldn't stand these villains and left the officialdom.