Source: Biography of Wang Shouren in Ming Dynasty.

Excerpt from the original text: Those who plant trees should cultivate their roots, while those who cultivate virtues should cultivate their hearts. If you want to plant a tree, you must delete its branches at the beginning.

To plant trees, you must cultivate roots, and those who cultivate morality must cultivate their own hearts first. If you want the tree to grow, you must subtract the extra branches from it at the beginning.

Extended data:

"Those who plant trees must cultivate their roots, and those who plant virtues must cultivate their hearts." The fact is:

As the saying goes, water the flowers and roots and make friends. It is the same truth: to cultivate a big tree, we must start from the roots. To educate a person, we must start with morality.

The common understanding of "nourishing the heart" is to strengthen moral cultivation. But in fact, Wang Yangming's cultivation of mind is to keep his mind, be determined to be single-minded and not distracted, just like planting trees and cutting off messy branches.

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Baidu Encyclopedia-Those who plant trees must cultivate their roots, while those who cultivate virtues must cultivate their hearts.