Zeng Guofan also had grandiose problems when he was young, but he confessed his absurd side in his diary and letters home.
This kind of frankness was once called "blood sincerity". That is the sincerity of "dare to face dripping blood and bleak life" that Mr. Lu Xun said. Is to be sincere to the end, never hide, never hide. Therefore, this word "sincerity" is also the most emphasized in Zeng Guofan's life.
It was by daring to face his shortcomings and faults that he surpassed most people, surpassed himself and finally got rid of it. The main way to get rid of it is our word, static. Static can overcome impetuousness, and static can produce wisdom.
There is also a great advantage of being quiet, that is, once you can really calm down and one's mind is empty, one can see the problem clearly. At this time, Zeng Guofan said that he had a profound understanding of the cultivation in family training. The word "loser" was either arrogant or lazy. He added, "The two most frustrating words are pride and laziness." (Complete Letters from Home)
He also wrote in his family letter: "All the mediocrities in the world, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, were defeated by a lazy word;" Talented people in the world, both ancient and modern, all lost to a brave word. I pushed because of the military, all the same. " (Complete Letters from Home)
In other words, the reason why mediocre people in the world are mediocre is that they are lazy, that is, lazy; Talented people in the world, although brilliant, have achieved nothing or wasted all their efforts in the end because of a proud word, that is, pride. Zeng Guofan said, based on my years of experience in leading troops to fight, everything in the world is like this.
Then, why must the truth that "the loser is either arrogant or lazy" be seen from his experience of leading troops to fight?
This is about to mention a famous case-solving by his favorite student Li Hongzhang.
Li was ambitious and pretentious when he was young. He once compared himself to Huo Qubing, a famous soldier who swept the Huns in the Western Han Dynasty. Before he took part in the imperial examination, he wrote a set of poems, one of which was "Who writes history for 10,000 years, who will seal Hou for 3,000 miles", which was especially praised at that time, so he especially appreciated his lofty aspirations, but at the same time, he also saw that Li, like himself when he was young, also had the defects of being ambitious and not grandiose. Li Hongzhang has a good brain and a good article. At the same time, many of his official documents were written by Li Lai, and he was highly valued. Li couldn't help being on cloud nine.
Li Hongzhang's uniqueness can be tolerated by Zeng Guofan, but there is only one thing that Zeng Guofan can't tolerate. It is hard to imagine, but it is-sleeping late.
Xiang is required to have dinner around six o'clock, and everyone should get up early. In order to urge his employees to get up early, he and all employees are required to have breakfast every morning. That is, everyone gathers in the canteen to eat, and no one is allowed to fall behind or leave. Li stays up late at night and likes to sleep late during the day. He was invited twice before he had to go out. After dinner, I solemnly said to Li Hongzhang who was still having breakfast, "Shao Quanlin, since you have come to my tent, I have something to say to you. Anyone who comes to me must keep the word' sincerity'! "
From then on, Li reflected on himself and never dared to sleep late again. Later, he was never criticized by his teacher in his personal habits. Zeng also thought that later Li Hongzhang was innocent and his true descendant.
Why doesn't Li Hongzhang sleep late? Didn't Li Hongzhang say later that he had a headache? Doesn't it mean filling out a sick note? Moreover, Li Hongzhang was educated that he only said that he must keep his word. What does this have to do with the word "loser" he said?
? This is called understanding of life and society.
From the social point of view, Zeng lived mainly around 1840, which was the beginning of the most shameful and heavy period in China's modern history. At that time, there was chaos in the world, the invasion of western powers, political corruption in the late Qing Dynasty, and the four-party uprising continued. It doesn't matter if the world is in chaos. What is more terrible than the chaos in the world is that people all over the world were in chaos at that time.
"Honesty" exists in Zeng, which is the basis of his rectification of the world. So he pays attention to sincerity to others, to himself, to his superiors and to his subordinates. A word of sincerity is not enough. His emphasis on "blood sincerity" is to push the degree of sincerity to the extreme.
And to be honest, we must guard against two words, that is, "losers discredit you", that is, pride and laziness.
This is from the perspective of personal life shaping, so it has become a very important part of his family training.
? Of course, Li knows the meaning of life behind the word "sincerity". After listening to this lesson, he was sober and introspected, and he took on a new look from now on.
Li Hongzhang never admitted that he was scolded for sleeping late. When he recalled it, he told his good friend Liu that I had many teachers, but no one could give me such an important life lesson at any time, anywhere and anything like that!
It can be seen that Li Hongzhang was really a good student and a good teacher. Teachers and students are like this, complement each other!
For these two most frustrating words, Zeng paid great attention to prevention all his life.
The solutions to pride are "modesty" and "respect". In the past, people thought that talented people could not display their talents and ended up in a mediocre end, which was mainly caused by the word "pride", such as Yang Xiu in the Three Kingdoms. But the problem is that there are very few people as smart as Yang Xiu in reality, so it is not as common as that lazy word, because no matter who has talent or not, it will ruin his life. Therefore, the emphasis in family training is mainly to eradicate the word "lazy".
Mr. Liang Shiqiu has an article called time is life. One of them is his own confession:
"I am a person who wastes a lot of time. I don't play mahjong. I don't often go to the opera house to watch movies. It's rare to see it for several years. I don't watch TV for a long time, usually only half an hour, and I don't visit and chat. Someone asked me,' What do you do most of the time?' I reflected on myself and found that most of my time was wasted except for activities that were necessary at work and inevitable in human feelings. I should concentrate on reading books I haven't read. I should spend all my time writing what I want to write, but I can't. I spent a lot of time in a daze, saying,' If young people don't work hard, the boss will be sad. For example, I originally planned to translate Shakespeare twice a year in my spare time, and I could finish it in 20 years, but it took 30 years, mainly because I was lazy. The completion of translation is mainly due to a long and thrilling life. After the translation, although there was still a work plan, my physical strength gradually declined and I felt overwhelmed. If you had pushed yourself when you were young, you would have performed better or more now. However, it is too late to regret. "
I believe many people are the same, and it is difficult to get rid of inertia. Laziness means laziness, negativity and slackness, that is, although you have thoughts, ideas and ideals in your heart, you can't lift your spirits when you do meaningful things, and you put it off again and again; When you do a boring thing, you will spend most of your time, and then you will spend it again. When the time is almost up, you will regret it, and it is too late to regret it.
So what is the key to overcome and surpass this lazy word? This is also a word that he emphasized very much in his life, that is, "diligence." Diligent, diligent, diligent, most of his life achievements can be said to be based on this word.
It is said that his diligence was educated by his father. His father's scolding touched him greatly, and he was determined to work hard all his life, starting from getting up early.
He once told people that getting up early has many advantages. First of all, you can spend more time studying than others, which means you live longer than others. Secondly, thinking in the morning is the clearest, so you can think clearly about what you want to do in a day; The most important thing is to cultivate a person's diligent habit and character, so as to overcome the great risks brought by laziness to life.
It was once thought that diligence was mainly manifested in three levels.
First, diligence is of great significance to individuals.
First of all, diligence can strengthen the body. Ceng Jize, the eldest son, is in poor health. His prescription for his son is "take a thousand steps after meals every day", which is the first secret of a healthy family, that is, cleaning the house, making tea and pouring water by hand, getting up early to farm and grow vegetables.
Secondly, diligence can nourish products. Hands and feet can keep you healthy, your mouth can greet you more and your brain can think more. Everyone is a person in society. If we can be modest and prudent, think more and learn more, we can understand the Confucian theory of benevolence and righteousness more deeply, which will naturally help to form a good outlook on life. Diligence can exercise people, not only their ability to act, but also their ability to think, analyze and solve problems, which is more important to life.
Second, it is of great significance to be diligent at home. The family style of the Zeng family was passed down from generation to generation, and later there were many talented people in the descendants of the Zeng family, which should be closely related to the formation of this family style.
? Third, it is of great significance to be diligent in the collective.
I have deeply realized that there are two fundamental reasons why the Qing government forces did not have combat effectiveness. First, the system of leading troops has been corrupted to the extreme, and second, the military ethos has been slack to the extreme. Therefore, he ruled the Xiang army, first, to reform the military system, and second, to change the military atmosphere through the word diligent.
It is hard to see Zeng's admiration for diligent words all his life, and it is also hard to see his practice of diligent words. When his health went from bad to worse in his later years, he also said, "If people are not diligent, everything will be wasted and a piece of furniture will fail." If I don't cure anything in March and April, the way at home will be very contradictory. I'm ashamed! "("Complete Letters from Home ")
This is still reviewing that you are not diligent enough! So he makes himself a schedule like this every day:
Morning: Meet the guests, listen to the work report, keep a diary, write the imperial memorial, watch the exercises by name, reply, read books and practice calligraphy.
Afternoon: deal with the official documents of the day, write, revise the manuscript, check the imperial throne and check the financial accounts.
Evening: Warm poems, write ancient prose, check manuscripts and check the next work plan.
Zeng Guofan's theory of thrift, there is a famous couplet, saying: "There is no easy place in the world, how can there be leisure time on earth?" It means that there is no easy place to stay and there is no time to waste in life.
—— Excerpted from Children's Comments on Zeng Guofan's Family Instructions by Li Bo 16/40