"The Analects of Confucius·Zihan": "Confucius said: The wise do not be confused, the benevolent do not worry, the brave do not fear

Author Confucius

Original text

Confucius said: "The wise do not be confused, the benevolent do not worry, the brave do not fear. "

Translation

Confucius said: "A wise person will not be confused, a virtuous person will not be sad, and a brave person will not be afraid. "

Commentary

"Those who know are not confused" means that knowledge can improve people's ability to distinguish. When a person's knowledge is rich, he will be less confused. In other words, knowledge can help us uncover many confusions, but it does not mean that as long as we have knowledge, we will never be confused. As the saying goes, "A wise man will make a mistake after a thousand worries, and a fool will make a gain after a thousand worries." "So we can only solve doubts with the mentality of seeking knowledge. We must not regard ourselves as knowers and think that we will never be confused. Let alone be praised by others for being smart and think that we will not be deceived.

The people who are easily deceived in life are often those who think they are smart.

"The benevolent do not worry" literally means a wise person. A benevolent person is a person with a clear conscience and an open mind, so he has nothing to worry about, let alone personal gains and losses. But there is another situation, because he is a benevolent person. Only those who have "benevolent virtue" worries that others don't worry about, that is, "worry about the world's worries first, and be happy after the world's happiness."

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