Wang Anshi's "On Rites and Music": "Sages seek for the inside, and the world seeks for the outside. Those who seek inside enjoy their sexuality, while those who seek outside enjoy their desires. " It means that people who seek from the inside enjoy themselves, make themselves real, live according to the laws of nature, and make full use of their lives.
To put it bluntly, living is to make yourself happy and convince yourself. Don't expect others to make you happy, and don't make your life full of contradictions, which will only increase mental internal friction. If you keep trying in this way, you can live a more transparent life and not be disturbed by too many trivial things.
Wang Anshi's temperament is simple, unpretentious, naked, coarse and evil, never caring, indifferent and refusing vanity. Before Wang Anshi became deputy prime minister, he went to the temple to take a bath with his friends. His friends secretly prepared a new dress for him and took his old clothes away. When Wang Anshi came out of the shower, his friend's entourage dressed him in new clothes, but he didn't tell him the truth. Wang Anshi put it on naturally, but there was no strange expression.
Wang Anshi's performance in diet is even worse. After Wang Anshi entered politics, some people said that he liked to eat dried roe deer meat. When Wang Anshi's wife heard about it, she was very puzzled and said that Wang Anshi was never picky about his diet on weekdays. Why does he suddenly like to eat dried fish? She asked Wang Anshi's entourage what was going on. The waiter replied that "xianggong" didn't eat anything but dried fish every time he ate.
Wang Anshi's wife asked you where to put the dried caviar when eating, and the waiter replied that it was the nearest place to the chopsticks. Wang Anshi's wife said that you should try to put other dishes next to his chopsticks at dinner tomorrow. Later, as expected, the food near the chopsticks was finished, but the rest was dried meat. Only then did everyone understand that Wang Anshi had no special preference for food, and he ate everything put in front of him.