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What does this sentence mean: happiness is in an unfortunate place, and misfortune is in a happy place?
Unfortunately, where happiness depends, happiness lies, and misfortune lurks, which means that happiness and misfortune are interdependent and mutually transformed. Metaphor means that bad things can have good results, and good things can also have bad results. In other words, under certain conditions, happiness can become a curse, and a curse can also become a blessing.

Source: Chapter 58 of Laozi's Tao Te Ching in the Spring and Autumn Period

Original text:

original text

Its politics is old-fashioned, and its people are innocent; Its political censorship, its people lack.

Misfortune depends on happiness, and happiness depends on misfortune. Who knows its extremes?

There is no justice in this. The recovery is amazing, and it is the demon that recovers well. People's infatuation is long!

It is based on the sage without cutting, sincere without embarrassment, straight without arrogance, light without dazzle.

Translation:

If politics is generous, people will be honest; When politics is harsh, people are cunning. In the face of disaster, Fulu leans on it; If you get a blessing, disaster lurks. Who knows the final result? This is uncertain. Right and evil, good and evil. People have long been puzzled about the truth of this positive and negative change. Therefore, a sage is upright without pain, sharp without hurting people, straightforward without licentiousness, radiant without dazzling.

Everything has two sides. Everything has a good side and a bad side, and vice versa. Often the good things in our eyes (blessings) may be because we don't see the hidden bad things, while the bad things in our eyes (disasters) may be just because we don't see the hidden good things.

Or maybe there is no difference between good and bad at all, but we artificially add our own superficial views. Therefore, when we are in the spring breeze, we must think more about whether there are hidden dangers that we have not seen. When life is at a low ebb, we must observe more opportunities and whether they are ignored by us.

Only in this way can we face the so-called blessing correctly, so that we will not be carried away by the temporary blessing and will not be crushed by the temporary disaster.

Extended data

Tao Te Ching mainly discusses "Tao" and "morality": "Tao" is not only the natural way of the universe, but also the method of personal practice. "Virtue" is not the usual morality or virtue, but a monk's special world outlook, methodology and way of dealing with people.

Laozi's original intention was to teach people how to practice Buddhism. Morality is the foundation, and Taoism is the sublimation of morality. Without the foundation of virtue, you are likely to fail in dealing with people, managing your family and governing the country, and you will not be able to "cultivate Buddhism."

Therefore, cultivating "virtue" is to create a good external environment for monasticism, which may also be needed by people; Being a monk requires a quiet mind and a detached life, which is also indispensable for virtue. The moral part of Tao Te Ching accounts for a large part of the Confucian classics, which is the basis of monasticism.

References:

Misfortune is where happiness lies, and happiness is where disaster lies.