In Japan, since ancient times, there has been a consistent "sense of hardship" throughout the country. No matter politicians or ordinary people, they often say: "Japan has no land and no resources, only sunshine and air", "If the Japanese don't work hard, they won't have food the next day". Mainly because the Japanese know their national conditions like the back of their hands, they all have a sense of urgency. It is this awareness that has added a powerful impetus to Japan's development and created today's miracle. Aren't these worth learning?
Quote Dr. Sun Yat-sen's last words that shocked hundreds of millions of people in China: "The revolution has not yet succeeded, and comrades still need to work hard!"
Confucius put it this way: "If you don't cultivate yourself, you will be worried. If you don't talk about learning, you can't migrate if you smell righteousness. If you are not good, you can't change." (The Analects of Confucius Learn) He didn't pay attention to the improvement of moral quality, didn't learn from each other, didn't act according to moral principles, and couldn't correct his mistakes in time-all these were the worries he had when he witnessed the reality at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period.
Mencius listed a group of successful people from history, indicating that they were all honed from worry and pain. For example, Shun was born in a farmhouse and later became the king of a country; Jiao Wei suffered from war and lived by selling fish and salt. Later, Zhou Wenwang promoted him and made great contributions to the Zhou Dynasty. Sun Shuai lived in the seaside, and Chu Zhuangwang chose him as Lingyin, with outstanding achievements. These examples show that it is impossible to cultivate a strong will and a spirit of struggle without the training of "worry" and the reflection on the lessons of failure. Mencius summed up these truths from the height of philosophy of life, and wrote a famous saying of China since ancient times: "Born in sorrow, died in happiness" ("Mencius said to his son"), sorrow is enough to make people survive and develop, and happiness is enough to make people sink and die. What a profound philosophy of life this is!
Jia Yi in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty was a political commentator with keen thinking, daring to tell the truth and strong sense of responsibility. He cared about the national luck and wrote a letter to Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, which is the famous Public Security Policy. At that time, more than 20 years after the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, the regime became increasingly stable and the economy resumed development. However, according to his own observation and research, Jia Yi pointed out in the book with great anxiety that "the philosophers said that the world has been decided and has been ruled, but I think it is not right". He thought that the "situation" at that time was not optimistic, and there were many things like "crying", "weeping" and "sighing for a long time". He also actively proposed ways to solve social contradictions. A warning like Jia Yi is a manifestation of a sense of responsibility, not a whiny moan, nor a pessimistic despair.
Fan Zhongyan, a famous politician and scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty, raised his previous "sense of hardship" to a new height in his famous work The Story of Yueyang Tower. Yueyang Tower was built in the Tang Dynasty and rebuilt in Song Renzong. Fan Zhongyan was invited by a friend to visit Yueyang Tower in Yuezhou (now Yueyang City, Hunan Province). This famous article begins with a view of Dongting Lake from upstairs, and then the author puts forward a question: "Isn't it unusual to see things?" Does it mean that people's feelings of enjoying the scenery will change with the change of environment? Climbing the stairs in rainy days makes people "homesick, compassionate, bleak everywhere, and extremely sad", but climbing the stairs in spring and Ming will make people "relaxed and forget all insults" ... so there is such an ending: "My husband!" What? Don't rejoice in things, don't grieve for yourself. If you live high in a temple, you will worry about your people; If you stay away from the Jianghu, you will worry about your husband. It's worrying about going in and going out. But when will you be happy? It must be said: worry about the world first, and then enjoy the world. ……"
Huang Zongxi, a thinker who experienced great changes at the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, wrote an epoch-making book "Ming Yi to be visited" in the second year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty (1667), and made an in-depth analysis of the feudal monarchy. He pretended that the three generations (Xia, Shang and Zhou) were the golden age, saying that at this time, "the world is the mainstay and the monarch is the guest." After three generations, the situation changed greatly, "the monarch is the mainstay and the world is the guest." Because of the inversion of subject and object, the monarch regards the world as his own, monopolizes the interests of the world and forms dark politics. Huang Zongxi pointed out: "You are just a gentleman for the great harm in the world." ("Interview with Ming Yi, Yuan Jun"). He put forward: "The rule of chaos in the world is not the rise and fall of a surname, but the sorrow and joy of all people." He attributed his personal troubles to everyone's troubles. He also said that the official position of the minister is "for the world, not for the king; For the people, not for a surname "(ibid.). "Tianxia" is a noun with profound connotation, which is different from the rule of one family and one surname. Gu Yanwu, a close friend of Huang Zongxi, also emphasized "protecting the world". He said: "... those who protect the world are shameless and have no responsibility" (article 13 "Zhengshi" in Records of the Day). In a letter to Huang Zongxi in the 15th year of Kangxi (A.D. 1676), Gu said, "... I read the great book Ming Yi again and again, so I know there is no one in the world. In the world, a knowledgeable person may not be at the right time, but a person at the right time may not be knowledgeable. After the ancient gentlemen wrote books, there were kings who got them and learned them. " (Collection of Lin Ting's Notes) The sense of hardship urges them to pin their hopes on the future.