"If you are not a sage, you will be a beast; don't ask about harvest, just about hard work." --Zeng Guofan Zeng Guofan said: "If you can be cautious and independent, you can introspect without guilt, you can treat the heaven and earth, ghosts and gods, you can deal with things calmly, you can be happy, satisfied, gratified, and calm."

Being cautious means being sincere. Being cautious about independence is the most important cultivation method for Neo-Confucians of Song and Ming Dynasties. Zeng Guofan admired Neo-Confucianism throughout his life. In his moral cultivation, being cautious and independent was an extremely important aspect. In his early political career, he practiced independence personally.

In the early years of Xianfeng, the emperor issued an edict and asked for advice, which had great potential to revive the imperial court. Some ministers who were concerned about the country and the people criticized the current ills and expressed their opinions sincerely, and memorials flew all over the place. Unexpectedly, most of the memorials were shelved in the cabinet with the "needless to discuss" edict and "returned to the dust of books." Seeing this situation, Zeng Guofan, who was full of blood, said with anger: "The sincerity of scholars is just a tool to be spurned by anointed officials." In the first month of the third year of Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan organized the first regiment training. He wrote to the "just gentlemen" of Hunan Zeng Guofan's open letter said: "My self-cultivation ability is shallow and not enough to find a job. I can only use the six words 'no money, no fear of death' to criticize ghosts and gods and confront my father."

Zeng Guofan's subsequent battles I suffered many setbacks, but never gave up. In the 10th year of Xianfeng's reign, he said with great emotion: "The world is in turmoil, and chaos is endless. Officials govern people's hearts without any change; military and political warfare are increasingly advocating hypocrisy. Unless you get two or three gentlemen to advocate simplicity and sincerity and guide them with integrity, the river will decline day by day. I don't know where to go." He also said: "Wherever sincerity comes, gold and stone will be opened, and ghosts and gods will escape." The Qing government was corrupt and incompetent, and the country's power was exhausted, but Zeng Guofan's sincerity was shocking to read today. Zeng Guofan used "sincerity" in governance. Although he failed to completely save the decline of the Qing government, it also allowed the Qing government to have a temporary revival.

In Zeng Guofan's moral cultivation, "being careful about independence" affected all aspects of his life. Ordinary people always regard learning and merit as two different things. Zeng Guofan is different. He believes that to integrate merit and knowledge, in addition to practicing and memorizing poems, it is also necessary to pay attention to the way of sincerity and correctness. He summarized the three major outlines of "The Great Learning" : Ming De, Xin Min, and striving for perfection should be regarded as a matter of duty. He said: "If you only understand these things superficially, don't take them seriously, and don't regard them as what you should do, even if you can write articles and poems, you can only be regarded as a swineherd who can read. He said that a person who understands the truth, if he cannot put what he has learned into practice and serve as an official to serve the people, what is the difference between him and a swineherd?" How clearly explained this truth! He advocated "determination to establish the foundation, and respect to establish the foundation. Cultivation of virtue, purification of principles to achieve knowledge, self-denial to practice, and achievement of things for use." That is to say, learning and work must be in sync with each other.

Zeng Guofan regarded "If you are not a sage, you will be a beast; don't ask about harvest, just about hard work" as a wise saying in life. In fact, this is also a full expression of his sincerity and independence. He said in his diary: "When you hear praise, your heart becomes upset and you lose control of yourself. How can you despise it? How can it be used as a tool to carry out the Tao in the future? Anyone who likes praise and hates evil despises the heart of worrying about gains and losses. If this difficulty cannot be overcome, then all knowledge and intelligence will be enough to deceive the world and steal the name."

This is how Zeng Guofan worked hard despite difficulties. His excellence lies in his ability to sincerely face his own soul. The darkest corners and then attack them mercilessly. His spirit of self-criticism is worth learning from future generations.

Zeng Guofan regarded "being cautious in independence" as his own cultivation, strictly required himself, and also required his sons to do the same.

Two years before his death, he also made comprehensive requirements for self-cultivation for his two sons. He said in "Jinling Festival Summer Diary":

"Being careful alone will bring peace of mind. The way of self-cultivation is never difficult to cultivate in the heart. The heart knows that there is good and there is evil, but cannot To use one's power to do good and to do evil is called self-deception. But to fail to use one's power to do good and do evil is called self-deception. Whether Fang Cun is self-deceiving or not is beyond the reach of others, but only oneself knows it. Therefore, in the "Chengzhang" chapter of "Great Learning", there are two words of caution. If you can love good as much as you love sex, and hate evil as if you hate bad smells; if you can get rid of human vulgarity in order to preserve the principles of nature, then the so-called "Zhongyong" in "Great Learning" is "Zhongyong". The so-called caution and caution can all be practiced in a practical way. That is what Zengzi said about being self-reflective and what Mencius said about cultivating the heart without being ashamed. If you don't feel guilty, you can fight against the gods and ghosts in the sky, and you will never do anything. If you don't hold it in your heart, you will be discouraged. If you don't have anything to be ashamed of, you will never be calm. This heart is always quick and tolerant, which is the first way to strengthen yourself in life. , the first thing to do is to have fun, and the first thing to do is to protect yourself.”

Not only that, Zeng Guofan also implemented this in the military. During the siege of Tianjing, Zeng Guoquan could not sleep at night because he wanted to take the lead in conquering Tianjing. However, the foreigner Li Taitai wanted to enter the Yangtze River by sailing a ship. Zeng Guoquan was worried about being taken credit for by others, but he did not dare to tell the truth. He wrote in a memorial: "Shippers do not have to enter rivers. They should only patrol the sea to defend against pirates." Zeng Guofan felt very uncomfortable when he found out. He wrote a letter to his younger brother:

"You are worried that Li Taitai will disturb the situation and rob you of your achievements when he arrives in Tianjing. Why don't you tell the emperor the truth? We After more than ten years of hard work, the fruits of victory were taken away by foreigners with several ships. The loyal soldiers will be disheartened when they see this situation, and it is harmful to the national integrity. They can tell the truth to the emperor.

I wanted to say this in my heart, but wasted time on another thing when I was writing the memorial. This was a bad habit in the last years of Daoguang. ”

Zeng Guofan once said in "The Gentleman is Cautious in Being Independent": "When a gentleman encounters something, he must be able to distinguish between public and private matters, and when connecting the principles, he must be able to fully and incisively study the pros and cons of affairs." Good deeds should be done and bad habits should be eliminated as soon as possible. When doing a good thing, one is afraid that others will not be able to notice and it will be in vain, so one hesitates to do it; when doing a bad thing, one is lucky and thinks that others will not see it, so one does not try his best to correct it. When we are alone behind the scenes, deception occurs. This is deception. A gentleman is afraid that he will not be able to do a good deed well, that he will behave in a depraved manner in the dark, and that if he cannot correct a bad habit, he will continue to make mistakes for many years. Therefore, when you are in a dark room, you should remain motionless as if you are in the sky. Human bones are as strong as gold and stone. When you are alone in a place where you are alone, you should be careful and cautious. This is the essence of the sage's classics, and it is also an issue that future generations should study seriously! ”

Zeng Guofan’s words tell us that if people can be cautious and independent, they will be happy, and they will be happier if they can be sincere. We must constantly ask ourselves whether we are sincere enough. There is nothing better than sincerity in the world. There is no better way to nourish the mind. It can be seen that the role of "sincerity" in a person is comprehensive and huge and cannot be underestimated.