Interpretation: As a gentleman, you should cultivate yourself without being influenced by the outside world, and cultivate your own character through frugality. If you don't take an indifferent attitude towards fame and fortune, you can't keep your ambitions pure. If you don't eliminate external interference, you can't make progress and achieve lofty goals.
Source: "The Book of Commandments"
Author: Zhuge Liang
Era of creation: Three Kingdoms
Original text: The journey of a husband and a gentleman, quietly To cultivate one's moral character, and to cultivate one's virtue through frugality. Without indifference, there is no clear ambition; without tranquility, there is no far-reaching goal. The husband must be quiet to study, and the talent must study. Without learning, there is no way to expand talents; without ambition, there is no way to achieve learning. If you are impatient and slow, you will not be able to stimulate your essence, and if you are dangerous and impetuous, you will not be able to cure your nature. Years go by with the times, thoughts go with the sun, and they become withered and withered. Many people do not take on the world, and they stay in the poor house with sadness. What will happen again!
Translation: The character of a person with both ability and political integrity depends on inner peace. Those who concentrate their energy on cultivating their body and mind rely on a frugal style to cultivate their character. If you don't look down on worldly fame and fortune, you won't be able to clarify your ambitions. If you don't have physical and mental peace, you won't be able to realize your lofty ideals. You must concentrate on learning, and you must study hard to increase your talents.
If you don’t study hard, you can’t increase your intelligence, and if you don’t clarify your ambitions, you can’t achieve success in learning. The pursuit of excessive pleasure and laziness cannot inspire the spirit, and frivolity and irritability cannot cultivate the temperament. Years pass by with the passage of time, and the will wears away with the years. In the end, it is like a withered branch and a leaf, (becoming a person who does nothing) of no use to society. When you are sadly guarding your poor hut, how can you regret it in time? Extended information
Creative background
"The Book of Commandments" is a family letter written by Zhuge Liang, a politician during the Three Kingdoms period, to his son Zhuge Zhan before his death. Zhuge Liang died serving the Shu Kingdom, so he did not have much time to educate his son Zhuge Zhan, so before his death, he wrote the "Book of Commandments" to his eight-year-old son, teaching him to be upright and to be a good man in the future. Serve the country and be a useful person.
The main purpose of "The Book of Commandments to Sons" is to encourage sons to study diligently and be determined, to cultivate their moral character and cultivate their character through indifference and tranquility, and to avoid laziness and impatience. The article summarizes the experience of being a person and studying, focusing on the word "quiet", and at the same time attributes failure to the word "impetuous", which is in sharp contrast. In "The Book of Commandments to Sons", Zhuge Liang taught his son to be "indifferent" and self-sufficient, and to live in "tranquility". He encouraged his son to study hard and be motivated, and to work hard on cultivating himself in indifference and tranquility.