Original text by Zhang Xueqianlu, Confucius said: "If you hear too many doubts, be careful about what you say, you will have few regrets. Lu is in it."

The translator Zi Zhang wanted to learn how to obtain the position of Lu. Confucius said: "Listen more, don't comment on things you have doubts about, and then speak carefully about the parts you don't have doubts about. If you can do this, you will be less upset. Read more, don't act haphazardly on things you are not sure about, and then speak carefully about things you are not sure about." If you do what you are sure of, you will have less regrets and regrets about your words and deeds, and your fortune will be there. ”

My understanding

Ancient times. Officials have two types of income. One is called "salary", which is distributed according to work and linked to position. You get how much "salary" you get based on what you do. This cannot be inherited. The second type is "lu", which is paid according to the title and is linked to social status. It is similar to the current professional title allowance. This kind can be inherited.

Zizhang was a student of Confucius in his later years and was an outstanding underachiever. Here, he needs to know how to obtain "lu". In other words, what Zizhang wanted to ask was how to obtain a "remuneration position", that is, to improve one's social status.

We often think that in order to obtain the corresponding social status and identity, we should first do how many things and what things we should do. But Confucius clearly told Zi Zhang that if he wanted to "get rich", he should first say less and do less. In other words, Confucius told Zi Zhang that making fewer mistakes is more important than doing more, or even doing the right thing.

Don’t ask for dazzling achievements, but ask for no faults.

At first glance, it sounds like a kind of pessimism, a strategy of opportunism and avoiding the important and the trivial. There is no sense of exuberance and the pleasure of leading the way by "worrying about the world's worries first, and rejoicing after the world's happiness". Could it be that Confucius was also a Mr. Nanguo, just messing around?

No!

The survival of a government, or an institution, is much more important than development. We can live without development, but we can never survive without development.

To develop, you need to do everything well and do the right things. And if you want to survive, you need to be good at everything and make fewer mistakes.

The position is lifelong and can be hereditary. Stable holdings are more important than active holdings.

If you are not careful enough in your words and deeds, you may do one or two shocking things due to the chance of timing. But most likely, there are more chances to make mistakes. When something is successful, there are both costs and benefits. When the benefits outweigh the costs, everything is fine. But making mistakes only costs money. Making mistakes frequently means that the cost is too high and it is not a good deal.

Confucius did not avoid the important and take the easy. He taught his students to be opportunistic and prudent to protect themselves. But in order to be more stable, it is better to guard against restless ambition and to be more calm and steady.