The eight famous sayings in the preface to Tengwang Pavilion, a timeless masterpiece, are as follows:

1. Bad luck leads to misfortune.

The timing and fate are not good, and many misfortunes will be encountered on the road of life.

2. There are abundant resources and outstanding people.

A place where outstanding people were born or passed through will become a place of interest.

3. The east corner has passed away, and it is not too late to mulberry trees.

The east corner is where the sun rises. Sangyu is where the sunset shines. The textual meaning is: What is lost in the morning will be made up in the evening. Nowadays, its extended meaning is often used: although there is a loss in the beginning, it will still be possible to make up for it. It is a metaphor that although youth has passed away, it is not too late to cherish old age. Getting older is not scary. What’s scary is that we give up on ourselves.

4. A gentleman is in poverty, and a wise man knows his fate.

A gentleman can be content with a life of poverty, and a sensible person knows his destiny. So they can take their fate in stride.

5. Drinking from the greedy spring makes you feel refreshed, and you still feel happy when you are in a dry rut.

Even after drinking the spring water from Greedy Spring, I still feel refreshed, and I am still very happy in the dry rut. No one can truly own anything, because this world is eternal and our life span is so limited.

6. The setting clouds and the solitary swans fly together, and the autumn water is the same color as the sky.

The falling clouds and the lonely geese fly in the sky together, and the river and the sky in autumn become one.

7. The white-headed heart; the ambition to be poor and strong, not to fall into the blue clouds.

Although you are getting older, your feelings should be more heroic. How can you change your wishes when you are old? Although your situation is difficult, your integrity should be firmer and you must never abandon your ambition.

8. It is difficult to cross the mountains, and those who have lost their way are sad; meeting by chance is like a guest from a foreign land.

The mountains are so difficult to overcome that no one can sympathize with and comfort those who are frustrated in life; the people who meet by chance in life are all those who come from a foreign land and live here without any foundation or whereabouts.