Zi Gong said, "Although poor and not flattering, although rich and not proud, what does the teacher think of such people? Confucius said, "It's not bad, but it's not as good as being poor and still happy, and being rich can still be polite! ○ 1 15. Zi Gong said, "Poor without flattery, rich without arrogance. What? "Confucius said," It doesn't matter. If you are not poor, you will be happy, and if you have money, you will be good at giving gifts. "Zi Gong said," As the poem says,' If you cut it, if you grind it', what does it mean? "Confucius said:" If you give it, you can only talk about poetry: tell the past and know who came. "
Poor but not flattering, rich but not arrogant: As the saying goes, "People are poor and ambitious", and people often quote Mencius' "poverty can't move" to encourage themselves, but it is still quite difficult to really do it. For example, "Can money buy feelings?" In a discussion, people generally hold negative opinions, but after increasing the amount to what you think is astronomical, do you still insist on the original opinion? Many people will no longer deny this proposition. Being rich without being arrogant is also very difficult for ordinary people, especially for those who don't know why they are rich, but they get rich faster and are quite poor before they get rich.
Being poor makes you happy, and being rich makes you polite: This is a further step on the basis of "being poor but not flattering, being rich but not arrogant".
For example, if you realize that the meaning of life is not only food and clothing, but also the improvement of material conditions in the process of pursuing higher value and significance besides food and clothing, you can't be distracted. Recognizing that some things can be finally achieved through our own efforts, and some things can be approached through our own efforts, but they can never be achieved, we focus on what can be finally achieved through our own efforts, but we don't forget to try other things to see if we can finally achieve it; And so on, and can integrate the happiness of life with the work at hand. Such poverty and happiness should be advocated by Confucius. Of course, "poverty and happiness" can have its positive side for individuals; However, for the country and the nation, "being poor is happy" is a disaster for the country and the nation. Moreover, the poverty of the righteous and the upright is not only a shame, because he cannot be rich in a proper way; For the country and the nation, it is also not a commendable thing, especially because of the division of labor. Because some occupations, such as people engaged in basic theoretical research, their poverty is not mainly a personal problem, but a national and ethnic problem. If the living standard and state of the first-class people in one industry are not as good as the last-class people in another industry, it can only be said that there is something wrong with this society.
Being rich and being kind can help people know how to get along with others on an equal footing, and how to connect their own life value and significance with the realization of the dignity and life value of others, especially the poor and lowly, so as to effectively achieve "don't do it with small evils, don't do it with small goodness" in concrete practical actions, and may also form a family tradition of being charitable. Of course, to do this, we need this gift to be real, not fake. It can really promote its benevolence and make it spread naturally. For example, the fable in "Zhuangzi Foreign Things" said, "Zhuang Zhou was born in a poor family and borrowed millet from the river prison. He Jian said,' promise, I will take a city gold and lend 300 gold, ok?' Zhuang Zhou said angrily:' Last week, someone called from the middle road. Zhou Gu saw fish in the rut. Zhou asked,' Come here! What is evil? "He said," I, Minister of the East China Sea. Do you have water to save me? " Zhou Yue said, "Say yes. Can I swim south to King Wu Yue and stir up the water in the Xijiang River to meet my son? "The fish said angrily," I lost my eternal friendship, and I have no place to live. I have got my ears from the rising water. If you say this, you might as well tell me to stay where the fish died! """Although the river supervisor also made a gesture of helping others out, Zhuangzi, a discerning person, saw at a glance that this was insincere, not the kind of true goodwill that nature prevailed. Naturally, his lover is just a fake ceremony, not a real ceremony.
In short, the attitude and strategy towards the poor and the rich is one of the important yardsticks to identify a person.