Zeng Guofan was born in a landlord family in the late Qing Dynasty. He studied hard since childhood and entered a school at the age of six. At the age of 8, he can read four books and recite five classics. At the age of 14, he can read Zhou Li and Historical Records. In the 18th year of Daoguang (1838), he entered imperial academy, where he was a proté gé of military minister Zhang Mu. Reluctantly moved to a bachelor's degree in cabinet, assistant minister of does, assistant minister of military, industrial, criminal and official departments. We are close friends with university students such as Woren, Huining Road and Guizhen, and strive for "practical learning". During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, Zeng Guofan formed the Xiang Army. After years of fighting, he turned the tide and wiped out the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Zeng Guofan pursued patience as the first priority in his life, advocated thrift in everything and was not proud of being an official. He cultivated self-discipline, sought officials by virtue, put courtesy first, and sought politics by loyalty, and achieved great success in officialdom.
The rise of Zeng Guofan had a far-reaching impact on the politics, military affairs, culture and economy of the Qing Dynasty. At Zeng Guofan's initiative, he built the first ship in China, founded the first ordnance school, printed and translated the first batch of western language books, and arranged the first batch of students studying in the United States. It can be said that Zeng Guofan was the pioneer of China's modernization.
After reading Zeng Guofan's "six precepts" in life, I learned his way of being a man and doing things.
The first commandment: Don't do anything lasting, and don't go to controversial places.
Don't do things that have always been profitable, and don't go where everyone wants to go. Cheng Wei is out! What everyone yearns for may be harmful.
The first half of the sentence says: don't be greedy! At noon, the full moon is lost, and things are prosperous and declining. There is nothing once and for all in the world, and it is impossible to make a long-term profit. If there is such a thing that can always make a profit, it can only be said to be a superficial phenomenon or a scam. You must keep a clear head at this time.
The second half is about safety. Don't go to places where people quarrel and fight, which is easy to cause trouble or disaster. This is what the Analects of Confucius said: "If a country is in danger, it will not live in chaos.". Of course, the struggle in this sentence can also be understood as the struggle for interests. This means that you should not fight for the interests that everyone is fighting for, because it must be a small profit.
The second precept: small evils do not abandon the beauty of the people, and small grievances do not forget the grace of the people.
Don't ignore the great advantages of others because of small shortcomings, and don't forget the great kindness of others because of small resentment with others.
Ceng Zi said: "It is rare in the world to distinguish evil from good and beauty from evil." It means to love a person and know his shortcomings, but hate him and know his advantages. This is a warning to us that we must not be too emotional when dealing with people, and we must treat others' shortcomings and deficiencies objectively and fairly.
The third precept: say that people's shortcomings are to protect themselves, and praise their own advantages is to avoid the advantages of others.
Saying other people's shortcomings is to cover up their own shortcomings, and praising their own advantages is to envy others' extra advantages. (generally refers to destroying the ambition of others, raising one's prestige and describing complacency. )
Liu Bang, the emperor gaozu of Han Dynasty, once casually discussed the talents of generals with Han Xin. Liu Bang asked, "How many soldiers can I take with me?" Han Xin said, "Your Majesty can only take 100,000 people." Liu Bang said, "What about you?" Han Xin replied: "Like me, the more the better." Han Xin was later killed, which cannot be said to have nothing to do with his character.
The meaning of Zeng Guofan's sentence painted a mental portrait for this kind of people. People who often say other people's shortcomings are actually hiding their own shortcomings; People who often brag about their own advantages are actually jealous or trying to cover up the advantages of others.
The first kind under temptation: benefits can be shared but not exclusive, and plans can be less but not made public.
Welfare is suitable for sharing, not for single use. Long-term planning (or planning a thing) is suitable for many people (or a few people), but not for many people.
Benefits are often what everyone craves. If anyone monopolizes the interests and doesn't share them with everyone, it will definitely arouse resentment and even become the target of public criticism. Liu bang attacked Xianyang and did not dare to occupy its land; Cao Cao can "hold the emperor to make the princes", but he does not dare to usurp Han's independence all his life. They are all afraid of being the target of public criticism. Therefore, in the face of interests, we must weigh the choices.
When planning things, you must plan things with a few independent people, not with everyone else. As the "Warring States Policy" said, "Sages are not vulgar, and those who achieve great things are not interested in others." In layman's terms, it is to seek something particularly important without consulting others. Because people who pursue greatness must have their own thoughts, extraordinary vision, mind and tolerance. How do sparrows know the ambition of swans? If you want to achieve great things, don't go with the flow. If others are poor in knowledge, narrow-minded and tolerant, of course they won't understand your thoughts. Gossiping will shake your will and destroy your confidence and mood.
The fifth precept: all mediocrity in ancient and modern times was defeated by a lazy word, and all talents in ancient and modern times were defeated by a proud word.
Ordinary people from ancient times to the present fail because of laziness, while talents from ancient times to the present fail because of pride. Generally speaking, military failure is either pride or laziness, and there must be one; The decline of each dynasty is either pride or laziness, and there must be one. Don't be proud, don't laugh at others easily as the first element, don't be lazy and don't get up late as the first element. Arrogance is a bad virtue, laziness is the spirit of decline. Both are the causes of failure.
Ordinary people are ordinary people, ordinary people. For the average person, no talent, only hard work can achieve career, so the word "lazy" is the most taboo. . And those talented people, although they can take shortcuts with their talents and succeed more easily, are also easy to be complacent, unwilling to learn from others and easy to fail.
Zeng Guofan is a good example of hard work. He is not smart, but he can achieve great things in college with "diligence", which can be said to be an example for ordinary people. Another example is Xiang Yu and Li Zicheng. The right time, the right place and the right people, but they perished because of pride.
The sixth precept: when doing great things, give priority to knowledge, supplemented by talent; If you achieve great things, people will live half a life, and God will live half a life.
Anyone who does great things needs to have profound experience and knowledge first, and also needs the assistance of talents; Anyone who wants to achieve great things, half depends on people's planning, and the other half depends on God's will, and opportunities will not come. Man proposes, God disposes.
Zeng Guofan clearly told us that to do great things, "knowledge" is the main thing, and talent and ability are only auxiliary. Therefore, it is often difficult for arrogant people to achieve great things. Of course, "knowledge" here not only refers to knowledge, but also includes experience and knowledge.
And "Man seeks half, and God wills half." That is to say, no matter what we do, we should take the attitude of "doing our best, resigned to fate", and don't stop trying because of factors beyond your control, and don't complain because our efforts failed in the end.
Source: Confucian demeanor everyone