When misfortunes come, blessings depend on them; when blessings come, misfortunes fall upon them

This is the famous saying of Laozi Li Er.

"Misfortune is where blessings depend; blessings are where misfortune lies." From "Laozi? Chapter 58".

The full text of "Laozi? Fifty-Eight Chapters" is as follows:

The government is boring, but the people are honest. Its government is in check, but its people are lacking. When misfortunes come, blessings depend on them; when blessings come, misfortunes fall upon them. Who knows how extreme it is? It is unrighteous. The good ones become strange again, and the good ones become monsters again. People's fascination lasts for a long time. Therefore, the sage does not cut it. Honest but not prudent. Straight but not unreasonable. Light but not shining.

"Misfortune is where blessings depend; blessings are where misfortune lies." Read like this: huò xī fú suǒ yǐ, fú xī huò suǒ fú. The general idea is: "Misfortune is the basis of blessing; blessing is the place where misfortune hides. Human blessings and misfortunes are interdependent and can transform into each other." It is now an idiom, which means that bad things can lead to good results. , good things can also lead to bad results. The "xi" in this sentence is a classical Chinese particle, meaningless, and is equivalent to the modern Chinese "ah". "Yi" means "depending on". "Fu" means "hiding".

"Misfortune is where blessings depend; blessings are where misfortune lies." There is a simple dialectical materialist thought, that is, a contradictory point of view, which is similar to "long and short", both talking about contradictions The unity of opposites. "Misfortune" and "blessing" are both wanted by everyone, and "blessing" and happiness are pursued by everyone. "Misfortune" and "blessing" are opposite contradictions. Blessings and misfortunes are interdependent and transform each other. It is a metaphor that bad things can lead to good results, and good things can also lead to bad results.

Nowadays, there is a story of "a blessing in disguise", which is similar to this. "The Book of Changes" contains the words "If you refute extremes, you will recover" and "If you refute extremes, you will recover in peace." Chinese people believe that "things must be reversed when they are extreme" and believe that the world is also a cyclical process. So misfortunes and blessings can be converted.