How to deal with personal and other people’s faults is a common problem in life. Generally speaking, people deal with it with a "generally okay" attitude, and over time, they no longer take it for granted. Reading a passage from Zeng Wenzhenggong's "Zhaoji" today gives people a new perspective and touches their thinking. This passage is:

"The way of the former king was unclear, and the scholar-bureaucrats behaved in a conciliatory manner, often falling into great violence, and their colleagues did not say a word to correct them, but they regarded themselves as calm, which is fortunate. No fault. ”

Such a description obviously reveals the peaceful and mediocre scene in the officialdom. In fact, this is exactly the state of corruption in thoughts and actions. Translated into today's text, it makes it more perspective: The moral principles spoken by the previous kings have been forgotten, and the scholar-bureaucrats are doing some sloppy things together, so that they make big mistakes everywhere, but none of their colleagues People say half a sentence and then verify it, and this kind of person feels good about himself and thinks that he has no fault. Obviously, without "standards" and without "criticism and self-criticism", people feel good about themselves. So what's wrong with that? I think this is the precursor and cause of corruption.

In response to this situation, Zeng Gong went on to point out: "As for Zhongni's virtuousness, he still has to learn "Yi" because he has few faults. Now he says he has no faults. Are you deceiving others? Are you deceiving yourself?" This It’s time to take out a mirror to see whether an individual has “made mistakes”: Confucius was so virtuous that he even had to study the Book of Changes to reduce his mistakes, but today’s people actually say that they have no mistakes. This is Deceiving others or deceiving yourself? This kind of reflection and questioning is very targeted. It wakes people up, makes them deeply aware and discovers themselves - are there any mistakes?

Then, Zeng Gong took his thoughts deeper: "Knowing that you have made mistakes, but because of a momentary failure to protect yourself, you turn around and hide yourself, and commit a heinous crime without regrets. This is the behavior of a villain. Those who are not close to each other are the same as being tolerant and sympathetic to others' evil, which is the same as being a flatterer." This makes the problem of "fault" more concrete in two aspects. The first is the individual's behavior towards his or her own faults. Knowing that you have made a mistake, but trying to cover it up to cover up your short-term mistake, you end up committing a heinous crime without repenting. This is the reason why you should not get close to villains. At this point, Zeng Gong did not clearly define what a "villain" is, but it made people understand that "a villain" is someone who "has made mistakes and never repented". Isn’t this kind of “villain” the most “scary” thing? The second is the wrong behavior towards friends (others). As a friend, concealing and tolerating the faults of friends and living in peace can only encourage the faults (sins) of friends. What is the difference between such a person and those slanderous ministers and flatterers who sing praises of virtue? I think this is the most profound perspective and insight.

Based on the above, doesn’t it make us very clear about how to deal with the mistakes of ourselves and our friends? Isn't it the clearest choice to make between being a Zhongni-style gentleman or an "unrepentant" villain?