Chinanews.com client, Beijing, November 13th. Title: Wang Shouren's wisdom in life: true calmness comes from inner calmness
Reporter Shangguanyun drawing Lei Yuzhu
"Life is unsatisfactory, nine out of ten." In life, one can often hear people complaining about trivial things like this: lovers are not in harmony, work is not going well... Then I sigh: Why am I so unlucky?
However, there were only complaints, but no action to solve the problem.
If this is the state of life, you might as well take a look at this man in the Ming Dynasty: he fell into a trough in his life when he was flourishing and he had to start all over again, but even if he was relegated to a remote place, he never gave up his ideal of "learning sages" , To educate the local people.
Finally, he was knighted with military merit.
The things he encountered were worse than many people, but with his inner strength and calmness, he optimistically treated the sufferings and kept counterattacking in the difficult situation.
This person's name is Wang Shouren.
One
But most cattle people have a tortuous life story, and Wang Shouren is no exception.
He came from a very good background, and he also had an unforgettable ability. He was well-versed in the classics of famous masters, and he knew everything about art of war and archery.
The whole family hopes that Wang Shouren will be the champion of high school soon.
In class, the teacher also said that reading and reaching the top is the first thing in life.
But he obviously has a higher spiritual pursuit: studying and learning sages.
"Establishing a heart for the heaven and the earth, establishing a life for the people, for the sacred and adhering to the best knowledge, and for the peace for all generations", this is what the great scholar Zhang Zai said, and it has also become the lifelong ambition of the young Wang Shouren.
But how can one become a sage?
Song Confucianism said that "things are exquisite and crude in appearance, and every plant and tree is the most reasonable." Next, Wang Shouren intends to practice it himself.
In order to "poor bamboo," he began to "classify" bamboo. One "class" is seven days and seven nights. He didn't find any truth, but he fell ill.
In the eyes of others, this is like a young man's "performance art", or just a joke.
But for Wang Shouren, it means a consistent pursuit of ideals.
Although I didn't get what I wanted, but I have new thinking about the knowledge in the books.
two
However, before he could understand, a workplace disaster struck.
When Wang Shouren was in his 20s, he was admitted to the Jinshi and successfully obtained official posts.
But later, the eunuch Liu Jin was offended because of his righteous speech. After 40 years of censorship, he was demoted to Longchang, Guizhou as a small post.
His father was also implicated and was transferred to the office of Shangshu in Nanjing.
It's not over yet. Liu Jin hates Wang Shouren, so he sends out assassins to kill him on the road.
After thinking about it, Wang Shouren put a desperate poem and clothes on the river bank, faked the scene of diving and suicide, and fooled the killer away.
Guizhou in the Ming Dynasty was very desolate.
But after Wang Shouren arrived here, he was calm, found a cave to live in, then simply built a house, and enjoyed himself every day.
Life has risen and fallen behind. He has a more indifferent view of life and death, but he still has not forgotten his original ideals. While fetching water and growing vegetables, he cultivated local people.
For the wise, suffering can often bring unexpected gains.
Wang Shouren made a coffin and stayed in it to meditate.
Finally one day, he figured it out, "The way of a saint, my nature is self-sufficient, and those who ask for reason in business are wrong."
This is the famous "Longchang Enlightenment".
He put forward the "knowledge and action unity" point of view, and is also tirelessly giving lectures, and many students come here admiringly.
What is the unity of knowledge and action?
Someone once made a simple generalization, that is, people's subjective knowledge and practical behavior must be highly unified.
In other words, if you understand the truth but don't practice it, you don't really understand it.
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Wang Shouren advocated that all thoughts and understandings must be applied and tempered in practical affairs.
This is also a manifestation of "the unity of knowledge and action".
He is not a nerd, and he has military talents, and he has a broad sense of ambition.
When he was young, he traveled to Juyongguan, Shanhaiguan and other places for a month, and was very concerned about national affairs.
Wang Qiong, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, has always appreciated Wang Shouren.
Under his recommendation, Wang Shouren was promoted to the Imperial Capital of Youquan, governor of Nan, Gan and other places.
It is said that on the way to take office, he encountered someone robbing a ship. Seeing everyone was about to finish, Wang Shouren called the merchant ships next to him to hang his official flag. The bandits were so frightened that they thought the officers and soldiers were coming and they all ran away.
In this way, he used the psychological warfare to perfection and quickly eliminated the long-forgotten thieves.
Later, because he liked to be surprised and scheming in battle, he got a "cunning soldier" evaluation.
In the 14th year of Zhengde, Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao launched a rebellion in Nanchang.
After the news reached the capital, Wang Qiong quickly calmed down after experiencing a brief panic: because Wang Shouren was there.
However, Wang Shouren had no soldiers available at that time.
But he was not in a hurry, and while sending out a message to conquer the rebels, he raised his own staff, and waited for the other King Qin's divisions to come and meet; at the same time, he resorted to counter-plans to drag King Ning's army in Nanchang to buy time.
After waiting for more than ten days, Zhu Chenhao finally realized that he had been fooled, so he led the main force to attack, and took Jiujiang and Nankang all the way, and then went to Anqing.
At this time, the soldiers and horses on Wang Shouren's side were basically all.
Everyone was going to rescue the siege of Anqing first, but he rejected all the arguments and decided to attack Nanchang first.
The reason is simple: our soldiers have just assembled and are vigorous, and they will surely be able to break through the emptiness of Nanchang.
Zhu Chenhao's short-sightedness will definitely lead his army to rescue.
We treat work with ease, and victory is in sight.
Sure enough, as Wang Shouren expected.
In the end, after several battles, the main forces of the two sides launched a decisive battle, Zhu Chenhao was defeated, and the Ning King's rebellion was put down.
No dogmatism, no stickiness, accurate analysis of the situation, flexible formation of troops, this is the unity of knowledge and action.
four
In fact, in later generations, Wang Shouren is not only well-known for his doctrine and achievements, but also often regarded as a model of wisdom in life.
He did face humiliation and even danger many times, but he was equally calm and calm.
When he was in Guizhou, the living environment was so bad that his entourage fell ill one after another, but he was able to have fun in hardship, and he was eventually safe and sound. This is also due to his open mind.
The so-called "narrow heart is the root of disaster, open heart is the door to blessing".
After the Ning King's rebellion was put down, someone came to grab the merits and kept provoke the incident to anger Wang Shouren, but it didn't work.
He actually came up with a bad idea, thinking that he was just a thin literati, so he proposed to shoot arrows in public at the shooting range in order to make him embarrassed.
Wang Shouren refused, but had to draw his bow and shoot arrows, and all three arrows hit the bullseye.
The troublemaker was embarrassed, but he looked as usual.
The popularity of a person often depends on one's own ability, the height of the field of vision, but also the breadth and breadth of one's heart.
The heart is open and clear, so that every major event can be humiliated.
This still applies when dealing with problems today.
Due to poor health and running around all the year round, Wang Shouren passed away before the age of 60. When he was dying, he said, "This is a bright heart, and nothing else."
This is probably the best annotation for his life.
(Finish)