Throughout the ages, people who have made great achievements have a certain degree of self-cultivation, and they should work hard on self-cultivation.
All excellent people are strict with themselves and can control their laziness and wrong feelings.
A person who is strict with himself should know how to forgive and tolerate others generously. It's not good for him if he haggles over everything. Conflicts between people are only for profit, and forgiveness is also an extremely important state in life.
Zeng Guofan has a "16-character motto" about self-cultivation, which summarizes all the core of a person's self-cultivation.
These sixteen words are: cautious independence, respect, pursuit of righteousness and sincerity.
A careful study of the efforts made by the ancients in self-cultivation has four obvious directions: being cautious and independent will make you open-minded; When you are respectful, you will be strong; Pursuing righteousness, people will be convinced; Sincerely, immortals are obedient.
This is the wisdom of prudence and independence. The so-called cautious independence is to manage your own thoughts and desires, even if it is a small thing.
Many people can behave like a gentleman in front of others when cultivating their own character, but they may not be able to correct their wrong thoughts in the future, but wrong thoughts will also affect themselves.
And "cautious independence" means never letting go of even a tiny place behind you, ensuring that everything you say and do, even an idea, is right, following the principles of nature, and never stopping, so that you can treat yourself with an introspective attitude from time to time and feel naturally calm inside.
The appearance is neat and serious, the mind is calm and single-minded, and the execution is respectful and solemn, so the body is strong.
Many people have a lazy look and state in their lives, which gives people the feeling that they are lazy and have no spirit.
Such people not only leave a bad impression on people, but also find it difficult to treat some things rigorously and single-mindedly because of their own slackness when dealing with problems.
Such people will not only miss their own achievements, but also fall into the whirlpool of more and more slack.
The so-called benevolence and righteousness is the heart of compassion, which is also the basis for maintaining one's own mind. Treat everything with compassion and awe, and be selfless, not only can you get the love of others, but you can also get a gentle inner state.
For kind people, kindness itself is the best blessing.
Because of his kindness, inner peace and no resentment, life feels very happy.
Fu Bi, the prime minister of Renzong period in the Northern Song Dynasty, was such a gentle man. When he was young, he was clever, eloquent and often offended people. Later, these things made him deeply uneasy. After a long period of reflection, his character became generous and modest.
Once in the street, a scholar asked him a question, took the opportunity to insult him and asked him, "What would you do if someone scolded you?"
Fu Bi said, "I will pretend not to hear."
The scholar smiled and said, "So that's what you are."
Then they left laughing, and Fu Bi's servant complained, "It's really hard to understand. I can answer such a simple question. How can you pretend not to know? "
Fu Bi said: "Such scholars are frivolous people. If you want to argue with him, it is inevitable that there will be fierce words. In the end, he will be dissatisfied. Why bother? "
A few days later, the scholar met Fu Bi in the street, and Fu Bi greeted him. The scholar ignored him and turned away, calling Fu Bi a little puss-head.
Someone told Fu Bi, but Fu Bi said that scholars only scold people with the same name, not themselves, and ignore scholars at all. Later, the scholar was deeply bored and bowed his head and left.
Fu Bi often teaches his children and grandchildren: "The word patience is the key to doing good things. If the family wants to be harmonious, it is necessary to pay attention to this word. An honest and thrifty person, plus the word forbearance, does everything like bamboo, and nothing can stop him. Such people, who can bear it, are different from frogs. It jumps at the touch and barks when it jumps. What should I do? "
Sincerity is a very important rule in life. In this utilitarian age, no one wants to believe in sincerity. Many people believe in opportunistic ways, but sincerity is a very important prerequisite for getting along with others.
Because others are not stupid, you play with each other for a long time, and no one will want to get along with you for a long time, so sincerity is the premise to ensure your conscience in getting along with others.
A person who can shape his life with sincerity will have great achievements.
This is a 16-character motto summed up by Zeng Guofan in self-cultivation. Chairman Mao said: "Zeng Guofan was a man who reached the highest level of Confucian virtue, merit and career."
And such a state is also the basis for a person to cultivate one's morality, keep the family in order, govern the country and level the world. The most correct way is to cultivate one's morality with Zeng Guofan's wisdom.