The Art of Living Chinese Proverbs and Wisdom. Hong Yingming

       54. Only when pure in heart and mind may one learn and study from the past. Otherwise virtuous deeds may be appropriated for one’s own help and words of virtue plagiarized to conceal one’s own shortcomings. This is to supply weapons to the enemy and food to bandits.

      One of the poems of the Tang dynasty (618–907) poet Du Fu (712–770) has the line: “Virtue rules when the wise are noble.” That is—not all those filled with learning are of good character. History has more than a few characters of great wickedness, the more talented they were, the greater the damage they wreaked. The Qing dynasty educational work, Rules for Children and Pupils says: “Where there is effort to spare it should be devoted to learning”—once one has mastered the morality of one’s own thinking, surplus energy should go towards further study and enquiry. The primary task of education in the eyes of the ancients was the nurture of good moral character. Further study of the classics and an increase in knowledge was on the basis of respect for the old and love for the young, deference and honesty together with compassion and the desire to be worthy. Consequently, in learning and scholarship, heart and mind must be pure and virtuous. Talent is second to virtue. When virtue controls talent, it can become genius; talent without virtue is crooked and mediocre.

       55. The extravagant may be rich yet never have enough, how can they emulate the thrifty who achieve abundance in poverty? The able toil but provoke hatred, how can they emulate the clumsy who are yet at ease in themselves?

      The agricultural society of ancient China shaped one of China’s most valuable assets, an admirable sense of frugality. The Tang dynasty poet, Li Shangyin (c.813–c.858) said: “Observe the worthy states and families of the past, how they rose by frugal toil and fell by extravagance.” A life of luxury is not necessarily bad but once desire takes hold, a life of the utmost luxury cannot fill the emptiness of the heart. If one expends every device of heart and mind in the acquisition of wealth and position by fair means or foul, its acquisition is of no significance. Standing in the midst of the frantic search for favor and the pursuit of fame and profit, there are many enemies, bringing with them exclusion and revenge. How can this life of sweetness poised at the knife’s edge compare with that of honest people who live in truth and simplicity? The frugal life has its own delights.

       56. To study but not to perceive the essence of virtue is to be like the printer who merely applies ink; to govern but not to perceive the wants of the people is to be like a thief clad in official costume. To hold forth but not to implement the meaning is merely to pay lip service to truth; to establish a business but not to consider planting the seeds of morality is to resemble a bunch of withered flowers.

      The purpose of learning is both for the refinement of one’s nature and the study of a practical application. Study should see past the superficiality of words to touch the true essence of the sages. An official should not turn his back on the people but benefit them. The ancients described those who governed as “mother-father officials.” Parents love their own children above all and an official must cherish his people as parents love their children. He must regard serving the people as an expression of the worth of his own life before there can be any long-lasting achievement. Merely seeking prestige and benefit for oneself and ignoring the desires of the people is an achievement like a cactus that flowers only at night, a mere flash in the darkness.

       57. The heart of man contains a single true essay but it is obscured by tattered fragments; it has one true music but it is drowned out by songs of sorcery and erotic dances. The scholar must sweep away the influences of the outer world to find the original truth before there can be any true benefit.

      The Confucians advocated: “Preserve the principles of heaven, extinguish the desires of men,” the Daoists believed that: “The Way is of and in the Natural World,” and the Buddhists emphasized: “Illuminate the heart and see one’s nature.” One can see from this that Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism, the traditional philosophies of China, all considered that in the beginning the nature of man was virtuous but that it had been corrupted by layer upon layer of subsequent desire to the point where it had changed beyond recognition. Consequently, Confucian self-cultivation comprised the concept of “illumine the bright virtue”—causing the brightness of man’s original virtuous nature to shine forth once more; Daoist practice emphasized “a return to infancy”—returning to a state of childhood innocence; Buddhist self-cultivation sought a return to the “original appearance”—the constant sweeping away of the dust of desire, anger and ignorance. It is only by abandoning the deceptions of material desire and returning to the original starting point of the uncorrupted soul that we can transcend the mundane, become a Buddha and achieve in life.

       58. The suffering heart often contains a hint of joy but satisfaction can breed disappointment.

      The Confucians say: “Wisdom to the utmost but follow the Middle Way.” In all life’s circumstances, whether easy or hard, in joy or in grief, one should not adhere to one particular side but deal with things in an evenhanded way. As one puts painstaking effort into the pursuit of an aim, one should snatch a moment of leisure from the midst of toil, a moment of joy from sorrow, so that tension and relaxation are in balance and so that taking and giving can be exercised freely. One should be particularly careful at the moment of successful achievement to prevent tragedy springing from joy and bad from good.