Lao Zi said: "The big square has no corner, the big weapon is late, the big sound, the big elephant is invisible." And regarded it as the highest state of "Tao", can be said to be the most incisive. Music to the most beautiful but sounds become bland and indistinct, the image to the most perfect but become not in the line. To be a person should also be the highest, that is, "different" into "mediocre incompetence".
The eagle stands like a sleeper, the tiger walks like a sick man
The so-called "eagle stands like a sleeper, the tiger walks like a sick man" means that a gentleman should be smart not to show his talent, not to show his talent, and at the right time to show his weakness and inability to make things happen in order to confuse his powerful rivals. In the thick and black in the world, you can use this plan to apply to the strong enemy, in front of it, as far as possible, the front convergence of hidden, to hold back their desire to show, on the surface of the hundred obedient, put on a look like a sleep like a disease, so that the other side of the heart contempt, do not suspect that once the time is ripe, that is, such as the lightning to defeat the opponent.
There is such a fable: the hunter wants to catch the tiger, pretending to be a fat pig, learning to squeal, so that can draw out the tiger, but also make it unsuspecting, and wait until the time is ripe, and then struck, hit it a defense. Li Zongwu believes that, in front of powerful opponents, you can first pretend to be weak and incompetent, so that it does not have doubts, once the opportunity to take advantage of the surprise, can be subdued in one fell swoop. In the Three Kingdoms period, Sima Yi relied on this tactic and eventually killed Cao Shuang.
In the first month of 238 A.D., Cao Rui, the Ming Emperor of Wei, was seriously ill. On the dragon couch, Emperor Ming of Wei took Sima Yi's hand and entrusted Cao Fang, the 8-year-old crown prince, to him. Sima Yi wept bitterly and swore his loyalty. On the same day, Emperor Ming died and Cao Fang became the crown prince, known as King Qi of Wei. Among the two ministers, Sima Yi was highly respected, while Cao Shuang was young and impetuous. In order to strengthen his power, Cao Shuang repeatedly promoted his close friends to important official positions in the capital. Soon after, Cao Shuang reported to the young emperor that Sima Yi's position was below his own, and that he felt uneasy about it, and that he should promote him to be a minister.
Cao Fang agreed, and made Sima Yi a great minister, hollowing out his power. Then, Cao Shuang ordered the officials of the Shangshu Province to report to him first, thus monopolizing his power. Cao Shuang, who had become a dictator, became more arrogant and pompous day by day, like a rapidly expanding balloon.
Sima Yi, however, suppressed his emotions and remained humble and respectful to Cao Shuang. By 247 A.D., Cao Shuang had taken control of the dynasty, and the forbidden army in the capital was in his hands. So Cao Shuang basically stopped consulting with Sima Yi on important matters in the court, and occasionally when Sima Yi expressed his opinions, he didn't listen to them at all.
Sima Yi's behavior did not seem to bother him, and he remained humble. Shortly thereafter, he suffered a relapse of his paralysis, and went home to recuperate, no longer in charge. This illness lasted almost a year.
Cao Shuang was not quite sure what to make of him, and in the winter of 248 A.D., when Li Sheng, a member of his inner circle, was to be appointed as assassin of Jingzhou, he asked Li Sheng to go and bid farewell to Sima Yi, and to observe Sima Yi's behavior. When Li Sheng arrived at Sima Yi's residence, he saw that Sima Yi had two maidservants supporting him on both sides before he could stand up to greet Li Sheng, who took the coat brought by one of the maidservants and wanted to put it on, but unexpectedly his hands trembled and the clothes fell to the ground.
Then he sat down and pointed to his mouth, indicating that he wanted to drink water. The servant girl then brought a cup of thin porridge. He took the porridge and brought it to his mouth, and slowly drank it, only to see the soup dripping down, making a wet patch on his chest.......
Li Sheng returned to Cao Shuang, and reported Sima Yi's situation one by one, and finally said, "Lord Sima doesn't have many more days to live, and is not enough to worry about. " In this way, Cao Shuang was completely relieved, and from then on, no more defense. In the first month of 249 A.D., Emperor Cao Fang went out of the city to pay homage to the imperial tomb of Emperor Wei Wen, and Cao Shuang's brothers followed him, taking only a small number of guards with them.
Shortly after they left the city, Yan Shi, the general who stayed in Cao Shuang's residence, suddenly heard the sound of a large group of people running in the street, and became suspicious in his heart, immediately ascending the city tower to inspect the situation, he was shocked to see Sima Yi sitting on his horse, leading an army to run wildly in the direction of the imperial palace, and although Sima Yi already had white hair, he was still hale and hearty.
Finally, Sima Yi forced Cao Shuang to ask for his own demotion, and later executed him for his three clans, which could not be said to be ruthless. Through a mutiny, Sima Yi defeated Cao Shuang and his cohorts in one fell swoop, and firmly grasped the power. His move "tiger like disease" really gave Cao Shuang's stream of people with real power but no strength a lesson!
Zeng Guofan said: "The eagle is like a sleeper, the tiger line like a disease, it is he grabbed the bird devouring people's magic. Therefore, to be a person should be internal quite internal firm, talent not to show off, in order to have the strength of the task." Li Bai has also said an intriguing words: "the great sage tiger change foolishly unpredictable, the year is quite like an ordinary person", can be considered this hidden strength, "tiger like disease" portrayed in the wood three points.
Of course. If you pretend to be sick, "pretend" into the state, forget the original intention, but was taken advantage of, it would not be worth the loss. The first thing you need to do is to be thick, to be patient, and to forget your true purpose, which is contrary to the starting point of Thickness and Blackness.
Rich but not extravagant, rich but not proud
Rich is what everyone aspires to, of course, here is not only the life of material abundance, "rich" also includes those who have achieved success in their respective fields. Life is not easy to be rich, rich to do "rich but not extravagant, rich but not proud" is not easy, but also because it is not easy, those who really do people respected.
Newton discovered the law of gravity, people in praise of him always do not mince words of praise, such as the father of mechanics, the father of calculus, the greatest astronomer, the greatest genius of all time, the most influential scientists of all time.
Newton, however, said, "I do not know what others think of me; I myself thought I was but a child playing on the seashore, often gloating over the discovery of a more beautiful shell than usual, and ignorant of the vast ocean of truth before me."
It is this kind of never proud nor showy personality, make him highly respected, also make him always keep a clear head, not in the "small" achievements in front of lose themselves; also it is this kind of humility, not anxious personality let him in the discovery of gravity, in the optics and other research on the historic breakthroughs. Newton never took his scientific achievements for granted. Newton never took his own scientific achievements as the capital to show off, and never let go of any clue to continue discovering scientific principles. No matter how great his achievements were, he always remained modest and sober.
It is because of this rich but not proud of the personality, so that he did not stop his footsteps in the search for truth, only to obtain one after another shocking the world of scientific achievements.
Then again, when the opera stage performance, many actors always want to "sit in the middle, when the starring role", once the achievement of a little bit, played the big shot, who are not in the eyes. However, one of the "Four Great Masters" of Peking Opera, Mr. Shang Xiaoyun, the founder of the "Shang School", never saw himself as a big shot, he was kind to everyone, taking care of his peers, and often took the initiative to ask to be a supporting role to some of the younger than himself, seniority than himself, and even seniority than himself. Shallow, and even lower than their own generation, artistic achievement and social prestige than their own poor actor with the play, which seems to be an incredible "strange thing".
In the early 1920s, when Zhao Tongshan, a Peking opera dancer in his early years, performed in Guanghe Building in Beiping in the "Qiankun Fukushou Mirror", Shang Xiaoyun went to watch it. In fact, the play has long been a representative play of the Shang School, and it has become famous in the theater world. Shang Xiaoyun had taught this play to Yang Ronghuan, Sun Ronghui, and Wu Suqiu and other disciples in his room. However, after watching Zhao Tongshan's performance, Shang Xiaoyun felt that the crazy form of Hu in "Losing a Son and Going Crazy" was played realistically and profoundly by Zhao Tongshan, so he asked someone to arrange for a special performance of the play by himself and asked Zhao to play the lead role of Hu, and himself to play the role of Shouchun, the maid. This move made Zhao Tongshan extremely touched, but also by the opera world was a good story, because the heck of a famous family to give a reputation and achievements than their own poor actor as a supporting role, is really rare. Although Zhao Tongshan at this time is also a heck of a celebrity, and will play a lot of drama, the characters are decorated and brilliant, known as "can school", but compared with the reputation of Shang Xiaoyun is somewhat dwarfed.
It is this kind of Shang Xiaoyun "rich but not extravagant, rich but not proud" of the true nature, so that he is not only peer admiration, the world love, but also make his own in the art of continuous progress, excellence, and finally become a generation of everyone.
Newton and Shang Xiaoyun are respectively titans in their own fields, and the reason for such high achievements, and their "rich but not extravagant, rich but not arrogant" personality is closely related. They never for a little achievement will be complacent, will not take that achievement around to show off, but also because of this, they can in a hundred feet pole more to speak a step.
Complacency is not forgotten, there is wine not all happy ancient cloud: "full of loss, modest benefit." People must be modest, not step by step, not complacent, not to mention self-righteousness, to keep a clear head at all times.
Modest and prudent people seldom make mistakes, but also not easy to be exploited; smart and clever, prim and tough people, once the drift, complacent, then it is easy to make mistakes, and thus suffer great losses.
The Three Kingdoms period, Liu Bei under the account of the five tiger generals of the first Guan Yu, is a generation of heroes, brave and powerful. But in the end, he died in a moment of complacency.
Guan Yu has always been the most valued by Liu Bei, so he was entrusted with the important task of guarding the "base" of Jingzhou. With Guan Yu's bravery, of course, whoever comes to attack will only lose the battle. Cao Cao sends Cao Ren to attack Guan Yu, but he is defeated by Guan Yu, so Cao Ren is too scared to fight in Fancheng and asks Cao Cao for help. Cao Cao hurriedly sent Yu Ban as the vanguard and Pang De as the deputy general to rescue Cao Ren with his seven armies. Guan Yu took advantage of the stormy weather in August and stationed his troops on the Xiangjiang River. When the water was high, Guan Yu's army took the warships from the upstream to the downstream of Yu Ban's army. The water flooded Yu Ban's seven armies, and Guan Yu defeated Cao's soldiers, captured Yu Ban alive, and killed Pang De.
Guan Yu flooded the seven armies, complacent, thinking that taking Fancheng was a breeze, but did not realize that Sun Quan was playing the idea of Jingzhou at this time. The first time I saw him, he was so proud of his new victory that he easily fell for Lu Meng and Lu Xun.
Lv Meng is also a talented general, Guan Yu is not in his sights, but he is still on guard. In order to take down Jingzhou, Lu Meng adopted Lu Xun's suggestion, pretended to be sick and resigned, and returned to the capital to recuperate. Sun Quan deliberately sent Lu Xun, a silent and unknown person, to guard Lukou. In this way, Guan Yu did not take the Eastern Wu seriously. Moreover, Lu Xun wrote a letter to Guan Yu as soon as he arrived at Lukou, praising Guan Yu. In his letter, he said, "You observed the enemy's cracks, took the opportunity to send troops, personally led a disciplined team to march and set up formations, and achieved a major victory with a very small force. The battle was a great one. The enemy's defeat has also benefited our allies a lot, so as soon as we heard the news of your great victory, we all celebrated profusely and really wanted to follow you in sweeping away the Cao thieves and **** with you in aiding the Han family. ...... I have long admired the general's style and longed to be taught by you. Cao general Yu Ban was captured by you, near and far the army and people are all happy for it, and think that the general's merit is enough to last forever, even if the former Jin Wen Gong retreat three times, defeated the Chu army of the battle of Cheng Pu, Huaiyin Marquis Han Xin's backwater stand formation, destroy Zhao's ambition, but also compared to the merits of your great victory ah ...... "
Seeing Lu Xun's modesty, Guan Yu took the falsehood for the truth and, no longer afraid of the strength of the Eastern Wu, transferred a large portion of his own defenders to Fancheng to prepare for a duel with Cao Ren. Lu Xun heard all this and reported it to Lu Meng. Lu Meng then attacked Jingzhou at night and won a great victory. In this case, Guan Yu was easily defeated, and he was captured and killed.
The reason why Guan Yu was defeated and left for dead is because of his valor and bravery, which is related to his self-importance and complacency. In fact, it was his complacency that led him to reject the marriage with Wu, thus leading to his demise. Since ancient times, there have been countless lessons of such failures. So we should always remind ourselves not to get carried away by a moment's triumph and forget the dangers behind us.
Bending and stretching degrees, in order to enter and exit freely
Ancient saying goes, "A little impatience is a big mess." Since ancient times, heroes are flexion and extension of the person, do anything can not be smooth sailing, there is into the time, there is also a time to retreat, if you only know into, do not know how to retreat, all the great cause to be halfway. Therefore, since ancient times, there is a "can bend and can stretch for a great man" said.
Li Yuan, the founder of the Tang Dynasty, is a man who can bend and stretch the way. He never acted rashly, but always took stock of the situation and made decisions and actions that were most favorable to him. That's why Li Yuan was able to take advantage of the chaos of the Sui Dynasty's final years, when the world was in turmoil and the world was full of enemies, to go from strength to strength, and ultimately to unify the country.
When Li Yuan was an ambassador to Shanxi and Hedong, he was ordered to arrest thieves. General thieves Li Yuan is naturally hand to hand, no effort, but the northern Turkic tribes he was unable to do, because the Turkic iron horsemen, the people are good at riding and shooting, Li Yuan is repeatedly defeated, which makes him a big headache.
Later, Li Yuan was appointed as the governor of Taiyuan, the Turks even with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses many times impact on the city of Taiyuan, Li Yuan ordered to lead the troops to attack the Turks, but almost all the troops were wiped out. Later on, he used the tactic of doubtful soldiers, and only barely retreated the Turkic soldiers. The Turk also supported and sheltered Guo Zihe, Xueju and others to rise up and cause trouble, making Li Yuan even more defenseless.
Under such a threat, many people thought that Li Yuan would be full of hatred and the Turk to fight to the death. Unexpectedly, Li Yuan even sent a strategist Liu Wenjing as an envoy to the Turkic Qu Jie, and said he was willing to give all the "beautiful women, jade and silk" to the Turkic Khan.
The people saw in the case of such a great humiliation, Li Yuan actually made this kind of yielding concessions, are felt to be a great shame. But Li Yuan is "all drunk I wake up alone", he said to his subordinates, although the yielding concessions degrading dignity, but only to be able to do can become a great man, can achieve a great cause.
According to the world situation at that time, Li Yuan has made up his mind to rise against Sui. However, the only way to achieve a great cause is to go west into Guanzhong, so as to have the possibility of ordering the world.
To get to the center of the world, Li Yuan had to go west to enter the Guanzhong region, and Taiyuan was a base that could not be lost.
How can we enter Guanzhong and keep Taiyuan? At that time, Li Yuan under a **** only 30,000 or 40,000 people, even if all stationed in Taiyuan, it is difficult to cope with the Turk's invasion, not to mention the west into the Guanzhong. The only way is to take the policy of peace, let the Turk take some benefits. Therefore, Li Yuan not hesitate to yield, to the Turkic courtesy, and then agreed with them, after the pacification of the capital, the land to Li Yuan, beautiful women, jade and silk all belong to the Turkic.
The Turks, who are profit-oriented, are willing to mend fences with Li Yuan. Because of Li Yuan's concessions, in the process of attacking Guanzhong, he got a lot of funding from the Turkic. Turkic Khan sent him a lot of horses and soldiers along the way, together with Li Yuan purchased a large number of horses, and soon built up a team of cavalry with strong fighting ability.
Although many people were not happy with Li Yuan's concessionary behavior at that time, Li Yuan's choice could be said to be a wise one under the circumstances. It made the weak "Li family army" both safe and secure Taiyuan, but also smoothly westward to hit Guanzhong, and finally completed the unification of the great cause.
To endure the humiliation of a moment to become the work of the world, without a little bit of magnanimity is very difficult to become a big thing. Since ancient times, heroes have many trials and tribulations, can bend and stretch for a great man. If you can't endure the common people can't endure, bend the common people can't bend, will not become the common people can't become, the work of the common people can't work. Only to put the vision to the farthest, broad-minded encompassing the world, can do flexion and extension degrees, in order to do in the vast world in and out of the freedom of movement, to achieve a great cause.
Knowing others is wise, knowing oneself is clear
The art of war has a saying: "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will not be in danger in a hundred battles." The meaning is to understand the power contrast between the two sides of the battle in order to take the initiative in the war, and finally won the victory. War is so, life is so, do know people, correctly evaluate others, do not hold prejudice is a very difficult thing, so since ancient times, there is a "knower of wisdom" argument; and especially rare is to know yourself, do not exaggerate their own, do not underestimate themselves, and really do face up to their own. So people with this quality are often respected.
Guan Zhong, a politician during the Spring and Autumn Period, and Bao Shuya were good friends. When they were young, Guan Zhong's family was poor and Bao Shuya's family was richer, but they understood and trusted each other. Kuan Zhong and Bao Shu Ya early partnership in business, Kuan Zhong contributed very little capital, but took a lot of money when the dividends. Bao Shuya never cared. He knew that Guan Zhong's family had a big burden, and asked Guan Zhong, "Is this money enough?"
On several occasions, Guan Zhong helped Bao Shuya with ideas to do things, and they all went wrong. Bao Shuya was not angry, and comforted Guan Zhong by saying, "Things can't be done, not because your ideas are bad, but because the timing is bad, don't mind." Guan Zhong had been an official for three times, but he was dismissed every time. Bao Shu Ya told people that it was not because Guan Zhong did not have any talent, but because Guan Zhong had not met anyone who appreciated him. Guan Zhong joined the army to fight, but he ran away from the battlefield. When others laughed at Guan Zhong's fear of death, Bao Shuya did not, he knew that Guan Zhong did so because he was attached to his aged mother at home.
Later, both Guan Zhong and Bao Shu Ya became officials in the state of Qi. At that time, Qi was in turmoil, and princes fled to other enclosures to avoid trouble. Guan Zhong assisted Duke Gao, who was living in Lu, while Bao Shuya served another Qi prince, Xiaobai, in Ju.
Soon there was civil unrest in Qi, and Duke Xiang of Qi was killed, leaving the country without a monarch. Hearing the news, Duke Gao and Xiaobai hurriedly set out to return to Qi to seize the throne. Guan Zhong led his men to intercept Duke Xiaobai, then prepared to kill him with an arrow, but the arrow happened to hit the hook on Xiaobai's belt, and Xiaobai pretended to be dead to fool Guan Zhong and escaped back to Qi.
Because of the inside help, Xiaobai was able to enter the capital of Qi first and became the king of the country, known as Duke Huan of Qi. When Lu attacked Qi, Duke Huan of Qi sent troops to defend against the Lu army, and in the fall of the same year, the Qi army defeated the Lu army. After settling down, Duke Huan of Qi wanted Bao Shuya to be the prime minister of Qi, and wanted to kill Guan Zhong to avenge his death. But Bao Shuya said, "I am honored to follow you, and you have finally become the king of the country, and you are so noble that I can no longer make you more noble.
If you only want to rule Qi, I, Bao Shuya, am now enough; but if you want to achieve the cause of king and hegemony, you have to use Guan Zhong. But if you want to be a king, you must use Guan Zhong. Whichever country Guan Zhong governs, that country will be strong, and such a person is indispensable!" Duke Huan of Qi disagreed, saying, "Guan Zhong nearly killed me when he shot an arrow at me, it's good enough that I didn't kill him, how can I still use him?" Bao Shuya still spared no effort to persuade Duke Huan of Qi.
Duke Huan of Qi was finally persuaded by Bao Shuya, and took Guan Zhong back to Qi. Guan Zhong returned to Qi and became the prime minister, and Bao Shuya was willing to be Guan Zhong's assistant. Under the combined rule of Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya, Qi became the most powerful of the vassal states, and Duke Huan of Qi became the first hegemon of the Spring and Autumn Period.
After Bao Shuya's death, Guan Zhong wept profusely at his tomb, remembering Bao Shuya's understanding and support for him, and lamenting, "When Duke Kui, whom I assisted, failed, and when all the other ministers swore allegiance to their deaths, I was willing to be imprisoned, Bao Shuya didn't laugh at me for my lack of temperament, he knew that I was seeking greatness and didn't care about my momentary fame. It was my parents who gave birth to me, but it was Bao Shuya who truly understood me!"
Everyone wants to be recognized by others, but as the saying goes, "Thousand-mile horses often exist, but Bole does not," and many people are not appreciated. But do people can not know the wisdom of others, but not without self-knowledge, no "self-knowledge" is since ancient times, "people of the problem", do people must overcome this problem. Life is very important point is to be able to according to different periods, different stages, different identity changes, correctly assess their own, accurate positioning, really do "self-knowledge".