Friday, September 08, 2006
Mental Fasting
Good morning,
Motives cloud the path to objectivity !
Because the sovereign of Wei was very wicked, Yan Hui asked Confucius, "Please let me go to transform him !"
But Confucius said, "Of course you can go, but I am afraid that if you go intentionally to transform him, it will be difficult. Go home and fast for a few days, and then we will talk about it."
Yan Hui responded, "I come from a poor family, and it has already been several months since I have had any alcohol or meat.''
Confucius said, "That is the fasting to be done for sacrificial ceremonies, it is not mental fasting."
Yan Hui asked, "What is mental fasting?"
Confucius explained, "First, get rid of all intentional mental activity and make your mind an expanse of emptiness, then you will be able to respond naturally to everything. If you can do this, then others will respond to you."
Confucius added, "Acting intentionally means acting with self in mind, which will cause you to be conscious of gain and loss. We should eliminate the ego and not work for achievement, fame, or the self. If we can do this, then we can transform others."
In the Chinese classic Water Margin story, when ChaoKai was planning to rob the Birthday Presents of Grand Secretary Liang, meant for his father-in-law, they needed the participation of the three Yuan brothers. ChaoKai, the leader, wanted to send for them, but WuYung, the mastermind, decided to go personally instead. He knew that it would be a difficult task, and he went with the pretext of buying some big carps. He stayed with them, eating and drinking and never talked about the plot. Later, when the subject of the carps led to the bold bandits at Mount Liangshan and the cowardly officials who were scared of them, and the prevailing injustice, WuYung let the cat out of the bag; he told them about the robbery. The Yuan brothers were too delighted with the opportunity to get their hands on the gifts which were extorted from the poor people, and they volunteered to join the robbery, without WuYung having to ask them to.
Let people see the situation without prejudice and they will respond appropriately.
Have a nice day
Ronald
Motives cloud the path to objectivity !
Because the sovereign of Wei was very wicked, Yan Hui asked Confucius, "Please let me go to transform him !"
But Confucius said, "Of course you can go, but I am afraid that if you go intentionally to transform him, it will be difficult. Go home and fast for a few days, and then we will talk about it."
Yan Hui responded, "I come from a poor family, and it has already been several months since I have had any alcohol or meat.''
Confucius said, "That is the fasting to be done for sacrificial ceremonies, it is not mental fasting."
Yan Hui asked, "What is mental fasting?"
Confucius explained, "First, get rid of all intentional mental activity and make your mind an expanse of emptiness, then you will be able to respond naturally to everything. If you can do this, then others will respond to you."
Confucius added, "Acting intentionally means acting with self in mind, which will cause you to be conscious of gain and loss. We should eliminate the ego and not work for achievement, fame, or the self. If we can do this, then we can transform others."
In the Chinese classic Water Margin story, when ChaoKai was planning to rob the Birthday Presents of Grand Secretary Liang, meant for his father-in-law, they needed the participation of the three Yuan brothers. ChaoKai, the leader, wanted to send for them, but WuYung, the mastermind, decided to go personally instead. He knew that it would be a difficult task, and he went with the pretext of buying some big carps. He stayed with them, eating and drinking and never talked about the plot. Later, when the subject of the carps led to the bold bandits at Mount Liangshan and the cowardly officials who were scared of them, and the prevailing injustice, WuYung let the cat out of the bag; he told them about the robbery. The Yuan brothers were too delighted with the opportunity to get their hands on the gifts which were extorted from the poor people, and they volunteered to join the robbery, without WuYung having to ask them to.
Let people see the situation without prejudice and they will respond appropriately.
Have a nice day
Ronald
# posted by chunmu @ 7:21 PM 
