The ruler of She Gong Zigao, preparing to go to the kingdom of Qi, asked Confucius:
“The assignment that my master gave me is extremely responsible; in the kingdom of Qi, ambassadors are received with honor, but they are very slow in answering.” Hurrying even a commoner is a thankless task, but what can we say about the ruler of the kingdom? I'm very concerned about this. You once told me: “There are few things in this life, big or small, that do not motivate us to achieve success. If we do not succeed, people will punish us, and if we succeed, the elements will punish us. Only a person full of chastity is able to avoid unfavorable consequences both when he succeeds and when he does not.” As for me, I eat simple food, and there are no dissatisfied people in the kitchen of my house. But now, having received orders in the morning, I drink ice water in the evening, and now I have a fever. Before I even start business, I am already suffering from the “punishment of the forces of Yin and Yang,” and if my enterprise ends in failure, I cannot avoid the “punishment of people,” and it is even worse. I am apparently unable to fulfill my duties as a subject, I beg you to give me advice.
Confucius replied:
“There are two great rules in the world for each of us: one of them is fate, the other is duty.” The love of children for their parents is destiny; it cannot be torn out of the heart. The service of a subject to the ruler is a duty, and no matter what happens to the subject, he cannot live without the sovereign. I call rules that cannot be circumvented in this world great. That is why, in serving parents, the eternal pinnacle of filial love is to live peacefully with the father and mother. In serving the sovereign, the pinnacle of devotion is to carry out assignments in cold blood. And in serving one’s own heart, the highest merit is to calmly accept one’s fate, not giving free rein to sorrows and joys and knowing that there is no other way. There is something in the service of a son or subject that cannot be avoided. If you do only what circumstances require, forgetting about yourself, will you really need to convince yourself that it is better to save your life than to die? This is how you should do it.
Let me remind you of something I have learned in this life. In communicating with our neighbors, we must trust them and inspire trust ourselves. In communicating with strangers, we must convince of our devotion with the help of words, and someone must convey these words. And there is nothing more difficult in the world than to convey the speeches of parties who are satisfied with each other or, conversely, dissatisfied. In the first case there will certainly be too much enthusiasm, and in the second - too many reproaches. But any exaggeration is idle talk, and idle talk will not generate trust. If there is no trust, then the person delivering these speeches to the sovereign will never achieve success. Therefore, there is a rule that says: “If you report only what really is, and do not say anything unnecessary, you are unlikely to expose yourself to danger.”
And note also: those who compete in any art first try to show themselves as best as possible, then they become secretive, and in the midst of the competition they resort to various tricks. The participants in the solemn feast at first behave ceremoniously, then they cease to observe decency, and at the height of the feast they have fun to the point of obscenity. The same thing happens in all matters: they start with restraint and end with cheekiness. And what at first seems simple to us is, in the end, beyond our control.
Our speeches are like the wind and waves. Our deeds confirm or refute them. It is easy for wind and waves to move. And just as easily, our actions can bring us disaster. Consequently, the anger that threatens us is generated only by crafty speech and biased judgments.
When an animal senses its death, it screams frantically, gathering all its strength together, so that its cry penetrates straight into the hunter’s heart and awakens in him the same furious response. If you insist too much that you are right, your interlocutor will definitely argue with you, without even knowing why. If he doesn't even understand what prompted him to do what he did, how can he know how the conversation will end? That is why there is a rule that says: “Do not neglect instructions, do not strive for success, observe moderation in everything.”
To ignore instructions and try to succeed is to expose yourself to danger. Brilliant success takes time, and a business that ends in failure cannot be corrected. So can you afford to be careless?
And the last thing: to wander freely with your heart, using things as a chariot, and cultivating the Middle within yourself, trusting in the inevitable - this is the limit of our perfection. How can we expect to be rewarded for what we have done? There is nothing more important in life than fulfilling your destiny. And nothing more difficult.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru