One day, Confucius found himself in a besieged city, on the border of the warring kingdoms - Chen and Tsai. For a whole week he had no hot food, and he ate only quinoa broth, not seasoned with rice. During these days he lost a lot of weight, however, he did not even think of despairing: he sat in his room, played the lute and sang songs.
Yan Hui was collecting vegetables in the yard, and Tzu-Lu and Tzu-Gong were talking to each other. Then they turned to Yan Hui:
“The teacher had already been expelled from Lu twice, he had to flee from Wei, a tree was knocked down on him in Song, and in Zhou he completely lost his livelihood. And now he sits here, in this damned fortress, and whoever captures it first is free to kill the teacher or take him prisoner, although he has done nothing wrong. And he sits and plays his lute all day long. How can a sage behave like this?
Yan Hui did not know what to answer, so he decided to tell Confucius about this conversation. The teacher put down his lute and said:
- Tzu-Lu and Tzu-Gong are insignificant people. Bring them, I want to talk to them.
When the students arrived, Tzu-Lu spoke first:
- Teacher, look at you! You're in trouble.
- What does it mean?! - Confucius was indignant. “When a sage follows the Tao, it is a victory for him.” If he does not have such an opportunity, then he is not free, and this is a defeat. I follow the Tao of humanity and duty, and the worries of the world do not concern me. So why do you say I'm in trouble? I thought for a long time, looked into myself and did not find any contradictions with the inner Tao. And even though my path is difficult and thorny, I will not renounce it. Look at the evergreen cypress and pine trees. Is it not in winter that they show us their true nature? The fortress is besieged, but for me this is not a problem, but happiness.
With these words he took up his lute and continued to play and sing. And Tzu-Lu suddenly seemed to come to life and began to dance. And then Tzu-Gong said, amazed by what he heard:
“Before, I did not understand either the divine height of Heaven or the depth of the Earth. The men of antiquity who knew the Tao were happy both in difficult times, when they were in mortal danger, and in times of peace. Happiness has nothing to do with what time you live in. Where there is Tao and Te, there victory and defeat, joy and sorrow are inseparable from the cycle of heat and cold, winds and rains.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru