It's from Caigen Tan compiled by Taoist Hong Yingming in the early Ming Dynasty.
Excerpt from the original text: Don't use happiness to make promises lightly, don't get drunk, don't use fast things, and don't end up fresh because of fatigue. Fishing for water is an anecdote, and it also holds the handle of life and death; Play chess, clear the play, and be active. It can be seen that happy events are not as convenient as convenience, and many abilities are not as incompetent.
The interpretation is: don't promise people without thinking when you are happy; Don't lose your temper when you are drunk; Don't make trouble without restraint when you are proud; Don't be lazy when you are tired. Fishing is an elegant activity, but it has the power to kill fish; Playing chess is a legitimate and elegant entertainment, but there is a war mentality in it. It can be seen that it is better to be idle than to be idle, and more talents are better than lack of talents to preserve the pure nature.
Extended data
Creative background: Hong Yingming's life story is unknown. It is speculated that he is probably a native of Jintan County and a hermit who has lived in the mountains for a long time. The book may be published in the middle and late Wanli period. At this time, Zongshen could not govern the country, the eunuch was authoritarian, the government was lax, and the party was in trouble. The domestic and foreign troubles that began to appear in Jiajing dynasty became more and more serious. People of insight were extremely dull and could not be freed from the fierce social contradictions at that time, so some people would express the voice of the times in various forms.
Caigen Tan is a collection of aphorisms and essays focusing on the thought of life. It adopts a citation system and combines the Confucian doctrine of the mean, Taoist inaction and Buddhist philosophy of life. From the structural point of view, "Caigen Tan" has beautiful words, neat antithesis, far-reaching implications and food for thought. It is a popular reading that is beneficial for people to cultivate their sentiments, temper their will and strive for progress.
There are roughly two versions of Caigen Tan-Qing edition and Ming edition. The Ming edition comes from the inscription of Yu, the owner of Sanfeng, and it is said that it was first published in Eight Records of Respecting Saints in Yashangzhai edited by Ming Dynasty. The book is divided into two parts, the first part is 225 articles, the second part is 135 articles, and the third part is * * 360 articles (there are 362 articles in the collection of Shanghai Library, and several articles were merged in the middle and finally added). The photo of this entry is a clear edition, mainly based on the woodcut edition of Yangzhou Tibetan Classics Institute during the reign of Emperor Guangxu Dinghai and the typesetting of Buddhist Bookstore in the twenty-third year.
References:
Baidu encyclopedia-caigentan