Sincerity is the beginning and end of things; dishonesty is nothing. Therefore, a gentleman’s sincerity is valuable.
——"The Book of Rites: Doctrine of the Mean"
If you interact with others without true meaning, it will not be touching.
——Zeng Guofan's "The Complete Works of Zeng Wenzhenggong"
In the relationship between people, the most important thing for the happiness of life is truth, sincerity and integrity.
——Beautiful Animal Franklin
We are so used to disguising ourselves to others that we end up disguising ourselves to ourselves.
——France La Rochefoucauld
A Centenary Contract
There was a loving father who worked hard on the land all day long, hoping to give his children They live happily. After hard work, he became a wealthy farmer. The land was fertile and large, with a steep cliff bordering it and a clear river below.
Once, the father took his youngest son with him to inspect the manor. The child was only five years old; everything he saw was novel, so when his father wasn't paying attention, he slipped into the garden and played alone. At noon, the father looked around for his missing son. In the evening, he finally found his son - the poor child had fallen into the cliff and drowned.
He was driven crazy by such misfortune. In order to be able to "see" his son every day, he built a small tomb in the manor. He walked to the tomb every evening and stood in the wind to repent.
The year was 1797 AD. A few years later, his family fell into decline and he had to sell his manor. At that time, he made his only request to the buyer: "Please be sure to write in the contract: my son's tomb must be part of the land and never be destroyed."
The weeds on the cemetery are green and yellow, and the grass is yellow. The years have passed, and the owners of the land have changed one after another. Over the past hundred years, the child's name has been lost, but the child's tomb is protected by a contract and remains intact.
A hundred years later, this geomantic treasure was designated by the government as General Grant’s cemetery. The New York City government abides by the cemetery contract and still retains the child's grave, and General Grant is placed next to him; General Grant is the 18th President of the United States and the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army during the Civil War.
In 1997, the then mayor of New York City, Giuliani, came to the General Grant Cemetery to solemnly commemorate the 100th anniversary of the general's death. At the same time, as the representative of the land owner, Mayor Giulianni personally signed a contract, promising that the tomb of the unknown child would exist forever and the story would be engraved on the tombstone.
It is amazing that an ordinary contract can last for more than two hundred years. The reason is simple, if I promise, I will definitely do it.
Wen Zhengming, a noble character
Wen Zhengming was a great painter, calligrapher and poet in the Ming Dynasty. He was Shen Zhou's disciple.
Wen Zhengming's father, Wen Lin, once served as the prefect of Wenzhou and was an upright official. He taught his son Ge Zhengming to be frugal as well. After Wen Lin's death, Wen Zhengming's life was difficult. His father's staff gathered a large sum of money to support him, but Wen Zhengming refused. These officials praised Wen Zhengming's character very much, so they raised funds to build a "Quejin Pavilion" as a memorial.
Censor Yu Jian loved Wen Zhengming and wanted to help him, so he asked with concern: "How is life in the morning and evening?"
Wen Zhengming said: "There is still porridge to eat in the morning and evening. "
Yu Gong saw that his clothes were in tatters and said, "Your clothes are shabby."
Wen Zhengming said, "It's just because of the rain that the clothes seem to be old!"
Seeing that Wen Zhengming was indifferent and contented, Yu Gong finally refused to accept the alms, so he had to give up.
The Q&A between Wen Zhengming and Yu Gong shows the beauty of rhetorical euphemism.
When Wen Zhengming was fifty-four years old, he joined the Hanlin Academy to await imperial edicts, and was highly appreciated by the emperor. However, he could not stand the corruption in the government and refused to be promoted; he resigned and returned to Suzhou to build a " "Jade-filled Mountain House"; "Yade-filled Mountain House" is as famous as Shen Zhou's "Bamboo House" and Tang Bohu's "Taohuawu", and all three have symbolic meanings. Wen Zhengming used the word "jade" to show his clean and self-sufficient character.
Wen Zhengming had a close friendship with Zhu Zhishan and Tang Bohu. Once, in Zhuzhishan, Tang Bohu asked Wen Zhengming to visit Zhutang Temple with him. Zhu and Tang like to visit prostitutes, but Wen Zhengming is not the same. This time when he visited Zhutang Temple, Zhu. Tang had set a trap and first let a group of prostitutes hide in the temple. When Wen Zhengming entered the temple, the group of brothel girls swarmed up and entangled them, but Wen Zhengming was not fooled and took the opportunity to slip away.
Wen Zhengming was a man of noble virtue and a master of poetry, literature, calligraphy and painting. He died at the age of ninety. This was God's reward for his talents.