I often hear friends around me complain about their children:
I spent so much money to learn piano for him, but he stopped practicing after a month; I said he wanted to learn calligraphy, There were three pages of a copybook, and the rest are still new.
My academic performance is not top-notch, and I don’t insist on practicing my talents. Instead, I read leisurely books, play football, and play games. I am full of energy.
But what are these for? You can't rely on it to make a living. On the other hand, it's still useless.
Incompetent and useless, in this era of pursuing utilitarianism and practicality, everyone is afraid to avoid it.
In fact, more than two thousand years ago, Zhuangzi told us through the story of two big trees:
A tree without material has its own way of becoming a material; There is a use for it.
A tree without material can also become a material
"Zhuangzi·Xiaoyaoyou" records the story of the first big tree.
Once, Huizi said to Zhuangzi: I have a big tree, and people call it acanthus.
Its trunk is lumpy and its branches are crooked and twisted, which does not meet the requirements of straightness.
Although it grows beside the road, the carpenter doesn't even look at it. Although this tree is big, it is useless and people will only despise it.
Zhuangzi smiled slightly and said: Sir, you are really not good at using things!
There was a family in the Song Dynasty who had been rinsing silk wadding for generations, so they were good at preparing medicine that would not burn hands. After a tourist heard about it, he paid a high price of a hundred gold for his prescription.
At that time, Wu and Yue were fighting on the water. After the tourists got the prescription, they presented it to the King of Wu.
Because Wu Jun had the medicine, he was not afraid of dry hands in water battles in winter. As a result, he defeated the Vietnamese army, and the tourists received generous rewards.
With the same prescription, some people can only rely on it to rinse silk wadding in water, while others can use it to get rewards.
Now that my husband has such a big tree, how can he worry that it is useless? Plant it in the wilderness, and the big tree will not be cut down by axes because it is unproductive.
You can also wander leisurely by the tree and lie under the tree leisurely. What else is worth bothering?
The poet Li Bai said: "I am born with talents that will be useful."
When you lament that you are doing nothing, maybe you just haven't found a battlefield that suits you.
The same people, placed in different fields and positions, will naturally exert different values.
Ban Chao, a diplomat and military strategist in the Han Dynasty, was just a clerk in the government who copied documents when he was young.
He lamented that if he spent his whole life copying, he would only be an unknown person.
So he joined the army and first followed Dou Gu to attack the Xiongnu, and then was ordered to go to the Western Regions as an envoy. In thirty-one years, he pacified more than fifty countries in the Western Regions.
Ban Chao is still the same Ban Chao, but after changing his position, he became a hero who will be famous throughout the ages.
There are no born mediocre people in this world, only talents in the wrong position.
If you find the right location, you can make a good use out of wood.
Useless things turn out to be of great use
"Zhuangzi: Human World" records the story of another big tree.
A carpenter saw an oak tree worshiped as a sacred tree in Quyuan, Qi State.
Its canopy is large enough to shelter thousands of cattle, its trunk is ten feet thick, and its treetops reach the top of the mountain, enough to build more than ten large ships.
Many people gathered around to watch, but the carpenter turned a blind eye and walked directly past.
His apprentice has never seen such a magnificent tree, and is curious why the master is not even interested in taking a look?
Master said: This is just a useless tree. Ships made from it will sink, coffins and utensils will rot quickly, wooden doors will be greased and will not fit properly, and beams will be eaten away by insects.
After the carpenter fell asleep that night, he dreamed that the sacred tree said to him: What useful tree are you going to compare with me?
For fruit trees such as pear trees and orange trees, when their fruits mature, they will be knocked to the ground, and they themselves will be devastated. The large branches will be cut off, and the small branches will be broken;
When the trunks of trees such as catalpa trees and cypresses grow to one or two handfuls thick, monkey charmers will chop them down to make stakes;
When their trunks grow to three or four inches thick, rich people will chop them down. Make the beams for building houses;
When they are seven or eight inches thick, the nobles chop them down to make a complete coffin.
Because fruit trees can produce delicious fruits, and cypress trees can be pillars of talent, their lives are often shortened by axes and axes, and they cannot live long.
Because the sacred tree is useless, it is protected from the disasters of swords and axes, prolongs life, is worshiped by people, and eventually becomes of great use.
There are two old sayings in China, "Since ancient times, fate has always been in conflict with each other" and "Mediocre people have great blessings."
It means: Talented people are prone to being too popular and jealous, and eventually bring disaster; people who seem ordinary and useless, because they are indifferent to the world and can persist in completing their own things, actually get success. The greatest blessing.
Before Zhu Maichen, a famous official in the Han Dynasty, became famous, his family was poor. He and his wife lived in a cottage at the foot of Kuaiji Mountain and made a living by collecting firewood.
Zhu Maichen is loyal and honest, and he loves reading. On the way to sell firewood, I did not forget to recite the inscriptions.
Seeing that he was honest and useless, the children in the village dared to laugh at him.
On this day, when his wife saw that Zhu Maichen was being teased again, she said to him: "You are a firewood seller, what's the use of reading those idle books? I have never seen a firewood cutter become a fool." Sir. Now you are bullying even the children. You are really a useless person. Let’s separate.”
After his wife left, she quickly remarried a carpenter who thought she was useful and wealthy.
Seven years later, because of his persistence in studying and his profound knowledge, Zhu Maichen's academic reputation spread far and wide. He was recommended to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and became the prefect of Kuaiji.
When I returned home, I saw that my former wife had been driven out on the street by her husband because of her short-sightedness and utilitarianism.
Zhuangzi said: "Everyone in the world knows the usefulness of useful things, but no one knows the usefulness of useless things."
People who are too eager for quick success and instant benefits will be used by the "useful" throughout their lives. The ax keeps chopping, and eventually the body becomes exhausted and the mind collapses, causing harm to the career and family.
And those who insist on reading useless books, doing useless things, and spending useless time retain an opportunity to surpass themselves outside of the known.
As time goes by, quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes, and one day you will receive an unexpected surprise at the corner of fate.
Writer Zhou Guoping said: "The interesting things in the world, including poetry, wine, philosophy, and love, are often useless. Recite useless poems, get drunk with useless wine, read useless books, and remember useless feelings. In the end, he becomes a useless person, but he lives a meaningful life because of it. ”
Useless people often want less, are content and are always happy; if they persist in useless things for a long time, they will eventually lose their effort. A responsible person.
The use of useless things will eventually become of great use.
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Editor｜Yan Kai
Reviewer｜Jianjun Zhengchao Shuqing
Source｜Daily Zen (ID: yichan360)