This couplet is from Mencius' Heart and Soul: "I am worthy of heaven, but I don't care about others." It means to be upright and open-minded, hold your head high and be worthy of the sky, bow your head and be worthy of others, and never do anything wrong to others. The second couplet comes from the preface of Fan Ning's biography of Spring and Autumn Valley Liang, a Confucian scholar in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and praises Spring and Autumn: "A word of praise is better than a national gift; The slanderous words of the film have insulted the market. " It means that a compliment is better than a dress given by the king; A few words of debasement and criticism are even more humiliating than public flogging. This is the spring and autumn brushwork, and it is important to say something.
This pair of couplets tells this truth. You should be honest and open-minded and live up to your heart. After all, the praise and criticism of the world are all temporary things, and the crimes of future generations have their own comments. When I think of Yongzheng's mood of writing this couplet, I must be ambitious, determined and planned, forgetting all the insults, knowing in my mind that I must go down in history and be afraid of being accused behind my back. That's what happened. He works hard, eats snacks and works hard. In thirteen years, he did what a generation of emperors could not do for decades, but he was constantly criticized and praised. Nearly 300 years have passed. Today, people's evaluation of him is more about praising him for his determination to innovate, diligence and prudence, punishing greed and establishing a system, and he is worthy of being a generation of British masters. It should be said that history gave him a correct evaluation. And those treacherous villains who maliciously slander and slander have long been buried in the middle of the grave.
Reflect on yourself. When I was young, I was ignorant and fearless. I dare to say and do it. Occasionally, I will make some surprising remarks. Now I am more and more mature, but I am more and more careful in speaking and writing. I don't want success, but I want nothing. I tend to be smooth and sophisticated, and think that being rational is the foundation of my life.
Now I understand that in ancient times, it was difficult for a person to overcome the world, and a person's strength was extremely small. Yongzheng can go straight through the three levels and feel at ease. Why can't we realize that "monarch, emperor, immortal and Buddha all come from the heart"? What is lacking is this spirit of having a clear conscience and bearing the burden of humiliation.
I like February River's description of Huang Hongfa's sentence, "Heaven cannot be made, and earth cannot be made. Where the heart goes, the body follows, and the action is carried out. This is the wind of this country. " Although Huang Hongfa is not the kind of "chivalrous king" who is long in military affairs described by February River, he is indeed a well-deserved unparalleled national. Now being a man can be as diligent and introspective as Huang Hongfa, and the country is very satisfied with being a man.
PS: Due to the prejudice of historians against Yin Zhen, most historical materials handed down in Qing Dynasty left people with the impression that Daxing Wenzi Prison was a tyrant. People have heard of the unjust case of "Wei Min stopped and Yongzheng had no head", but seldom praised his great achievements in carrying out the New Deal to rectify the bureaucracy.
Yin Zhen is the fourth son of Emperor Kangxi. Kangxi was named Baylor in thirty-seven years, Prince Yong in forty-eight years and succeeded to the throne in sixty-one. In the second year, 1723, it was renamed Yongzheng and reigned for thirteen years. Yin Zhen is actually a leader who is determined to reform. He succeeded Kangxi, and the treasury was empty and the people were poor. He was forced to say "the prosperous time of Kangxi" and had to knock out his teeth and swallow it in his stomach to clean up the mess of "treasures are outside, bumps are inside". He tried hard to carry out the New Deal, and all he did was rob the rich and help the poor, which harmed the interests of class groups. Usually, in our imagination, Tiandi has the wealth of the whole world, while Yin Zhen has only one word, and that is "bitterness". The tax reform he carried out aroused strong dissatisfaction from his royal brothers and even Manchu and Han officials, and they left Germany on the verge of extinction. But I still go forward without hesitation. Yin Zhen is a wise king, with strict official management and clear rewards and punishments.