There is a famous saying in the "Book of Changes" that I believe everyone has heard: "A house that accumulates good deeds will always be blessed, and a house that accumulates bad deeds will have lingering disasters." About doing good deeds
There is also a famous saying in "Tai Shang Inspiration Chapter": "The rewards of good and evil follow each other like a shadow." China is a country of etiquette. We have been taught since childhood to be kind to others and to accumulate virtue and do good deeds.
What Jiangnan Yilin wants to explain is: No matter what the motivation is, doing good is always good, but there are high and low levels of accumulating virtue and doing good, and unintentional good will have the greatest consequences.
When Yi Lin in Jiangnan Middle School was reading Chronicles of the Kingdoms of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, he was deeply impressed by a story. Duke Wen of Jin, Chong'er, went into exile to Chu State, and King Cheng of Chu treated Chong'er kindly. King Chu Cheng asked Chong'er: If you return to the country and take power in the future, how will you repay me? This Chong'er was not a mere mortal. When he was in trouble, he actually said: If I can return to the Jin Kingdom with your blessing, if our two countries meet on the battlefield, our Jin Kingdom will retreat ninety miles as a reward!
Everyone has heard it, right? This is the origin of the idiom "shun". To be honest, King Chu Cheng's style is indeed not very high. If you do a little favor for others, how can you take the initiative to ask for something in return?
After Jiangnan Yi Lin read Jin Yong's novel "Xia Ke Xing" in his early years, he memorized Li Bai's poem "Xia Ke Xing" with passion and read it one by one. With fourteen lines, this may be the longest rhythmic poem I have ever memorized. If you drink some wine, pretend to be a sword with a wooden stick, wave it in the wind a few times, and then recite this poem, the effect will probably be better. Two lines from Li Bai's "Xia Ke Xing" are often quoted: When things are done, just brush off your clothes and leave, hiding your merits and fame.
When the matter is over, you brush off your clothes and hide your merits and fame. These two lines of poetry are typical examples of showing kindness without expecting repayment.
There is a short story in Liaozhai, which is quite legendary, from which we can understand some principles of dealing with others. Liaozhai story "Lei Cao"
The story is called "Lei Cao". What does Lei Cao do? It is the god responsible for making thunder and rain in the sky.
But the actual protagonist of this story is Le Yunhe. Everyone knows by looking at this name that this person cannot be an official. Le Yunhe, Le Xianyun Yehe. He and Xia Pingzi grew up together. They were classmates and were as close as brothers. Xia Pingzi had better literary talent and was praised as a magical power at the age of ten. Le Yunhe humbly learned from Xia Pingzi and made rapid progress. Both of them were regarded as a pair of magical powers.
Unfortunately, Xia Pingzi died of a serious illness soon after being jealous of talents. His family was impoverished, leaving his wife and children living a difficult life. But Le Yunhe was very interesting and divided his little money into two to take care of Xia Pingzi's wife and children. But life was too difficult, so Le Yunhe decisively gave up school and went into business, made some money, and his life became prosperous.
The above story is actually a typical example of entrusting a wife with a son. A lifetime is enough for a person to have a confidant like Le Yunhe.
The story of Le Yunhe and Xia Pingzi ends here, new characters begin to enter, and there will be high energy ahead.
One day, Le Yunhe was resting in a hotel in Jinling on his way to do business. He saw a tall and thin man sitting in the hotel and feeling depressed. Le Yunhe took the initiative to go over and ask him if he was hungry and wanted to eat, but the man didn't say anything. Le Sheng guessed that he might be embarrassed and took the initiative to buy food for him. This man actually ate with his hands, and he finished the meal quickly, but he still looked like he was still unfinished. Le Yunhe asked the store to bring pork knuckles and let the man eat happily.
Take a look, Le Yunhe helped this person with his kind heart. The so-called favor of a meal is not a big deal, but a small one. But he probably didn't think about asking for anything in return.
Le Yunhe asked this man about his origins. He only said that he had been punished by God because of his sins, and he currently had no fixed address and was wandering around.
Le Yunhe then asked this man to follow him, and he was in charge of food and drink. This man was also very strange. He only ate a few meals a year, which was equivalent to taking care of him for dozens of days with one meal. This was a strange.
Le Yunhe took the goods on a boat, but unexpectedly encountered strong winds and waves, and the merchant ship capsized in the middle of the river. Le Yunhe fell into the water together with this weirdo. After a while, after the storm subsided, the weirdo rushed out of the water with Le Yunhe on his back and boarded the merchant ship. He also rode the waves to fish out all the goods that Le Yunhe had washed into the water! This is another strange thing. From then on, Le Yunhe felt that this man was a god.
After the great sadness, Le Yunhe took the god-man back home and treated him like a family member. The god-man had a meal every ten days, and he ate a lot at one time. By chance, Le Yunhe heard the thunder rolling in the sky, and said to himself: I wonder what it looks like inside the clouds? What is thunder? If only I could go to the sky and take a walk.
Who would have thought that the god was really a god, and he actually flew into the sky with Le Yunhe. Le Yunhe stood on the clouds, looking down at the city below, which was as big as a soybean. Looking up and seeing the stars in the sky, he found that the stars were like lotus seeds embedded in the lotus pod. When no one was paying attention, he secretly picked out a star and hid it in his sleeve.
When Le Yunhe was wondering, he saw two dragons driving a float slowly. There was a large vessel on the dragon car, several feet long, and the car was full of things. water. After the car stopped, dozens of people scooped water and sprinkled it into the clouds. This should be a veritable artificial rainfall.
The god-man that Le Yunhe knew was also among the people making rain. The god-man gave Lesheng a water scooping utensil and asked him to help with the rain. Lesheng then poured water in the direction of his hometown.
At this time, the god told his life experience. He said: I am the god of thunder. I was punished to the human world for three years because I brought the wrong rain. Today, the time limit has expired, and we have to say goodbye. .
With no other choice, Le Yunhe had to bear the pain and bid farewell to the God of Thunder. He slowly descended along the ten thousand-foot-long rope and returned to his hometown. He found that the drought in his hometown had long since ended and the ditches were full of water. . After returning home, I found that everything was fine at home. When I touched my pocket, the star I picked was still there!
This star is also magical. It is black and very hard. At night, it shines brightly, just like a pearl in the night. Le Yunhe regards it as a treasure.
One night, Le Yunhe's wife was combing her hair in front of the little star. Suddenly she saw the starlight gradually getting smaller. After a kind of light flew around, the light actually flew into the mouth of Le Yunhe's wife, and she coughed. Unable to cough it up, I swallowed the last bite. That night, Le Yunhe dreamed that Xia Pingzi said in his dream: I am Shaowei Xing. In order to repay your great kindness, I am willing to be reincarnated as your son!
Not long after, Le Yunhe’s wife was indeed pregnant, and the son she gave birth to was nicknamed "Xing'er". He was extremely smart and passed the Jinshi examination at the age of sixteen.
This plot of swallowing a star and giving birth to a genius is so clever that it immediately connects the two story lines of Le Yunhe, Xia Pingzi and Lei Cao. Le Yunhe trusts Xia Pingzi. The great kindness of his wife and son and his unintentional kindness to Lei Cao were all rewarded! Jiangnan Yilin shared
Jiangnan Yilin would like to share a few points:
The first point: Don’t expect to repay kindness when you give one, and don’t forget to repay kindness when you receive kindness.
In fact, the reason is very simple. If you are helping a villain who does not know what is good or grateful, it will be useless even if you ask him to write a letter of commitment or an IOU after you help him. He should As ungrateful as ungrateful. If he is a thoughtful person and you don't tell him, he will thank you in the future.
The most stupid thing is to say something superfluous after you help someone: I helped you, how are you going to repay me in the future? Or from now on, he will always think of himself as a benefactor in front of others and behind others, and be complacent.
If you give a favor and expect nothing in return, you will often be disappointed. If you show kindness without expecting anything in return, or even forget about the favor, you will often get surprises.
The second point: Accumulating virtue and doing good deeds can be done at any time and according to your heart.
Some friends may think that doing good deeds must be something big like saving a life or repairing a bridge or road. Such things are indeed difficult for ordinary people to encounter. But there are many small things in our daily lives that we can do easily and do good everywhere.
For example, Jiangnan Yilin usually walks or rides a mountain bike. When he encounters a large brick or stone on the road, he usually gets off the car and throws it into the trash can or grass. If a person riding a bicycle at night accidentally hits such a stone, it is likely to cause a minor accident.
You can lend a helping hand when you encounter an injured animal or a tricycle dragging a lot of cargo uphill. Meeting a homeless man wandering outside a snack bar and ordering him a takeaway are all acts of kindness. If a friend of yours is in pain, your patient guidance and comfort are also a good deed.
Do good deeds randomly and then forget about them, feeling at ease and calm.
If you want to know what types of kindness there are and how to do good deeds, you can download a copy of "Four Lessons from the World" online and take a closer look.