1, Dai Jinsheng and the King of Wei on Freedom
Dai Jinsheng is a very talented person. On weekdays, he writes poems or comments on state affairs with his friends, and always shows extraordinary thoughts and opinions, which are deeply respected by his friends.
Wang Wei heard about Dai Jinsheng's extraordinary talent and was eager to meet him, so he ordered his subordinates to invite him. Dai Jinsheng came to the palace of Wei. When Wang Wei saw it, he looked extraordinary in his shabby clothes. He stood before Wang Wei, poised and unassuming. Wang Wei smiled and asked Dai Jinsheng to sit down and have a cordial conversation with him.
During the conversation, Wang Wei felt that Dai Jinsheng really knew everything and was a talented person who helped the world, so he had the idea of letting Dai Jinsheng continue to be an official in the palace.
Wang Wei said, "Please stay in the palace and I will be a doctor for you. How about it? "
Dai Jinsheng smiled and said, "I'm sorry, I'm not interested in being an official."
Wang Wei said: "You came out as an official and a doctor, and your family lived well. Isn't it much better than your present situation? "
Dai Jinsheng still smiled, waved his hand and got up and left Wang Wei.
When I got home, my friends all knew about it. They didn't understand: Why did Dai Jinsheng let this good thing go? His wife also complained that he should not refuse Wang Wei. In the face of persuasion from relatives and friends, Dai Jinsheng laughed it off.
A few days later, Dai Jinsheng went to see Wang Wei, still wearing his shabby clothes.
Seeing his appearance, Wang Wei said to him, "I sincerely asked you to stay a few days ago, but you refused to stay and gave you the privilege and salary of being a doctor." Why did you come to see me again today? "
Dai Jinsheng smiled and said regretfully, "It seems that it is really not worthwhile to associate with you. I was going to associate you as a friend, but you don't know me very well. Have you seen the pheasant in that swamp wasteland? No one feeds it with ready-made food, and it has to find food by itself. It always takes several steps to take a bite of food, and it often takes a whole day's labor to get full.
But its feathers are very plump and shiny, reflecting the sun and the moon in the sky; It flapped its wings and made a long sound, which filled the whole wilderness and mountains. You say, why is this? Because the pheasant can live freely according to its own will, it keeps moving and moves freely in the vast world.
Now, if we take it home and feed it in the granary, it will eat easily. It will inevitably lose its original vitality and vigor, feathers will lose their original luster, spirit will decline, voice will be depressed, and voice will not be magnificent.
Do you know the reason? Isn't the food feeding it delicious? Of course not. Just because it lost its freedom and imprisoned its interests in the past, how can it live! "
Wang Wei listened and looked at Dai Jinsheng thoughtfully.
In fact, freedom is much more precious than any material enjoyment. Pheasants are still like this, let alone people.
2. Turtle of Freedom
Zhuangzi was fishing in the whirlpool, and the king of Chu sent two doctors to ask him to be an official. Zhuangzi said indifferently, "There is a turtle in Chu State that has been killed for 3,000 years. The king of Chu cherished it very much. Excuse me, gentlemen, would this turtle rather leave a bone after death, or would he rather slip into the mud and drag his tail when he is alive? "
The two doctors said, "Of course, I'd like to live wagging my tail in the mud." Zhuangzi said, "Two doctors, please come back! I am also willing to drag my tail in the mud. "
Zhuangzi's pursuit of freedom is manifested in his happy journey, which is an infinite and transcendent spiritual journey. Zhuangzi imagined that Kun would fly high and soar freely in the sky.
He doesn't want to be a high official, but he wants to be a free turtle. He wants to put the towering trees in a "place with nothing" and sleep under them. His carefree travel is a state of absolute freedom in which the spirit is completely free from dependence and bondage, and a state in which people have no self, gods are useless and saints are nameless.