Learn from history, abstain from extravagance and respect frugality

learn from history, abstain from extravagance and respect frugality
Source: Learning Times

Author: Liu Yuli

The Book of changes says: "A gentleman knows more about the foreword and goes along, and he is virtuous by his livestock." Taking history as a mirror to improve one's moral knowledge is the common law of all those who have achieved success in the past dynasties. Looking back at history, the Chinese nation has had the virtue of advocating thrift and abstaining from extravagance since ancient times. Chinese people have a deep understanding of the harm of extravagance in the long history of development. For individuals, luxury leads to the loss of morality; for families, luxury leads to "less than three generations of wealth"; for countries, luxury leads to insufficient food and lack of materials. Quitting extravagance and advocating frugality requires upward and downward action, starting with the leader's example.

More extravagance, more desire to lose virtue.

Sima Guang, a famous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote in his family book "Training Frugality and Showing Health": "Those who speak of virtue are all from thrift. A man of frugality is a man of few desires, while a gentleman of few desires is a man who is not subject to things and can go straight; a villain of few desires is a man who is able to save himself and live a life away from sin." On the contrary, "extravagance means more desire, while a gentleman desires more greed for riches and honor, which leads to misfortune. If a villain desires more, he will seek more vain use and lose his family." Under the education of his father, Sima Kang understood the importance of frugality from an early age. He used his family motto as a mirror to constantly spur himself. Later, he served as a school shulang and a writer, and became famous for his frugality and integrity.

The ancients cloud: desire is the abyss. The prevalence of extravagance makes people indulge in pleasure and luxury and cannot extricate themselves. They lose their integrity of mind. As a result, they are unable to fill their desires. Over time, they will embark on the road of losing their will to play with things, and even destroy their goodness in order to satisfy their growing desires.

When Cai Jing was in charge of the national government, his diet was very extravagant. Every time he entertained a guest, a dish was worth the product of a middle-class family! However, Cai Jing was still not delicious enough and felt that there was nothing delicious. Up and down. Cai Jing's housekeeper, Zhai Qian, is also wasteful. On one occasion, Zhai Qian hosted a banquet for courtiers with more than 500 guests. When the cook served the soup, one of the guests casually said, "Duck tongue is delicious and nourishing in soup." Zhai Qian motioned slightly about it. His servants immediately got the message and soon served each person a bowl of duck tongue soup, each with three duck tongues in it. The guests were amazed after watching. A guest joked: "This is not enough, can you add some more?" Zhai Qian said: "Since you are willing to treat, are you still afraid of a big belly?" So he added a bowl of duck tongue soup to each person. At this time, some kind-hearted guests do not have the heart to eat, put down the chopsticks. Zhai Qian killed more than 3000 creatures this time. Later, Cai Jing was denounced and exiled, and Zhai Qian's property was confiscated. After the Jin people harassed Bianjing, Zhai Qian fell to the point of poverty and finally begged along the streets and starved to death in the streets.

Out of the "rich but three generations" strange circle

"Group of books to rule-Wen Zi" said: "those who are born and noble are arrogant, those who are born and rich are extravagant. Therefore, wealth and honor do not learn from themselves by understanding, but those who can do nothing but have few." Therefore, since ancient times, China has been "rich but three generations. This rule is equally applicable to a family, a country, a political party and even an enterprise. This is because the first generation of entrepreneurs often start from scratch, work hard, and work hard, and create a career with their own hands; although the second generation has good conditions, they can still hear and witness the difficulties of their parents in starting a business, and know that they are diligent and thrifty., To make the career develop and grow; but in the third generation, as soon as they are born, they live a life of clothing and food, he also lived a life of extravagance, extravagance and waste. Over time, he lost the foundation that his grandparents had worked hard to create.

According to statistics, only 30% of family businesses in the United States can continue in the second generation, and only 12% in the third generation. If they continue to develop, only 3% of family businesses can still exist after the fourth generation. "Hotel owner, son rich man, grandson begging for food", this is the Spanish saying, "rich farmer, noble son, poor grandson" comes from Portugal, while the German uses "create, inherit and destroy" to describe the development of family business in three generations.

In history, all families whose wealth can be passed on for more than three generations have paid special attention to family education, especially the cultivation of the virtue of frugality, so that "a gentleman can create difficulties with frugality, and cannot be honored with fortune". Dangerous; the system is cautious, full but not overflowing. High but not dangerous, so long keep expensive also; Full but not overflow, so long keep rich also "and other ideas deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Only in this way can we save everything without extravagance and waste, and can control our own desires, and use position and power as tools to establish benevolence and morality, rather than extravagant and lewd capital, so as to avoid the tragedy of "being rich (expensive) but three generations.

Still frugal to cherish money

The Book of Han said: "The ancient people said: 'A man does not plow, or suffer from hunger; a woman does not weave, or suffer from cold. 'Sometimes life is born, and the use of excessive, the material resources will be subdued. The ancient rule of the world, to the fiber to know also, so its livestock accumulate enough to rely on." A farmer does not cultivate, some people will starve; a woman does not weave, some people will be cold. The growth of all things is seasonal, but the use is not controlled, so that the property will be exhausted. In ancient times, the governance of the world reached a very detailed level, so the country had enough savings to rely on.

The extravagant wind will lead to the lack of food and other materials in the world, and even lead to a global resource crisis. In "University", it is said: "There is a road to make money, the people who live are numerous, the people who eat are few, the people who are sick for them, and the people who use them are comfortable, then the wealth is constant." On the contrary, as the "Han Shu" said, "There are very few people who are born, and there are many people who are consumed. The world's property, why not get it". There are fewer and fewer producers, especially food producers, and there are more and more wasters and eaters without labor. The trend of extravagance and waste is becoming more and more serious. How can the world's property not be exhausted!

During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, he promulgated the "Sixteen Articles of the Holy Edict" to teach the people. Among them, there is "still thrift to cherish wealth", emphasizing that it is necessary to know not only how to produce and gather wealth, but also to know how to save and save wealth. Only in this way can material and wealth, including food, be "unwinnable".

In the face of food shortages, material shortages, resource depletion and ecological crises caused by the endless greed of mankind, the foresight of the ancients cannot but attract the attention of today's people. Fundamentally speaking, the global resource crisis is caused by the contradiction between people's expanding desire and the limited resources of the earth. Therefore, abstaining from extravagance and thrift is also a way out to solve environmental problems and resource depletion.

The country's extravagance is shown by thrift.

The Book of Rites says, "The extravagance of the country is shown by thrift." If extravagance prevails in a country, it is necessary to teach people to advocate thrift. "The Analects" also said: "Etiquette, rather than extravagance, would rather be thrifty", emphasizing that thrift is more in line with the requirements of etiquette.

In response to the prevalence of extravagance in my country for a period of time, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The essence of extravagance is a reflection of the ideology and decadent lifestyles of the exploiting class." Under such circumstances, after the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee put forward eight regulations. Recently, general secretary Xi Jinping made important instructions to stop food waste. For the phenomenon of food waste, he used 8 words to evaluate: "shocking, distressing!" This is "the extravagance of the country shows frugality". And if the leaders in office can take the lead in frugality, they will have an up-and-down effect and immediate educational effect.

In the Tang Dynasty, Yang Wan became the assistant minister of Zhongshu Tong Ping Zhang. He was an honest and honest official and advocated frugality. On the day when his order was sealed, Guo Ziyi was about to have a banquet. Hearing the news, he immediately reduced the vocal music in his sitting 4/5. The number of Beijing Zhao Yin Li Gan's entourage was originally large, but it also decreased on the same day. It can be seen that the upward and downward effect of the induction effect is as fast as "the shadow accompanies and responds to the sound.

In short, taking history as a mirror can make people deeply understand the seriousness of the harm of extravagance, so as to actively and voluntarily practice economy, oppose waste, and make frugality and abstinence from extravagance a social fashion.