My heart has a master | General Secretary's allusive wisdom ②, although pears have no master pear trees | Xu Heng | wisdom

The "History of the Yuan Dynasty" records a story of the Neo Confucian scholar Xu Heng: on a scorching summer day, Xu Heng went out and saw pedestrians rushing to a pear tree by the roadside to pick pears to quench his thirst, but he did not go to pick them. Someone asked him, now that the war is chaotic, this pear tree no longer has its owner. Why don't you go pick pears and eat them? Xu Heng replied, "Although pears have no owner, my heart has a owner."

-- Xi Jinping's speech at the opening ceremony of the training course for young and middle-aged cadres of the Central Party School in the spring semester of 2022

During the scorching heat, with dry mouth and tongue, who knows that pears are sweet and delicious? Why not pick a pear tree without its owner?

Xu Heng is not unaware of this, but he understands that even though these pears are delicious, they cannot be eaten because they are not his own. The pear tree may seem to have no owner, but it still has a owner in its own heart. Because of the owner, its heart is upright, and it knows that a gentleman does something and doesn't.

The "master" here can be extended to ethics, cultivation, and determination, which are the principles of being a person. The Great Learning once said, "Sincerity lies in the middle, and form lies in the outside. Therefore, a gentleman must be cautious of his independence." The Doctrine of the Mean also has the saying, "Do not hide it, do not reveal it in the slightest.". These sayings illustrate a similar principle: the more unsupervised and alone one is, the more strict one must be in self-discipline and remain true to oneself.

Yang Zhen, a famous official of the Eastern Han Dynasty, was once appointed as the governor of Donglai. On his way to office, he passed by Changyi and was recommended by the local county magistrate Wang Mi. To express gratitude for his kindness, Wang Mi went to see Yang Zhen empty handed during the day, but prepared ten pounds of gold to give him at night. Wang Mi said, "There is no one who knows at night." Yang Zhen sternly rebuked, "Heaven knows, earth knows, I know, and I know. What is ignorance?" After hearing this, Wang Mi "felt ashamed and came out.".

Without the constraints of others and external pressure, moral cultivation can be said to be "one hearted". At this time, moral cultivation is most evident. It is precisely because of the noble sentiment demonstrated by the "Four Intellectuals Refusing Gold" that later generations respectfully referred to Yang Zhen as the "Four Intellectuals Governor" and "Four Intellectuals Mr.". Until the Ming Dynasty, there were still Yang Gong Ci and Si Zhi Tang inside the gate of Laizhou Prefecture.

In the Qing Dynasty, there was an official named Ye Cunren who had been in politics for more than 30 years and was willing to remain indifferent and never compromise. When he left office, his subordinates sent many gifts at night. Upon seeing the situation, Ye Cunren returned it unopened and wrote a poem as a gift: "At midnight, the moon and white wind are clear, and the boat is sent away, so it is delayed. I feel grateful for your kindness and return the gift to you, fearless of others and myself." Isn't the phrase "fearing oneself and knowing" here a vivid portrayal of always being cautious and cautious?

Ultimately, a person's biggest enemy is often not others, but oneself. Holding onto one's inner self and integrating knowledge and action, in the face of many temptations in the external world, can one avoid being enslaved by material possessions and the mind from being obsessed with gold. However, there are also some people who have lost their way in the self deception of "the moon is dark, the wind is high, and no one can see", lost in the sweet words of "the ignorant at night", and unable to overcome their own "demons".

There is a character named Xue Lushi in "Awakening to the World". Once he had a high fever and fell ill on the seventh day. In his slumber, he transformed into a golden carp and jumped into the lake. Coincidentally encountering a fisherman fishing, Xue Lushi knew the bait was on the hook, but couldn't resist the tempting scent of the bait. He opened his mouth to bite the bait and was eventually caught. Feng Menglong's comment hit the nail on the head: "You can see through your eyes, but you can't bear it in your stomach." In Xu Heng's words, this is "having no master in your heart.".

The path of self-cultivation is not difficult to cultivate the heart; the difficulty of cultivating the heart lies in being cautious and independent. Because of its difficulty, one must put in a lot of hard work. For today's party members and cadres, it is necessary to cultivate the "mind learning" of Communist Party members, diligently brush off the "ideological dust", think more about "greed and harm", and constantly break through the "thieves in the heart". Only with a clear conscience and self-respect, can one never indulge, deviate, or exceed the norm at any time and under any circumstances.

Liu Shaoqi once mentioned in "On the Cultivation of Communist Party Members" that true Communist Party members "are able to 'be cautious' and not do any bad things even when they work independently, have no supervision, and have the possibility of doing various bad things.". Not leaking in small areas and not deceiving in the dark are not only the pursuit of self-discipline and self-cultivation, but also the consciousness that party members and cadres should have in politics.

Wen/Yahui

Editor/Zhong Qi

Dubbing/Jingxuan

Poster Design/Ziqi

Source/People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, Xi Jinping Storytelling, etc.

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