Lu Aigong asked Confucius: "There is a very ugly man in the country, and his name is Ai Xiao it. Men get along with each other, and they are reluctant to leave after a long time. When a woman sees him as a person, she asks her parents to say, 'It is better to be a concubine than a wife to someone else.' There have been more than a dozen such cases, and the number is still increasing.

What's going on? I have never heard of Wai Xiao having any ideas or opinions, but I have only seen that he often echoes others. He has no kingship, no power, and no way to save others from the brink of Jedi. Nor did he gather a large amount of money to give relief to others and keep people fed. And! His ugly appearance surprised the world, and he always echoed others and did not have his own opinions. His intellect is very limited, and his circle of life is there, and it is only to associate with the men and women with whom he has contact, what can he see?

Oddly enough! The men and women who came into contact with him were willing to get close to him. There must be something unusual about such a person, otherwise how could this be?

I summoned him to see him, and sure enough, he was ugly. It's ugly enough to frighten the world. Within a month of spending time with me, I had learned a little bit about him as a person. Within a year, I trusted him immensely.

There is no official in charge of government affairs in the state, so I entrusted this position to him. He responded to me with an indifferent expression, absent-mindedly, but did not refuse. I was deeply ashamed and finally entrusted the post to him. It didn't take long for him to leave me. I was worried, as if I had lost something, as if there was no one in the whole country who could rejoice with me anymore. Who is he? ”

Confucius said, "I once sent an envoy to the state of Chu, and I happened to see a group of piglets sucking the *** of the sow that had just died, and after a while, the little piglets abandoned the sows in panic and ran away." Because I didn't know that the sow was dead, I went to suck its milk. Right now! The sows could no longer nurse them as they did when they were alive, and they were naturally leaving. Through this incident, we are told: piglets love their mother, not their body, nor their ***! The sows give them love, maternal love.

For those who died on the battlefield, there is no need to care whether there are decorations on the coffin when burying them. The person who has cut off his foot no longer cherishes the shoes he wore and does not even want to see them. What is the reason for this? This is because we have lost our roots and lost contact with these things. There is no longer a relationship between the two, there is no intersection.

To be the maid of the Son of Heaven, do not cut nails or pierce ears. Married people can only do things outside the palace, and they cannot serve in the palace anymore.

It can be seen from this that it is difficult to do both in order to preserve one's body or to achieve one's own virtues. How much more the man who is perfect and noble?

He can win the trust of people without speaking, and he can win closeness without merit, and people are willing to give him state affairs, but lest he will not accept it, he must be a man of complete intelligence and virtue not exposed. ”

Lu Aigong asked: "What does it mean to have a complete intellect?" ”

Confucius said: "Death and life, survival, poverty, wealth and poverty, virtuous and unscrupulous, slander and praise, hunger and thirst, cold and heat, these are all the results of the changes of things and the laws of nature." Thereinto! Including fate, different people will have different results;

Day and night change before us, and few of the world's wisdom can glimpse the mystery of it. None of this is enough to disturb the nature, nor is it enough to disturb the hearts of the world. But! If you want to be at peace and well-being, smooth and happy, you must understand the mystery. Let the mood merge with all things and maintain the vitality of spring. Such! When you are exposed to new things, you feel the beginning of a new life in your heart. This is called 'intellectual perfection'. Correctly understanding the Tao and understanding life, this is called 'talent and perfection'. ”

Lu Aigong asked again: "What does it mean that virtue is not formed?" ”

Confucius said, "Ping! Under what circumstances is the flattest? The state of water when it is still is the flattest. We can imitate the calmness of water, filled inwardly and unmoved outwardly. De, what is De? It is the state of accomplishing things without taking credit, and others will not feel your existence. Virtue is not exposed, and great virtue is invisible. But! No foreign object can leave it. ”

Someday! Lu Aigong told Min Zi about Confucius's words, saying: "At first, I thought that the king was the most knowledgeable when he ruled the world, and his first task was to control the rules of the country and worry about the life and death of the people. Now I have heard the words of the greatest, and I am really worried that the country will perish without real achievements, and if I have not fulfilled the duties of a king. Confucius and I did not have a relationship of monarchy and minister, but a relationship of friendship with virtue. ”