Centenarian Daoist Lin Lei sings while gleaning leftover grain. When Zigong questions his joyless life, he claims worldly detachment brings longevity and peace. He views life and death as natural cycles, a wisdom Confucius greatly admires.
Mencius rejects blind fatalism. All events belong to destiny, yet gentlemen only accept righteous fate. Wise people evade unnecessary risks; dying for the Way is proper fate, while death from crime is not.
Citing six heroes elevated from hardship, Mencius states adversity tempers character and builds capability. People grow through mistakes and struggles; states without critics or external threats collapse. Thus hardship sustains life, ease brings ruin.
A man confuses Wuluzi by pitting survival needs against minor rituals. Mencius rejects this unequal comparison, using gold and wood analogies, and counters with immoral extreme acts to prove ritual morality must never be discarded for self-interest.
Zizhang lays four core standards for a true scholar: sacrifice life amid danger, weigh gains against righteousness, hold reverence in sacrifices, and feel sincere grief at funerals. These form the minimal moral baseline for Confucian intellectuals.
This excerpt from The Art of War features Sun Tzu’s core viewpoint. He stresses war is crucial to a state, concerning people’s lives and national survival. Thus, leaders must deliberate thoroughly before waging any war.
Wang Ni was a worthy man from the time of Emperor Yao, and he was the disciple of Bei Yi. Nie Que studied under Wang Ni and asked him about the Dao.
Yang Yuwei had moved to a house by the bank of the Sishui River. His study faced an open wilderness. Outside the wall were many ancient tombs. At night, winds blew through white poplar trees, setting them to roaring like sea waves.