Mencius draws a parallel: ample wealth safeguards people through famines, while abundant inner virtue shields one from moral confusion amid chaotic, corrupt eras, highlighting spiritual cultivation as humanity’s lasting anchor.
When people grow up in the households of wealthy families, their love of luxury and covetousness are like a raging fire, and their reliance on their power is like a searing flame.
A person who shuns power, wealth and luxury is clean. But a man who comes into contact with power, wealth and luxury and still remains unsullied is even cleaner.
“The Treasury Official” is a concise yet profound short story from Strange Tales from Liaozhai (Liaozhai Zhiyi). Through the mysterious figure of a “Treasury Official of the Netherworld,” it showcases Pu Songling’s philosophical reflections on fate, wealth, and the vicissitudes of life.
In Strange Tales from Liaozhai: The Daoist Priest, a ragged Daoist priest befriends Scholar Han — a nobleman fond of hosting banquets — and his neighbor Xu.
It is said that in the state of Qi, there lived a man named Dongguo Chang, whose greed knew no bounds. He constantly dreamed of amassing a great fortune—ten thousand taels of gold.
Since every immortal in Journey to the West can ride clouds and mists, why does the Heavenly Court bother raising horses?