confucius archery

Confucius Analects – Wisdom and Awareness – 孔子论语 – 智慧,觉力

14.4 The wise stays in the present, is aware and alert

子曰、不逆詐、不億不信、抑亦先覺者、是賢乎。

The Master said, ‘He who does not anticipate attempts to deceive him, nor think beforehand of his not being believed, and yet apprehends these things readily (when they occur);– is wise.’

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Some people think that to be honest and to cultivate spirituality brings stupidity, detachment, and failure in the world.  Confucius said otherwise.  When one is wise, one perceives people (including oneself) accurately and see when deceives and dishonesty arises.  This is by means of spiritual awareness, not from intellectual deduction and speculation.  Therefore, proper spiritual cultivation brings wisdom and awareness (of one self, others, and the world).  Are you ready for it?

14.4 抑亦先覺者、是賢乎

子曰、不逆詐、不億不信、抑亦先覺者、是賢乎。

* * *

有些人认为是诚实和修行带来愚蠢,脱离,和世界的失败。孔子说不是。 当一个人有智慧时,可以准确的感知人和事,欺骗和不诚实的行为发生时可以看得清清楚楚。 这是智慧开发的结果,不是思想的推断或猜测。因此,正确的心灵修养,会带来智慧,和洞察现实的能力(自我,他人和世界),你准备好了吗?


Comments

3 responses to “Confucius Analects – Wisdom and Awareness – 孔子论语 – 智慧,觉力”

  1. 妮姬 Avatar
    妮姬

    Are we ready?…. What does this mean?

    Does this mean one needs bravery? If so, is this bravery like that of the archer in the picture… being brave in the face of some great difficulty/ opposition…. or is it the bravery required to be at the receiving end of the archer’s (sage’s) arrow… symbolically allowing part of one’s self to die, so as to change/ evolve into something more enlightened?

    Or perhaps being “ready” means something completely different…..

    1. Derek Avatar
      Derek

      Courage is needed to face the world, and to face one self. When one start the the process of self inquiry, one will get to know deeper and deeper what one is, good and bad, desirable and undesirable, physical and non-physical, true and false, illusive and everlasting. It takes courage to face them, wisdom to discern and contextualize them, compassion to embrace them, concentration to be freed from them, willingness to surrender the illusive, and humility to dedicate one’s life to the highest good of all. These qualities take time to cultivate, and therefore, depending on one’s level of cultivation, Buddhists say that while insights, understandings and realizations can be spontaneous, often it takes great extended period of time for one to perfect these qualities to be at one with the Buddhist destination of full enlightenment. Therefore, to equip oneself for the spiritual endeavor, we need to be cultivate these basics qualities. This is what i mean for ready.

  2. 妮姬 Avatar
    妮姬

    Is part of this process of facing ourselves… like what the the archer (孔子) above might advise…”When the archer misses the center of the target, he turns round and seeks for the cause of his failure in himself.”

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