Chapter 1 of "The Biography of Zeng Guofan" by Zhang Hongjie
1. The pain of Zeng Guofan’s seven imperial examinations
1.1 Zeng Guofan’s family background
Zeng Guofan’s grandfather Zeng Yuping was an ordinary farmer. He did not go to school when he was young. I was idle, not doing any serious work, bought a good horse, and hung out with a group of idle children in the city all day long. While he was drinking and singing, an old man said to his grandson: "Don't imitate him. If your family has no money but you go to the city to act like a boss, your family will be defeated by him sooner or later!" After hearing this, he immediately sold the horse. , walking home. From then on, he went to bed early and got up early, did farm work, and vowed to build a family and a career. He told Zeng Guofan that the vegetables he grew by himself tasted delicious, and that he earned the money through hard work and spent it with peace of mind.
Zeng Yuping worked hard for more than ten years, turning the Zeng family from an ordinary middle peasant into a well-off small landowner, and established her own prestige in the local area. In traditional society, for a family to be truly prosperous, it mainly depends on whether anyone in the family is studying and becoming an official. Only with fame can a family's status be consolidated. Therefore, he asked the best teacher to surrender his son Zeng Linshu. However, his son was too stupid to become a scholar, so he pinned his hopes on his eldest grandson Zeng Guofan. His father, Zeng Linshu, enlightened him and taught him how to study. However, this time, the two father and son embarked on the imperial examination road again for the fifth time, but they were still not in high school.
1.2 Zeng Guofan’s character
However, Zeng Yuping believed that man can conquer nature and sent them to the scientific examination for the sixth time. But this time his father, Zeng Lin, had been selected as a scholar, but Zeng Guofan was "criticized with a hanging card." (Being criticized for being illiterate in arts and science is an embarrassing thing, which is equivalent to being paraded by the whole province) This time, he was hit hard Especially when he was older, he began to reflect on his years of failed reading exams and find out the reasons.
He has since determined a fact: he has a strong enterprising spirit, but God has not given him a smart brain to match his ambition, that is, his talent is too poor, his ambition is high but his ability is not enough. But he is born with a stubbornness and will never give up. Therefore, there is only one way to solve the gap between ambition and brains: superhuman efforts. He named himself "Disheng". ——Everything in the past is like dying yesterday; everything in the future is like being born today. He wants to wipe away the failures of the past, start a new life, and wash away the shame of "criticism with a hanging card". He wants to save his face by going all out. So he began to think about his own learning ideas and seek changes.
In fact, the main reason why he continued to fail was that there was something wrong with Zeng Linshu's teaching methods. Just four words: rote memorization. Although the foundation is solid, it limits his spirituality. By comparing his own articles with those of others, he discovered that his problem was that his writing was too rigid and lacked overall coherence and overall momentum. After hard reflection, he felt that he who had studied for six years had suddenly opened up his joints, and finally passed the seventh scientific examination. Later, he was admitted to the imperial examinations, Jinshi, and the Hanlin Academy, all of which fulfilled his wishes. After enlightenment, everything went smoothly.
The difficult imperial examination was an excellent self-education for Zeng Guofan, which strengthened his character trait of "the more frustrated he becomes, the more excited he becomes". It also shaped Zeng Guofan's unique philosophy of life - advocating clumsiness. (The most clumsy in the world can beat the most skillful in the world). Clumsy looks slow, but in fact it goes faster as time goes by. It's like building a house. Because the foundation is solid, the house will be built higher than others. Throughout his life, he never made any detours or took shortcuts, and always did things in the clumsiest and most practical way. Accumulation trickle down, trickle down, the pursuit is solid and thorough, step by step. He pays attention to "sincerity" in his life. People come with hypocrisy, and I go with sincerity, without playing tricks. When leading troops to fight, only rely on tenacity and steadfastness, and fight to the end. A gentleman does not take shortcuts or seek fame. Accumulate money and move forward with difficulty. Although a gentleman succeeds later than others, once he succeeds, it is a great success.
2. Why learn to be a saint
2.1 Many discomforts when entering the Imperial Academy for the first time
After entering the Imperial Academy, Zeng Guofan began his career as a Beijing official. The mission of the Hanlin Academy is to "study to nourish hope" and to further study here to prepare for future use. The scholars of Hanlin Academy do not regard themselves as officials, but as scholars. At this time, Zeng Guofan can be said to be: determined for fame and proud, looking forward to his own glory and looking down on his whole life. But soon he fell into a deep inferiority complex. The Hanlin Academy gathered the elites of the time and found that they had a scholarly temperament and a great Confucian character. As for himself, he had never read any books, and his temperament and ideas were very vulgar. Born in an ordinary peasant family, he had only heard local operas advocating change and fortune since he was a child; all he thought about was fame and fortune.
However, people are determined by their environment after all. It is understandable that he was "eager for fame" at that time.
He began to read Wang Yangming and found that his realm and vision were narrow and inferior. Therefore, how to wash away the inferiority in his body became a deep anxiety for him.
In the beginning, Zeng Guofan had many flaws in his character. 1. Impetuous, unable to sit still; unable to calm down, leading to irregular life. In his youth, he was active and outgoing, loved making friends, chatting, and joking. When he first entered the Hanlin Academy, he had a lot of time at his disposal, so he began to let himself go. 2. He is arrogant and poorly cultivated. Friends call it "an air of neglect everywhere." "Self-righteousness - I think I am right about everything and cannot listen to different opinions." When you first get to know someone, you may seem humble, but after you have been with someone for a long time, you will show that you are right. Arrogant nature. 3. Hypocrisy. He gives out insincere compliments and likes to talk too much without pretending to understand. Fourth, lustful. Therefore, Zeng Guofan was mediocre in many aspects when he was young, not only in terms of IQ and character cultivation.
Although Hunan people are stubborn and tough, they are also closed-minded and narrow-minded. There is a rule in the history of Hunan. Only by getting out of the lake can a person lose the narrow-mindedness and paranoia generated in a closed environment, become broad-minded and make a difference. Here, Zeng Guofan opened his eyes and began to read voraciously and study Neo-Confucian classics seriously. He visited the great Confucian Tang Jian and asked for advice on how to study and study. From then on, he worked hard for a year. Later, through reading and making friends, his vision and knowledge were completely different. Everyone has the desire for self-improvement, especially in youth, when a person pursues perfection. At the age of thirty, Zeng Guofan was the most important year in the history of his life. He decided to be a "sage." In this personality design, human potential is maximized and the human spirit is maximized.
2.2 How to change - Keep a diary
Writing a diary every day is the foundation for becoming a saint. Three problems with early diaries: incoherence, running a running account, and not being able to fulfill requests immediately.
In fact: the main purpose of a diary is to reflect on yourself. First of all, treat diary as a major event in life. Secondly, the function of the diary is to "research the facts" and study the details. Change yourself through every detail. If one detail collapses, the entire self-management will collapse. Therefore, when writing a diary, you must reflect on the activities of the whole day. idea. (In one day, every thought or mistake was recorded in the book.) So every night he went over carefully what he did and said today and recorded what was wrong. Deep reflection.
Since self-improvement is about self-improvement, time should not be wasted. So he began to set his basic study schedule: reading and writing a diary every day, reading ten pages of history, etc. as the minimum limit. In addition, he also practiced composition. By keeping a diary, he improved his learning efficiency.
In addition, he also reflected on his temper and character, recorded the entire incident in his diary, and then analyzed it. Even if both people have problems, he feels that they should start from themselves, change things quickly, apologize immediately, and shake hands. Keep a close eye on your biggest mistakes every day in your diary. But the sage's standards are too absolute. He requires people to fight against nature every minute, which is difficult to adhere to. How to persevere? External forces are far greater than internal forces. Things must be motivated and compared to achieve success. Everyone's willpower is limited, and self-monitoring has blind spots, and it is not easy to be thorough. But everyone has self-esteem, so it is often most effective to monitor oneself through friends and teachers. Zeng Guofan showed his diary to his friends. The main purpose was to openly show his behavior to his friends and let everyone monitor it together, so that he would be embarrassed to be lazy.
Success: Quit smoking. Once he made up his mind, he never backed down. He realized that breaking old habits requires bold force. Without a bit of boldness to "cut off the flow of the crowd", it is impossible for a person to go far and truly. The success of quitting smoking strengthened his confidence in "learning to be a saint".
2.3 Aim high
However, it is not that easy for a person to change the behavioral habits he has formed over the years. For example, he decided to study in the morning, but his friend asked him to go play; for example, he vowed not to quarrel, but he had a big quarrel after a disagreement. After constant failures, he discovered that these deep character flaws are not as simple as quitting simple hobbies. More character weaknesses are deeply rooted in human nature and can only be "slowly warmed up" in a lifetime. Only then can it be resolved slowly.
Therefore, in the initial stage of self-cultivation, the most important thing is to be fierce. In the ongoing stage, toughness is more important. In the process of perfection, a person will definitely suffer countless iterations, failures, setbacks and even setbacks. The key is not to give up. Therefore, Zeng Guofan's most admired quality is "persistence." When it gets to the point where he can't stand it anymore, there is only one way: to use strong brute force to get through this level. Through repeated training and training, he became more and more perseverant, generous, considerate and sincere in his dealings with others, and made more and more friends day by day. The quality is becoming more and more pure, and you can see farther when you stand high.
He concluded: Human life is like a process of fruit ripening: one cannot be anxious or slack off. Human efforts and God's cultivation will make a tree grow taller quietly, and also make a person mature slowly: "Don't forget and don't help, you will grow taller even if you look at the flat ground." Looking back on his life, we find that determination is more important to a person. The significance of human personality development is decisive, because human beings often have great potential that they are not aware of. Mental strength directly determines the extent to which the body's potential is unleashed. Therefore, "determination" or "establishing a lifelong goal" is crucial to a person's spiritual growth. The first key to Zeng Guofan's success in life is to have high aspirations. This ambition drives him not to pursue small temptations or small goals throughout his life Stop at the top. Prompt him to remain uncompromising and unyielding in the face of no matter how difficult it is. Prompt him to "wash away the dark and dirty views of the past, and suddenly go straight to the vast and bright realm; regard the glory and profit of the world as a fly." It touches the eyes but does not stay. ”
3. The astonishing way to advance
3.1 The twelve catch-rules of self-management
Zeng Guofan’s career advancement in more than ten years has been extraordinary. Quickly. “Ten years and seven migrations. Leap ten levels in a row." The reasons are as follows: 1. Improvement of self-management ability. He formulated twelve catch-all rules for himself.
(1) Respect. Neat and serious, never being careless. . When there is nothing to do, the mind is in the heart, and when there is something to do, it is focused and clear, like the rising sun. (2) Sit quietly for four moments every day to experience the correct position of kindness. Condensing life is like a tripod. (3) Get up early at dawn, and don’t be distracted by reading. /p>
(5) Reading history. In the year of Bingshen, I bought "Twenty-Three Histories" and the master said: "You borrowed money to buy the book, and I will try my best to patch it up for you. If you can circle it once, you will not let me down." "Thereafter, I will circle ten leaves every day, and I will be unfilial intermittently. (6) Speak carefully. Pay attention at all times, the first step.
(7) Nourish Qi. Qi is stored in the Dantian, and there is nothing that cannot be said to others. ( 8) Protect yourself. On October 22nd, I received an instruction from the Master: “Restrain labor, abstain from sexual desire, and abstain from food. "Recuperate from illness at all times. (9) Know your death every day. Read and record your insights every day. Asking for deep meaning is showing favoritism.
(10) Don't forget what you can do every month. Write a number of poems and essays every month First, check how much you have accumulated and whether you are nourishing your energy. Don’t just dwell on it, which is the easiest way to get bored. (11) Do not leave any writing to yourself for half an hour after dinner. Tomorrow, it will become harder and harder to clear things up. (12) He will not go out at night, and he will be exhausted from work.
Through these twelve daily lessons, his life has become very regular and he is very prepared for the exam. He is also more prepared than the average person.
3.2 Make friends the most important thing in life
In addition to studying, he also has a wide range of friends and has a good reputation among scholars. If you want to get help outside, you must rely on friends. The number and quality of friends determine how wide a person's horizons are. In the isolated Hunan, Zeng Guofan's biggest regret is that he can't make quality friends in the countryside. , this is the first regret. "After arriving in Beijing, he quickly made a large number of friends. Looking at his diary, there was hardly a day when he was not socializing. The reason why he was able to make so many friends was that he followed the example of his grandfather, who was eager for justice and loved to help others. But he also Understand the boundaries between friends, such as when interacting with superiors, pay attention to propriety and never lose control, stay within the normal range, and do not move around very frequently
3.3 Emperor Daoguang liked it
Therefore, Zeng Guofan was deeply loved by Emperor Daoguang because of his personality, work attitude, and knowledge. In terms of personality, he was practical and practical; , and the results were quite good.
4. The old officialdom
4.1 The depressed "vice minister"
In the 29th year of Daoguang's reign, Zeng Guofan was promoted to Minister of Rites. Since then, I have gained real power. I am very busy every day and have no free time.
Transfer a piece of diary paper, divided into eight columns (reading, meditation, office work, lessons, class review, and reply), and fill them in according to the form every day.
Huxiang’s academic style is based on practical application of the world. Zeng Guofan studied practical politics very early. Although he was committed to Neo-Confucianism, his vision was not blocked by Neo-Confucianism. The scope of his investigation was extremely broad. At the beginning, he was ambitious and wanted to make achievements in national affairs. Later, he discovered that although he was at a high level in the temple, he did not contribute to the national economy and people's livelihood. Although he did not take a moment to rest all day long, he was busy with routine tasks and did not contribute at all to the country's major affairs. Occasionally, reform proposals were put aside by the bachelors and would not be considered at all. Zeng Guofan hated the filth and chaos of the officialdom at that time. Most of the ministers employed by Emperor Daoguang were of the type who "kowtowed more and did less work". This worried him greatly. At that time, he realized that a turmoil sweeping the country was brewing (the Taiping Rebellion). At this time, he got acquainted with Jiang Zhongyuan, a man who would make a name for himself in the world and die with integrity. "
4.2 Offending Emperor Xianfeng
When Zeng Guofan was about to resign, Emperor Daoguang died and Xianfeng succeeded to the throne. First he dismissed Mu Zhang'a, an important minister used by Emperor Daoguang, and then issued an edict." Ask for words. "Zeng Guofan wrote "Ying Zhao Chen Yanshu" in the hope that the emperor could cultivate talents. This deepened Xianfeng's good impression of Zeng Guofan, and later, he was given five posts. Zeng Guofan continued to give advice to the emperor and pointed out various crises faced by the Qing Dynasty. The problem of the bureaucracy called for reform, but the emperor did not adopt his opinions. In fact, Xianfeng was a very mediocre master (Xianfeng was Yi Qi, and his younger brother Ming Min was Yi Qi). Emperor Daoguang was hesitant between the two. , so he asked the two to hunt in Nanyuan. Xianfeng knew that his skills were not good enough, so when he saw his father, he was empty-handed and said, it is spring, when the female beast is pregnant, if he shoots him to death, his child will also be killed. This is too cruel. This is the so-called hiding one's humility and showing benevolence. Emperor Daoguang thought he was very kind and was satisfied with him. Later, Emperor Daoguang met with the two before his death and wanted to hear their opinions on the affairs of the family and the country. Xianfeng talked endlessly. Seeing his father's sick appearance, he knelt on the ground, kowtowed and shed tears, without saying a word, saying that looking at his father was too painful and could not speak. This is the so-called showing filial piety by hiding one's humility). In fact, Xianfeng's personal ability was not as good as that of his younger brother, but he adopted other methods. Retaining the throne.
At the end of a dynasty, these royal descendants often have mediocre temperaments and lack the persistence and responsibility necessary to do great things. A few months later, Zeng Guofan stopped reading the book. Zeng Guofan was disappointed because at this time, the world's chaos had changed from a possibility to a reality. "Shu" directly pointed out Xianfeng's three shortcomings (being careful about the small but ignoring the big, not pursuing reality, and being stubborn). He thought that this memorial would make the emperor realize something, but he did not know that it touched the emperor's weakness. He is a very low self-esteem and sensitive person (not as good as his younger brother in everything and physically disabled) - the inner self-esteem caused by his incompetence makes him have a stronger self-esteem and is more likely to put on airs. It's you who looks down on me.
Because of this, Emperor Xianfeng's attitude towards Zeng Guofan changed drastically. He was also a very grudge-bearing person. He remembered this incident all his life, so that Zeng Guofan later changed his mind. Although he has great military exploits, he does not receive support from the court. This petition shows that he is dedicated to the country and loyal, and it also quickly increases his popularity and prestige in Hunan?
4.3 Beijing, the most difficult place in life. Moment
Because he was too outspoken, he offended Qishan, who was famous for the Opium War. When he was in college, Sai Shang'a had a wide network of contacts in Beijing and many students, and the officialdom believed in "officials protecting each other." , which quickly put Zeng Guofan into a state of isolation. Later, he proposed to the emperor to hold a "daily lecture". The emperor asked him to draw a picture to explain the layout of the lecture hall. Since he had no art foundation, the final drawing was very ugly, which instantly became a discussion among Beijing officials. In the center, it is self-disgrace. This is the saying: "If a tree is beautiful in the forest, the wind will destroy it, and if it shows its sharp edge, it will be destroyed by people." "In the second year of Xianfeng's reign, he became a figure that almost everyone in the capital reviled. He wanted to go home, but because of the low-wage system of the Qing Dynasty, he had no travel expenses. Finally, the emperor sent him to Jiangxi to be a regular examiner, so he could take this opportunity to go home. Six In March, "Chiyi left the capital", ending his career as a Beijing official for more than ten years.