Guo Pu may have used the school entrance exam to reject Gao Pragmatic's move to become a disciple. Gao Pragmatic had been mentally prepared before, so he was neither surprised nor afraid of the difficulty when he heard this. He just calmly handed over his hand and said, "Sir, please give me a question."
Guo Pu nodded slightly and said: "Zhongxuan said in the letter that you were the first to read "The Great Learning" and especially "The Supplement to the Explanations of the Great Learning". Qiu Wenzhuang was one of the great talents in the world, and there was quite a bit of talk about wealth in this book.
, in this case, I will use wealth as the topic: There is a great way to generate wealth, if there are many people who can make money, if there are few people who can eat it, if you use it, you will get sick, if you use it, you will feel comfortable, then you will have enough wealth."
Gao pragmatically asked: "Where are you doing the questions?"
Guo Pu pointed to the room next to him: "That's the study over there. There are pens, inks, paper and inkstones. You can go by yourself."
Gao Pragmatic was not polite, bowed slightly, and went by himself.
When I arrived at the study, I discovered that Guo Pu's home was indeed simple. Although it was not a "thatched hut" as mentioned in his poem, it was still a bit shabby. The floor did not even have green bricks, but was made of rammed earth, which was not even very smooth.
Fortunately, Anyang is considered to be in the north. If it were in the south, in spring and summer, the house would be humid.
This time, instead of listening to Qin Shangyue laying out paper and grinding ink for him, he could only grind the ink himself, and while grinding the ink, he was thinking about the solution to this question.
This question comes from Chapter 10 of "The Great Learning". The original text is: There is a great way to make money. Those who give birth to it are many, those who eat it are few, those who use it are sick, and those who use it are comfortable, then wealth will be constant and sufficient. A benevolent person will make a living with wealth.
Those who are not benevolent make money with their own lives. There is no one who is benevolent at the top but not righteous at the bottom. There is no one who is good at righteousness and his deeds are not finished. There is no one who does not have wealth in the treasury. Mencius Xianzi said: "The beasts and horses are not cared for.
As for chickens and dolphins, a house that cuts ice does not keep cattle and sheep, and a house with hundreds of chariots does not keep its ministers who gather together. Rather than having ministers who gather together, it is better to have ministers who are thieves." This means that a country does not use profit for profit, but uses righteousness as profit.
Those who want to grow the country and take care of the wealth must be small people. If they do good things, small people will help the country, and disasters will come. Although there are good people, they are nothing like this! This means that the country does not benefit from profit.
Taking righteousness as a benefit.
This question belongs to the whole chapter, that is, a whole sentence, which is very consistent with Gao Gong's previous analysis of Guo Pu: Guo Pu likes to be upright.
Let’s talk about this question specifically: There is a great way to generate wealth. If there are many people who can make money, if there are few people who can eat it, if you use it, you will be sick, if you use it, you will feel comfortable. Then you will have enough wealth.
"Producing wealth" is the way of production, and this way is the principle. That is to say, there is a big principle for producing wealth. What principle is it?
"Those who are born are numerous", that is to say, they produce a lot, and "Zhong" means numerous.
"Those who eat are few", this "food" means only enjoying, which means little. That is to say, everyone is engaged in production, so there are more people who produce. For example, there are no idle positions in the court, and there are no such positions for those who eat for free.
There are few people who eat, and there are also few people who enjoy the salary and do nothing.
"He who does it is sick", and "doing it" means creating wealth. "Ji" means quickly, which means creating wealth quickly.
"He who uses it will be comfortable" means to use wealth slowly, that is, to use it carefully and not to waste it. "Then the wealth will be constant and sufficient." In this case, the wealth will always be sufficient, and "constant" means always sufficient.
The simplest way to break the question is to point out the essence of the question. What is the essence of this question? In fact, it is the first sentence: There is a way to make money.
There are two key points: making money and being on the right path.
Gao Pragmatic estimated that Guo Pu asked this question to remind himself that making money is the main road, not the small way. He hoped that he would not go astray and just think about making money.
Therefore, this question needs to be divided into two parts: first, wealth can be "generated"; second, this is the great road, and we must focus on the world, not just one corner.
Gao pragmatic smiled and understood.
To be honest, I have held so many meetings and am very good at them.
The paper has been laid out, the ink has been ground, and Gao pragmatically writes directly:
"The king's wealth in the world is only generated by Tao."
Since you like to be upright, "King" and "Tao" are of course the best words to improve your writing. This is called a high-level argument, just like when later generations interpret Li Bai's travel poems, you always say that he "eulogized the great rivers and mountains of the motherland."
A truth.
The next step is to address the topic, which is to state the meaning of the question. This is also easy to do. Gao pragmatically wrote:
"Husband's wealth cannot be gathered but it can be reborn, and rebirth has its own way. Can it be said that it is 'the foundation of the outside and the end of the inside'?"
Gao Pragmatic's phrase "outside is the foundation and what is inside is the end" also comes from "The Great Learning": A gentleman is first careful about virtue. There is a person with virtue, there is soil for a person, there is wealth when there is soil, and there is usefulness when there is wealth. The foundation of virtue is wealth.
It is the end of the world. It is the end of the outside and the end of the inside. It fights for the people and gives away things.
Zhu Xi's "Zhang Ju" said: "If a ruler takes virtue as the outer part and wealth as the inner part, he will fight against his people and plunder them." The general meaning is that virtue comes first and wealth comes second. You cannot put the cart before the horse.
When Gao pragmatic is written here, it means: Mr. Guo, I know what you mean. I don’t value wealth over virtue.
Then it was time to actually write the article, which is what is called "starting to talk". This time, Gao Pragmatic thought for a while. It was not that it was difficult to express the meaning, but that he needed to think about the sentences.
Not long after, he wrote:
"In order to bring peace to the world, the number of powerful men and women is not the main task of the king. I don't know that the people have a place to entrust their orders. If there is no way to give them their desires, they will fight. There are endless treasures between the two, and there is nothing to do.
If you take advantage of the opportunity, you will be ruined. But if you are not selfish and act with the intention of correctness, and guide the situation for the benefit, it is really beyond the control of those who use clever skills."
As we all know, the eight-part essay should "make a statement on behalf of the saint." From the beginning of this paragraph, Gao pragmatically expressed it based on Zhu Xi's meaning above. After I finished writing it, I read it again and thought it was okay, especially "I don't know what the people have to entrust."
The word "struggle" in the sentence "If you can't give him what you want, then fight" perfectly fits Zhu Xi's point of view.
"My words will bring wealth to those who bring peace to the world:" This is the beginning of the topic, and we are beginning to prepare to speak the truth - to speak the big truth.
Next, we need to start the second strand, which requires neat contrasting and more refined words. Gao Pragmatic did not write directly, but made a draft first, compared it and revised it twice, adjusted some words, and then wrote:
"Wealth is born from nothing. If wealth does not come into existence in one day, the energy of all things will be depleted. If a man is born, he will not be able to protect himself. If you know that wealth is born from nothing, and you can cultivate it and collect it, you can observe the gathering of yin and yang.
Wealth is not self-generated. If wealth does not arise in one day, the essence of all things will be easily dispersed, and the great king will have no power. Knowing that it is necessary to produce it, and that it will be prosperous, deficient, and prosperous can adjust the balance of human affairs."
What Gao Pragmatic said in the previous sentence actually means very simple: things like wealth must be there. As for all things, yin and yang, etc., it is to elevate it, and of course it must be elevated. This is always the case in Confucian articles.
The next sentence is much more pragmatic, saying that wealth is not born by oneself. The king gains power by managing the world's wealth, and uses wealth to balance the people of the world.
In fact, this can be regarded as a complete statement of the article's point of view: financial management is for the sake of the world.
Then it will be easier to write the next sentence, echo it:
