溫故知新 Old wisdom, today’s insight — ONGO
Coarse Rice and Water, Yet Unjust Wealth Is a Floating Cloud
Even within the yoke of poverty, what must a person still hold onto?
Eating coarse rice, drinking water, with a bent arm for a pillow — joy can still be found within it. Wealth and honor gained unjustly are to me like floating clouds.
Confucius said there is joy even in coarse rice, and that wealth gained unjustly is like a floating cloud.
📝The Classic Answers
Confucius said there is joy even in coarse rice, and that wealth gained unjustly is like a floating cloud. For a father who endures a poverty he cannot make right before his children, working as a coachman, the world's wealth already feels as distant as another world entirely. But what he never lets go of is the hand that honestly holds the reins, and a heart with nothing to be ashamed of before his children. Poverty can determine his circumstances, but it cannot determine what he is proud of. Whenever I feel I have little, I first count what I am honestly holding onto.
🌱Apply It Today
If having little makes you feel ashamed today, recall instead one thing you have honestly kept.
The film is honored as an equal questioner; its plot is rendered only as a universal dilemma. The classic source is an ancient text (Public Domain), and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.
