Heaven First Tempers the One It Charges with a Great Task

answered by Mencius, Gaozi II

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🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

The Shaolin Temple (1982)

dir. Chang Hsin-yen · China

One with nothing, pushed aside, throws himself into a punishing discipline that grinds the body. Is that toil one more suffering piled on a hard life, or a tempering that wakes a sleeping will and strength and sets a person up?

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

For one who has nothing, is a body-grinding, grueling challenge one more suffering, or the very place he comes to life?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

天將降大任於是人也必先苦其心志勞其筋骨

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

When heaven is about to lay a great task on a person, it first makes bitter his heart and will, and wearies his sinews and bones.

💡 TL;DR

Mencius said that heaven, about to charge a person with a great task, first embitters the heart and will and wearies the body.

📝The Classic Answers

Mencius said that heaven, about to charge a person with a great task, first embitters the heart and will and wearies the body. Hardship is not punishment but a tempering that hammers awake a strength not yet roused. To one who has nothing, a grueling challenge looks like one more burden, yet while heaving that weight, a will and sinew he did not know grow in him. Comfort dulls a person; toil, instead, sets him up. When I want to avoid a hard thing, I weigh again whether it means to break me or to build me.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

If there's a hard task you want to avoid today, gauge once whether it is a burden to break you or a tempering to build you.

📖 Classic Source: Mencius, Gaozi II. Ancient text in the public domain; rendered and interpreted independently by ONGO.
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.