PureInsight | June 28, 2007
[PureInsight.org] Han Qi, a
high ranking official from the Song Dynasty, once said, "We should
treat a superior man and an inferior man alike: with sincerity. If we
know he is inferior, just getting acquainted with him should be
enough." Usually, when ordinary people meet an inferior person who is
deceiving others, they will expose his scheme. However, Han Qi
was different. He knew clearly the bad thoughts of an inferior man, but
he would tolerate it and would not show it.
Everyone likes to be with superior people and it is easy to be sincere
with them. However, it is much harder to deal with inferior people. The
mentality of ordinary people is that if you are nice to me, then I'll
be nice to you; if you are not nice to me, why should I be nice to
you? In that way, when we see that others are having a problem,
we point it out bluntly. As a consequence, this will make the inferior
man angry and look for the opportunity to hurt us.
We do not tolerate others for their mistakes or impurity because we
consider ourselves clean and pure. Actually, this is due to that fact
that we have not assimilated virtue deeply into our heart. We
should observe others and not expose their shortcomings. When we
disclose other's weaknesses, we express our dislike and our contempt
for others. The motive to do this comes from our indifference and
resentment. We do not have the compassion to help others. If we
can maintain a calm heart and are not concerned what others may think,
we will not be so concerned about the strengths and weaknesses of
others.
It is the same when we are having conflicts in our official or personal
interactions with others. If we cannot tolerate other's shortcomings,
we are more likely to have enemies. Even among friends, you
reject others and others reject you. Eventually you are in a hostile
environment and disasters will follow. Prime Minister Kouzhun
from the Song Dynasty was a typical example. He was very
straightforward and very critical of Dingwei's fawning personality and
reproached him openly in front of others. Dinghui was very
offended and he helped others to gain power and had Kouzhun banished to
Aizhou.
Compassion does not mean that one cannot tell right from wrong. On the
contrary, it means that I know exactly that you are deceiving me and
hurting me but I am broad-minded and do not keep score. In my heart I
know what happened but, on the surface, I look like that I have been
fooled. Most people cannot do that except the cultivators.
Prime Minister Koushun did just that. When he encountered an inferior
person, he exposed him. As a result, they became opposing forces to
each other, and the opportunity to transform Dinghui was thus
lost. Han Qi reacted differently. When he ran into an inferior
person, he treated him just the same as others. He was sincere but kept
the contact on a superficial level and avoided being trapped into mind
games. Superior men know how to transform others with their
virtue and will not abandon or reject others because they are inferior.
Others will accept us easily only if we can be tolerant.
Translated from: http://big5.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/8/18/108411.html
