Lesson 16 * The Most Bitter and the Most Happy / Liang Qichao

Lesson 16 * The Most Bitter and the Most Happy / Liang Qichao

August 12, 1922 "Jiji Xinbao Xue Lantern" 

What is the hardest thing in life? Is it poor? No. Frustrated? No. Is it old? Death? Neither. I say that the most bitter thing in life is not to suffer from carrying an unfinished responsibility on your back. If man is content, he is poor and not miserable; If you can be at peace (not much hope), although the frustration is not bitter; Old age and death are inevitable things in life, and people who have attained observation see it as very common, and it is not a bitterness. One day that mortals live on this earth, one day they should do. If the things that should be done are not completed, it is like a thousand pounds of heavy burden on the shoulders, and there is no more suffering. Why? For if you are rebuked by that conscience, there is nowhere to escape!  

If the promised person does not do something, the money owed to the person is not repaid, the favor received by the person is not rewarded, and the offended person is not repaid, so that even the face of this person hardly dares to see him; Even if I don't see his face, in my sleep and dreams, it seems that his shadow is haunting me. Why? Because I don't think I can help him! Because of his responsibility to him, he has not been lifted! This is true not only for a person, but also for the family, for society, for the country, and even for oneself. Whoever I have benefited from him, I have a responsibility to him. Whatever I should do, and what my strength can do, I have a responsibility for it. Whatever I want to do is to make a contract between my present self and my future self, that is, I add a layer of responsibility to myself. With this responsibility, the conscience is always watching, and the responsibility that should be fulfilled in the day is not fulfilled, and the miserable days are lived at night; The responsibilities of life are not fulfilled, and he dies and goes to the grave with pain. This kind of suffering is not comparable to ordinary poverty and old age, and it can be solved by observation. That's why I say that life is free of pain, and if there is pain, of course, there is nothing worse.  

Turn it over, what's the happiest thing? When the natural responsibility is over, it can be regarded as the first pleasure of life. As the old saying goes: "Relieved"; As the saying goes, "A stone in the heart has fallen to the ground." At this time, the kind of lightheartedness and happiness is beyond words. The greater the responsibility, the longer the day of responsibility, and when the responsibility is over, the sea and the sky, peace of mind, the happiness will be several times more! Happiness that comes from suffering in the world's affairs is true happiness. Life must know that there are responsible sufferings, in order to know the joy of fulfilling responsibilities. This cycle of bitter pleasure is a kind of fun in this dynamic human world. But they do not fulfill their responsibilities and are rebuked by their conscience, and these sufferings are all self-inflicted. As soon as you turn over, fulfill your responsibilities everywhere, and be happy everywhere; Always be responsible, always happy. The right to be happy, do it yourself. Confucius said: "Nothing is intrusive and self-satisfied", and it is precisely this effect.  

But why did Mencius say, "A gentleman has lifelong worries"? For the more sage and hero he is, the greater his responsibility; And he often has to take this kind of responsibility on his shoulders, and the burden on his shoulders has never been let go. Zeng Tzu also said: "The task is heavy and the road is long", "After death, is it not far away?" "The people of the benevolent people, the people and the country, the compassion of the saints and Buddhas, even if he has felt pain all his life, he can do it. But he fulfills his responsibilities there day by day, and he is really happy in suffering there every day, so he is still happy, not bitter!  

Someone said, "Since this suffering arises from responsibility, if I remove my responsibility, will there be no suffering forever?" "This is not the case, the responsibility is not to be lifted, not if it is removed. If life can always be like a two- or three-year-old child, there is no responsibility, then there is no suffering. When you grow up, responsibility naturally weighs on your shoulders, how can you hide? But there is a difference in size. If you fulfill great responsibility, you will have great happiness; If you do small responsibilities, you will have small happiness. If you want to hide, you will throw yourself into a sea of suffering, and you will never be relieved.