Zeng Guofan - A Life of Loyalty and Perseverance

Author: Peng Jibo
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-10-01
Features: "Zeng Guofan's Loyal and Resolute Life" has greatly inspired me. From his growth, thoughts, and ways of dealing with people, I have learned many life philosophies. First, from Zeng Guofan's growth, I see diligence and learning as a lifelong ideal and belief, which also motivated him to achieve success. Zeng Guofan, also known as Kuan Yi as a child and Zichen by name, styled Bohan, was born on November 26, 1811, in Baiyangping, Xiangxiang County, Hunan Province. His family was engaged in farming for generations. In the "Tablet for the Great Boundary Tomb," Zeng Guofan said, "My family of Zeng has always been humble, and since the Ming Dynasty, there has been no one who achieved fame through studies." However, in Zeng Guofan's family, the person who influenced him most was his grandfather, Zeng Yuping. He taught Zeng Guofan that a man should "consider weakness and lack of courage as the greatest shame, and therefore a man must have a stubborn spirit to stand on his own." His eight-character maxim (Early, Study, Sweep, Treasure, Books, Vegetables, Fish, Pigs) and the Three Disbeliefs (disbelief in medicine, disbelief in monks and witches, disbelief in earth immortals) were deeply pondered by Zeng Guofan and became the main content of the family's teachings. Later, Zeng Guofan vowed to study hard and strive to become a great figure. If one wants to achieve something, one must first establish a correct outlook on life, the world, and values. The ancients were like this, and how much more so should we in this rapidly developing era set correct goals and ideals for ourselves—"Integrity in character, ambition as the foundation." In our work, we should follow the requirements of modern education, study scientific and cultural knowledge diligently, and establish the idea of serving education wholeheartedly. We must work hard and contribute our strength to the cause of education.
Second, from Zeng Guofan's spiritual thoughts, we can see how a person can achieve success. A person needs spirit to have a stance, a stance to have integrity, integrity to have a vision, a vision to have a presence, and a presence to truly live as a person. Zeng Guofan was a man of spirit. His stance was to study in the capital for over ten years and to practice the theory of Neo-Confucianism in Jiangnan for several decades. It was this spiritual stance that made him influential and achieve fame. The core of Zeng Guofan's thoughts was the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties. The founder of Neo-Confucianism, Zhou Xinyi, placed humans at the center of the "Explanation of the Taiji Diagram": "All things are born and change endlessly, but only humans share in the brilliance and spirit." A person's pure and virtuous quality is "sincerity." Therefore, a person must be sincere and only through sincerity can they recognize their true nature, as well as the nature of others and the nature of the entire world. Zeng Guofan felt he had many flaws, and the root of all his problems lay in insincerity. He believed that the operation of heaven, the establishment of the state, and the propagation and persistence of the virtues of sages and wise men were all due to sincerity. Thus, he said, "Sincerity is the beginning and end of all things; without sincerity, there is nothing." We should study his thoughts well and strive to do everything with "honesty and pragmatism." Love your own work, and treat leaders and colleagues with "sincerity as the foundation and tolerance in dealing with others." This is also a necessary condition for a person to achieve success. Work diligently and conscientiously in your own position.
Lastly, what deeply moved me is Zeng Guofan's "ways of dealing with people." Zeng Guofan said, "There are four things to know in being a person, and three evils in heaven." The "four things to know" are Confucius's "knowing one's destiny," "knowing propriety," and "knowing words," plus what he added—"knowing benevolence." The "three evils" are heaven's aversion to cunning, heaven's aversion to arrogance, and heaven's aversion to confusion. Cunning means cunning, arrogance means abundance, and confusion means excessive suspicion. We should understand the connotations from his "four things to know" and "three evils" and take the great thought of Marxism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, and Jiang Zemin's "Three Represents" as the guiding principle. We should seriously learn from Zeng Guofan's way of dealing with people, grasp our words and deeds in study and work, and strive to be a success in our interactions and a person of achievement in our careers. As the saying goes, "A jade must be carved to become a vessel; a person must study to gain knowledge." Reading is the best way to acquire indirect knowledge. Diligence and learning are traditional virtues of the Chinese nation. We must inherit and carry forward this fine tradition and continue to carry out the "Good Reading" activities in our school, constantly enriching our minds. Only in this way can we find our shortcomings and improve ourselves. As the saying goes, people are not born perfect; they always have flaws. Reading is a good way to correct these flaws.