Complete Collection of Success by Zeng Guofan

Author: Li He
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features: Youthful Aspiration, Far-Sighted Vision
In the fourth year of the Daoguang era, when Zeng Guofan was fourteen, the Confucian scholar Ouyang Cangming of Hengyang, styled Ningzhi, had a close relationship with Zeng Linshu (Zeng Guofan's father). He often visited the family's academy and, upon seeing Zeng Guofan's essays for the imperial examinations, greatly admired them. The old master, Zhubing, then asked him to compose a regulated verse on the theme "Climbing the Stairway to the Blue Clouds." After Zeng Guofan finished the poem, the master read it and praised, "This is the kind of words one might say in the Jinhua Hall." Thus, he agreed to marry his daughter to Zeng Guofan.
At the age of nine, Zeng Guofan had already studied the Five Classics. By fifteen, he was taught the "Rites of Zhou" by his father, Zeng Linshu, and could recite it by heart. He also read the "Records of the Grand Historian" and the "Selections of Refined Literature," which likely formed the foundation of his lifelong learning. Zeng Guofan's marriage at the age of fourteen was not due to youthful arrogance but rather the result of family teachings. In his early twenties, Zeng Guofan did not yet harbor grand ambitions. However, in the tenth year of the Daoguang era (1830), his father, Zeng Linshu, felt that his own talents were inferior to his son's and had taught him all he knew. He then sent him to study with the master Jiang Jue'an in Hengyang for a year. After this, Zeng Guofan's horizons broadened, and his spirit of ambition was strengthened. Especially when he returned to his hometown's Libin Academy to study, he was admired by the headmaster Liu Yuantang. Under Liu Yuantang's guidance, Zeng Guofan resolved to change his original name, Bohan, to Desheng, explaining, "Desheng" means "to cleanse the stains of the past" and "to regard all that has been as if it died yesterday and all that is to come as if it begins today." This symbolized his farewell to his old self and embrace of a new beginning. He also set for himself the motto: "Either be a sage or be a beast; ask not for the harvest, but for the cultivation."
Zeng Guofan often expressed his lofty aspirations in poetry, hoping one day to become a pillar of the nation. In his "Six Poems on Spring," he wrote:
"Boundless blue sky, how can one ascend?
Two dragons at the gates, swallowing elephants.
Tigers and wolves guard the nine passes,
Who dares to gaze upon their sharp teeth and claws?
Crows caw in the purple palace,
Alas, with short wings, they cannot fly far.
One day, a solitary phoenix cries in the clouds,
Shaking the nine states with no ordinary sound.
A heart of fire blooms in the jade pool,
Blood-stained, it dyes the sacred staff.
May evil birds change their voices,
And watch the orphans grow together.
Above, the sun and moon illuminate sincerity,
Beside, gods and spirits gaze upon lofty heights.
On the summit of Mount Tai, a dragon tree stands,
Ten thousand generations, no one has seen it.
At midnight, thunder rumbles from the heavens,
A giant tree flies eastward to the Qing River.
Lying across the sky and river for ten miles,
Wrapped in layers of clouds.
A long-haired Yi man warns once,
The Son of Heaven builds the Xianyang palace.
With great axes and long ropes, they drag it there,
Cattle and horses fill the pits.
Rainbows form bridges, adorned with jade belts,
Dragon pillars stand tall, ringing golden bells.
Never say that Confucian scholars are base,
Perhaps a quail egg may become a dragon.
He believed that one day, like a solitary phoenix soaring in the clouds, he would either remain silent or, upon taking flight, shake the nine states; like a giant tree growing in the mountains, he would one day become a pillar of the nation.
In his letters to his younger brothers, Zeng Guofan more explicitly expressed his grand ambitions. Here is the translation of the original text:
"A gentleman sets his aspirations:
To seek the happiness of the masses,
To embody the inner sage and the outer king."