Contentment with One's Lot安分篇

The Jingxing lu says, "Know what is enough and you can be glad. Covet much and you worry."

He who knows what is enough is glad even in poverty and low station. He who does not know what is enough worries even in wealth and rank.

Know what is enough and you always have enough, and to the end of life there is no disgrace. Know when to stop and you always stop in time, and to the end of life there is no shame.

Set beside those above, you fall short. Measured against those below, you have more than enough.

If you measure against those below, there is nothing in your life that is not enough.

The Jirang shi says, "Keep to your lot and the body is not disgraced. Know the turn of things and the mind is at leisure of itself. Though you live in the world of people, you have gone beyond the human world."

The Shentong shi says, "Long life and early death are nothing but destiny. Hardship and success each have their season. On a lost road we toil to no purpose. To keep to your lot is what suits best."

Confucius said, "Wealth and rank are what people desire, but if they are not gained by the Way, he does not rest in them. Poverty and low station are what people hate, but even if they come not by the Way, he does not leave them."

Wealth and rank gained unrighteously are to me as a floating cloud.

Laozi said, "Know its honor, and keep to its disgrace."

Xunzi said, "He who knows himself does not blame others. He who knows destiny does not blame heaven. He who blames others is hard pressed. He who blames heaven has no will. To lose it in yourself and turn it on others, is that not foolish indeed?"

This is the great parting of honor and disgrace, and the constant principle of safety and danger, gain and harm. He who puts righteousness first and gain after is honored. He who puts gain first and righteousness after is disgraced. The honored always get through, and the disgraced are always hard pressed. Those who get through always rule others, and those who are hard pressed are always ruled by others. This is the great parting of honor and disgrace.

If it is your lot to eat coarse food, do not dream of noodles from the fine sieve.

Measure what comes in, and reckon what goes out.

Confucius said, "The gentleman holds firm in want. The small man in want breaks out of bounds."

Eat sparingly and spend sparingly, and you ask less of others.

Wang Xinmin often said, "If a man can always chew vegetable roots, he can do a hundred things."

The Doctrine of the Mean says, "Placed in wealth and rank, act as wealth and rank require. Placed in poverty and low station, act as poverty and low station require. Placed among the barbarians, act as that place requires. Placed in trouble and hardship, act as trouble and hardship require."

Confucius said, "When you are not in that office, do not plan its business."

An earlier scholar said, "Do not complain that you fall short of others. There are many who fall short of you. Do not boast that you surpass others. There are more who surpass you."

There is no harm when others beat me, for they keep no grudge in their hearts. It is no blessing when I beat others, for I fear a calamity that cannot be reckoned.

To seek blessing overmuch only hastens calamity. To keep to your lot and hold calamity far off is to come by blessing of itself.

If a man measures himself only against those who fall short of him, he knows of himself what is enough.

Master Zhu Ermei Shuqing said, "In all the wealth and rank, the poverty and low station of the world, each has its own true enjoyment. Shut your gate, and if the mind plans nothing, what business is there to sweep and to open the gate for? Running water and green hills, and all the splendor before your eyes, whatever has gained the upright breath of heaven and earth, can gladden my eyes and fill my ears, suit my mouth and fill my belly. Nothing in the way I bear myself and move about is not set out for me. I take and use it as it comes, and when have I ever meant to gather it in or let it go?

What differs from other people is how one looks and listens and speaks and moves. What is the same as other people is eyes and ears, mouth and nose. If this mind can be rich, then though a man be the poorest in the world he will not in the end worry about poverty. If this mind can be long-lived, then though a man die young he will not in the end worry about dying young. Though he never steps out of his own yard, his merit and virtue reach through the great thousand worlds. As for wife and children, fields and house, before your eyes rest in your lot, and after your death leave them to run their own course."

(Ten characters are missing here and are marked with △.)

Idle thoughts only wound the spirit. Rash movement brings calamity instead.

The Book of Documents says, "Fullness brings loss. Humility receives gain."

Ingwan (印觀) sold cotton in the market. A man called Seojo (署調) bought it with grain and went home, but a kite snatched the cotton away and dropped it at Ingwan's house. Ingwan carried it back to the market and said to Seojo, "The kite dropped your cotton at my house, so I return it to you." Seojo said, "It was heaven's doing that the kite snatched the cotton and gave it to you. How should I take it?" Ingwan said, "Then I will give back your grain." Seojo said, "Two market days have passed since I gave it to you. The grain is yours already." The two gave way to each other, and both left the goods in the market and went home. The officer in charge of the market reported it to the king, and both were granted office.

Hong Giseop (洪耆燮) was very poor in his youth and could not keep food on the table. One morning a young maidservant came running with seven nyang of cash and offered them, saying, "This was in the kettle. It will buy several seom of rice and several loads of firewood. Heaven has given it! Heaven has given it!" The gentleman was startled and said, "What money is this?" He at once wrote out the words "Let the one who lost this money come and take it," pasted them on the lintel of his gate, and waited.

Before long a man named Yu (劉) came and asked what the writing meant, and the gentleman told him the whole of it. Yu said, "There is no way anyone would lose money inside another man's kettle. Truly heaven has given it. Why do you not take it?" The gentleman said, "It is not mine. How should I take it?" Yu bowed to the ground and said, "Last night I came to steal your kettle, and instead I pitied how bare your household was, and I left this behind. Now I am moved by your integrity, and my conscience has risen of itself. I swear I will steal no more, and I wish to serve at your side always. Take it without misgiving." The gentleman at once gave back the money and said, "That you have turned to the good is well, but this money I cannot take." To the end he would not accept it.

Later the gentleman became a minister, and his son Jaeryong (在龍) became the father-in-law of King Heonjong. Yu too came to be trusted, and his person and his household greatly prospered.