True Joys in Life

Mencius once said， in a sense， there are three true joys throughout the world. It composes of the first joy that both of your parents are still living and your brothers are in good health， which belongs to the human relations joy； neither being ashamed to the heaven nor humans makes up the second joy， the third joy is having the opportunity to educate the talented and excellent students， which is also called the teaching joy. The joy of humans interpersonal relationship may go beyond the fact that your parents and brothers are safe and sound， but it also counts if your wife is willing to share the happiness and sorrow with you in the same boat； your offspring can learn something from your education； your family members will live in harmony with you； the female in your family can meet a decent spouse and lead a happy life. From the prospective of interpersonal relationship， it cant be called the true joy with one of three principles unfinished， your heartfelt joy is not just feeling no shame to the heaven， but also your moral values ought to conform with the greats、heaven and earth， only by this degree can the joy be part of human interpersonal relationship in the meaning. If there are some differences in your moral values with the greats、heaven and earth， the joy is merely on the contrary. As for the teaching joy， which isnt only to have the opportunity to educate the talented and excellent students， but also to learn from those who does better than youin knowledge、moral and behavior， its a great pleasure to take them as your teachers and learn something from them. The listed three factors are the true joys in the world. It will have troubled and annoyed you a lot rather than cheer you up if you take other things such as the wealth and rank as joy， the wise man will not value the joy which the majority have chased.

The well-known scholar Zhou Dunyi in Song dynasty once said， Yan Zi， who had lived a poor life in a shabby lane with just a bowl of food and a grond dipper of water. He didnt change his way of life which the others couldnt stand at all. After all， the majority of human beings would like to go in for the wealth and rank. However， neither did Yan Zi envy nor go after these matters， he regarded his poverty as joy on the contrary. What unique thought did he have under this circumstance？ Even though there were so much wealth and rank to go after， Yan Zi didnt follow the general trend， because he thought highly of the great “wealth and rank” but not the general “wealth and rank”.

Someone would have a peaceful mind if he can realize the great “wealth and rank” .Further more， there wouldnt be nothing satisfactory if he can keep a peaceful mind， In other words， with everything satisfied， all the wealth， rank， poverty or humbleness can be regarded the same， as a result， all the differences among them can also be eliminated， and then our humankind will reach a state where the wealth and poverty could stay the same， the rank and humbleness become equal. Therefore， Yan Zi was just second to the greats.

The question Zhou Dunyi raised was how Yan Zi could gain both his mental and physical joy in harmony with each other in the poor life， Obviously， Yan Hui joy meant that he had gone beyond the poverty and wealth， and then he reached a lofty spiritual state， while the joy was not brought by the poverty itself. Although the individual suffered the poverty that the others couldnt stand， or the wealth which is in his easy reach， he will neither make his mind and body imbalanced， nor will he gain the joy brought by a bad spiritual state if he has reached the lofty one. Therefore， we can conclude that the joy Zhou Dunyi mentioned was actually different from the joy by meeting the desire and need for the majority， which was brought by self-complacence. The Tong Shu has referred to this joy for several times， for instance， a gentleman will appreciate whether his moral value is in accordance with the glorious morality and he will regard the ease and justice as wealth. You will be contented with joy if you have these feelings. You will be at ease with life and in a high morality if you realize the distinction on the wealth and rank between the gentlemen and the majority. Besides， you will look down on the power and rank and view the money and property as dust even neglect them if you stay a calm spiritual state. In the eyes of the gentlemen， the high moral value is much more precious than those matters， since there is nothing more worthwhile than going after the moral value.Yan Zi joy which Zhou Dunyi praised highly is of positive meaning toady， and it tells us that there are something which is more worthwhile of pursuing except the wealth and power， such as uprightness， loftiness， kindness or mental delight and so on. In other words， its the true source for ones living joy that the pursuit for his life goal and spiritual state， to a great extent.

作者簡介：伍鋼， 男， 湖北枝江人， 三峽大學碩士研究生， 研究方向：翻譯理論與實踐。