Shengyuan Continent, Wu Kingdom.
Yuzhen is a small town one hundred miles away from the capital of Wu State. Due to poor transportation and many mountains nearby, even though it is very close to the capital of Wu State, it is not prosperous and is even a bit dilapidated.
However, precisely because of the quietness here, many scholars who are devoted to spiritual practice will occasionally come here along the river to practice meditation.
A few days ago, Zhang Houlu, a well-known university scholar in Wu State, appeared in a dilapidated house on the edge of the town.
At the beginning, no one cared and everyone was meditating in their own place.
However, one evening, a sound was heard from the dilapidated house.
Someone attentive followed the sound and looked through the open door to see a tiger skin spread out in the main hall of the house. A middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties was sitting on the tiger skin.
The man was dressed in a green robe embroidered with clouds, and had a thin beard on his cheeks and chin. He looked extremely rough, but his complexion was delicate, like that of a fair-skinned young man, which formed a sharp contrast with the beard.
The man immediately recognized that this person was Zhang Houlu.
Zhang Houlu was lecturing on "The Doctrine of the Mean" in front of an empty hall.
The man was startled, thinking he had encountered something evil, but his instinct as a scholar made him listen carefully to a few words. He was immediately fascinated and obediently entered the dilapidated house to listen to Zhang Houlu's lecture on "The Doctrine of the Mean".
After this matter spread, people would come to the outside of the dilapidated house every night, and once Zhang Houlu started to speak, everyone would go in to listen.
After a few days, at dusk, all the scholars and even primary school children in Yu Town came outside the house.
Zhang Houlu did not talk about anything else but just the "Doctrine of the Mean" over and over again. Some people got tired of listening to him at first, but gradually they found that every time Zhang Houlu gave a lecture, they made subtle progress. Every time they listened, their understanding of the "Doctrine of the Mean" and even the entire Confucian classics became deeper, so they listened patiently.
As time went by, people began to call him the Tiger Skin University Scholar.
Because Zhang Houlu's language is easy to understand, many children insist on coming to listen.
When people in the surrounding areas of Yu Town learned that a great scholar was giving lectures here, they came to watch the fun. Some left, and some stayed.
To this day, as soon as the sun sets, more than a hundred people gather outside the dilapidated house, waiting for Zhang Houlu to start his lecture.
Soon, Zhang Houlu sat on the tiger skin and started talking without paying any attention to others.
"Nature is the mandate of Heaven, following nature is the Way, and cultivating the Way is teaching. This is the general outline of the Doctrine of the Mean. The interpretations of these three sentences by various sages vary, but it depends on the person. As long as you don't go astray, even if there are thousands of annotations, they are all reasonable."
"In my opinion, these three sentences are very simple. They are just saying that what God has given to people is nature, and what we do according to nature is the natural way. But in fact, not everyone can do things according to nature, and they may go astray. Therefore, to practice the way in the right way and let others learn from it is education."
"So, who can teach the way of cultivation? That's right, it's the saints, it's Confucius. If we think about this sentence backwards, it will become that we need to accept the correct teachings of the saints on how to practice the way. Only in this way can we understand what it means to practice the way. After understanding what it means to practice the way, we need to follow it and we can act in accordance with our nature. Now that we know and have done it, we can truly understand what nature is."
"What happens after you know what nature is?"
Zhang Houlu answered his own question: "Then we know what is the destiny of heaven, that is, we know what destiny is and what heaven is. This is the basic principle of the fourth-level Confucian scholar advancing to the fifth level to forge destiny. When you reach the fifth level of the Confucian scholar, you must abandon yourself and focus on learning destiny. Only after you master your own destiny can you have the foundation for canonization. Unfortunately, it takes too long to forge destiny. Even if you forge it, you can't fully understand it and can't use it. It can only be placed there to increase your strength. A literary master is someone who has comprehended destiny to the extreme, which is equivalent to stepping half a foot into the path of sainthood."
"It is said that great scholars are those who have touched the edge of the Holy Way. The literary giant has actually touched the Holy Way with one finger. Of course, just touching it does not mean you can gain the power of the Holy Way."
Finally, Zhang Houlu patted his tiger skin and said proudly: "Do you understand? The reason why I have not been promoted to the Great Scholar is to lay a solid foundation. The Great Scholar is to cultivate the "Great Learning" of "investigating things, seeking knowledge, sincerity and uprightness". When you reach the Great Scholar, you must cultivate yourself, manage your family, govern the country and bring peace to the world. The two are connected and not difficult. They are all about cultivating "Great Learning". However, when you reach the fourth level of the Great Scholar, you need to cultivate the "Literature" to be promoted to the fifth level. You no longer need to cultivate "Great Learning", but "The Doctrine of the Mean". Therefore, if I don't understand the Doctrine of the Mean, I can't become a Great Scholar."
Some scholars felt helpless. They thought that Zhang Houlu was good in everything except that he was sometimes fanciful and even whimsical. In fact, the title of "Grand Scholar" had nothing to do with the name of "Great Learning", but he forced the connection. However, what he said later made some sense.
"I know you are not convinced. From the beginning when some people attended the class, I said that anyone who has different opinions can speak up. I am making the final preparations for promotion to a great scholar, and I cannot afford any mistakes. If you can really find out my mistakes, you will be my teacher."
"Now, I am learning from the ancient sages and traveling around the world to hone myself. It's a pity that Fang Xusheng is in seclusion, otherwise I would have stayed in Jingguo. But it doesn't matter. Now I can achieve 'cultivating the Tao is called teaching'. If you learn from me, you will definitely find the right way."
After Zhang Houlu finished laughing, he stopped smiling, and everyone followed suit. They all knew that Zhang Houlu had ended his joke and was about to continue his lecture.
"you are wrong."
A young man who was standing outside the door and listening quietly suddenly spoke.
Zhang Houlu opened his mouth and stared blankly at the ordinary young man with an unremarkable appearance.
The others also turned to look. The man seemed to be just a student who came here from another place yesterday. It was his first time to listen to Zhang Houlu's lecture. His accent did not sound like a Wu person. There were many portraits of celebrities from various countries, but this person was not included.
Zhang Houlu said sternly, "May I ask where I went wrong?"
After hearing just one sentence, everyone was in awe. A dignified university scholar used humble words in front of a young man. His broad mind alone was comparable to that of a great scholar. At the same time, they were a little suspicious of the young man and even wanted to see him make a fool of himself.
The young man asked, "What is the will of heaven?"
Everyone was stunned. Nature is the destiny of heaven. Destiny of heaven is not the command of heaven, but the command of heaven. That is, what heaven bestows on man is called nature.
This sentence actually only involves three points: heaven, man and nature, and does not involve anything else.
When young people ask Heaven what destiny they have, they are actually asking, what has Heaven given to man to form his nature
Zhang Houlu said: "It is God's will."
Everyone nodded. Zhang Houlu's answer was correct. Heaven itself was a kind of existence or force that could directly endow people with their nature.
This heaven is not the sky, nor the matter of the universe, but the name of the collective of the supreme power, spirit or existence of the universe.