Meaning: Incorruptible and tolerant yet magnanimous, kind-hearted but able to make prompt decisions, shrewd yet demanding, upright yet not overcorrecting.

From "Cai Gen Tan" compiled by Hong Yingming in the Ming Dynasty.

Original text:

To be clear and tolerant, to be benevolent and to be able to make good judgments, to be clear but not to judge, to be straight but not to correct, is to say that candied fruit is not sweet, seafood is not salty, this is the virtue.

Just like candied fruits are not overly sweet even though they are dipped in sugar, and seafood fish and shrimp are not overly salty even though they are pickled in a tank. A person must be able to maintain an impartial standard to be regarded as a virtue in dealing with others.

Extended information

Creative background

Hong Yingming’s life story is unknown. It is speculated that he is probably from Jintan County and a hermit who has lived in the mountains and forests for a long time. The book was probably written and published in the middle or late Wanli period or at the end.

At this time, Emperor Shenzong was running the country without justice, the eunuchs were monopolizing power, the government was weakened, and party troubles were everywhere. The internal and external troubles that had begun to appear in the Jiajing Dynasty became more serious. The thoughts of knowledgeable people were extremely dull and helpless. Freed from the fierce social conflicts at that time, human figures and pens were created to express the aspirations of the times.

"Cai Gen Tan" is a collection of quotations that discuss cultivation, life, life, and birth. It is a rare treasure of ancient times. It has incredible and subtle power in cultivating people's moral integrity and cultivating their moral character.

The content of "Cai Gen Tan" is a popular Confucian book. It adopts the essence of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. It takes the study of mind and Zen as its core. It has the principles of self-cultivation, family order, country governance and world peace. At the same time, Because it integrates the philosophy of life, the art of life, and aesthetic taste, it is also an inspiring Chinese literary work.

The author named this book after "Cai Gen", which means "human intelligence and cultivation can only be obtained through hard training." As the saying goes, "If you bite the root of the vegetable, you can do everything."

An honest and self-sufficient person is certainly worthy of respect, but they often go too far and raise their own style to a very high level. They cannot tolerate anything in society and hate evil as much as hatred. As a result, they become It has become an extreme that has no tolerance for magnanimity. The subjective efforts and objective effects of doing so are likely to be opposite.

On the contrary, although a magnanimous and kind-hearted person is loved by others, such a person may often lack decisiveness. You can become a good person in this way, but you won't be able to accomplish great things. If a smart person does not have noble moral cultivation and cannot grasp the sense of proportion in doing things, being smart will cause harm to him. This is what is commonly said: "Smartness can lead to misunderstandings."

A person is very smart, but if he is extremely smart, he may accomplish nothing. It can be seen that when doing things, we must ensure that subjective efforts and objective results are consistent. On the one hand, we need to have good moral character, and on the other hand, we must have a suitable standard for doing things well and have a suitable method.

Baidu Encyclopedia--A gentleman's virtue is the golden mean