True Giving is Without Rewards - The Way of God

Are your gifts truly gifts for this Christmas? Know the giving of God. The Ancient Chinese also tell us that true giving is without any acknowledgment and without returns.

Bible Reference: Matthew 6:1-4

• Mat 6:1  “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 
• Mat 6:2  “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
  Mat 6:3  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
  Mat 6:4  so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.   

The Season of Giving:

Christmas is a time of giving. Most of us give for the pleasures of blessing others. But we also give as a form of returning others' gifts, a forced-to kind of giving. If we give to gain recognition or seek other forms of returns then we are not really giving at all. It is but a business transactions and we may be burden by it. How many of us are dreaded by the number of gifts we "have to" buy because it will be impolite not to give back? So, are we really giving? The way of God is giving to benefit the recipient without expecting any return. Even better still, the recipient does not know who the giver is.

Your giving may be in secret

Here are some quotes from the Ancient Chinese Classics that show how the Way of God or the Dao.

中庸 12v1 君子之道，费而隐。  
The Book of Centrality 12:1  The way of the wise gentleman is board and precise at the same time. 

That is the interpretation in the context of the chapter. However, if we go by the specific meaning of the words, we find a specific example of what board and precise means. 

费 is spending or giving things/money generously or widely
隐 is hidden or secret that could not be seen or known.

Hence, the true giving of God is giving without knowing one is giving nor threcipientnt know the person who is giving. 

In Lao Zi's Dao De Jing, you will find many verses about the Way of God:

道德经

• C02 生而不有，为而不恃，功成而弗居；
  Giving birth and yet not possessing. Serving and yet not demanding. Accomplished and yet not claiming credit.
• C10 生之蓄之，生而不有，为而不恃，长而不宰，是谓玄德。
  Giving birth and naturing it. Giving birth and not possessing. Serving and yet not demanding. Growing and yet not forcing. Such is the Way of the Great Virtue.
• C51 生而弗有，为而弗恃，长而弗宰，是谓玄德。」
  Giving birth and not possessing. Serving and yet not demanding. Growing and yet not forcing. Such is the Way of the Great Virtue.
• C08 上善弱水，水善利万物而不争
  The best goodness is like water. Water benefits all things and fights with them not.

The Chinese Masters agree that such high standard is not attainable even by the Saints.

中庸 

• 12v2 夫妇之愚，可以与知焉，及其至也，虽圣人亦有所不知焉。夫妇之不肖，可以能行焉，及其至也，虽圣人亦有所不能焉。天地之大也，人犹有所憾。故君子语大，天下莫能载焉，语小，天下莫能破焉。
  
  The common man and woman in their simple mind can understand some part of the Way. However, for the thorough knowledge of the Way, even the saints still have much that they know not. The common man and woman, even sinful, is able to do what the Way teaches. However, to do completely what the Way demands, even the saints could not. The greatness of the heaven and earth cause people some regrets and disappointments. Hence, when the wise man speaks of the greatness of the Way, the whole world could not contain it. When the wise man speaks about the smallness. the details, the specifics of the Way, the whole world is not able to divide or split it.

We can see that anyone can follow part of the requirements of the Laws but we will fail the high standards of the Laws. Consider what Jesus said in 

• Mat 5:27  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 
• Mat 5:28  But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 

So we can see that the Ancient Chinese Masters agree with Paul's Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

What the Saints Could Not - Jesus did it for us.

• Rom 7:24  Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 
• Rom 7:25  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
  So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin. 

The greatest gift of Christmas is Jesus, the Son of God, Himself giving His very own life for us. Completing what man could never have done. His purpose is simply the salvation of our souls. 

Will you receive Him now?

Lim Liat (c) 21 Dec 2017

All Will Be Revealed - So How Shall We Live?

Jesus in Luke 12:2 tell us that all things will be revealed. And further in Luke 12:40 He warns that Christ will come at the hour we do not expect. How then shall we live such that we can be ready anytime and all the time? The Ancient Chinese teaching of "慎独" "Be Careful when Alone" gives us additional light.

Bible Reference: Luke 12:2-3; Luke 12:35-48

All Will Be Revealed:

When we want to do bad things we will go to some secret places that no one knows thinking that we would not be found out. We may also put up a false front to cover our evil intention inside. But Jesus tells us that all things will be revealed.

• Luk 12:2  Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 
• Luk 12:3  Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

How then shall we live?

Be Ready All the time so that He can come anytime:

In Luke 12:35-48, Jesus gives the parable of a wise steward. He is ready all the time so that the Master can come anytime and he would be found to be faithful. Sun Zi's Art of War tells us that the best defense is not counting on the enemy not attacking but in having the confidence that we have already prepared for him to attack anytime. (The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable. 故用兵之法，无恃其不来，恃吾有以待之；无恃其不攻，恃吾有所不可攻也。). That is precisely the attitude we must have in waiting for the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• Luk 12:43  Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing (awake, dressed, lamp burning, ready to serve) when he comes.
• Luk 12:40  You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Ancient Chinese Wisdom - 君子慎独 The Wise Gentleman is Prudent even when alone.

Confucianism has a teaching on 慎独 Preduence when Alone gives us additional understanding.

《中庸》：是故君子戒慎乎其所不睹，恐惧乎其所不闻。莫见乎隐，莫显乎微，故君子慎其独也。”
Book of Centrality: Hence, the wise gentleman is careful even when no one is watching and he is fearful even when no one is hearing. Because the hidden may be revealed and the little may be enlarged and seen. Therefore the gentleman is careful even when he is all alone.

The gentleman is careful not to do any bad thing, even if little, because however little, it will reveal to himself even if others don't know. A gentleman must be true to himself irrespective of whether others know about it or not.

《大学》第七章："所谓诚其意者，毋自欺也。如恶恶臭，如好好色，此之谓自谦。故君子必慎其独也。小人闲居为不善，无所不至，见君子而后厌然，掩其不善，而著其善。人之视己，如见其肺肝然，则何益矣。此谓诚于中，形于外，故君子必慎其独也。"

The Book of Great Learning Chapter 7: What is integrity? Not to deceive oneself. If one hates the bad smell or if one love the lovely, that is just being humble (humility is about being true to oneself). Hence a gentleman must be prudent when all alone. The villain does all kinds of bad things when free. When they see gentlemen then they are shocked and so try to cover their bad deeds and to show off their good deeds. However, others can see into internal of lungs and liver, there are no advantages. The inner integrity is revealed in the external behavior. Hence, a gentleman must be prudent even when all alone.

We may be able to hide from people but we can't hide from God and neither from our own conscience.

The lesson for Today:

Count not on won't be discovered but be ready all the time, such that we may found as"the good and faithful servant" when Christ comes again.

Please see also:

• Preparing for Christ 2nd Coming
• Preparing for Christ 2nd Coming - Part 2
• Bible Study 2 Peter 3 Living in End-Times

Lim Liat (c) 20 Dec 2017

Let Your Light Shine & How with the Doctrine of Centrality

True believers are lights. They are to let their light shine out to make the world a better place by setting the examples. Luke 11-34-36 reveals the secrets. It resonances with the Ancient Chinese Doctrine of Centrality 中庸 which gives us additional guides. See how you can be the light of the world.

Bible Reference:  Luke 11:33-36 (KJV)

• 33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light
• 34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
• 35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
• 36 If thy whole body, therefore, be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

Let Your Light Shine:

Jesus begins with a common sense understanding that we put a light, in this case, a candle, at a prominent place, the candlestick, to light out the whole place. 

He then proceeds to show us that how we can have light in our body and ends with our body full of light just like the candle he started with.  We are to let our light shine out.

This also tells us that we never live alone. Neither can we separate ourselves from the world. Living the life of a hermit is not biblical. We are to engage the society and more importantly shine our light and make a good testimony.

How to Have the Light?

It starts with our eyes. The input to our body, or more accurately to our mind and heart. 

It must be single. Focus on the right thing in contrast with the evil eye in the second half of verse 34. Not double minded wanting this right thing but also not willing to forgo the evil thing. Confucius teaches us 子曰：非礼勿视，非礼勿听，非礼勿言，非礼勿动。意思说，See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil (do no evil)。

Titus 1:15 reveals more light to us.

 ◄ Titus 1:15 ► To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.

We must guard our input - What have we been watching and reading?

We are to take heed,  to develop our character, such that it contains no evil and no darkness.

It also reveals to us that we can tell the inside, the character of a person, by what he reads and how he interprets events. 

This also applies to us. We must reflect on the types of books, tv, movies, videos that we watch.

Shining the Light

We shine our light by our behavior. The words we speak and write and the things we do. Are our words edifying? Are they encouraging? Or are we gossiping and bad-mouthing others? Do we act according to what we preach? Do we deliver our promises? Are we helpful? Are we generous? Are we forgiving? Do we point out the right and wrong and make our stands or we just hide away and let the evil propagates?

The Teaching of the Doctrine of Centrality

As I was meditating on the verses, I was reminded of the words that I read earlier in the Book of the Doctrine of Centrality.

《中庸》13v1  子曰：「道不远人，人之为道而远人，不可以为道。」
The Way of Dao is not far from men. Men who pursue the Dao and yet distance themselves from others are not following the Dao.

Here we find Confucius supporting Jesus' let your light shine and not keep it in a secret place.

   《中庸》13v3 “忠恕，违道不远，施诸己而不愿，亦勿施于人”，

Confucius explains what the Way of Dao looks like. It is about "what you don't like what others do to you, then you don't do it to others." It is empathy. It is about considering the interests of others. Whatever we do, we must have consideration for others. This is one form of the Dao. Confucius in Analects gives a positive version of this Way of Dao 己欲立而立人，己欲达而达人 We must first build up ourselves and then help build others. We must be successful and then help others to be successful too.

Or in the Bible, we must love others as ourselves. Loving God is seen in loving others. 

◄ 1 John 4:20 ►If a man says, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

Be Single-minded for God and Shine your light in this Christmas Seasons.

Lim Liat (c) 19 Dec 2017

Chinese Year of the Rabbit and Biomimicry

Learning Values from the Animals and Start Making Changes for a God Blessed New Year 2011

I mentioned Biomimicry in my last post, Eat, Drink & Enjoy - A Reflection on Sunday's Chinese New Year Message. It was an extreme way of looking at Biomimicry in medicines and health. It was about eating the right animal organs to supplement the corresponding human organ's function. The generally accepted meaning of Biomimicry is learning and adopting the behavior of the living things into the human world for creating innovations that brings value, and especially in the area of creating a sustainable eco-systems.

The Chinese has, a long time ago, practiced this kind of Biomimicry - learning from the animal. It was wisely and widely diffused in the Chinese culture through of use Chinese Zodiac sign. Instead of teaching the less educated to learn to read, it is much easier to use signs, of animals, to tell about the year and time. 12 Animals are used with one for each year. Starting with rat, then ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, roster, dog and pig.  ( I recently got to know that the Vietnamese uses Cat in place of Rabbit). The behavior of the animal is used to characterize the fortune for the year (part of a more complex system of 5 elements, 10 heaven trunks and 12 earth branches and others) and also about the character of the person born in the year. The strengths and weaknesses of animal is an exhortation for the people. I think it is a pretty smart. It is a low-cost yet highly effective way of teaching moral values to the mass of people. Let me add that I don't believe in Zodiac signs, neither character based on Zodiac signs, nor any form of fortune telling. This post is about Biomimicry.

Learning from Rabbits - Watchfulness, Carefulness & Agility
What can we learn from Rabbits? I think it is their watchfulness(alertness), carefulness and agility. They are always scanning the environment (blessed with long large ears, far distance eye-sight, sensitive sense of smell, day and night vision), extremely cautious (a nice way of saying they are timid) , and agile with powerful hind legs for speed. When encountering attackers, they also warn others by stamping on the ground.

There are more in the Animal Signs. They are about balanced values, see my post on Complementary Values from Chinese Zodiac Signs.

Eagle - Vision
Our Bible also uses animals to teach us about behavior. The famous one that is preached frequently is about the Eagle*1. We are to learn from the Eagle about having higher vision, soaring higher, effortless flight through the air by riding on the air currents, rejuvenation of youth by breaking their peaks and pulling out their feathers, and the training of the young by dropping them from great height and enabling them to try to fly by themselves etc.

Other AnimalsThere are other animals covered in Prov 30:25-31 [There are some differences among the translations]

1. The ants [are] a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;
   Teaching: plans for the future. hardworkingness.
2. The conies [are but] a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;
   Teaching: audacity in overcoming adversity.
3. The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;
   Teaching: unity, communication, self-directed management
4. The spider/lizard taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.
   Teaching: survivability, viral diffusion, globalization.
5. A lion [which is] strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any;
   Teaching: courage, strength, stately appearance,
6. A greyhound/strutting rooster; hunting and strength for the hound and Leadership and consistency from the rooster.
7. he-goat also;courageous executions
   (The lion, rooster, he-goat are named together with the King for their stateliness in v29 and I think that they stand for leadership)

Putting Them to Work
What can we learn from the above set of values from the animals? For the vision that you set for this coming new year, which values are most relevant to realizing the vision?

Knowing the relevant key values is just the first step. We must convert the values into policies and practices. We must refer to them when we make our decisions.

Let say we pick the Rabbit's agility, a very important value in today's rapid changing world, then we must put in place a system to scan the environment for changes in trends that are of importance to us. Furthermore, we must re-examine our ability to react to the change our situation. Are we assets light? Are our assets mobile or liquidable and be readily redeployable? Are there things in business, or emotional baggage in our private life, bad habits that tied us down and make us unresponsive?

Have a good reflection and start making changes for having a God blessed new year.

----
Note *1 We are encouraged to be like the Eagle and not the Hen. It is typical of common preachers to overstress the strength or usefulness of a particular thing. The truth is that we need to have both and the strength or weakness is dependent on the situation.

Lim Liat Copyrighted 2011

Chinese Classics & The Bible - Table of Content

This is the content page for posts that relate Ancient Chinese Classical Literature to the Bible:

1. Chinese Classics and the Bible
2. i-Ching (YiJing) and the Bible
3. Sinology Philosophy & The Bible in One Sentence
4. Yin Yang and the Bible
5. Linking Ancient Chinese Wisdom & the Bible
6. Similar Verses in the Bible and Chinese Classics 1 Knowing a Person
7. Similar Verses in the Bible and Chinese Classics 2 On Creation
• The Creation & the Creator - Gen 1:1-4 The Bible & Chinese Tell the Same Story
8. Similar Verses in the Bible and Chinese Classics 3 On The Golden Rule of Love
9. Similar Verses in the Bible and Chinese Classics 4 On Giving to Abundance
10. Similar Verses in the Bible and Chinese Classics 5 On Christian Virtues
11. Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 6 On Wealth from ...
12. Similar Verses in the Bible and Chinese Classics 7 on Mouth and Heart
13. Similar Verses in the Bible and Chinese Classics 8 on the Great Commission 
14. Similar Verses in the Bible and Chinese Classics 9 on Money & Righteousness
15. Similar Verses in the Bible and Chinese Classics 10 on Filial Piety   
16. Similar Verses in the Bible and Chinese Classics 11 Contentment in Whatever Situations
17. Similar Verses in the Bible and Chinese Classics 12 Creation and Love from Lao Zi
18. Similar Verses in the Bible and Chinese Classics 13 Shame & Boldness
19. Similar Verses in the Bible and Chinese Classics 14 Law of Multiplication Returns from Giving
20. Proverbs and LunYu of Confucius
21. How to be King - From Within to Without  
22. Understanding and Answers for the Present Generation
23. Sinology Philosophy & The Bible in One Sentence
24. Right or Wrong - The Moral Standard According to Ancient Chinese
25. Let Your Light Shine & How with the Doctrine of Centrality
26. All Will Be Revealed - So How Shall We Live?
27. True Giving is Without Rewards - The Way of God
28. The Parable of the Sower - An Interpretation from Chinese Viewpoint
29. Confucius' Tien 天 and God

I-Ching and the Bible:

1. Christianity Rediscovered: If Adam knew I-Ching, he would not have sinned
2. How to Pass through Dangers?
3. Humility is Forceful Too
4. Joy in the Meantime- How to Really Wait
5. The joy of Waiting - improving the process in the meantime.
6. Building Successful Family & Organization according to I-Ching
7. Biblical and Chinese Philosophical Teachings on Giving

Sun Zi's Art of War and the Bible:

1. Sun Zi's Art of War and the Bible
2. Christian Warfare and the Devil's Strategies
3. 36 Strategies and the Bible
    

Sun Zi's Art of War and the Bible

What has Sun Zi's Art of War has to do with the believers or the Bible?
As believers, we are in a war. A war against the devils to reach out to the people that know not Jesus Christ as Savior and God yet. It is not about fighting the devils because we have already won through Jesus. (see Christian Warfare and the Devil's Strategies)

Since it is a war, we need to learn about warfare.  Why not we just learn from the Bible and need not bother with writings of man? Yes, that is true. That is why I write Christian Warfare and the Devil's Strategies first. But reading the great writing of man enables me to compare and learn more about the Bible and in this case, warfare. It can be a bridge to lead a discussion of Sun Zi's Art of War to the Bible. It helps me to be a better believer and to reach out to others.

The Essence of Sun Zi's Art of War.
For details on Sun Zi's Art of War and its application to business and management, please see Sun Zi Art of War (Sun Tzu) in One Minute and the subsequent posts. The essences are:

1. Know the 5 key factors and the 7 assessment measures. Make an assessment of one readiness. Plan and develop oneself to be ready at all times. See point 5 to base measurements on real data.
2. Know your enemy and know yourself then victory is without danger. (Sun Zi 3:6,10:5a 知彼知己，胜乃不殆；) and
3. Knowing Heaven and Earth ensure victory is complete 10:5b 知天知地，胜乃可全.  Knowing Heaven means knowing the seasonal trends of the time and Knowing Earth means understanding the characteristics of the terrain. Riding the trends of time and terrain and of personalities will amplify your efforts multifold to ensure victory. Such trends or tendencies also apply to people. Sun Zi teaches us the quick temper can be irritated so that he made mistake, and even the good men can be slandered so that he is busy in protecting his reputation rather than fighting the war.
4. Best Warfare is Victory without a war. That is achieved by building yourself up to such that no one dares to take you on. (Sun Zi 3:1 是故百战百胜，非善之善也；不战而屈人之兵，善之善者也。)
5. Warfare is mainly Deception ( Sun Zi 1:6 兵者，诡道也。7:3 故兵以诈立，以利动，以分和为变者也。5v5 凡战者，以正合，以奇胜) Deception is about creating surprises - doing what the enemy does not expect so that he is caught without any defense.
6. Preparation and Planning from real data. Collect intelligence (Sun Zi 13) of the true intentions of people and be not fooled by the external behavior and events designed to deceive us.
7. Be wise, agile, flexible, watchful, in Mastering the Variation and exploiting the Advantages.  There is no one rule for all situations. (Sun Zi 8)

Teaching of Jesus
In the earlier post on Christian Warfare and the Devil's Strategies, Jesus tells that the devil is the liar and killer. Devil's basic method is deception. Sun Zi also gave us a long list of deceptive methods. In Luke 14:31-32 (Count the Costs), Jesus tell us to plan on real data (not on wishes) and decide accordingly. Jesus did not teach us not to plan but just 'not to worry' as quite a few believers are confused (Mat 6:34). We are to be wise as the serpent and harmless as doves as we are being sent into the midst of wolves (Mat 10:16).

Learning from Sun Zi

1. The five factors are The Way of God (Bible), the Will of God, the Theater of Operations (our family, office, social space), the capability of our leaders (or maturity), and discipline of laws. The measurements are for us to know and increase the value. We must know the Bible in greater depth, to grow in maturity and capability in Christ, to know the will of God for the present time and the positioning in the places of our operations, to be sure that we adhere to the disciplines for development (e.g. quiet time, services etc), the strength of our community, the training for our community, and the encouragements and rewards.
2. Best is to Win without a War.
   How can we do that? That is by walking in the light, abiding in Christ, yielding to the Holy Spirit! This is basic of Christian relationship - staying close to Jesus. With Jesus close to us, the devil will keep his distance from us.
   
3. Know the Enemy and Know Oneself.
   The enemy is a liar and uses deception. I should put on the armor of truth (See 
   Victorious Life - The Armor of God). Read the Bible well and know our identity, inheritance, authority, etc in Christ. We learn to doubt the devil's doubt and overcome the deception with truth and faith in God. (May want to read Bible Study 1 John Chapter 5 Identity & Overcoming Power)
4. Propensities of the Situations and Our Personalities.
   The devil understands our personalities and our propensities and will make use of the various situations to attack or tempt us. Many famous men of God committed sins when they were successful. Elijah at his height of success in defeating the false prophets of Baals ran for his life and hid in a cave when he heard the queen was going after him. The devil will exploit our propensities to get us to sin willingly and then accuse and condemn us. Consider how to a cat to eat pepper. Cats like to clean itself. So just spray pepper on its fur and it will happily lick up the pepper to clean itself.
5. Deception - Overcome it with Truth, Honesty, Communication, and Transparency.
   Deception is afraid of light and openness. Devil is good at sowing misunderstanding, gossiping lies about your loved ones and friends. Communicate honestly, openly and transparently are means to resolve the misunderstanding.
   
6. Preparation and Planning.
   Face up to the realities of life. Call a sin a sin and not to give excuses. Bring the issues to God to get wisdom to solve them. Use the brain, the creativity that God has given us. Plan well and execute well. Apply the wisdom of the following rule 5 below. 
1. Planning begins with seeking the Lord first. Asking for guidance and adopting His values and thinking. It is God first then plan and not we plan first and ask God to endorse our plan. (Prov 3:5-6) Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths
7. Be Wise - Apply the Right things to the Right Situations. Be flexible, agile and watchful.
   Don't put God into a mold and expect God to work in the same way as before. Jesus healed in many diverse ways. Be able to see the working of God in your situation. Enrich our lives with the Knowledge of the Bible, God, and others who the Holy Spirit may have a large reservoir of knowledge to remind us from. Holy Spirit can give us fresh words John 16:13-15 to give us the right word for the situation. 

What is Missing in Sun Zi?
There is a strategy that is missed out in Sun Zi's Art of War. Sun Zi did mention to take good care of your men and to pursue the interests of the people and country and not yourself. Sun Zi is not able to know the overcoming power of love. A great way to overcome deception of the devil over people is for us to use love so that the people can see the light - the light of the gospel of Christ. Love is not easy but love is the 'more than conqueror' power - converting the enemy(not the devil, the people who are against us because of deception) into friends. See The Meaning of "More than Conquerors".

Lim Liat (c) updated 30 May 2013, updated 11 Apr 2018 on Propensities.

How to be King

I have tried to come out with other suitable titles like "How to have influence over others", "The Secrets of Leadership", "The Principles to be Popular and get Support", "How to get Followers",   etc. But finally, I think I just stay with the translation of King. King means power to rule over others, not by force, but by influence to get willing and committed followers.

The Wisdom of Chinese Classics can be summarized into four words "内圣外王", translated as "Inside Saint Outside King". In our Christian teaching, I will translated it as, "Inside Christ Outside Glory" or "Christ within and Glory without". As we live out the Christ within us, we will have the influence and the testimonies to bring glory to God. Jesus' prayer is "Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." How is this done? Through all of us that have Christ within to live Christ out in our behavior, careers and lives.  This is taught to us by Paul in, using the NLT, as

Php 2:12-16 ... Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Hold firmly to the word of life; ....

Or in the Message bible with a more powerful image:

Php 2:12-16  ...Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God.  That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.  Do everything readily and cheerfully--no bickering, no second-guessing allowed!  Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night ...

Please also see What is the meaning of Yielding to the Spirit?
and Christian Transformation & Growth -The Unified Model ...

For management and leadership training, we would translate the phase as “One must be able to manage oneself well first then we can manage others".  Or, "Leading others begins with leading oneself". We must be of good character and be capable first then we can lead others. If we cannot manage ourselves, how can we manage others?

The Wisdom of Chinese Classics

Let me also share with you the teaching of the Ancient Chinese.  The concept of the phase first appeared in Zhuang Zi 《庄子·天下篇》. You can click the link to get the English translation. The keys are:

1. To build inner character, remember the root sources, the attributes, the truth, virtues, the ways, handling of changes, love, righteousness, manners of behavior, harmony of music.
2. To manage the people, use laws, right jobs for right people, evidence based, careful decision making, providing for living (economic development for the people), storing, care for the old, weak and orphans.

Confucius's Ru School has an equivalent saying, "内修外治" Developing the Inner man and then rule externally". It has a eight step process, "格物、致知、诚意、正心、 修身、 齐家、治国、平天下".The first five is for Character and Wisdom building. The last three is about rulership over family, country and the world. For details, see Understanding 'The Great Learning DaXue' in One Minute

Wisdom and Character building begins with

1. 格物: Study the behavior of the things, the universe, ecology, people etc. This is science and more.
2. 致知: Gain in depth knowledge and learn from the study of things.
3. 诚意: Sincerity. No deviation from the truth. No lying to oneself or others.
4. 正心: Literally, square-heart. A pure, fair, righteous and peaceful heart. No evil intentions. No prejudices or biases.
5. 修身: Development of Character Virtues. Ru School has a list of virtues. The list is similar to Christianity. Love, righteousness, balanced, pure, manners, understanding shame, respects and care for parents and elders, etc.

Once we have developed our character and wisdom, then we can manage our family, and then our country and then the world. It takes a process, and one step at a time.

We can see that Ancient Chinese stresses much on following the ways of God, building of character, and then creating a harmonious and prosper world.

2Pe 1:5-9  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;  6  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;  7  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.  8  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  9  But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

As Christians, with the Christ, the grace of God within us, could we do less? Because of the New Life within us, let us boldly live out the glory of God within that others may the Glory of God and be drawn to Christ.

Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Similar Verses in BIble and Chinese Classics 7 on Mouth and Heart

This time we take a verse from a lesser known Chinese Classics 《鬼谷子》. It is classified into the group of Miscellaneous. The author is nick-named Gui Gu Zi 《鬼谷子》(Fellow of the Demon Valley - just the name of the place. His original name is 王诩). He was the teacher of the famous politicians and military strategists like 苏秦, 张仪, 孙膑与庞涓.

捭阖: 8  ...口者，心之门户也。... Open & Close: 8 ...Mouth is the door of the heart....
What we say come out from in the inside of our heart. When we are fearful and worry inside, we speak negative and depressing words. We say we can't. We say let's give up.

This reminded us of what Jesus said about it was not the food that defiled us but the evil inside spoken out.

Mat 15:18  But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; ...
(Mat 15:18  But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20  These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. )


The verse in the Classic read as follows:

捭阖: 8 捭阖者，道之大化，说之变也。必豫审其变化，吉凶大命系焉。口者，心之门户也。心者，神之主也。志意、喜欲、思虑、智谋，此皆由门户出入。故关之以捭阖，制之以出入。

Open and close is the operation of the Great Dao (Way of Heaven). It is the change that we need to talk about. We must carefully observe and predict the change (i.e. see the pattern of changes). This is because it determines the outcome of our lives, whether good or evil. Take note of the MOUTH. It is the DOOR of our HEART. HEART, it is the center of our spirit. Our will,  joy, desire, worry, wisdom and planning, all come in and out through the DOOR. Hence, we must guard its opening and closing, and limit what go in and come out.

It's main teaching is - Be careful and control what you say - good or bad comes from it.

Isn't this the same as Prov 18:21

• (KJVR)  Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.  or in a newer translation:
• (CEV)  Words can bring death or life! Talk too much, and you will eat everything you say.
  

It also reminds us of what James warned us about the tongue and the Godly wisdom in James 3.

We are and become what we say.
Because we say what we think, and what we think is what we become as in Prove 23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. We are or we become what we say. So it is extremely important that we guard what we say.


We get what we say.
We have this very powerful verses in the Bible Mark 11:22-23.

Mar 11:22  And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
Mar 11:23  For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Good Advices:

1. Carefully listen to and reflect what we are saying. 
• This is because what we say tell us much about our inner self. Are we worry? Are we joyful? Are we speaking words of faith? Are we jealous? Are we unforgiving?  Are we angry? Are we joyful? Are we confident? Are we proud? Check our inner spirit - positive, joyful, confident and trusting the Lord or the opposite.
2. Speak only positive words.
• Speak words of joy, encouragement, forgiveness, wisdom, beauty, blessings, comforting and assurance. 
• Stop gossiping, cursing, and saying words of defeats, depression and bitterness. 
• When we are tempted to speak negatively, apply the INVERT operator, and convert it to positive words.
3. Speak of our vision
• Speak of what we want and like to become. 
• Speak of what success look like. 
• Speak words of faith in Christ. 

Previous: Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 6 On Wealth from Righteousness

Chinese Classics (I-Ching, Dao, Analects etc) and the Bible

The Purpose
Some brothers were concerned about my interests in and my study of the Chinese Classics (Ancient Chinese Classical Literature, now popularly known in China as 国学 National Learning). They were concerned that I may be misled. Chinese has an interesting term for those that are deeply involved in a topic, such as Qi Gong (Breathing and Meditation Exercises), and with a wrong step, could lead into 走火入魔, meaning runaway(out of control) fire and entering or into the devil.

This is precisely the reason that I am studying and writing these posts about Chinese Classics. The purposes are

• to help the believers to understand the Chinese Classics and the Chinese culture better.
• to help Chinese Classics readers differentiate the spiritual from the non-spiritual parts.
• Jesus Christ came to tell and to bring us back to our Heavenly Father God. He did not come to destroy our entire cultures (Every culture has within it the godly and the non-godly parts).
• Jesus Christ is the answer to what the ancient Chinese sages were looking for.

Chinese Classics Begin with Acknowledgment and Respect for the Creator-God
The oldest and the Classic of the Chinese Classics known as the I-Ching or Yi-Jing begins with the 1st hexagram 乾 as Heaven - the great beginning of Creation and the creative force, and with the 2nd hexagram 坤 as Earth - the created mother Earth providing the environment for the growth all things.

Ancient Chinese believed the visible came from the invisible God. All the varieties of lives and things come from the great single source of God. The ancient Chinese studied the ways of Heaven (God) and Earth and exhorted that man must follow the ways of Heaven and Earth to have harmony - 天地人合一。 It is frequently simplified into 天人合一， unity of Heaven and Man, is the purpose of man. Is not this the purpose of Jesus Christ? Eph 1:10  "as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth"!

Chinese Classics wisdom actually begins with the fear of the Lord, God ( Prov 1:7, Job 28:28, Ps 111:10, Prov 9:10, Pro 15:33 all say that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom or knowledge or insight) See Why is the Fear of the Lord the Beginning of Wisdom?. It is the Godly and Biblical kind of wisdom. Chinese wisdom is more godly than those present scientific teachings that do not even acknowledge the existence of God. Science explains how things work but cannot provide the answers to why things work. It has no answer to what is right or wrong, and no answer for life. Science can help prolong physical life but does not give meaning to life.  Ancient Chinese Classic provides the simple answer that man is to have harmony with God and the environment, love people, and leave a legacy for future generations. This is exactly what is expressed in "Ecc 12:13  The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man". In fact, when I first read Ecclesiastes I thought I was reading Chinese Classics. I had to check a few times that I was indeed holding a bible.

What is Missing in the Chinese Classics?
Not knowing about Jesus Christ, the ancient Chinese had to rely on themselves to achieve harmony with Heaven and Earth. It is man's great effort to study the ways of Heaven and Earth and then follow them to achieve maturity and good character virtues. Ancient Chinese teaches self-sacrifice for the benefit of others. It is not self-denial per se like some religions. It is a proactive concern for the people at large. Interestingly, they don't spend much time on sins but more time on the right ways. There is no use telling people what is wrong. It is more important to tell people what are the right ways that people could follow.

Ancient Chinese discovered a God of creation of power and love. A God to be revered. A God whose ways cannot be violated or violated at our own perils. Wise Chinese, sages, try hard to reach up to God and to teach others to do the same. Unfortunately, that is a tough road to travel, and not able to reach God's standards. We can see that those people's character virtues are very often much better than many Christians. Nonetheless, they fail God's standards. (I don't know what will happen to them since they were before Christ's time and had no Gospel preached to them. But if Enoch was taken away by God, we trust God to take care of those people who died without hearing about the Gospel.)

天人合一要靠耶稣
For this present time, we know the open secret of 天人合一, unity between heaven and man. It is through Jesus Christ, the God that became man to bring man to God. Having a rebirth into a new creation of Christ in us will enable us to reach God's standards spiritually and let our soul and body be developed into the mature image of Christ and bring glory to God through our behavior. Rom 12:1-2, 8:29. God is glorified through His body on earth, behaving like His Son Jesus Christ, i.e. that is you and me.

Chinese Wisdom Closer to Biblical Teachings
I would boldly go one step further to say that the Chinese Classics teaching of Harmony, respect for differences, and integrative type of thinking is closer to the Biblical Teaching of God all-embracing love rather than a particular Western type "you must be like me or else" type of teaching.

As an example, Paul did not tell the slaves to break free from their master once they were saved. Slavery is a human-made system. With a good master, slavery is good. The master is responsible for the life of the slave, including finding a wife and taking care of his children. With a bad master, slavery is bad. God's words work well under the slavery or non-slavery system. It is the human misinterpretation and misapplication of the Bible that creates problems. Paul told those who were saved to remain as they were. It is of the heart and not of the jobs. Nevertheless, if the slave can be free, then do it. The freed slave has the responsibility of making a living by himself. Some may not be able to do it!

Warnings
The Ancient Chinese Classical Literature has been extended and modified by the various religions that came after them. We can see the original Zhou Yi 周易 I-Ching has become a fortune-telling book. The Dao De Jing of Lao Zi has been named a bible of some religions and with a different interpretation. The teachings of Confucius and Confucius have been deified to become a religion and a god for worship. Hence, in the study of Chinese Classics, we need to differentiate the original source from the other spiritualized sources and distorted content.

Isn't the Bible Good Enough? Why should I bother?
The Bible is good enough for salvation and development and everything. However, to bring the gospel to a culture, we need to understand the culture and connect to the culture. We need to tell and show them that Jesus is the answer to their pursuits. To reach out to the Chinese with their cultural roots (there are Chinese that have taken other cultures), perhaps we should know about their ancient classical literature to reach out to them. Show me you know me so that perhaps I can give you an ear to hear what you want to say. Of course, that is not the only way to reach out to a particular culture. There are other ways like miracles and healing of the sick that draw people to God quickly without understanding the culture. But for the longer-term growth of the converted believers, some cultural understanding is needed.

Update 5 July 2014
Ancient Chinese Wisdom and Philosophies, called Sinology, are like the Old Testament of the Bible or the Tanakh of the Jews. They are books of wisdom to teach how to live rightly with God, nature, and men. The good news of the gospel is Jesus Christ, who gives us a new transformed life to live out the teachings. Right living comes from within and not by possessions of things nor by forced by external laws. 内圣外王, inside-saint then rule outside as a king, is the teaching of Zhuang Zi and Confucius.

Update 16 Jan 2017 - God is known from His Creation
Romans 1v20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Psalm 19 New Living Translation (NLT)
1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.
2 Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.
3 They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard.
4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth and their words to all the world.

For related posts see Chinese Classics & The Bible Index Page
For more on Chinese Classics and I-Ching see Ancient Chinese Wisdom

Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 6 On Wealth from Righteousness

In the Classics of Chinese of Classics I-Ching, there is a commentary 《文言》 on the first 乾卦 Heaven Hexagram that reads: 


《文言》曰：元者，善之长也。亨者，嘉之会也。利者，义之和也。贞者，事之干也。君子体仁足以长人，嘉会足以合礼，利物足以和义，贞固足以干事。君子行此四德者，故曰：“乾：元、亨、利、贞。”

I could not find the English translation with Google search. So let me translate this into English. The whole sentence is very meaningful, but let me just pick up the key phrase that is similar to the Biblical text first. It is the highlighted part of "利者，义之和也", which means, 'benefits and profits come from harmonizing with righteousness' or "business value creation comes from righteous pursuit". In other words, if we want money and wealth, we must pursue righteousness first.

This is exactly what Jesus said in Mat 6:33 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

If you are wondering whether this applies to the present time (as a believer, we believe that God's word hold true all the time and it is the modern man that are discovering its truth), see Guy Kawasaki's Arts of the Start video (skip to 5thmin),  in which he said, "to start a business is to create meaning", and "that includes increase the quality of life, right a wrong, and prevent the end of something good".  The new business books that came out recently and are coming continue to stress on the return to fundamental values and virtues of righteousness. e.g.  How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything...in Business, Megatrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism and many others.

Full Translation

The Great Beginning 元者 is the head of goodness. The Smooth harmonious Flow is the meeting of beauty. The benefits(profits) is the harmony with righteousness. The Purity (Focused Perseverance or Discipline) is the pillar of work. Wise men exercise love to build and lead people. Beauty comes from synchronizing with good manners (rules for proper conduct and communication). Benefiting others and things satisfy righteousness. Perseverance in purity enables one to do things. Wise men follow these four character virtues - goodness, harmony (smooth flow), value creation (benefiting others) and focused purity (defect free).

It is rather difficult to find the English words for the Chinese words and I struggle with the literal and dynamic translations. I hope you can get the meaning and enjoy the richness of the Chinese Classics. As I shared before that reading the Classics help me to appreciate the Bible better. Exposition on the Biblical text with a Chinese mindset will likely shed new lights for our understanding of the Bible and enjoy the beauty of Jesus Christ our Lord.

DaoDeJing 81 of Lao Zi:
The last two verses of the Tao Bible (DaoDeJing) written by Lao Zi are:
圣人不积，既以为人己愈有，既以与人己愈多。
The saints accumulate not. He that serve others possesses more. He that gives to others gain more.
天之道，利而不害；
The laws of heaven bring benefits without any harm.
圣人之道，为而不争。」
The laws of the saints are serving without competing.

Previous: Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 5 On Christian Virtues
Next: Similar Verses in BIble and Chinese Classics 7 on Mouth and Heart

Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 5 On Christian Virtues

What are the main virtues of Christians? 

What is Jesus like? 

We have the fruit of the Spirit described in Gal 5:23-24 as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We know the 9 descriptions can be grouped, even as one word, LOVE, as LOVE is defined by Paul in 1Co 13:4-8 Love is patient,  kind; rejoice at righteousness and truth and bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love is not envy nor boastful nor arrogant nor rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.

In Lao Zi's Dao De Jing Chapter 67, we have descriptions of the 3 virtues of Love, Frugality, and Putting Others First. Here are the details:

天下皆謂我道大 似不肖。夫唯大故似不肖。 若肖，久矣！其細也夫。
我有三寶 持而保之：一曰慈， 二曰儉，三曰不敢為天下先。
慈故能勇，儉故能廣，不敢為天下先 故能成器長。

今舍慈且勇，舍儉且廣，舍後且先，死矣！

夫慈以戰則勝，以守則固。天將救之 以慈衛之。

My translations:

All people under the heaven think that the Great Way (of Heaven that I preach) is useless or foolish. That is because greatness seems like folly. If it is useful, in the long run, it will be narrow and small. 
I have three treasures that I keep with me all the time. The first is love. The second is frugality (thriftiness, self-control). The third is not wanting to be first in the world. Love enables me to be brave. Frugality enables me to be generous. Not wanting to be first enables me to perform well and become the leader.
The people nowadays discard love and bravery, discard frugality and generosity, discard being last and fight for first, it will surely bring forth death!
Love will bring forth victory in attack and strong protection in defense.
Heaven will save such people and protect them with love.

 The 3 virtues correspond to the teachings of the Bible well.

1. Love: (Love is the Greatest)
   This is very obvious. Lao Zi added bravery with it. Loving others causing us to risk our lives to save them. This is precisely what Jesus did for us. He died on the cross to save us from the punishment of our sins. In addition, Lao Zi stresses that Love always wins whether in the active or receptive mode. God also saves and protects such people that act with love.
   
   
2. Frugality or Self-Control in spending: (Generosity is blessed)
   Because we exercise self-control in our spending, we shall have much to give away and be generous.
   Psa 37:21  The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives;
   Psa 37:26  He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing.
   
   
3. Not-Seeking to be First: (Servant Leadership)
   He is always thinking about others and putting others first. He is always serving others. No wonder that such people who put others first become the right choice of a leader.
   Mat 23:11  The greatest among you shall be your servant.
   Mat 19:30  But many who are first will be last, and the last first. 

In summary:

Love bravely, be frugal to be generous, and put others first are virtues for greatness.

Previous: Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 4 On Giving to Abundance
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Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 4 On Giving to Abundance

Giving is a virtuous character of the believer. Giving resulting in abundance of returns is taught by Jesus in

Luk 6:38  give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.

The last sentences of Lao Zi's Dao De Jing verse 81b teaches this too. Here is the detail:

聖人不積。
既以為人己愈有。
既以與人己愈多。
天之道利而不害。
聖人之道為而不爭。

My translation is:

Wise man do not accumulate things for himself.
The more he help others, the more he has!
The more he give to others, the more he gets!
The way of Heaven is always beneficial and never harmful.
The way of the Wise is to work for others and yet claim no glory or rewards.

Such concepts are very difficult to receive and believe by modern man in this competitive world. This resulted in some translator of Dao De Jing to include his warning that Lao Zi's teachings cannot be followed mechanically.

As believers, because the similar verse of 'giving first and receiving multi-folds return' is taught in the Bible and by Jesus in particular, we can believe and practice accordingly.

You will see from my posting that Biblical truth is my reference point in interpreting and learning from the Chinese Classics. The Chinese Classics often bring forth additional and finer ideas that I would have missed in the Bible. Hope you will benefit from such ideas too. Click on the Label Chinese Classics to find such similar posts.

Previous: Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 3 On The Golden Rule of Love
Next: Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 5 On Christian's Virtues

Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 3 On The Golden Rule of Love

For Christians, the golden rule of love as commonly cited is:

Mat 7:12  "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

But I find that there is one even more powerful than that. It is this:

Mat 5:44  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, Mat 5:45  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Among the Chinese Classics, we can find the passive equivalent of the golden rule in Confucius Saying in Lun Yu "What you don't want, don't do it to others" 己所不欲，勿施于人”《论语·颜渊篇》. Chinese manners are more passive and do not impose on others. Imposing on others is considered rude.

Confucius was also more restrictive in the second part of 'love your enemy'.  In LunYu 14:34 或曰‘以德報怨、何如’ Someone asked,"What about repaying injury with kindness?"
子曰‘何以報德、以直報怨、以德報德’ Confucius said,"Then how do you repay kindness? Repay injury with straightness (justice) and kindness for kindness".

For the more powerful equivalent of "Love your enemy", we have to go to Lao Zi's Dao De Jing verse 49.

The Chinese version is:

聖人無常心。 以百姓心為心。
善者吾善之。 不善者吾亦善之 德善。
信者吾信之。 不信者吾亦信之、 德信。
聖人在天下歙歙焉， 為天下渾其心。
百姓皆注其耳目， 聖人皆孩之。 

The wise man has not the normal heart for oneself. His heart is for the hearts of the people.
Those that are kind, I am kind to them. Those that are unkind, I am also kind to them. Hence, kindness is gained (i.e. unkindness is transformed by kindness. A stronger translation is - that is the meaning of the virtue of kindness)
Those that are faithful, I am faithful to them. Those that are unfaithful, I am still faithful to them. Faithfulness is obtained. (Bible : 2Ti 2:13  if we are faithless, he remains faithful-- for he cannot deny himself. )
Wise man consider the society and restrict and muddied his own desire.(i.e. no desire for his own)
The people focus their eyes and ears to see and hear. Wise man guide and care for them as children. (See Joh 10:11  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. . 1Pe 5:2  shepherd the flock of God that is among you)

If we replace the 'wise man' with Jesus, it matches the Bible well.

Lao Zi repeated this in Verse 63 報怨以德  "Repay hatred with kindness"

I must say that Lao Zi did understand the ways of the Creator better the others including the famous Confucius.

Previous:Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 2 On Creation
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Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 2 On Creation

Just to continue with Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics, here is one on creation.

Lao Zi's Dao De Jing 道德经

1. verse 1 道 可 道 ， 非 常 道 。 名 可 名 ， 非 常 名 。 无 名 天 地 之 始 ﹔ 有 名 万 物 之 母 。...
   Translated: The Way(Dao) that can be spoken off (named) is not the eternal way. The Name that can be named is not the eternal Name. No name is the beginning of the heaven and earth. Name is the mother of all things.
   
   No name, or the nameless, or the unknown (to man), the void is the beginning of all creation. Lao Zi  is wise to acknowledge that the Creator, the Way, cannot be named or fully described by man's words or wisdom. Any description is part a partial view of the real thing and therefore distort the real thing. It is the Unknown or Indescribable Creator that create all things from nothing.
   
   This is exactly when the Bible in Genesis say. (Gen 1:1) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Gen 1:2) And the earth was without form, and void; ...
   
   If you think this is not scientific, let me point you the concept of Dark Energy and Dark Matter that the scientists now discovered their existence. Dark is used not as evil but as unknown, or cannot be seen.
   
   Naming of things is found in (Gen 2:19) And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought [them] unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that [was] the name thereof. 20) And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
   
   
2. verse 40 ...天 下 万 物 生 于 有 ， 有 生 于 无 。
   Translated ... All things under heaven have their being born of. The being of existence is born of void or the unseen.
   
   Again, we find the Bible Hebrew 11:3) ... things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Or to rephrase in the positive sense, the seen were made from unseen thing.

Lao Zi started with the eternal Way of the Creator that he did not know fully but caught the essential to tell us. The Bible in the Gospel of John tells us at the start that it is Jesus, the Word, the Way, the eternal life. (John 1:1) 太初有道，道与神同在，道就是神。 The Chinese version of the Bible relates well to Dao De Jing. In the beginning was the Way(Dao). The Way was in existence with God. The Way was in fact God. Lao Zi would be please the know the true Creator in person of Jesus Christ who will show him the Way.

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Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 1 Knowing a Person

In my study of Ancient Chinese Classical Literature, I came across verses that are very similar to the Bible, almost word for word, rather than just the principal thoughts. There is always the intention to come out a such a list in future when I have time. On 2nd thought, that time will never come. A list is compiled over time one item at a time. So instead of waiting for the Kairos time that may never come, here is the Chronos time that I can start writing a few.

1. Contentment is Richness.
In Lao Zi's 老子 Dao De Jing verse 33 , we find the saying ... part 5 知足者富 He who knows contentment is rich. 1Ti 6:6  But godliness with contentment is great gain. The Bible added Godliness. One can only have peace and contentment when we do the right thing and there be no regrets or a guilty conscience.

2. The Eyes Reflect the Inner Self
Mencius (Meng Zi 孟子) 孟子 离娄上 “存乎人者，莫良于眸子。眸子不能掩其恶。胸中正，则眸子了焉，胸中不正，则眸子眊焉。听其言也，观其眸人，人焉廋哉？”.
The English translation from this Chinese Text Project is ...
Mencius said, 'Of all the parts of a man's body there is none more excellent than the pupil of the eye. The pupil cannot be used to hide a man's wickedness. If within the breast all be correct, the pupil is bright. If within the breast all be not correct, the pupil is dull. Listen to a man's words and look at the pupil of his eye. How can a man conceal his character?

Luk 11:34-36
34  The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
35  Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
36  If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

3. We know a Person by His Works
Confucius said in 论语 子曰：“始吾于人也，听其言而信其行，今吾于人也，听其言而观其行。于予与改是。” The translation is “In the beginning, I hear and believe that they will do what they say. But now, I will just hear and must observe the action and then form the conclusion. Or in Jesus’ word, Mat 7:16  You shall know them by their fruits.

Now that I have a place to put the list, I can grow this list over time. (Just added in the 3rd point when I was writing this The Principles for Greatness.)

Start Now
I hope you also discover a principle of success here. As the old Chinese proverb says, the journey of a thousand miles begin with a step. Take a small step now towards the destiny of your calling. Don't wait for time to do the big leap. Starts a little now.

Next: Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 2 On Creation

Freedom and Its Myth of More Freedom is Better

Freedom is such an interesting word. A word of contradiction. Freedom to choose is the basic right. Remove it, the right to choose freely, and love has no meaning. Yet the very act of loving someone will result in narrower scope of freedom. A happily married person has less freedom than a unmarried man. Yet, the married man has happily exchanged his greater scope of freedom for something better, the love and care and committed relationship with his wife. Commitment, trust worthiness, the ingredients for relationships is usually achieved at the willingly narrowing the scope of freedom. I can freely leave but I choose to stay because something, the relationship, is more important than the freedom to leave.

Hence, "More Freedom = Greater Happiness" is a myth. We need freedom to start but seeking more freedom alone will not bring us happiness but chaos and stress of insecurity.

True Freedom in found with Boundaries
A key reason is Freedom must be defined within a context. Man does not live alone. My freedom to move my hands is restricted by the boundary of your body. My right of freedom ends when I touch you boundary. Within the boundaries of others, I have my freedom. Boundary needs not just be your body, but includes your possessions, and also your thinking and beliefs and your right of freedom too. So we discover that "True Freedom in found with Boundaries". Violating the boundaries also means loosing our right of freedom. To be truly freed, we need to find the boundaries. Another way of saying it is "Freedom comes from knowing the Truth".

Freedom comes from knowing the Truth
In John 8:32, Jesus told us that we shall know the truth, and the truth shall make us free. Where is the truth? Or like Pilate, most people will ask. "What is truth?" John 18:38. The answer is actually found in the preceding verse, 8:31 "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed". The way to truly know, experience first hand, of the truth, is to follow and continue in Jesus' words - or in today terms, the Bible or even more specifically, the Laws, summarized as loving God and loving others as oneself. So, the Laws are given so that we may know the truth, lively rightly, and continue to have our freedom to act and not be in bondage of sins,. We can heartily agree with James(Jas 2:12 ) that the Laws should be rightly called the Laws of Liberty - following them preserves our freedom.

It is important to note that it is not just about knowing the Bible but in following and living in the Bible's teaching that we can know the Truth and be freed. Head knowledge alone is not true knowing. True knowing is with the heart and it takes the will to act out the head knowledge and thereby prove with conviction what the truth it. There is about the level of talking swimming and the deeper level of real swimming the water.

Lies Bind Us - Cause us to Loose our Freedom
Not knowing the truth, and believing in lies, will lead us to bang our heads against walls in the exercising of our freedom or more likely, the lack of exercising our freedom to try new things due to our fear. People who are addicted, who are trapped in co-dependency relationships, continue to suffer the abuses, because of the lie that one cannot get out or live independently. See Christian Transformation & Growth -The Unified Model more details.

Truth of Relationships
We are created to have healthy relationships with God and with fellow men. Healthy relationship starts with willing choice of freedom, but are build with trust and commitment at the expense of giving out of one's span of freedom to spend on the other willingly. Happier and joyful relationship is gained with increase investment of time and resources in the relationship. It is in respecting the rights and life of the others.

The Secret of Freedom & Happiness - Not more freedom but more commitment
The key to freedom and happiness therefore lies not in seeking more freedom, but in knowing the truth, a life of relationship and righteousness, and committing to living rightly and in the process we gain happiness and enhances our freedom to act! It is not more span of freedom, but a narrower commitment! May you discover the truth of true freedom and pursue righteous commitment to Jesus and His words.

Pursuing Righteousness as the highest priority of life is not just found in the Bible, but also in the Ancient Chinese Classic:

The fundamental principle is seeking after Truth and persevere in Righteousness and keeping purity. --- From Outcome Based Strategies – The Teaching of I-Ching.

The Western world seeks Freedom. The Chinese seek Righteousness, law and order, more than freedom per se. Don't believe in the Devil's lie of more freedom. Believe in the Bible of Knowing Jesus Christ and be transformed to live in righteousness and thereby be freed.

See If Adam knows I-Ching, he would not have sinned on how to be freed and also Obedience Brings Freedom

Related posts on freedom:

• Freedom - it is without limits?
• Freedom, Truth, Power - Getting the Order Right.
• "Freedom From" to "Freedom For" -

If Adam knows I-Ching, he would not have sinned

As I continued in my deeper study and interpretation of the Classic Chinese Classic, I-Ching, I continued to be amazed by its teachings. See also Chinese Classics and the Bible.

Today I just finished the 40th Hexagram 40解 Freed – Get with Decisive Actions.
Here is a short summary of what it teaches.

Summary of the Teaching of 40 Freed:

I. Freedom is obtained by

1. quick decisive actions, not impulsive actions, of breaking free from dangers
2. staying away from danger
3. seeking the interests of the masses, and
4. forgiving others.

Freedom is about being freed to do good and righteous things and bringing blessings to all. see From "Freedom From" to "Freedom For" & In

II. The additional teaching from the 6 Stage-Lines are: (This is really studying by "precept by precept and line upon line ....!")

  1. Differences are harmonized. No Issue.
  2. Straight wins against the crooked. Righteousness brings good fortune.
  3. Show-off brings regrets.
  4. Stay away from bad companies and have trustworthy true friends.
  5. Wise and objective(prejudices free) thinking keeps the office-politics away.
  6. Get rid of the bad and rebellious influences to stay free. Fire the bad leader.

Of course, Adam could not have benefited from the study of I-Ching for I-Ching was compiled after him. Here are a few teachings that impressed me (It is exactly the same as the teachings of the Bible).

Freedom is not about doing anything that you like. Freedom is about keeping away from dangers and temptations! Adam and Eve should stay away from temptations.

Freedom is also about forgiveness. In the original Chinese text, the pictorial commentary states that "Wise men forgive wrongdoing and pardon sins". If we want to be truly free, we must forgive others who have wronged us. Otherwise, we will be in bondage of bitterness and hatred. We could not be free then.

Freedom requires us to rid our minds of prejudices and biases so that we can be objective and think clearly. We will not be fooled by the bad companies, the people who play political games, and the rebellious people.

Freedom is also about taking decisive actions as early as possible to rid the community of such bad influences.

Compare with the Bible:

I.1-2 1Pet 2:16  Live like free people and do not use your freedom as an excuse for doing evil. Instead, be God's servants.

I.1-2 Gal 5:13  For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

I.3 1Co 9:19  For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.

Defintion for Freedom:

Freedom, as illuminated by the I-Ching and biblical wisdom, can be defined as:
The capacity to act decisively and righteously, guided by wisdom and compassion, to liberate oneself and others from bondage to sin, prejudice, and harmful influences, thereby fostering harmony, forgiveness, and purposeful service to the common good.

This definition integrates key themes:

• Decisive action (not impulsivity) to overcome danger.
• Moral clarity (free from bias/temptation).
• Forgiveness (breaking chains of resentment).
• Service to others (freedom for, not from).
• Harmony (ordered by virtue, not chaos).

Both traditions agree: True freedom is not license but liberation for love and justice.

See also What is Freedom?

For more, see Chinese Classics and the Bible