“Those who have left me are like the days of yesterday, which cannot be kept.” Yesterday has passed forever; it is impossible to turn back and relive it. Tomorrow has not yet arrived, and you cannot see the sun of tomorrow in advance. The life we possess in reality is only today, and it will always be only today. To be more specific, your life is this very instant before your eyes; everything else does not belong to you.
Since I cannot yet become profound, let me make myself relaxed. How can a person with a sorrowful face hear the sound of flowers blooming? How can a person who pretends to be someone else understand the excitement hidden within the chorus of frogs?
By possessing honesty, one discards hypocrisy; by possessing honesty, one discards boredom; by possessing steadiness, one discards restlessness. Whether through intentional letting go or accidental loss, as long as one has truly possessed it in the past, magnanimous abandonment can also be a state of wisdom at certain moments.
Human emotions are inevitable reactions to specific environments and do not shift according to human will. The urgent task is for us to face these emotions squarely and handle them correctly, for some emotions must never be allowed to spread and take root.
The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were eras of constant conflict, of emerging talents, and of a hundred schools of thought contending. The prosperous Tang Dynasty was an era of national peace and people's contentment, of a galaxy of stars, and of continuous innovation.
First bow to heaven and earth, and from now on, endure your wife's complaints; second bow to the elders, and still need to please the mother-in-law; couple bows to each other, and from now on, tighten the belt on expenses; led into the bridal chamber, I kneel on the floor while she sleeps on the bed; alas, I am a sheep and she is a wolf, with a wife as my life sentence for a long time.