王凤仪⾔⾏录 Records of the Words and Deeds of Wang Fengyi
五十五、讓人
55. Yielding to Other People
The following is chapter 55 [working draft] of Wang Fengyi’s magnum opus; ‘The Record of the Words and Deeds of Wang Fengyi’ 王凤仪⾔⾏录, containing more than 200 chapters. Wang Fengyi is considered a Confucian sage, and part of the Shan Ren Dao movement,. Furthermore, he also cured many people, often from the poor countryside, with his healing system that bases the root of all illness and disease within one’s emotions. He not only resorts to Confucian sources, but also to Daoist and Buddhist ones alike.
我聽王善人這樣說過：
我有一位同宗的叔叔王清安，他有五畝地，典當在我手裡，已經有十幾年了。地鄰李清榮，為了要買這五畝地，強迫王清安的兒子給他立賣契，還騙他說，早已和我說好了。第二天，他才託中人向我說。我說：“是啊！我家人口少，又有飯吃。他家人口多，若不這樣辦，食糧不夠。再說又是地鄰，就是沒錢贖地，也可以耕種，我是絕無異說的。”我心想——有飯送給飢人，有話說給知人。
可是我四弟樹永，知道了這宗事，便反對說：“我們老王家的地，又典在我們手裡，怎能讓別人霸去呢！”我說：“我業已答應了人家，怎能說了不算呢？再說，家有千口，主事一人。這宗事你們不用再說了。”我四弟說：“這種氣我可受不了，我還是出去過吧！”他還真為了這宗事，又和我分居了。
第二年，這塊地就被水給完全衝沒了。族中人都說：“這塊地在王老二（指王善人）手裡，種了十幾年，都很順利。被李清榮霸去，還不到一年，就叫水給衝個淨光，這真是人容天不容！”
I heard Wang, the Benevolent, say it like this:
I have an uncle of the same clan named Wang Qing’an, who owns a piece of land of five mu. Its pawn had already been in my hands for over ten years. Because the farmland’s neighbour Li Qingrong wanted to buy these fivemu of land, he coerced Wang Qing’An’s son to draw up a contract of sale, even cheating him by saying that he had already earlier come to an agreement with me. On the next day only did he then entrust an intermediary to speak with me. I said: ‘Aye, yes! My family members are few, and more we have food to eat, while his family has many members. If he did not handle it in this way, his grains would be not enough. What’s more, if the neighbour on the farmland had no money to redeem the land, he could also till it, I would have have said so absolutely in no different way.’ In my heart I thought – if I have food to send to hungry people, I have words to let people know.
However, my fourth younger bother [Wang] Shuyong knew about this ancestral matter, even moreso in opposition he said: ‘Thus land is of our family of Elder Wang, and further, its pawn is in our hands. How could we yield it to others usurping it by force!’ I said: ‘I have already agreed with the other household, how coud what I say not count? What’s more, a family has a thousand members, but only one person in charge of matters. There is no need for you to speak about this ancestral matter again.’ My fourth younger brother said: ‘This type of qi I cannot endure. I better go and leave!’ Even more because of this ancestral matter he truly lived apart from me.
The next year, this piece of land was completely flooded by rushing water. The other clansmembers all said: ‘This piece of land was in the hands of the Second Elder Wang’s (i.e. Wang, the Benevolent) hands, who tilled it for more than a ten years, and everything went smoothly. After Li Qingrong had usurped it forcibly, in less than one year, it caused waters to rush in with nothing left. This is truly when people show allowance, but the heavens do not!’
Post-Scriptum: Another work of Wang Fengyi ‘Discourse on Transforming Inner Nature’ is available through our website: https://purplecloudinstitute.com/…/discourse-on…
Post-Post-Scriptum: This painting by Xu Beihong in this post sold for 42 million dollars.
