Confucianism

Prepared by Peter Kuo

Confucius said: “Heaven is esteem and earth is humble, Qian and Kun are installed. High and low in order so that noble and common are positioned.” In the seminars or forums I held in the past, a self-made "Huangdi (Yellow Emperor)'s Compass Chariot for pointing the south" was always demonstrated to explain the importance of "Positioning".

In 2021, when the vaccine began to be used for the pandemic of COVID-19, the bad situation in the affected countries were slow-down; however, the Delta Virus quietly invaded into Taiwan. The epidemic situation caused Taiwan’s authority announced that "Entering the alert of Level 3". Everyone must scan the code wherever they go in order to prepare for the need of tracing. Therefore, Just try to reduce going out and stay at home.

On May 12, while sitting for meditation, a very old friend-- Dr. Ko-wang Mei (1918-2016)’s admonition suddenly floated in my mind: "Believing in "God" is a good thing, but our traditional "Confucianism" should not be discarded, especially the teachings of Confucius."

Recall that a certain Sunday in the early spring of 2003, Dr. Mei saw me at the entrance of Luce Chapel and asked that "Why are you here today on Sunday?"

I replied: "Take my wife Linda Din to worship at the chapel."

First of all, his face was frozen instantaneously, because he knew that Linda was a devout "Buddhist"--it was weird to come to church to worship. But, he immediately said: "Believing in God is good." Then, he invited me to his office of the Taiwan Development Institute to chat.

Although Dr. Mei had retired from Tunghai University for long time, we're still accustomed to call him "President Mei". President Mei knew that my experience of growing up and also knew that I am fond of "Confucius, Mencius, Laotzu and Zhuangzi", he told me that “Believing in "God" is a good thing, but our traditional "Confucianism" should not be discarded, especially the teachings of Confucius.” Then he said that “Ancient kings made the rituals in according to the laws of nature, then holy to the ‘Lord Almighty’, and honor their ancestors.” To explain the connection between traditional Confucian Culture and God.

In 2003, due to the phenomenon of imbalanced economic development caused by the SARS epidemic, the Australian government of the APEC initiative country invited papers to 21 economies. Our proposed "Global Channel-TES" stood out and won the "Strengthening the Economic Society” and the “Best Practice of guiding 240 million people to start their businesses". While we were making much efforts to "Open the way out for Taiwan" at APEC 2003 in Bangkok and Chiang-Mai, a person whose surname was Chen ran to the Taiwan Development Institute to question President Mei and asked him, "Why do you support that guy Li-Chang Kuo and his wife?" Chen threatened him that "Your budget will be cut all."

After returned to Taiwan, President Mei went to me and talked about the "Three Knows, Three Cultivations, and Three Precepts" which taught by Confucius.

Confucius said: "If you don't know fate, you can't become a superior man; if you don't know manners, you can't stand up; if you don't know words, you can't know the people." Above as "Three Knows".

Confucius said: "Settle your body and move later, calm your heart and speak later, consolidate your friendship and seek help later; a superior man cultivates these three things, so he will be safe." We called it as "Three Cultivations".

The above two matters are easy to understand and are also the basic principles of life.

I knew my "FATE" so that long time ago I reached my hand to help my country people to upgrade from the era of vacuum tube to the "Transistor" since 1970. And also launched that "Social Responsibility Investment" (SRI) since 1982, and did my best to work hard for "Rich Taiwan".

As to the “settle your body and move later”, of course I fully understood; consequently, under the condition of self-sufficiency, I still tried my best to spread the "Precision Industry" that I knew in northern Taiwan. My only hope was that my wife could take good care of my son at home in peace.

However, in 1986, there was an inexplicable factor to affect Linda to go out of kitchen and said to me, "I want to start a business." Her reasons were both very bizarre and quite complicated.

As a result, she solved all the problems of the instigator, but discovered the "structural" social dilemma, so she invested the existed resources to complete the "New Tech-Economic System" (TES), and also stood at the podium of APEC to win the bill of "E-Commerce".

After seeing the demonstration of our entire invention in 2000, President Mei suggested that "Linda, you should write it to be a book." Linda really wrote it into a book called "The Daughter of A National Defense Employee", and the preface to it was by Dr. Ko-wang Mei.

When the book was published in July 2001, the first copy was notarized by the court, and the second was given to that "Chen". When I was invited to participate in the APEC 2001 in Shanghai, I also brought a box of books to give those delegates. Due to the attention of all hierarchy in the Mainland, "TES" had become a turbulent emerging industry—it had been used in various forms. Our invention has been bringing the infinite hope to new entrepreneurs in Mainland China.

In 2003, an epidemic of "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome" (SARS) raged across 29 countries, it's causing more than 8,000 infections and more than 700 deaths, the most serious of which was in APEC economies. Since "TES" was by means of "Contactless-Tech", Linda proclaimed the "Hygiene Initiative" when the Australian government invited her to be an APEC Speaker--the specific impact was "Cashless System". Soon after the conferences, Japan really established a "NFC Forum". Over the past decade or so, the "Cashless" transaction has become a commonly used transaction tool in Mainland China, with an annual transaction volume of more than NTD 500 trillion.

President Mei emphasized the third matter--"The Three Precepts of Life", which needed more attention.

Confucius said: "The virtue is low but the position is high. The knowledge is lack but plan the great thing. The strength is small but the responsibility is heavy. It is easy to encounter the disaster." These are the three precepts of life.

In short, the three precepts of life are "incompetence". They themselves may be killed by the second and third; however, “The virtue is low but the position is high” may destroy the entire country.

President Mei said to me, "Li-chang, you must remember Confucius' teaching and find about the ways to face those evildoers. I am really worried about you when I think of what Chen said to me that day!"

Sure enough, in addition to the Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Police Department, and the District Prosecutor's Office followed one after another; there were also gangsters who came to shoot and intimidate. Finally, my wife was scared to fall down to the ground, and sick to Dementia that doctor told me "there is no medicine can cure her." Nevertheless, she finally woke up as I took care of her day and night, but she became "no-talking".

In order to cure her "Aphasia", I remembered that reading the Bible with Pastor Press in New York—because there are chapters and verses in the Bible. So I put a "Holy Bible" in front of her, I read odd verses, and encouraged her to read even verses. After a thousand tries, she eventually started to read the second verse of Genesis in the Bible. A few months later, she was able to speak again.

Since then, she has become possessed with the "Holy Bible", she must read a few chapters every day, and must read the entire book once a year. Even if her eyesight was decayed because of overwhelming, and she would still continue to read after the surgery. The situation is that she went from being a woman who was able to "lend money to the bank" to the point of "bird's nest was burned". The plight was not improved by reading the scriptures at all, but on the contrary, it went from bad to worse.

In 2020, a pandemic of COVD-19 raged around the world, and its intensity was hundreds of times greater than SARS; Taiwan spent a happy year like a paradise on earth when the other countries fell into misery. Unexpectedly, when the vaccines started inoculation this year (2021) and the epidemic situation in various countries slowed down, the variant “Delta Virus” sneaked into Taiwan quietly. After Mother’s Day in May, Taiwan’s epidemic situation was tight, and it entered the "Level 3" of alert. Everywhere you go, you must scan the code for tracing. For this reason, simply go out as little as possible, and also have the opportunity to read the Sages' Books at home.

On May 12, while sitting for meditation, President Mei’s words came out in my mind, "Believing in ‘God’ is a good thing, but our traditional ‘Confucianism’ should not be discarded, especially the teachings of Confucius."

The most ridiculous thing is that in the past 18 years in the battle against the entities of corruption, I actually threw away tens of thousands of books—including all the books of "Confucius, Mencius, Laotzu and Zhuangzi". Because there were often pastors and reverends who came to my houses under the name of visiting and look around to point this and that, all of which were called "things must be destroyed". Because Linda's grandmother was printed on the book "The Daughter of A National Defense Employee", which was also called "the thing must be destroyed", we were so stupid to burn it down.

On the day when Xiaolin Village was destroyed in 2009, we personally experienced "bird's nest was burned". Ridiculously, we still regarded many things as "things must be destroyed" and "burned" or "discarded". The last thing left is only the "Holy Bible" and its related objects. Today I astonished to find out that in the past ten years, I went from being an interesting soul to become a rather boring person--I actually read the Bible until "I don't know how to talk with others." What's more frightening is that I turned myself from "Three Knows" into "Ignorance", from "Three Cultivations" into "Overgrown", and from "Three Precepts" into "Unsuspecting".

I remembered a very day in February 1966, when my father was before put in the jail, he said to me, "A-Chang, this family is all your responsibility in the future!" From then on, I worked desperately to make money. I let everyone eat fill and wear warmth, did not let them go out to work for a day, so that they were able to concentrate on school, and soon my family had become a paradigm of poverty that turned over in Tainan. Furthermore, I have spared no effort to help my country people succeed in their transformation and upgrading. Back then, all I relied on was "Confucianism".

Since I was born in an extremely poor family, I lacked enough supplies to eat at home, let alone anything outside of my body; therefore, whenever I got a book in my hand, I would definitely read it carefully at once. Thanks to my "Lord Almighty", he has given me the ability of "unforgettable" when I was young, for example:

Confucius taught the method of knowing people: "Flicker the words of the traitor, the words of the doubter are confused, the words of the good people are few, the words of the irritable people are many, the words of the slanderer are erratic, and the words of the unscrupulous people are ambiguous." In my young age, it was by knowing how to distinguish these six classes of people--traitor, doubter, slanderer, good people, irritable people and unscrupulous people, so that in the business fields, facing the strong competitors who came from Europe, America and Japan, I was still invincible to lay the foundation of Taiwan's “Precision Industry” for the followers.

Confucius said that "Superior man must have 'Nine Thoughts': to have good sight, to listen clearly, to have a gentle face, to be respectful in appearance, to speak appropriately, to work diligently, to ask if you don't understand, to know the consequences if you are angry, and to see the meaning of benefits." Understanding these nine thoughts, I was very aware of words, feelings, and empathy. Of course, it was difficult to encounter the obstacles wherever I went. On the contrary, it's just like a fish in water among the interpersonal relationships. Every time after being injured by the betrayers, I always quickly stood up from nothing.

It might be a lucky chance! When I was a teenager, I got opportunity to meet someone who later became a master, especially after reading the "Four Books" and the "Five Classics" with Mr. Nan Huaijin, a sentence was hard to forget that was Confucius said:

Heaven is esteem and earth is humble,

Qian and Kun are installed.

High and low in order so that

noble and common are positioned.

In the past, in the seminars or forums I held, a self-made "Huangdi's Compass Chariot" was demonstrated to explain the importance of "Positioning"—because the Compass Chariot was mechanical, it had to be down-to-earth in order to point it to the right direction. Positioning involves "POSE", which means standing on the right "Position", grasping the "Opportunity", realizing the "Situation", and capable to do the "Enforcement".

After working 18 hours a day, I used the rest tiny time to pass through from night school to college. When I got the "University Selections of Chinese Literature", I opened it to see the "Xi-Ci" which written by Confucius. The article said: “The ancient king ‘Fuxi’ who was ruling the lands, looking up to observe the sky, looking down at the changes in the earth, examining the appearance and shape of birds and animals, finding when should be suitable for planting, closing to refer the various parts of body, taking the image of everything in the distance, so he started to create ‘the eight trigrams’(Baqua), then to understand the creative mystery of ‘God’, and used to distinguish and measure the condition of everything.”

I hurried up to find the related books to check, the book said that “The king shall be in harmony with heaven and earth, refer to the light of the sun and the moon, in order with the Four Seasons, rewards cooperate with ghost and god. God will not abandon his deeds, respect ‘God’ and do things in coordinate with time. Not only is God taking care of him, let alone the people, let alone the angels.”

Regarding the invisible matters, Confucius explained: “The focus of governing the people, respect those incredible powers and stay away, it can be said to know.” It means: "The ruler must be able to meet the needs of the people and respect the ghost and god in doing things, but don't be superstitious, so that it can be called 'wise'."

Moreover, in the "Book of Rites", the dialogue between Confucius and his student Zai-Yu was recorded as below:

Zai-Yu said: "I heard the name of ghost and god, but I don't know what they mean.”

Confucius replied: “The Qi (spirit) is the prosperity of God. The soul is cohesion of the ghost. To combine god and ghost that forms the highest exhibition of doctrine. All the livings must die and return to the ground; this is what is called ghost. The bones and flesh decay in below, and those are hidden as the soil. Its Qi is carried forward to be brightness, this is essence of all things, the manifestation of ‘God’. For the sake of these subtle essences of things, with an extreme decision and inventiveness, in the names of ‘god and ghost’ that as the norm that the people follow. The people are both fearful and obedient.”

Above response made me respect the faith of everyone around me; therefore, I could read the "Hua-Yan Sutra" given by my grandmother, read the "Altar Sutra" given by my uncle, and read the "Holy Bible" with the American pastor. However, I would not indulge in the tales of "god and ghost". It also adheres to the teaching of Confucius, “Change If you are poor. You can change so that will be smooth. Smooth that you will be permanence. Therefore, God’s blessing will come upon you, auspicious without disadvantage." So on March 13, 1979, when I was only 26 years old, I founded "Black Stone Co." in New York to help customers developing the satellite receivers and related technological products that influenced the 1980s.

Unfortunately, when my American friends who expected me to immigrate to the United States and help their enterprises; my wife who was an "Altruist" actually said to me that "I must stay in Taiwan and work hard with the poor", she's completely ignoring her own interests. After the party rotation, the sociologist Karl Popper (1902-1994) called "The Open Society and Its Enemy" —"Young Aristocracy" in power—and the ugliness of "the virtue is low but the position is high" was revealed. It's not surprising that we were attacked by the villains to wound all over the bodies.

Sadly, during the Long March, I actually left all the teachings of Old Master Confucius behind—just like being unarmed and exposed on the battlefield of the war, it’s not strange that we are beaten black and blue; weirdly, what’s left in my hand now is only the things related with the “Bible”. As a result, just like the "Groundhog Day" starring Bill Murray, day after day, cannot escape from the samsara.

Fortunately, the delta virus is raging, causing the alert of "Level 3". It reminded me in meditation about President Mei’s warning. The event is because we are not facing those ordinary rogues, but the entire entities of corruption in "structural crime". As to the Bible which only pointed out about the beginning of things and their results, there were not the "three knows/ three cultivations/ three precepts/ nine thoughts/ the way of knowing people/ the way of ghost and god" like Confucius' taught.

Moreover, Confucius also specifically pointed out that “Danger but act, the people will not participate. Fear but appease, the people will not trust. Ask for help without friendship, no one will respond. Without reinforcements, the enemy will come and annihilate you.” In short, don't let yourself be overwhelmed; if you don't have reinforcements, you are guaranteed to die ugly.

Therefore, in meditation, I am grateful for my invention--"TES" which let me have a modern searching tool.

Even from 2009 to last year, I have discarded tens of thousand of books; however, now I only need to pick up my mobile phone for searching, just as I wrote in the articles of "Economic Daily" and "Business Times" in 1990 to say: “Stay at home, the resources of information continuously come from the globe.” I also realized that spiritual provision shall not be in a partial eclipse, same as people eat only one favorite food that will cause malnutrition. Especially, fascinating the tale of "god and devil" will make you fall into the "Hamster's Wheel" and cannot turn out of the circle. In addition, the original humor sense will be absolutely out of shape, and turned into very boring, and only going around in the tiny circles.

At last, I'd like to thank my "Lord Almighty", because the negligence of the young aristocracy that gave me the opportunity to stop running, sit quietly, and see the real need in my heart.

Peter Li-Chang Kuo, who created the “Taiwan’s Precision Industry” in 1974, and a representative of APEC CEO Summit advocated that “Anti-corruption/ Cashless System/ E-Commerce/ Hygiene/ ICT/ IPR/ Micro Business…”

Reference:

https://wtgtintwn.blogspot.com/2021/07/707.html (儒家思想--孔子的教導)

Links:

https://patents.google.com/patent/US6304796 (VAM)

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20030197061 (Shopping System)

https://ipr-patent.blogspot.com/2018/11/3-major-claims-for-ipr-of-tes.html (3 major claims for the IPR of TES)

https://lindadiniot.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-first-patent-of-iot-internet-of.html (The First Patent of IoT, Internet of Things)

https://kuo-social-service.blogspot.com/2015/12/open-society-will-appear-its-enemysaid.html (Open Society will appear its enemy)

https://kuo-social-service.blogspot.com/2015/12/anti-corruption-has-become-great-trend.html (ANTI-CORRUPTION’ has become a great trend)

https://kuo-social-service.blogspot.com/2015/11/social-responsibility-investment-sri.html (Social Responsibility Investment)

https://3rdsectorkuo.blogspot.com/2015/12/taiwans-third-sector-for-development-of.html (Taiwan’s Third Sector for the Development of Information Society)

https://lichangtwnstory.blogspot.com/2016/01/professor-yau-jing-po-cheng-kung.html (Professor Yau Jing-Po & Cheng Kung University)