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Fan Li gave away his entire fortune three times

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because he never really picked it up in the first place

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recently a viewer forwarded me a video

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it was about Fan Li Lord Tao Zhu on his deathbed

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leaving his descendants three high-energy fields for life

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the first one

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sit alone in the mountains

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to absorb the energy of heaven and earth

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the second one

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visit wise masters

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to elevate your understanding

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the third one

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walk through the marketplace

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to resonate with the human world

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he asked me

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is this true

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so I went and looked into it

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I checked the Records of the Grand Historian

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I checked the Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue

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I flipped through the Discourses of the States too

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honestly

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I couldn't find where these words came from

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the phrase energy field is itself very modern

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there's no way it existed back in the Spring and Autumn period

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so in all likelihood

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Fan Li never said this

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but here's the thing

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after I read these three lines I paused for a moment

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because what it was pointing at

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even if the source is doubtful

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the content itself makes sense

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when you're feeling down

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go sit in the mountains for a while

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go talk to someone who sees further than you do

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or go to the market the morning market

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walk among the crowd

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you really can come back to life

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I've felt this deeply myself

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so today I want to use this as a starting point

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not to argue whether these words are real or fake

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but to talk about a far more interesting question

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this man Fan Li

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what exactly was he cultivating

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hello

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hi everyone

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I'm Wang Lijie

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you may have heard Fan Li's story

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at the end of the Spring and Autumn period

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he helped King Gou Jian of Yue destroy the state of Wu

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from 494 BC when Gou Jian was defeated at Mount Kuaiji

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to 473 BC when Wu was wiped out

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a full twenty-one years

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what did he do in these twenty-one years

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together with Wen Zhong he planned strategy for Gou Jian

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enduring humiliation

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sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall

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he even went to Wu as a hostage alongside Gou Jian

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through those most humiliating days

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Fan Li stayed right by Gou Jian's side the whole way

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and when the great task was finally done

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he did something no one expected

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he left

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not the kind of leaving where you retire to your hometown

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he changed his name and identity

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calling himself Chi Yi Zi Pi

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he took his family onto a small boat

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and sailed away

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he vanished

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before he left

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he wrote a letter to his partner Wen Zhong

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in that letter there was one line

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that later became one of the most famous political prophecies in Chinese history

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when the birds are all gone

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the good bow is put away

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when the cunning hare is dead

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the hunting dog is cooked

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it means

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once the birds are all shot down

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the bow gets tucked away

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once the hares are all caught

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the hound gets thrown in the pot

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he saw right through Gou Jian

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Gou Jian as a person

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could share hardship

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but not share prosperity

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when you lie in the mud beside him

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he needs you

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once he stands back up

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you become his threat

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Wen Zhong received this letter

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note this

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Wen Zhong was no fool

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he and Fan Li planned the entire scheme to destroy Wu together

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in intellect and strategy he was no less than Fan Li

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he read this letter

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he understood it completely

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but he didn't leave

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why

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this is the question in Fan Li's story I find most worth unpacking

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it's not why Fan Li could leave

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but why Wen Zhong couldn't

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because the difference between these two men

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wasn't in intelligence

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think about the position Wen Zhong was in

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he'd worked for Gou Jian for twenty years

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he'd endured from the most humiliating stage all the way through

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and finally reached the day of turning it all around

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after Wu was destroyed

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he was one of Yue's greatest heroes

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at the very top of officialdom

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and at this moment someone tells him

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it's time for you to go

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could he leave

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don't rush to say of course he could

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first ask yourself a question

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if you'd worked at a company for twenty years

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rising from the very bottom to partner

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CXO

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and the company finally goes public

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someone says to you

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you should quit

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if you don't the boss will come after you

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would you quit

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most people can't

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it's not that they don't want to

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it's that they can't bring themselves to

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because those twenty years weren't just an investment of time

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they became who you are

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your identity your social ties

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your sense of self

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all of it grew into that position

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asking you to leave that position

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is like asking you to dismantle yourself

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try imagining this right now

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delete the title on your business card

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erase all the identity labels in your social feed

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do you feel that tightness in your chest

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that tightness

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is exactly what Wen Zhong felt back then

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psychology calls this identity fixation

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the longer someone stays in a certain role

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the deeper they invest

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the more that role fuses with their sense of self

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until finally he can't tell

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whether I am doing this thing

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or this thing is who I am

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this is exactly Wen Zhong's problem

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it's not that he didn't know the danger

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he knew

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Fan Li had spelled it out so clearly

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there's no way he didn't know

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but knowing is one thing

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leaving is another

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knowing is a matter of the prefrontal cortex

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leaving is a matter of the entire identity system

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his twenty years of investment

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had crystallized in his mind into a story

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I'm the one who helped Gou Jian turn it all around

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this story was too perfect

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too heavy with meaning

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asking him to give up this story

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was harder than asking him to give up his life

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so he stayed

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you know how it ended

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Gou Jian gave Wen Zhong a sword

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not just any sword

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it was the Zhulou sword

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the very one that had driven Wu Zixu to his death

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Gou Jian said to Wen Zhong

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you once taught me seven strategies to conquer Wu

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I used only three of them to destroy Wu

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the remaining four

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go try them out for me down in the underworld

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Wen Zhong took that sword

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and killed himself

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look at the history of this sword

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Wu Zixu was ordered to die for being too loyal

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Wen Zhong too was ordered to die for being too loyal

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the same sword

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killed two great ministers

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Gou Jian didn't pick this sword at random

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he was telling you

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this is the fate of a hero who serves

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you see

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he stayed in that role right up to his death

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he never once questioned it the way Fan Li did

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do I have to be this role

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now let's look back at Fan Li

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why could Fan Li leave

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on the surface

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it's because he was smart

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able to foresee what kind of man Gou Jian was

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but this explanation isn't enough

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because Wen Zhong was smart too

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Wen Zhong could foresee it too

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both men had the same information

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and reached the same conclusion

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Gou Jian can't share prosperity

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the difference is

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one could bring himself to leave

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the other couldn't

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the one who could leave

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had something in him

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it wasn't intelligence

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it wasn't courage

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it was something I can't find a better word for

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he wasn't attached to his own identity

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in Yue Fan Li was a strategist

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after leaving he went to the coast of Qi

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changed his name to Chi Yi Zi Pi

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and started over by farming the land

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within a few years he'd amassed a fortune of hundreds of thousands

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the people of Qi heard of his wisdom

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and invited him to become prime minister

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he served for a while

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then sighed and said

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at home I can make a thousand in gold

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in office I can rise to prime minister

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for a commoner this is already the limit

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holding an honored name too long is not a good thing

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then he returned the seal of office

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gave away his money

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and left again

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later he arrived at the land of Tao

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which is today's Dingtao in Shandong

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and once again started from nothing

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and once again became the richest man around

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and after becoming the richest

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he gave it all away

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sharing his money with the poor and distant relatives

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then he made it back

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then he gave it away again

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Sima Qian wrote in the Records of the Grand Historian

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in nineteen years he made a fortune three times

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later generations summed up his life in four words

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three times gathered three times scattered

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you won't find a second person in Chinese history who did this

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most people read this story as the wisdom of retreating at the peak

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or the virtue of generous charity

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but I think both readings are too shallow

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someone being generous once in a while

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you could call him generous

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but a man who repeatedly earns and repeatedly gives it all away

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and repeatedly starts from zero

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this isn't generosity

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this is a kind of training

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what was he training

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he was training non-attachment

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think about it

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the first time he gave it away

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maybe there was still some hesitation

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the second time

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probably a little easier

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the third time

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maybe it was already effortless

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not because he didn't care about money

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a man who could become the richest three times

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clearly understood business extremely well

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but because he'd figured out one thing

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money is water flowing through his hands

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not flesh growing on his body

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the identity of strategist is also water

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the title of prime minister is also water

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the halo of a hero of Yue is also water

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the water flows in

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he tends it seriously

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the water flows away

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he lets go

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this is the most fundamental difference between him and Wen Zhong

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Wen Zhong froze the water into ice

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and welded it onto himself

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Fan Li let the water stay water

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now look back at that idea of three high-energy fields

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even if the source is doubtful

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you'll find it quietly matches the arc of Fan Li's life

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the mountain

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he sailed the five lakes

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living in seclusion among mountains and rivers

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not to absorb energy

280
00:09:02,791 --> 00:09:06,731
but to wash off the roles clinging to him layer by layer among the mountains and rivers

281
00:09:07,151 --> 00:09:08,970
anyone who's climbed a mountain knows

282
00:09:09,031 --> 00:09:10,351
the moment you reach the summit

283
00:09:10,352 --> 00:09:12,911
all those work things and home things in your head

284
00:09:13,151 --> 00:09:14,570
who offended you

285
00:09:14,592 --> 00:09:16,011
all of it grows lighter

286
00:09:16,232 --> 00:09:18,170
it's not that the mountain gave you energy

287
00:09:18,191 --> 00:09:21,210
it's that the mountain took away what was extra on you

288
00:09:22,055 --> 00:09:22,855
people

289
00:09:23,286 --> 00:09:25,664
he met a few key people in his life

290
00:09:26,046 --> 00:09:27,585
the most important was Ji Ran

291
00:09:27,725 --> 00:09:29,825
the teacher who taught him the way of business

292
00:09:30,125 --> 00:09:33,264
Sima Qian said Fan Li used Ji Ran's methods to build his wealth

293
00:09:33,485 --> 00:09:36,904
applying Ji Ran's economic theory to business practice

294
00:09:37,206 --> 00:09:38,664
but more important

295
00:09:38,686 --> 00:09:41,864
he learned his deepest lesson from Gou Jian

296
00:09:42,166 --> 00:09:44,784
power turns a person into someone else

297
00:09:45,005 --> 00:09:47,384
this is a lesson no book can teach you

298
00:09:47,446 --> 00:09:49,744
he observed it up close for twenty years

299
00:09:49,845 --> 00:09:53,065
and proved it at the cost of Wen Zhong's life

300
00:09:53,383 --> 00:09:54,184
the marketplace

301
00:09:54,575 --> 00:09:57,114
three times he started from nothing in the marketplace

302
00:09:57,455 --> 00:09:58,614
the marketplace isn't an arena of fame and fortune

303
00:09:58,815 --> 00:10:00,273
it's a laboratory of human nature

304
00:10:00,614 --> 00:10:02,273
when you do business on the street

305
00:10:02,455 --> 00:10:05,913
people's greed cleverness kindness and calculation

306
00:10:05,974 --> 00:10:07,554
are all laid bare

307
00:10:07,854 --> 00:10:10,893
a man who has earned and given away money in the marketplace

308
00:10:10,894 --> 00:10:12,253
understands human nature

309
00:10:12,254 --> 00:10:14,033
more deeply than any philosopher

310
00:10:14,374 --> 00:10:16,773
so the three fields that video talked about

311
00:10:16,774 --> 00:10:18,513
even if they aren't Fan Li's own words

312
00:10:18,575 --> 00:10:20,493
when used to look back on Fan Li's life

313
00:10:20,494 --> 00:10:22,513
they really do make a decent mirror

314
00:10:22,822 --> 00:10:25,402
but I want to add something that video didn't say

315
00:10:26,023 --> 00:10:26,902
those three fields

316
00:10:27,303 --> 00:10:27,942
the mountain

317
00:10:28,222 --> 00:10:29,162
the people

318
00:10:29,263 --> 00:10:29,981
the marketplace

319
00:10:30,423 --> 00:10:32,922
for Fan Li none of them were charging stations

320
00:10:33,423 --> 00:10:36,241
he didn't go to the mountains to recharge when he was down

321
00:10:36,342 --> 00:10:38,562
then come back to grind once his energy returned

322
00:10:39,062 --> 00:10:41,641
wherever he went it was never to gain something

323
00:10:41,982 --> 00:10:42,741
he went to the mountains

324
00:10:43,023 --> 00:10:45,162
because the last role was finished

325
00:10:45,263 --> 00:10:47,841
he needed a place to take off that costume

326
00:10:48,222 --> 00:10:49,322
he entered the marketplace

327
00:10:49,423 --> 00:10:51,881
because after taking it off he still had to live

328
00:10:51,903 --> 00:10:54,042
so he stepped into a new role

329
00:10:54,342 --> 00:10:56,162
but this time he knew

330
00:10:56,342 --> 00:10:58,241
this outfit looks good

331
00:10:58,303 --> 00:10:59,601
but it isn't my skin

332
00:11:00,848 --> 00:11:03,706
this is why he gave away his wealth so cleanly

333
00:11:04,128 --> 00:11:05,907
that money wasn't his skin

334
00:11:06,167 --> 00:11:07,867
it was clothes he wore for fun

335
00:11:08,128 --> 00:11:08,887
when the clothes got old

336
00:11:09,287 --> 00:11:10,027
he gave them away

337
00:11:10,527 --> 00:11:12,267
and bought a new one to wear

338
00:11:12,647 --> 00:11:13,846
have you noticed

339
00:11:13,848 --> 00:11:15,667
most of our suffering

340
00:11:15,687 --> 00:11:18,167
comes precisely from mistaking clothes for skin

341
00:11:18,888 --> 00:11:20,367
your job title is clothing

342
00:11:20,647 --> 00:11:22,407
your savings are clothing

343
00:11:22,407 --> 00:11:24,147
your degree is clothing

344
00:11:24,248 --> 00:11:26,546
what others think of you is clothing

345
00:11:27,008 --> 00:11:28,046
but after wearing it long enough

346
00:11:28,327 --> 00:11:29,907
you feel you can't take it off

347
00:11:30,248 --> 00:11:32,466
you feel that without it there's no you

348
00:11:33,001 --> 00:11:34,540
this is how Wen Zhong died

349
00:11:34,881 --> 00:11:37,081
he'd rather die wearing that outfit

350
00:11:37,082 --> 00:11:38,701
than live with nothing on

351
00:11:39,082 --> 00:11:41,461
but Fan Li lived bare three times

352
00:11:41,721 --> 00:11:43,981
each time putting on new clothes

353
00:11:44,001 --> 00:11:45,780
each time wearing them well

354
00:11:45,962 --> 00:11:47,561
but he knew which was the clothing

355
00:11:47,841 --> 00:11:48,900
and which was himself

356
00:11:49,481 --> 00:11:51,780
in Buddhism there's a term no-mine

357
00:11:52,202 --> 00:11:54,140
it doesn't mean you can't have anything

358
00:11:54,202 --> 00:11:56,020
it means the things you have

359
00:11:56,202 --> 00:11:57,780
not one of them is you

360
00:11:58,322 --> 00:12:00,020
Fan Li probably knew nothing of Buddhism

361
00:12:00,202 --> 00:12:02,780
he lived centuries before Buddhism reached China

362
00:12:03,121 --> 00:12:04,981
but through a lifetime of action

363
00:12:05,001 --> 00:12:06,461
he lived out this idea

364
00:12:07,197 --> 00:12:07,917
I sometimes think

365
00:12:08,478 --> 00:12:09,956
the most remarkable thing about Fan Li

366
00:12:09,957 --> 00:12:12,017
isn't that he knew when to leave

367
00:12:12,197 --> 00:12:14,017
but that leaving didn't hurt

368
00:12:14,557 --> 00:12:15,956
does it hurt when you quit your job

369
00:12:16,478 --> 00:12:17,836
does it hurt when you break up

370
00:12:18,398 --> 00:12:21,517
does it ache when you spend the money you worked hard for

371
00:12:22,147 --> 00:12:22,946
if it hurts

372
00:12:22,998 --> 00:12:25,657
it means that thing has grown into your flesh

373
00:12:25,878 --> 00:12:27,417
of course pulling it out hurts

374
00:12:28,182 --> 00:12:29,162
Fan Li didn't hurt

375
00:12:29,582 --> 00:12:30,922
not because he was cold-blooded

376
00:12:31,263 --> 00:12:33,941
a man who gave his entire fortune to the poor three times

377
00:12:33,942 --> 00:12:35,481
couldn't possibly be cold-blooded

378
00:12:35,851 --> 00:12:36,652
he didn't hurt

379
00:12:36,783 --> 00:12:39,882
because he never let those things grow into his flesh

380
00:12:40,263 --> 00:12:42,002
they always stayed outside his skin

381
00:12:42,383 --> 00:12:42,941
pick it up

382
00:12:43,223 --> 00:12:43,821
put it down

383
00:12:44,263 --> 00:12:45,481
coming and going freely

384
00:12:46,573 --> 00:12:47,372
so if you ask me

385
00:12:47,654 --> 00:12:48,933
what exactly was Fan Li cultivating

386
00:12:49,414 --> 00:12:51,273
what he cultivated wasn't how to let go

387
00:12:51,453 --> 00:12:53,433
what he cultivated was how not to pick up

388
00:12:53,654 --> 00:12:55,553
these two things are worlds apart

389
00:12:55,843 --> 00:12:56,602
how to let go

390
00:12:56,922 --> 00:12:58,701
means you've already grabbed hold

391
00:12:58,723 --> 00:13:00,821
and now have to pry your own fingers open

392
00:13:01,122 --> 00:13:01,921
this is painful

393
00:13:02,243 --> 00:13:03,102
and exhausting

394
00:13:03,323 --> 00:13:04,821
but how not to pick up

395
00:13:04,922 --> 00:13:06,962
means you knew from the very start

396
00:13:06,963 --> 00:13:08,002
it can flow through you

397
00:13:08,243 --> 00:13:09,661
but doesn't have to belong to you

398
00:13:09,963 --> 00:13:11,122
you tend it seriously

399
00:13:11,402 --> 00:13:13,061
but don't think it's yours

400
00:13:13,282 --> 00:13:14,161
you give it everything

401
00:13:14,363 --> 00:13:15,901
but can let go at any moment

402
00:13:16,243 --> 00:13:18,382
this is a very advanced way of living

403
00:13:18,882 --> 00:13:19,401
honestly

404
00:13:19,762 --> 00:13:20,701
I can't do it

405
00:13:21,083 --> 00:13:21,921
but I think

406
00:13:21,922 --> 00:13:24,742
even just knowing that such a way of living exists

407
00:13:24,843 --> 00:13:26,862
will loosen our fingers a little

408
00:13:27,921 --> 00:13:30,060
finally a question I keep thinking about

409
00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:32,299
when Fan Li left Yue

410
00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:33,899
he's said to have taken Xi Shi with him

411
00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:35,720
the two of them sailed the five lakes

412
00:13:36,041 --> 00:13:37,580
and were never heard from again

413
00:13:38,081 --> 00:13:39,740
this is the most romantic version

414
00:13:40,081 --> 00:13:41,379
but some records say

415
00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:44,139
that Xi Shi was drowned in the river after Wu fell

416
00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:47,460
others say Gou Jian took her into his harem

417
00:13:47,961 --> 00:13:49,240
which one is true

418
00:13:49,801 --> 00:13:50,659
I don't know

419
00:13:51,081 --> 00:13:53,820
but if Fan Li truly couldn't take Xi Shi away

420
00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:58,379
then at Gou Jian's side he learned not only that power changes a person

421
00:13:58,561 --> 00:14:01,060
he may have learned an even more painful lesson

422
00:14:01,561 --> 00:14:02,360
some prices

423
00:14:02,801 --> 00:14:04,820
even the clear-eyed can't afford

424
00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:07,580
all his life he clung to no role

425
00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:09,779
yet on the matter of Xi Shi alone

426
00:14:09,921 --> 00:14:13,100
we can't be sure he achieved complete non-attachment

427
00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:13,879
maybe

428
00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:16,539
this is what makes him most human

429
00:14:17,113 --> 00:14:18,272
cultivation in the end

430
00:14:18,273 --> 00:14:20,331
isn't about becoming a person without feeling

431
00:14:20,552 --> 00:14:21,912
but living with feeling

432
00:14:22,153 --> 00:14:23,772
yet not being trapped by it

433
00:14:24,273 --> 00:14:26,851
Fan Li may have escaped being trapped by power

434
00:14:26,873 --> 00:14:28,231
not trapped by wealth

435
00:14:28,233 --> 00:14:29,692
not trapped by fame

436
00:14:29,952 --> 00:14:32,052
but facing someone he truly loved

437
00:14:32,072 --> 00:14:33,272
could he do it too

438
00:14:34,192 --> 00:14:34,672
this question

439
00:14:35,233 --> 00:14:36,532
the histories give no answer

440
00:14:37,033 --> 00:14:39,331
and maybe it was never meant to have one

441
00:14:39,672 --> 00:14:40,312
what do you think

442
00:14:40,913 --> 00:14:41,591
I'm Wang Lijie

443
00:14:41,832 --> 00:14:42,921
see you next time