The Confucian Way of Mindfulness 知止

In my last post, I talked about the Confucian idea of mindfulness. I also shared a verse from Mencius to show how we can reconnect with our conscience. This journey to find our inner goodness might take a long time - possibly our whole lives! So, how do we start this journey?

The Great Learning (大學) is a book written by Zengzi (曾子), one of Confucius' top students. Zengzi recorded the important lessons Confucius taught him in the main essay (右經一章). He then explains them with ten chapters (傳十章) to help us better understand what Confucius really meant. So, this book is a guide to help us rediscover our inner goodness again.

The very first step in this learning process is "to know to stop" (知止, zhī zhǐ).

The benefits of pausing and stopping are immense. Photo By: Kaboompics.com in Pexels

You might be asking:

- What do I need to stop?

- Why is it necessary to stop?

- How can I stop?

To guide us, Zengzi gives two powerful examples from the Book of Poetry (詩經):

The first example is about a city: "The ancient capital city stretched for miles, and the people were happy to live there."

詩云：「邦畿千里，惟民所止。」

In ancient times, a well-run city was strong, safe, and full of life. It was a center for trade, art, and learning, and everyone loved to call it home.

The second example is about yellow birds: "The chirping yellow birds make their homes in the thickest woods on the hill."

 詩云：「緡蠻黃鳥，止于丘隅。」

These birds find safety in the dense woods, where they can escape storms and danger and live peacefully.

Both examples show us the importance of stopping in the right place. But where is that place?

This safe space lies behind the secret door to our true selves and our inner wisdom. That is where we can pause, rest, and grow. Once we find this hidden space, we can start learning to stop.

So, how do we stop? We need to focus on this sacred place. At first, stopping our thoughts, anger, or desires might be hard. It can feel strange. But taking a pause helps us notice when our minds wander. With practice, we will see that our thoughts do not define who we really are.

As we keep practicing, stopping will get easier. It will feel more like a peaceful break. We will start to see how our thoughts come up and where they take us, which will help us make wiser choices.

Stopping allows us to grow and see our true selves more clearly. We will also find joy in the deeper truths of life.

This growth begins with the simple act of stopping, which means: (1) when you feel tempted, let your conscience win and listen to it; (2) in arguments, try to understand instead of just wanting to be right; (3) focus on what's important now instead of worrying about the past or future. When you do this, the right choice will become clear.

In the next post, we'll look at the next step in this journey.

Here is the video of the translation.