CHINESE PHILOSOPHY OF HAPPINESS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 174, 19 June 1873, Page 3

CHINESE PHILOSOPHY OF HAPPINESS.

(Translated from the Shunpau— North China Hebald.) " Life's limit is but a hundred years, Joys Uo« few ' and yet how mnnj tears ! " RKFLECTiNaon these lines, un thoughts wan lered insensibly to a conaidcration of the Taint y of. liumiin wished Of men born in tluswoild tin; gieater proportion meet with untimely or prein-ilui-rt L'iid» ; but with the nio:e fortunate, the utmost limit is -till one hundred \enrs, an 1 tj suim exceptional cases of longevity wdl J address im&i>lf at present. Here then have men 315,000 days, and asiii.ning t sis time to be dovoted w ith fair success to ilie attainment of happiness, there still remains tho reflection "that dins and nights are passing away, that the final end is surely and steadily approachmg. But, during these 3G,ooo'dins, how much grief, sorrow and distress, misery, siclness and pain form the common lot of man ? How melancholy to witness the common desire of happiness thwarted bj greed for empty gain, by struggles for illusory fame, rendering life but a continuance ot turmoil and trouble ! The result thus verily becomes one hundred years of struggling c\is f ence, checkered here and there by a few gleams uf sunshin.. The sun of pleasure how small ! And yet, in cases of premature death is it even still less. Life is but a dream, its joys are a delusion ! In ancient books we read, "In the pursuits of life, know when and where to stop." Why involve an entire life in the heartburning! and disappointments i isepor ible f om sti Ujgle after wealth and honour ? Why deprive the mind of one quarter-hour of repose ? Why not afford the body a day of rest and quiet ? Alas ! man's wishes are insatiable, he reverts to dust, and then and there only are they quenched. In former years, it is recorded that Kan Tiu-slun located himself in a pavilion in the neighbourhood of the Pele-wang Hills ; a \isitor inquired of him how ho could be contented in such a locality. Kan Tai-slian replied : " Because lam resolved not to be unhappy." Herein have wo the true philosophy of life — the key to which is contentment. A discontented mind, however surrounded by external advantages, however favoured by worldly success, will still thirst after more. The contented man, although little favoured bv extraneous circumstances, is still cheerful and happy. Li ti remarks : " The poor man, if he would be happy, let him rellect and say, ' I am poor but there are poorer than I, I am mean, but there are meaner than I, I am troubled by my wife and family, but t! c c are bachelors, widows, and the childless w ho long in vain to take upon themselves such cares. I labor and toil, but there are others bound hand and foot — prisoners unable to move." With reflections such as these, a sea of misery may by analogy be transformed into a realm of bliss; while on the other hand, by a comparison with those more gifted by Providence, tbe body becomes, as it were, plunged into a region of manacles and tortures. In ancient tunes there lived a man Shem. During a travelling tour he had occasion to rest the night at a roadside post-house. The weather was insufferably hot, and within the room, nunquitoos swarmed by thousands. Shien fortunately had provided himself with curtains but unfortunately the curtains were insufficient to icsist the enem3 r . His efforts to keep them out were m vain, sounds of buzzing in unpleasant proximity still continued, and writhing under the intolerable torment of their stings, his thoughts transplanted themselves to his own peaceful home. Ho reflected on the s;)aciou3 halls, cool couches, and the crowd of handmaids to fan and wait on their lord ; and, continued he to himself, how is it that I should haze suffered one moment of ennui in such a paradise? Why leave to seek pleasure and find misery abroad ? Duncg these meditations he obsened the keeper of the post, who had no curtains, pacing the room with the mosquitoes swarming around him. But what seemed to him inexplicable was that the man still ippeared to bo in perfect good humour. Shien, still writhing in misery, exclaimed : " My good fellow, you are one hundred times worse off than myself, but how is it that while I am in .torment of mind you on the contrary seem happy ? " The keeper replied : "Sir, I have just b.-ou recalling to mind the position I waj once placed in ; when a prisoner, bound hand and foot. I was a helpless prey to these murderous insects, unable to move a muscle, they preyed on me w ith impunity and the agony was unbearable. It was the contrast of that horrible period with my present condition, that produced that feeling of contentedness within me." Shien was startled by the mine of philosophy herein unfolded. Would, he thought, that the world in ordinary life would but daily .keep in mmd, and carry out such a principle of analogy. How vast then would be tho result to man ! The Sages have it: "Parents and brothers around you form ulone a subject for conlmued joy." It rests but with the individual to a^ail of himself it or not. For in}' own part, I but mourn ovor the vanity of human nature, which, incapable of giasping those pleasures so abundantly strewed m life's path, magnifies inconveniences into miseries and struggles through a labyrinth of briars and thorns.