Wang Yangming: Look Up at the Sky After a Heavy Snowfall

The ancients said, "Da means flourishing, and by this time the snow becomes abundant." "Major Snow" is the third solar term in winter. By this time of the year, the yin energy reaches its peak. After this day, the temperature drops sharply and snowstorms are on the way, marking the official beginning of the cold winter. However, while the cold winter arrives, it also brings magnificent landscapes with thousands of miles of ice and snow.

On the first day of the first lunar month in the fourth year of the Zhengde reign (1509), there was a heavy snowfall in Guizhou. Wang Yangming, who had been demoted to this place for three years and wrote a poem chanting the snow:
The setting sun shines in the city while snow falls outside the city walls;
For ten miles around, the weather varies between sunny and snowy.
I wonder what the Creator intended;
Why is the human heart always restless?
The towers in the Cypress Mansion reflect their inverted images;
The thatched cottages, pines and bamboos send out the sounds of cold.
Don't worry about lying stiff under the thin quilt;
The accumulated snow will often last until dawn.
——"Following the Rhythm of Lu Qianxian's Poem on a Sunny Spring Day on New Year's Day"

At dusk, when it was snowing heavily outside the city, Wang Yangming looked at the distant towers, pines and bamboos. Thinking of the hardships he had suffered along the way and the long, cold night that was coming, he was lost in a thousand thoughts.

After feeling emotional, he remembered that he still had some thin quilts, which were enough to withstand the severe cold, and his state of mind regained its calmness. As long as one had more patience, the night would pass sooner or later, and dawn would always come. This poem was exactly a portrayal of Wang Yangming's whole life.

He lost his mother in his childhood, didn't have a smooth career in the imperial examinations when he was young, and was framed and demoted to a wild and barbarous place shortly after entering his official career. The heavy snow of life weighed on him, but he always remained calm and composed, faced the severe cold directly, and finally became "the first person in five hundred years".

Wang Yangming also encountered many low points in his life. At the age of 21, he passed the provincial examination.
Just when he was full of complacency, he failed twice in the metropolitan examinations that followed.
People around him talked a lot and pointed fingers at him, but Wang Yangming was very calm:
Everyone in the world considers failing the examinations as a shame, but I consider being affected by the failure in my heart as a shame.
Later, at the age of 28, he took the imperial examinations again and passed with honors, and thus entered his official career.
He had thought that his future would be bright, but unexpectedly, at the age of 35, he suffered a major setback.
At that time, Wang Yangming offended the powerful eunuch Liu Jin. As a result, he was beaten with sticks in the court and then thrown into prison, and he also fell seriously ill because of this.
With great difficulty, he escaped the death penalty and was demoted to the south where miasma was prevalent at that time.

However, fate didn't let him go. On his way there, he was assassinated by killers secretly sent by Liu Jin. He had to hide here and there along the way and escaped death many times.
It was not until he passed the Qiantang River that he pretended to throw himself into the water and managed to deceive everyone and get away.
When Wang Yangming finally arrived at the Longchang post station after going through countless hardships, he was faced with numerous difficulties:
An unfamiliar environment, no food to eat, no place to live, language barriers, and being unaccustomed to the local climate...
Facing the successive blows, Wang Yangming was not crushed.
When there was no food, he reclaimed wasteland; when there was no shelter, he built thatched cottages; when there was a language barrier, he taught the local people the official language.
Wang Yangming once described his situation like this: "The dangerous plank road blocks my way in front, fierce tigers follow me from behind; the collapsing cliff is on my left, and the deep ravine is on my right."
Although his life was full of hardships like wind and snow, he walked leisurely and lived a rich and colorful life.

In the seasons of our lives, there are always continuous rain and snow. After Light Snow comes Heavy Snow, and after Minor Cold comes Major Cold.
However, the more difficult the situation is, the more it is a time for cultivating the mind.
Keep your heart tough and face hardships with a smile, and there will be no difficulties that you can't get out of in this world.
When your heart is strong enough, you will surely be able to overcome the low points, walk out of the cold winter, and welcome new life.
When you endure the cold winter, spring will surely come. In the winter of the first year of the Zhengde reign (1506), Wang Yangming was demoted to Longchang, Guizhou. At that time, Longchang was located among numerous mountains and thick bushes, filled with miasma, and the weather was extremely cold. It was very difficult for ordinary people to survive there.
When Wang Yangming first arrived, he could only live in a cave, using thatch as a quilt and picking wild vegetables to satisfy his hunger.
But in such a harsh environment, he didn't complain at all and didn't become depressed.

He reclaimed wasteland and planted vegetables during the day, meditated to cultivate his mind at night, and usually taught the nearby villagers to read and write.
Later, in order to resist the inner anxiety, he even asked people to make a stone coffin and would sit in it to meditate and study whenever he was free.
Facing the situation that was unbearable for ordinary people, Wang Yangming always patiently read books and meditated.
After days and nights of cultivation, he finally had the famous "Enlightenment at Longchang", which made him a master of the School of Mind.
Just as Wang Yangming said, one must temper oneself in real affairs in order to stand firm.
Life always gives us various hardships. As long as you grit your teeth and hold on, you will eventually endure the darkness and see the sunshine.
Lü Mengzheng, the prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, was driven out of his home with his mother when he was young and lived in a dilapidated kiln.
In the depths of winter, he could only wear thin clothes and worn-out shoes and socks.
In extreme poverty, he once walked in the ice and snow in the biting wind, begging everywhere.
Even though the conditions were so harsh, he still didn't give up reading.

Whenever he was free, he would pick up books and study hard, often staying up all night.
With his perseverance, he finally won the first place in the imperial examinations and reversed his fate.
Professor Ye Jiaying of Nankai University wrote a poem: "Endure the wind and snow, endure the cold; even if it's cold, it's already the cold of spring." No winter will last forever, and no spring will fail to come. It's the same with the world and with life.

Everyone has their own darkest moments. As long as you can endure them, no matter how long the night is, dawn will come.
Only after withstanding the baptism of wind and snow can you walk all the way to the beautiful spring scenery. Some people say that after a heavy snowfall, there will be two kinds of people: one kind of people will look down at the ground and see the muddy and messy earth, feeling infinite despair; the other kind of people will look up at the sky and see the sunny sky and the boundless beautiful scenery after the snow.

Wang Yangming belongs to the latter. He once said in "Records of Instructions": "Even though what the eyes see is desolate, the heart looks forward to tomorrow."
In his view, there is no despair in this world. Even if everything in sight is in a mess, his heart is still full of light.
In 1505 AD, because he offended some villains, Wang Yangming was arrested and thrown into prison.
In the dark prison, while other inmates looked gloomy and muddled through their days, Wang Yangming still read books as usual every day.
Later, on his way to his place of demotion, when passing by a temple in Fujian, he even wrote such a poem on the wall: "Dangers and smoothness originally don't linger in the heart; it's just like floating clouds passing through the sky."
Facing the wind and snow in life, Wang Yangming always held his head high, left those painful muddy things behind, and finally waited until the wind stopped and the snow melted and welcomed the clear sky stretching for thousands of miles.

This reminds me of the story of Shao Yong, a Neo-Confucianist in the Northern Song Dynasty. Shao Yong was born into a poor family and was fond of learning since childhood. But when he was 30 years old, he still hadn't passed the imperial examinations and was poverty-stricken. One winter, he was so poor that he couldn't even afford to light a stove, but he wasn't sad. Instead, he improvised and wrote a poem called "Song of the End of Winter":
The twelfth month is coming to an end,
Surprised that the year is running out.
Ice is stored in the north,
But the east wind hasn't come to thaw it yet.
The grass blindly seeks green,
The flower buds strive to find red.
Looking for spring but not seeing it,
In fact, spring is only in the heart.

Winter is about to pass, but the grass hasn't turned green, and there are no flowers on the branches. There's no sign of spring anywhere.
In fact, spring is not elsewhere but in our hearts. In the cold winter when everything is withering, Shao Yong saw the indestructible vitality and the boundless spring scenery hidden in people's hearts.
As Heinrich Heine said: What winter takes away from here, spring will give back to you.
Even if the wind and snow in life are heavy, just walk calmly. When the ice and snow melt, you will be able to enjoy the most beautiful spring scenery.
Wang Yangming said: "The world is a place for cultivation. Lotus grows out of the mud. The hardships in the world are all for tempering and sharpening me."
When you can keep hope in your heart, face the harshness of life directly, and endure all the cold days, you will surely welcome your own spring with blooming flowers.
Please believe that after a heavy snowfall, there will surely be a sunny day. After enduring the cold winter, you will finally get the spring scenery.