Forgiving Others but Not Yourself Yang Zhu of the Ming Dynasty grew up in a poor family. When he was a young boy, his parents passed away. His elder brother joined the army in Wuchang, and he followed as a family member, later became a teacher in school. His friend Yang Shiqi was talented but poor, living with many host families here and there. Yang Zhu felt really sorry for Shiqi’s poor situation, so he recommended Yang Shiqi to teach at the school where he was teaching, while he himself went to teach far away from home. He traveled far and worked hard every day. Later, Yang Shiqi became a high-ranking official in the imperial court. Since Shiqi recognized Yang Zhu’s work, he recommended Yang Zhu to become an official of the imperial court.
Department of Production, Jing Di Academy
Forgiving others but not yourself.
Yang Zhu of the Ming dynasty grew up in a poor family. When he was a young boy, his parents
passed away. His elder brother joined the army in Wuchang and he followed as a family member,
later became a teacher in school. His friend Yang Xiuqi was talented but poor,
living with many host families here and there. Yang Zhu felt really sorry for Xiuqi's poor
situation, so he recommended Yang Xiuqi to teach at the school where he was teaching,
while he himself went to teach far away from home. He traveled far and worked hard every day.
Later, Yang Xiuqi became a high-ranking official in the imperial court. Since Xiuqi recognized
Yang Zhu's work, he recommended Yang Zhu to become an official of the imperial court.
Once, the tombstone of Yang Zhu's ancestor was pushed down by a farmer's child.
At that time, this would generally be regarded as a major event destroying feng shui of the family.
The gravekeeper quickly reported the incident to Yang Zhu. Yang immediately asked,
was the child hurt? The gravekeeper answered no. Yang Zhu was relieved, that's good, it's really a
blessing. He told the gravekeeper to tell the farmer, take good care of his child and don't
scare him. Yang Zhu's first concern was whether the child was hurt or scared. He didn't think
about how the tombstone was damaged or how this incident would affect his family. Yang Zhu moved
to the capital after he became the minister of rights, but he lived an extremely simple life.
He didn't ride in the sedan chair, instead he rode a donkey to get around. He was very fond of his
donkey. Every day after he came home from the court, he fed the donkey himself and took good
care of it. Yang Zhu's neighbor had a son at an old age and loved the son very much. Whenever the
child heard Yang Zhu's donkey screaming, he cried a lot which upset the whole family.
So the child's parents had to tell Yang Zhu about it. Without saying a word, Yang Zhu sold his donkey.
From then on, he went around on foot. Yang Zhu passed away at the age of 85 years old and the
history of the Ming dynasty recorded that among the court officials at that time, Yang Zhu was
regarded as the most virtuous. After Yang Zhu passed away, Emperor Jing Tar was highly appreciative
of his contributions. The emperor summoned Yang Zhu's son and appointed him as the chief minister
of the county.
