Most of us are aware of the 10 Commandments in Western Bible. However, very few knows about the commandments in Chinese Bible.
Chinese Bible (Dao De Jing) lists twelve mistakes (eight shortcomings and four failings) that people most often commit. I think they are very profound statements.
The Eight Shortcomings
- Intemperance: to do what you shouldn’t
- Obsequiousness: to talk incessantly even though people don’t listen
- Sycophancy: to speak only what people wish to hear in order to gain their favor
- Flattery: to follow others without questions
- Calumny: to enjoy gossiping about other people’s shortcomings
- Iniquity: to break up other people’s relationships
- Malevolence: to praise the treacherous and discriminate against those you dislike
- Perfidy: to curry favor without regard for good or evil
The Four Failings
- Ostentation: to seek fame through great deeds
- Obstinacy: to see your own mistakes but not change, to hear other people’s good advice but not act on it
- Avarice: to act with reckless disregard for others, selfishly carrying out your own plans
- Arrogance: to call right those opinions in agreement with yours and call wrong those opinions not in agreement with yours, even though they may be good
