Confucius was a renowned statesman, philosopher, and educator in ancient China.
Confucius once taught thousands of students, and among them, seventy-two stood out as the most exceptional—Yan Hui was one of these elite disciples.
Yan Hui lived in deep poverty, yet he never felt inferior because of it. Content in his humble circumstances and devoted to the Way, his noble character earned great praise from Confucius.
Once, Confucius said to his other students:
"Yan Hui's character is truly noble! He eats from a bamboo basket, drinks from a gourd ladle, and lives in a humble alley—others cannot bear such hardship, yet he remains as joyful as ever! How noble his character is!"
This passage is recorded in the *Analects*, "Yong Ye" chapter. By the Southern Song Dynasty, when a renowned scholar annotated the *Analects*, he added a note after this passage:
"Yan Hui's family is so poor, yet he remains calm and composed—truly remarkable!" Later, the idiom "taking it in stride" came to describe facing difficulties or emergencies without panic, staying steady and self-possessed.
Source: *The Analects*, Chapter "Yong Ye" (Zhu Xi's Commentary)
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "处之泰然" came to describe facing difficulties or emergencies without panic, staying steady and self-possessed.