Yen Yuan asked Confucius, ‘Master, I have heard you say that you should not welcome anything in, nor move out to greet anything. I would like to know how this is done.’

Confucius said, ‘The people of old didn’t change inwardly in the midst of external changes. Today people change inwardly but pay no attention to the externals. To note the changes around but not to change oneself is not to change. Where is change to be found? Where is there no change? How can one be affected by changes of the external? One needs to hold back from others.