Tell us about Confucius's famous sayings

Zi Yue: Only women and villains are difficult to raise, and those who are close are not inferior, and those who are far away are resentful.

This sentence is from the Analects of Yang Goods, which has always been the most criticized quotation of Confucius. Suspected of discriminating against the majority of women, put aside today, that is a proper "misogyny" has not run away.

Here the woman put aside the talk, first of all, let's talk about the villain, the concept of the villain is generally opposite to the gentleman. It is particularly convenient to distinguish between gentlemen and villains, depending on whether he acts equally or third-class, and whether he pulls gangs and factions to engage in disunity. A gentleman is a righteous villain. It is easy to measure the gentleman and the villain, and through the multiple choice questions of morality and interests, they will be tested, and what they value will invisibly stand in line.

Of course, the gentleman is the personality benchmark of Confucian culture, which means that there is knowledge and morality, and the villain, on the contrary, is ignorant and immoral. Specific to the performance of villains, Confucius used a pair of antonyms to emphasize: far and near. This is the sense of proportion, the sense of distance, that we often mention nowadays. In popular understanding, the villains that Confucius accused of are those who are interested in the party for personal gain, and those who blindly arrogantly and indulge cannot properly position themselves.

In The history of China, there have been many incidents of eunuchs and foreign relatives messing with the government, and in real life, such people are not uncommon. This is not explained here. Juxtaposing women with villains is Confucius's merged homogeneous item, summarized and summarized. Both have this problem, may wish to analyze together. As for the women Confucius talked about, are the ordinary girls like Yu Dan said or the masters of scholars ( Wei Guogong? There is nothing to argue about on the side of "concubines", "pet concubines", and "adulterers". The wise see the wise.

Or, "How about repaying grievances with virtue?" Zi Yue: "Why repay virtue?" Repay grievances with directness, and repay virtue with virtue. ”

People live in the crowd, as social people, all kinds of conflicts and contradictions naturally fill all aspects of real life, saying that it is a problem, only because it is unavoidable and difficult to avoid. If everyone is a true gentleman, then there will not be so many differences and filth between selflessness and openness. It is precisely because of the difference between gentlemen and villains that problems arise, and even difficult to reconcile.

The most brilliant ideological and cultural peak in China's history was the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when all the sons and hundreds of families were contending in unison, and this quotation in the Analects of the Analects and The Constitution questions, I think, is similar to the debate and dialogue in today's society, the confrontation of two completely different viewpoints, the exchange and collision of the two doctrines of Confucianism and Taoism, and this clash of concepts has essentially contributed to the integration and development of the two philosophical values and epistemology.

Lao Tzu's proposal of "how big and small, repay grievances with virtue" is neither correct nor operable in Confucius's view. He refuted it clearly – how could he say that? If we complain with virtue, then why repay virtue? The way it should be treated is to repay grievances directly and repay virtue with virtue.

This "direct complaint" is undoubtedly the attitude principle and treatment of the relationship between specific people in Confucianism, and it is also the application and extension of the cultural idea of "benevolent people love others" advocated by Confucius in the real world.

The Confucian concept of benevolent rule is often misinterpreted by the public as generating electricity with love. Understanding Ren is actually a core point in understanding Confucian philosophical thought, and it is the most important and indispensable link in the ethical social relations constructed by Confucius. As mentioned in the Analects of Li Ren, "benevolence" is the most basic virtue of man, and only a person of benevolence can be objective and fair, like truly good people, and hate truly evil people.

The Commentary on the Interpretation of Words says, "Straight, right view also." Xun Zi further explained that it is yes, non-is, and it is straight. Straight literally means fairness, integrity. The meaning of fairness is understood, that is, there is no deviation, half a pound and eight two, and the balance weight is the same. Therefore, "repaying grievances with directness" does not require people to have a vendetta and not to repay, blindly tolerate it, and retreat. In other words, it is what it should be, and what is pursued is a straightforward mind and code of conduct, a fair and humane relationship model and norms.

Zi Yue: A gentleman is ashamed of his words and deeds.

This quotation is also from the Constitutional Question. It is not difficult to translate, but it is said that a gentleman of high character thinks that it is shameful to overdo it.

Confucius made a clear explanation of the word shame at the beginning of the constitutional question - the constitution asks shame, the son said: "The state has a way, the valley; the state has no way, the valley, shame also." In other words, the corpse vegetarian is ashamed. Modern civilized and legal society emphasizes the consistency of power and responsibility. Whatever rights you enjoy, you must pay reciprocal responsibilities and obligations accordingly. If you only seek benefits and covet benefits, but do not pay attention to dedication and do practical things at all, and are not worthy of morality, then it is called incorruptibility and shamelessness.

The virtue of matching words with deeds and the shameful behavior of words and deeds are the standards of conduct that Confucian culture has always advocated. You either don't say it, you have to do it. For example, when seeking a job, when he is seeking a job, he promises to be selfless and serve the people, but when he goes to power, he acts as a bully and oppresses the people without restraint, and every day he dominates the microphone and sets of big words, empty words, false words, and exaggerated words, and this kind of person is the shameless special that Confucius has repeatedly criticized.

Looking around us, the kind of people whose words are pompous and exaggerated are often people who contradict themselves in words and deeds. As early as 2,000 years ago, Confucius had severely reprimanded this kind of villain hypocrite for doing things "clever words and making things fresh and benevolent".

Zi Yue: "Man has no faith, and he does not know what he can do." The big car has no rim, the small car has no wheel, why does it work?"

In short, how can a person who lacks credit be able to do it? Just like a ox cart wagon has no handlebars, how can it make the car run?

This is a quotation from the Analects of Government. Without elaborating too much, the premise of government is self-cultivation. Xinyi is the support of people and people standing in the world, the bottom line of interpersonal communication. If a person does not believe what he says, his character will not be convincing, he will not be able to gain the trust of others, if he is in power, he will lose his credibility, and the legitimacy and legitimacy of his ruling will be questioned by the masses.

Zeng Guofan said that self-cultivation has five words: sincerity, respect, quietness, caution, and constantness. The first starting point is a sincere word. The expression of sincerity is faith. Honesty is not only a necessary virtue for being a person, but also the basis for the progress of social civilization and system. Winning the trust of people and winning the trust of the people will never be obtained out of thin air, it is based on the real test and test of small things.

The idiom we have learned, "one promise and a thousand gold", compares credibility with gold, emphasizing the importance of keeping promises. Therefore, in real life, it is found that a person often reneges on his word, promised yesterday, changed his mind today, educated others to abide by the regulations, but he has no self-discipline, such a person can not even pay the responsibility for what he has said, what else can he do and manage?

Zi Zhi Zi Xia Yue: "A woman is a gentleman, but nothing is a villain."

To understand this quotation in the Analects of Yongye, you must understand what Confucianism refers to. For the interpretation of Confucian characters, successive generations of literati and masters have had different interpretations. Zhu Xi said, "Confucianism, the name of a scholar." Liu Baonan's Analects of Justice uses an entry in the Zhou Li to interpret "Confucianism" as "the name of the parishioners," that is, teachers. Mr. Qian Mu also believes that saying "Confucianism" was originally a profession, equivalent to what we call teachers today. I think that from a literal point of view, Confucianism is actually Confucianism, and there is no need to limit whether it refers only to teachers, all cultural and educational practitioners or people who aspire to the direction of cultural education, intellectuals, are also similar to Confucius's Confucianism.

The group of binary opposites of gentleman and villain appears repeatedly as a comparison in the Analects. "Gentleman Huaide, villain huai tu; gentleman huai punishment, villain huai hui." "Gentlemen are frank, villains are long-standing" and so on. The difference between a gentleman and a villain lies in the height of his or her moral character, and those who have benevolence, righteousness, and wisdom are gentlemen, and vice versa. The gentleman is the concrete personification of Confucian cultural thought, flexibly embodying the profound characteristics of the Chinese spirit. "A gentleman should be cautious first of all", in "The University", it is said that to be a gentleman, you should first start from virtue to cultivate.

Sima Guang said in the Zizhi Tongjian: "Only when a gentleman is threatened is he thought it is good, and only when a villain is threatened is he thought it is evil." The little man is wise enough to commit his adultery, brave enough to decide his violence, and he is a tiger and a winged person, and his harm is not much! "The discussion is that if the clever little man is bad, the destructive power is quite large. There are many such examples in history, and the Song Dynasty Qin Juniper is a famous negative teaching material.

Confucius repeatedly demanded in the Analects that to read a book is to know what is to know, not to know is not to know. As a Confucian, being down-to-earth and seeking truth from facts is the correct way to do learning and then to be a person. Reading is not a kind of display and a kind of showing off a kind of human design, but a sweet spring that purifies and corrects the soul. "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" Zhuge Liang's tongue and battle group Confucianism has a very wonderful passage, excerpted as follows: Confucianism has the difference between a villain and a gentleman. The Confucian of a gentleman, loyal to the king and patriotic, keeping right and evil, ensuring that Ze and the present world, the name of the future generations. Ruofu is a villain, a confucian, a carver, a professional worker, a young man, and a poor scripture; although there are a thousand words in the pen, there is no strategy in the chest.

If we read famous works and Confucians tell people famous works, if we don't understand the truth in them, can't set an example by example, teach by example, and only know how to play a little clever all day long, deceive ourselves, and mislead people's children, then is it beneficial or harmful to society to study and master knowledge? If all wisdom is used in improper and wrong places, deceiving the world and stealing fame, seeking wealth and killing people, and endangering mankind, then what use does people want cultural intelligence?

Readers, reading the classics, the purpose is to learn and apply. Don't think that reading more books means having intelligence, knowledge is at best a livelihood skill, but wisdom is the value of life and the foundation of life. Cultural people are not only a professional identity but also a social responsibility and conscience. Based on this, the repetition of "women as gentlemen and gentlemen, and nothing as villains" is of urgent practical significance.