What is really studious?

Chapter 154:

Zeng Zi said: "A gentleman attacks his evil, seeks his faults, strengthens what he cannot, goes to selfish desires, and engages in righteousness. 】

From the Qunshu Zhijiao, vol. 35, Zengzi.

This passage is the standard for good learning. The ancients said that "eagerness to learn is almost wisdom", whether it is to study or seek the Tao, you need to be eager to learn, willing to learn, and happy to learn in order to achieve something. All the accomplished figures in history are not forced out by the teacher, but are "led by the master to the door, and the cultivation is in everyone", and they can learn independently and voluntarily. Because they can work hard without sleeping or eating, they can achieve it. Zeng Zi is an example of "eager to learn and almost wise". This passage, from the "ZengZi Self-Cultivation" chapter, teaches us what it means to be truly studious.

"A gentleman attacks his evil, seeks his faults, and strengthens what he cannot do", "attacking his evil" is not to blame others for their evil, but to blame their own bad behavior and evil, and to do their best to correct their own shortcomings and habits. "Seeking its faults" is also seeking one's own faults, rather than looking at the faults of others. "Force what you can't do", try your best to break through what you can't do, you still have to do not do well enough to strengthen, you must encourage yourself to do perfectly. "Go to selfish desires" and overcome your own selfish desires.

Yan Hui asked Confucius what benevolence was, and Confucius said: "Self-denial and reciprocation are benevolent", and it is necessary to achieve "incivility do not look, do not listen to incivility, do not speak of incivility, do not move if you are indecent". Do not do anything that is not in accordance with etiquette, do not say, do not listen, and do not even think of it, so that you can get rid of your own selfish desires. To "engage in righteousness," everything we do must conform to the standard of righteousness and do something that is in line with morality. The criteria for righteousness can be chosen from the Disciple Rules, the Taishang Induction Chapter, and the Ten Virtuous Karma Dao Sutras. All the hearts and minds, speech and behavior meet these three criteria, which is called "engaging in righteousness", and only in this way can it be called eager to learn.

There is also a passage that embodies ZengZi's studious words: "A gentleman who learns what he does not know is also unpretentious; both who is knowledgeable and suffers from his lack of habit; who is accustomed to it, who suffers from his ignorance; who knows it, suffers from his inability to do it; and who can do it, you can also make it possible." The study of a gentleman is enough for these five. After the gentleman learned, he was still worried that what he had learned was not extensive enough, that he did not really understand the meaning, did not understand the reason for such a practice, and did not understand the reason.

"If you know it, you can't do it", you have understood it, and you are worried that you will not be able to put it into action. There is a slight difference between "line" and "xi" above. This "habit" means to review, his knowledge is already very extensive, and he is worried that he will not be able to review it from time to time. And this "action" is to practice in life. It can be practiced in life, but also worried that it cannot be humble in action, so it is said that "you can also make it". Only when these five aspects have been achieved can it be called the study of gentlemen.

Confucius also set an example for us to be studious, saying: "In the ten rooms, there will be those who are as faithful as qiu, and they are not as good as yau." "There must be faithful people near where Confucius lived, but none of them were as studious as Confucius. Why was Confucius able to become a saint? It is achieved by being eager to learn.

"Eager to learn is almost intelligent", eager to learn and intellectually close. Why is it close? For wisdom is inherent in our nature, inherently sufficient. How do you bring wisdom to life? It is through learning from the ancient sages. The ancient sages recorded in the scriptures the methods by which they opened up their own nature, wisdom, and ability, and learned from the ancient sages could also help develop their own nature.

Therefore, it is said that learning is close to wisdom, and through learning, we can approach wisdom, close to the matilda of nature. To learn in life, you can't rely on others to force you, you must know the meaning of learning. To learn is to learn the books of the sages, and to learn to be a saint, as the ancients said: "To read is to be a sage." The purpose of learning is not to learn knowledge and skills, but to learn the teachings of the sages and to learn the Four Books and Five Classics. Now people are also very good at learning, especially after the reform and opening up, we can also come into contact with Western culture, and many people are also very good at learning, but if the direction and method of learning are wrong, they cannot get great benefits.

Now it is also advocated to learn, but it is not the sages who have studied the scriptures, or the time to learn the sages is very small, so it is difficult to achieve "near wisdom". The more you learn, the more you confuse your mind, and you will not be able to become a sage. Now there is a saying: "Reading is to make money", which is completely contrary to the teachings of the ancient sages.

Ancient readers cherished the world and cared about the heavens. For example, Zhuge Liang's "Bow down and do your best, and after death"; Fan Zhongyan's "Before the world is worried and worried, after the world is happy and happy"; Gu Yanwu said that "the world rises and falls, the pi fu has the responsibility"; Lin Zexu's "Profit the country's life and death, do not avoid it because of misfortune". These people open their mouths to the world, and they rarely even mention the country. On the other hand, the current readers, even the compositions written by the college entrance examination, the content is not that others are sorry for themselves, or what inappropriate things others have done, full of paper complaints, complaints about the sky.

Why is there such a big difference between ancient readers and modern readers? It is because they have received different educations that they read different books. Therefore, one of the most important contents that cadre training institutions such as party schools and administrative colleges should teach is the sage classics, especially the "Essentials of Qunshu Governance". Only in this way can people's thinking be truly unified, and selfishness and selfishness are not easy to arise.

Many people have learning disabilities and cannot become sages, what are the obstacles? "The University" tells us: "A gentleman has a great way, and he will be faithful to gain it, and he will lose it by being proud." "The path of sage learning must be studied with faithfulness and sincerity in order to be attained. If you are very arrogant, look down on the ancients, think that the ancients are inferior to yourself, and see that the teacher also has shortcomings of one kind or another, this arrogant heart will not be able to learn anything in your lifetime.

Therefore, the ancients said: "If the student looks at the teacher's faults, he will certainly not learn and achieve." "There is a saying that if your eyes are full of sages, it means that you have also reached the realm of sages; if your eyes are full of ordinary people, it means that you yourself are also a mortal. This is called "there is no good ugliness in the situation, but the ugliness lies in the heart."

Even if a man is indeed a mortal, if we treat him as a sage, what we receive from him is the benefit we receive from the sage; on the contrary, if the man is a sage, and we treat him as a mortal, and we have a wrong view of him and no sincerity, then the benefits we receive from this sage are pitiful. So why do some people who study in the same place improve very quickly, while some people who study have no improvement? The reason is that everyone's heart is different and their attitude is different.

Zeng Zi said, "Seek for others and be unfaithful? Friends and not convinced? Can't get used to it? "He reflects on himself every day, and the focus is on faithfulness. Faithfulness is the main point of personal learning, and it is also the point of teaching students and disciples. Therefore, in the "University", it is said that "faithfulness is obtained", and in the Analects, it is also said that "the Lord is faithful" and "the Son is taught in four ways: literature, deeds, faithfulness, and faith", which are all important for the attitude of faithfulness to study. The key to why some people can learn and gain, while others have nothing, is that they have different attitudes. In this passage, Zeng Zi emphasized that the purpose of study is to "cultivate one's own morality prudently." Self-cultivation is to cultivate oneself, to demand oneself, not to ask others to cultivate.

In the "Continuation of The Little Language", it is said: "The basis of virtue and self-reliance", "Reading the books of the sages, experiencing words and words, learning from the mouth and ears, and eating in dreams." "If we just read the books of the sages, listen to them from our ears, and then speak them from our mouths after they have learned them, they cannot be implemented in the daily behavior of daily life, they cannot nourish the body and mind, and they are useless to others and themselves. This is what Xun Zi and Confucius called "the study of villains."

Xun Zi told us that in order to learn, we should emphasize "the study of gentlemen." Not to seek external fame and fortune, not to learn for the sake of fame and manifestation, but to learn for the sake of achieving one's own virtue and wisdom, to internalize the teachings of the sages in the heart and externalize them in deeds, and then to correct oneself, to benefit oneself, and to transform oneself into oneself. Words and deeds can be a good example for the world, which is "the study of a gentleman" and "the learning of oneself".

Confucius taught his students in four subjects: virtue, speech, political affairs, and literature, of which virtue is the first, which is to point out the end of cultivation. Xun Zi said: "When glory and disgrace come, it will be like its virtue"; "Neglect and forget the body, and calamity is done"; "Evil is in the body, and the structure of resentment is formed.". These are all warnings to people that personal honors and disgraces are self-inflicted and self-inspired. Since "words have called for misfortune" and "deeds have called for humiliation," people must "be careful what they stand," always be cautious in their words and deeds, and seize the time.

The focus of this sentence is to emphasize that learning should be implemented in action, so that knowledge and action are integrated, and the solution is corresponding. Moreover, to learn the teachings of the sages is to correct one's own mistakes, one's own wrong thoughts, words, and deeds, and definitely not to use the teachings of the sages to measure others, to blame others, and to criticize others.