What can be done to achieve social harmony and personal happiness?

Article 201:

[The journey of the avenue is also the public of the world.] Selection and ability. The old man does not kiss his relatives alone, nor does he have only sons and sons, so that the old will have an end, the young will grow, and the widows, widows, loneliness, and disease will all have something to support. It is the reason for the closure of the plot and the lack of pleasure, and the theft of the thief without doing it. It is said to be the same. 】

This passage is from the Book of Qunzhi, volume VII, Book vii, Book of Rites.

The well-known "Liyun Datong" and Confucius's depiction of the Datong world are this paragraph, but in the selected articles of the "Qunshu Zhijiao", this passage has been deleted.

"The journey of the avenue is also the world is public", in the era of the implementation of the avenue, the world is shared by everyone and enjoyed by everyone. This "gong" means "common".

That is to say, at that time, those who enjoyed power and possessed power did not intend to take this position of power to enjoy themselves, but to use this position of power to love and take care of the people, he exercised power with a public heart, the Son of Heaven had such a heart, his officials also had such a heart, and the whole society felt ashamed of having a selfish heart, and felt moral with a public heart, and such governance would naturally make the world peaceful.

In fact, here, Confucius did not conceive of the so-called ideal society, but described the real situation of social governance in the ancient Yao Shun period, when the saints and sages always thought of the well-being of the world and did not regard the world as a private object.

There is a passage in the "Six Taos of the Book of Qunshu Zhizhi" that embodies the public heart of the sages, which says: "The rule of the virtuous king, his political peace, the officials are not harsh, his endowment is modest, his self-worship is thin, he does not harm public law with selfish goodness, the reward is not imposed on the merit, the punishment is not applied to the innocence, the reward is not rewarded by joy, not because of anger, the one who harms the people is guilty, and the sage is rewarded... Officials have no hidden of corruption, and the country has no hungry people. The meaning of this passage is that the wise monarch governs the country, the politics are fair and reasonable, the officials are not harsh, the taxes are temperate, and the monarch's own money and use are very meager, and will not damage the laws of the country because of selfishness. Rewards are not imposed on the ineffectual, and punishment is not applied to the innocent. They will not give rewards to others because they are happy, nor will they kill innocents because they are unhappy and angry.

Those who endanger the people will certainly be punished and convicted; those who can recommend good and virtuous to the country will certainly be rewarded. In this way, there are no corrupt moths or other people hiding among officials, and there are no displaced, homeless, and undernourished people in the country. This is the hallmark of sage politics, and the effect of the sages governing the country.

Why is this effect achieved? It is precisely because the monarch believes that the world is the world shared by the masses, and he is in the position of the Son of Heaven, in order to love and care for the people of the world, not to satisfy his own selfish desires, and it is precisely because of this intention that he can handle things fairly, sentence him fairly, and promote officials without selfishness. It can be seen that if this attitude of "the world is just" is applied to governing the country, it will indeed have the effect of great governance.

The teachings of the ancient sages all taught us to be just and not to be selfish. For example, in the Four Precepts of The Great Fan, a person should "think far away from the virtues of his ancestors and think closely about the sorrows of his parents." Think of repaying the favor of the country, and think of the blessing of the family. Thinking outside of the urgency of others, thinking of the evil of idleness on the inside", people should have such a heart. President Xi Jinping once said, "Leading cadres should love to read, read good books, and be good at reading", what kind of books to read? What kind of book is a good book? What is good at reading? The ancient sages told us that corresponding to our own pure and pure nature is called a good book, reading such a book will help to enhance our moral cultivation and return to the pure and pure nature, good at reading is to be good at implementing the teachings in the classics into life, and the unity of knowledge and action is called good at reading.

The "Four Precepts of The Four Precepts of The Great Fan" is such a good book, because it teaches us to "think far away from the virtues of our ancestors", to pass on the virtues and taoist traditions of our ancestors, and to carry forward and carry forward them; "to think of the sorrows of our parents in the near future", if our parents have made mistakes, those who are children of others must find ways to help make up for them; of course, due to historical reasons, not only do we and our parents not learn traditional culture, but even our grandparents and great-grandparents may not have been educated by traditional culture, and traditional culture has been broken for several generations, so it is excusable to make mistakes The key is to think about how to make up for it; "thinking about repaying the favor of the country, thinking about the blessings of the family", without a country, where there is a home, this teaches us that we must first have patriotic feelings, know the history of our own country, and know how to repay the country's cultivation grace.

In addition, the continuation and history of our entire family must also understand that we must revitalize the family's Morality and family style; "thinking of the outside world to help others must be the right medicine and help ideas, in order to play a good role.

What do people need most now? Material possessions? Need but not urgent, for now, people's living conditions have been greatly improved and enhanced, but in contrast, spiritual emptiness, moral deficiencies have formed a sharp contrast, we want to help people urgently, we must bring people a happy life in the Chinese excellent traditional culture ideas, theories, methods to preach out, to help open the wisdom of the masses, let people know how to get a happy life.

"Thinking about the evil of idleness", we must always know how to reflect on ourselves, restrain our selfish thoughts, maintain a benevolent heart of thinking about others, for the sake of the team, for the sake of the country, and for the sake of the people, and always show gentleness and frugality, which is the public heart of "the world is public".

"Selection of meritocracy and ability", this "and" word, the "lifting" of the recommendation, means that it is necessary to select virtuous people to serve the people of the world, that is, to do what Mencius said: "The sage is in power, and the able is in office."

"The deceased does not kiss his relatives alone, nor does he have only sons and sons", so that people can not only love their parents and parents, not only love their children, but also love other people's parents and love other people's children, which is the extension of the way of filial piety.

Of course, if a person can do this, his core, foundation, and origin still lie in filial piety to his parents and love his children, so that he can extend this kind of filial piety and love, and only then can he achieve "not to kiss his relatives alone, not to have only his sons."

If a person does not love his parents, but is very respectful to the leader and to the parents of the leader, it must be false and deliberate, because this is not in line with human nature, as the Filial Piety Sutra says, "He who does not love his relatives and loves others is called a violation of morality; he who does not respect his relatives and respects others is called a disobedience." Therefore, people must start from filial piety to their parents, love their children, and then extend it to the general extent, in order not to kiss their relatives alone, not to have only children and sons.

"So that the old have an end, the young have a long life", so that the elderly can get good support, live in peace in their old age, and be cared for at the end of their lives, so that all children can get a good education and grow up healthily.

"Widows, widows, widows, and widows are all dependents", "widows" are old and wifeless people, "widows" are old and husbandless people, "orphans" are young and fatherless people, "lonely" people are old and childless people, "waste diseases" are people who are physically or mentally crippled and unable to do things, in today's terms, these people belong to the vulnerable groups, so that all widowers, widows, orphans, elderly people without heirs, as well as disabled and sick people, can be cared for and supported.

We are now advocating the construction of a welfare society and caring for the vulnerable groups, in fact, China has been like this since ancient times, all of which have taken the implementation of benevolent government as the best way to govern the country, and an important manifestation of the implementation of benevolent government is to enable "widows, widows, lonely and sick people to have some support", so that the lives of these vulnerable groups can be basically guaranteed.

"It is a conspiracy to close but not be happy, and a thief who steals and thieves does not do it, which is called datong." In this way, the conspiracy of treachery and evil will be eliminated, and the theft and disorder and the harm to society will not occur, which is the so-called cosmopolitan society, which is also the state of the harmonious society we are now pursuing.

How can such a beautiful society be realized? This requires the power of education, which is a natural consequence of the implementation of moral indoctrination. It is recorded in the Mencius that during the reign of King Shun, he attached great importance to the education of ethics and morality, and he made Qi Situ, equivalent to the current Minister of Education, teaching the people to follow the five lun ways, that is, "father and son have relatives, kings and subjects have righteousness, husband and wife are different, elders and children are orderly, and friends have faith", so where did King Shun learn from? He also only followed the way of the ancient sages.

That is to say, in this social environment, from top to bottom, everyone can practice the teachings of the sages, can be reasonable, and is pursuing a virtuous life, and only this kind of life can make life happy and satisfying.

How can I be happy? The sages and sages tell us that egoism, individualism, and utilitarianism cannot get true happiness, and even if they do, they are all false, temporary, and unsteady, and only for the sake of others, for the collective, for the sake of the country, and for the sake of the nation, so that their own values can be displayed and sublimated in dedication and payment, can they obtain a sense of happiness and achievement. Chinese has always paid attention to ethics, morality, and cause and effect education, so that people can be reasonable and at ease, which is the real way to achieve happiness.

Therefore, "people do not learn, do not know", "people do not learn, do not know righteousness", if people do not learn these truths left by the ancient sages, if they want to successfully pursue happiness, it is impossible, and may even lead themselves to the road of no return. Therefore, learning traditional culture is particularly important because it tells us what to do to achieve social harmony and personal happiness.