Wu Zusong | the new interpretation of the two chapters of the Analects of the Analects--on Confucius's idea of the work of the Covenant

The Analects are about two chapters of new solutions

——On confucius's idea of gongfu

Wu Zusong

International Center for Philosophy, School of Philosophy, Beijing Normal University

Source: History of Chinese Philosophy, No. 6, 2021

Abstract: The "covenant" and "pleasure" of the Analects, "The unkind person cannot stay with the covenant for a long time, and cannot enjoy the good" should be interpreted in its original meaning, and the meaning of the sentence should be interpreted as the unkind person cannot restrain himself for a long time, nor can he maintain inner harmony for a long time. "Death is there, virtual is profitable, about is Tai, it is difficult to have a constant" is a positive description of Youheng, the sentence should be interpreted as doing something from nothing, achieving reality with virtuality, and reaching the realm of inner Comfort with self-restraint, it is really difficult to have Heng! This paper provides a new understanding of these two chapters through the analysis of evidence and righteousness, and explores the work of Confucius and its significance.

Keywords: The Analects; Confucius; Jiuju Covenant; Covenant; Covenant for Tai;

Confucius attaches great importance to the "covenant", "covenant" is one of the most important terms used by Confucius to express the cultivation of kung fu, the "Analects" on the "covenant" has a total of six chapters, these six chapters in the overall and details of the exposition of Confucius's kung fu theory of thought, the Confucian theory of kung fu has the foundation and shape of the important significance, it can be said that "covenant" is the core concept of Confucius's kung fu thought. Bowen Yueli is the general outline and main content of Confucius's Theory of Gongfu, emphasizing the exploration of knowledge and the observance of etiquette, which has an important impact on Song Ming Confucianism's discussion of "Taoist studies" and "dignity" and their relationship, and adhering to the expression of Bowen's Gongfu Theory can avoid and correct the problems of contempt for Gongfu and the arbitrariness of Gongfu content, which is of great significance for reflecting on the abuses of Yang Ming's post-Learning. This article mainly explores the meaning of the two chapters of "the unkind cannot stay in the covenant for a long time" and "the covenant is Thai", and puts forward his own views on Confucius's idea of the work of the covenant around the concept of "covenant".

I. An outline of the meaning of the word "covenant"

The key to explaining the two chapters of the Analects, "The Unkind Shall Not Stay in the Covenant for a Long Time" and "The Covenant for the Sake of Tai" is to clarify the meaning of the "covenant" in the sentence. Both the covenant character Jinwen and the seal book are images that express entanglement, which is a shape and sound word, and the side "糸" refers to the filament, and the interpretation of the Shuowen Jiezi is: "Covenant, entanglement also." From ito, spoon sound. Duan Yujie's "Notes on the Interpretation of The Text": "About, tangled also." Bundler, bind also. By extension, frugality. The word indicates that a person actively restrains his desires and actions, emphasizing the will and actions of the subject.

As in the Book of Poetry, the "Cabinet of Covenants" says that the ropes are tightly tied and tied to build the Lege Pavilion. By extension, it is a covenant, a contract, and a covenant, such as "Zi Gu is my covenant with him" ("Spring and Autumn Ram Biography , XiangGong Twenty-seven Years"). It is extended to be brief, such as "his words are also about to reach" (Li Ji Xue Ji). There are also meanings of humility and humility, such as "the king is not as good as the set of rong, and the covenant is done" ("Chinese Wu Language") the "covenant words" refers to the words of humility.

It also extends to the meaning of weakness, such as "those who are husbands and kings are not outside and introverted, and they are not for fengyue" (Chinese Chu Yu). The meaning of about being restricted, extended to the dilemma, refers to the dilemma caused by various causes, and does not directly refer to the poverty of material conditions, and it is the Southern Dynasty classicist Huang Kan who began to associate the "covenant" with poverty, who explained the "covenant" in "the unkind cannot stay in the covenant for a long time" as: "The covenant, jude poverty also." ”【1】

The "Judah" in Huang Kan's note is the meaning of "if", that is, similar to a certain situation, Huang Kan did not directly interpret "covenant" as poverty here, he used the state of "poverty" to help understand the state of "covenant", his annotation to "covenant" is not direct and reserved, his idea is that "treaty" is probably similar to "poverty", but it can not be directly equated, Huang Kan's note has a great influence, but later scholars basically ignore Huang Kan's intention to interpret "covenant" by analogy, and directly understand "covenant" as poverty. Although later scholars agree with Huang Kan's interpretation here, this invention is rarely used in other places, and Huang Kan's interpretation of the "covenant" here needs to be scrutinized.

There are six discussions of the "covenant" in the Analects, three of which are on the meaning of the "Bowen Covenant", and the Analects of Yongye say: "The Son: 'A gentleman is knowledgeable in literature, and a gentleman is also a gentleman who is promised a courtesy!'" The fifteenth chapter of the Analects of Yan Yuan is re-emerged with this chapter, and Yan Hui laments Confucius's education: "The master follows the rules and is good and seductive, and he is good and seductive, and he is good at writing, and he asks me to be polite" ("Analects of Yan Yuan"), and there is also a place where Confucius praises the benefits of "covenant", that is, Zi Yue: "It is rare to lose with the covenant." (Analects of Li Ren)

The covenant in these sentences means to constrain oneself, that is, to restrain oneself according to the requirements of the rites. The two chapters of "The unkind cannot stay in the covenant for a long time" and "the covenant is Thai" should also be more reasonable to interpret it in terms of the constraints of the original meaning, so that the interpretation can reveal the important significance of the word "covenant" in the sentence in which it is expressed, and the understanding of the meaning of the Analects can be more in-depth.

Second, the new interpretation of the chapter "The unkind cannot stay long" chapter

The second chapter of the Analects of LiRen records confucius's discussion of the "covenant" cloud: "The son said: 'Those who are not benevolent cannot stay in the covenant for a long time, and they cannot enjoy it for a long time. The benevolent are kind, and the knowers are beneficial. Scholars of previous generations have basically followed the imperial commentary on this chapter, such as the commentary of Xing Fu of the Northern Song Dynasty: "'Those who are not benevolent cannot stay with the covenant for a long time', and those who are unkind must not make the long-term poor covenant, and if they are poor for a long time, they are not." 'He who cannot enjoy his long life' shall not make himself rich and happy for a long time, but he who has been happy for a long time will be proud. [2] Zhu Xi noted: "About, poverty also." Profit, greed, Cover knows well and will want to get it. Those who are unkind lose their original hearts, and they will be abused for a long time, and they will be promiscuous for a long time. ”【3】

Modern scholars of the Analects have interpreted this chapter basically in the same way. Jiang Boqian's annotated "Four Books Reader" notes: "'Music', the joy of joy." 'Knowing', now making wisdom. 'Covenant' means embarrassment. The unkind cannot be in a predicament for a long time. If you are in a predicament for a long time, there must be something that is not evil. But it is not possible to be in a state of wealth and happiness for a long time. If you are in a state of happiness for a long time, you will also be extravagant and lascivious, and you will do bad things. The benevolent can walk in their place, be at peace with their encounters, stay in agreement for a long time without being moved by the poor, and enjoy their strengths without being adulterous to the rich. ”【4】

The book's interpretation of the "covenant" is more cautious, and embarrassment refers to a state of constraint and unfreedom, and does not highlight the meaning of poverty, indicating that the author has objections to the annotations of his predecessors, but also says that the benevolent can "stay in the covenant for a long time without being moved by the poor and the lowly", or associate the poor with the "covenant". When scholars interpret "happy" as rich, then "covenant" needs to be interpreted as poverty and the like, and in the same case, Li Zehou uses "hardship" to translate "covenant", and his vernacular translation is: "Unkind people cannot persist in a difficult environment for a long time, nor can they live in a comfortable environment for a long time." ”【5】

Both "covenant" and "pleasure" are understood as certain material conditions of life. The reason why scholars of the past have interpreted this chapter in this way is that it was influenced by the comments of previous generations. Second, from the perspective of interpretation, there is no doubt that the predecessors interpreted the "happiness" as rich, so that although some scholars have doubts about the interpretation of "covenant", in the end, the structure of "poverty" corresponding to "rich" is used to interpret this sentence as a whole.

The structure of the sentences in the classics is symmetrical, there are corresponding words in the sentences, there should be a holistic thinking when interpreting, and the interpretation of these words should also have correspondence and relevance, which can be called the "correspondence law" of classical interpretation. This law is the key to interpreting the chapter, and a scholar's problem with its application will lead to problems in the interpretation of the chapter. If you want to make a new solution to this chapter, you need to make a new solution to both "covenant" and "pleasure", and you need to have a holistic and in-depth grasp of the meaning of this sentence.

As examined above, the original meaning of "covenant" refers to constraint, and its extended meaning is based on this original meaning. Among them, there is an extension of the meaning of "frugality", refers to the frugality of life, is the active or passive choice of people, does not specifically refer to the poverty of material life, the rich can also live a frugal life, restrain their desire for pleasure, prevent extravagance and waste, frugality and poverty are obviously two words, expressing two meanings, frugality does not necessarily contain a meaning of poverty.

There is a sentence in the Book of Rites and Fangs that reads, "The villain is poor and poor, Fus is proud; Yos is a thief, and he is proud of chaos", and Zheng Xuan notes: "Covenant, you are poor." [6] But the "covenant" here is opposite to "arrogance", "the little man is poor" is that the villain is humble because he lives in poverty, he is talking about the mentality and behavior of man, not the objective material living conditions, "poor" is the meaning of not reaching and not being able to aspire, it is a description of the objective situation, if the "covenant" is interpreted as "poor", it is not compatible with "pride", and it does not conform to the "corresponding law" of the classical interpretation, so Zheng Xuan's note here is inaccurate, but later scholars note the chapter of the Analects. More or less refers to Zheng Xuan's annotations here and is disturbed.

The Xunzi Bugou chapter says that a gentleman can "rule with joy and harmony, worry with quietness and reason, general and clear, and poor and detailed", Xiong Gongzhe notes the "covenant" here as "modest covenant" [7], the annotation is accurate, and the "covenant" here is the same semantic as the "covenant" of the "poor covenant" in the Book of Rites and Fangji, which is an expression of mentality and behavior. Can the unmerciful remain poor for a long time? In fact, the unkind can be content with poverty for a long time, and the risk of being content with poverty is smaller than taking risks, and most of the unmerciful people are afraid of the law and know that they will be punished for doing wrong, so they dare not do evil for wrongdoing, and selfish desires do not necessarily have to be implemented in the violation of the law and other relatively strong behaviors.

In addition, the people can change the status quo of poverty through hard work and other means, which is reasonable, and no one has the reason and power to let some people be content with poverty for a long time. It is unreasonable that the unmerciful will be restless and will do wrong if they are poor for a long time, and this is not the case, so the "covenant" here should not be interpreted as poverty.

"Covenant" should be interpreted as constraint, is the subject's covenant body return, is the practice of work, that is, to restrain oneself to conform to the etiquette norms, this can also be seen from the scholar's commentary on "self-denial and retribution for benevolence", He Yan's "Analects of the Analects": "Ma Yue: self-denial, covenant body also." Kong Yue: Complex, reverse also. If the body can be regurgitated, it is benevolent. Emperor Shu: "Gram, Jujuya." Fu, Jude also. If you can make a self-sacrifice and return to the ceremony, then you are benevolent. ”【8】

Self-denial and retribution is the return of the body, and the meaning of "self-denial and retribution for benevolence" and "long-term engagement" are the same, both are a kind of elaboration of benevolence, and both are virtues in terms of work. Therefore, "the unkind person cannot stay with the covenant for a long time" should be interpreted as: the unkind person cannot restrain his desires and behaviors for a long time. The moral will of the unkind is difficult to firmen, and over time, selfish desires will inevitably be indulged, and he will not be able to restrain himself.

"Can't stay with the covenant for a long time" is a rule for the unkind, and "can stay for a long time" is a rule for the benevolent, if a person can restrain himself for a long time and maintain cultivation work, then he is not an unkind person, he will change from a benevolent person to a benevolent person. Whether or not one can remain in the Ren Dao for a long time and the length of time in the Ren Dao is a criterion for judging a person's moral realm, he said: "Huiye, his heart does not violate renunciation in March, and the rest is only a matter of days and days." Here, Confucius evaluates the moral realm of his disciples through this criterion.

"Music" has two basic meanings, one refers to the general name of the five tones and eight sounds, is the sound performance, the music of the ritual music, and the other refers to the music of people's mentality and music and happy mood, these two meanings are intrinsically linked, that is, through the indoctrination of ritual music, through music to educate and influence people's hearts, to cultivate people's temperament and morality, so that people can achieve a state of peace and happiness in their hearts, and improve people's spiritual realm. It is true that "pleasure" has the meaning of material life pleasure in the Analects, for example, Confucius said that the loser has three preferences: "Happy and proud, happy to travel, happy to feast, and damaged." (The Analects of Ji Shi)

Among them, the "pleasure" of arrogance is the pleasure of arrogance and indulgence, which is obviously negative, and the "pleasure" itself is neutral in moral value, but the "pleasure of pleasure" is excessively liked and indulged in the pleasure of feasting, which is negative, these are their own unrestrained and indulgent pleasures, but these negative "pleasures" do not need to be premised on a "rich" in front. In the Analects, when "music" appears as a monosyllabic word, it does not refer to the pleasure of pleasure, but refers to the positive music in the sense of enlightenment and realm.

The happiness that arises naturally from the heart from moral cultivation is the happiness in the sense of enlightenment and realm, this "happiness" itself does not mean wealth, wealth is not a necessary condition for "happiness", poverty cannot and should not limit the harmony of a person's heart, Confucius affirmed that a person is in poverty but can maintain a state of harmony and happiness, such as the dialogue between Confucius and Zigong: "Zigong Yue: 'Poor and unscrupulous, rich and arrogant, how?' Zi Yue: 'Can also.' Those who are not poor and happy, rich and courteous. In this dialogue, Confucius believed that it is worth affirming that a person living in poverty but not flattering is worthy of recognition, and it is even more valuable for a person to live in poverty and maintain inner harmony.

Confucius has a lofty attitude towards the rich and the poor, in his thought, it is not a person who has wealth and wealth can be happy, happiness is not the pleasure of material satisfaction, but the spiritual pleasure generated by moral cultivation, in this state people can forget sorrow and aging, such as Confucius described himself as "angry and forgetful, happy to forget worries, do not know that old age is coming to Yun'er" and "food and drink, bending and pillowing, happy in it." Unrighteous and rich and expensive, to me is like a floating cloud" (Analects of Shu Er), Confucius praised Yan Huiyue: "Xianya, Huiye!" A piece of food, a scoop of drink, in the dark alley, people are overwhelmed, and they will not change their happiness. Hyun-jae, back also!" (Analects of Yongye)

The "happiness" mentioned here is called "the pleasure of Kong Yan", which refers to the state of harmony and happiness in spiritual cultivation, which is strictly distinguished from the pleasures of fame, fortune and material life, which is derived from moral cultivation, and external fame and wealth are not the premise of this happiness, nor can it affect this happiness. Confucius's understanding and experience of "happiness" reached a very high realm, in his thought, the "happiness" in the realm of enlightenment and realm is positive and beautiful, he will be very cautious in using this word, and he has a clear understanding of the difference between wealth and happiness, let alone use this word to express fame and fortune.

We cannot erase Confucius's obvious distinction between material life and spiritual realm, because the righteousness contained in this distinction is an important idea of Confucius and reflects the basic value orientation of Confucianism. Wealth and happiness cannot be confused, poverty cannot be opposed to happiness, and "covenant" cannot be interpreted as poverty and "pleasure" cannot be interpreted. In fact, the covenant is connected with pleasure, the covenant is the work that leads to pleasure, and the pleasure is the effect of the covenant.

Therefore, the "happiness" in this chapter should not be interpreted as wealth, but should be interpreted as inner harmony. The unkind person's "cannot be happy for good" should be interpreted as: the unkind person cannot maintain a state of inner harmony and happiness for a long time. Even if unkind people can adhere to moral work for a while and occasionally be in the path of benevolence, they are easily affected by external objects and have selfish desires and troubles, so they cannot maintain moral work for a long time, so they cannot maintain inner harmony for a long time.

The righteousness of this sentence can also be reflected in the sentence "Gentlemen are frank, and the villains have long relatives" ("Analects of The Analects of Shuer"), "Qi Qi" is the color of sorrow, and the villain "Long Relatives" is because the selfish desires and calculations are too heavy to maintain cultivation work, so there is often a sense of anxiety and fear. The phrase "the benevolent are not worried" in the Analects of Zihan and the unkind "cannot enjoy the good deeds" in this chapter are also positive and negative statements of the same doctrine.

Looking at this chapter in general, the unkind are those who cannot be in the benevolent way, and the "covenant" and "pleasure" are the contents of the two aspects of the benevolent way, and "not allowing the covenant to be long" and "not being able to enjoy the long life" are the descriptions of the characteristics of the unkind person in these two aspects, that is, the unkind person cannot last in both the aspect of maintaining work and mentality. "Benevolent Beings" means that benevolent people are safely in the state of benevolence, are naturally and long-term in benevolence, and "knowing the benevolent" means that the knower is constantly pursuing benevolence in order to achieve benevolence.

In this way, the basic characteristics of the three personality types of unkind, benevolent, and intellectual are relatively clear. If "covenant" and "pleasure" are interpreted as the material life state of the unkind, then "the unkind cannot be treated for a long time, and cannot be happy for a long time" directly expresses the personality type's attitude towards rich and poor, rather than directly describing the feelings, attitudes, and levels reached by the personality type on "benevolence", and in the following sentence, the "Anren" and "Liren" of the two personality types of benevolent and intellectual are clearly describing this aspect, so that the problems targeted by the language expression of the sentences before and after the chapter are inconsistent. It does not conform to the logic of language expression, and the righteousness of the whole chapter cannot be well understood.

The general principle of interpretation in the classics is that the original meaning of words can be explained in sentences, and it should be explained in terms of the original meaning first, and cannot be reluctantly explained by an imaginary image. The original meaning of the words "covenant" and "music" is also a positive meaning to interpret the chapter, which can explain that the focus of the chapter is on the cultivation of work and the realm of work rather than on the state of material life, truly reflecting the ideological essence of the chapter, on the other hand, the most important thing in the work of the chapter is to conform to the etiquette, and the "music" of the heart and the music is the purpose and effect of the "music" of the ritual music education, so the interpretation reflects Confucius's liturgical education thought, which is more in line with the main purpose of Confucius's thought.

Third, the new interpretation of the chapter "Covenant for Thai"

Chapter 25 of the Analects: "The Son: 'A saint, I shall not see it; he who shall see a gentleman, Skoriko. The Son said, "Good man, I cannot see it; he who sees eternity, Skoriko." Death is for existence, emptiness is profit, covenant is for Thai, it is difficult to have eternity. This article is mainly to explore "death and existence, virtual and profitable, about for Thai, it is difficult to have eternity." One sentence, this sentence is a description of you heng, and the "Commentary" explains that "heng" is constant, which means that it can maintain stability and run continuously, specific to people, it means that people can maintain a quality and habit for a long time.

"Death is there, emptiness is profit, and covenant is Tai" is a positive description of Youheng, which refers to the process of moral cultivation; "It is difficult to have Heng" is a valuable exclamation of the invaluability of Perseverance, which can be read as "Difficult!" There is permanence. Or", "It's hard to be permanent!" wait. Traditional commentators and modern scholars believe that the three things such as "dying and having" are all exaggerations and negative descriptions, and that these three are the reasons why they cannot be sustained. Huang Kan thought, "This impermanent person also." Dead, nothing. At that time, the chaos was poured, everyone was exaggerated, referring to nothing, making a profit, the family was poor and the outside was deceitful and extravagant, all of which were constantly opposed, so it was difficult for the cloud to have a constant. ”【9】

Zhu Xi noted: "All three are exaggerated things. Whoever does so will not be able to keep it as it is. [10] Cheng Shude's yun of words: "The saying of the picture is to take care of face, and the three sentences of 'doing nothing' are the so-called "gu face also." Whoever cares for face begins as a hypocrite, and in the end he will become a true villain without fear, and he will have eternity?" [11] The understanding of this sentence by commentators and scholars is generally the same, and the reasoning they speak is of course in line with Confucius's thought, but whether what they say is the truth that this sentence is intended to express needs to be carefully considered.

First of all, to analyze the language structure of this chapter, Confucius first lamented that it is difficult to see the good people, in this case, it is also gratifying to see the person who has the constant, then along this tone, it should be to describe the specific situation of the person who has the constant, and encourage it, if you suddenly turn to the reason why the discussion cannot be constant, the tone and the previous sentence are not connected, and the expression cannot be coherent.

There are similar structured sentences in the Analects, such as Confucius's saying: "You must not be in the middle and go with it, but you will also be crazy!" The madman is enterprising, and the cunning is not doing anything. Although the qualifications of the madman and the cunning are not as good as those of the middle-class, after all, they are willing to progress and teachable, so Confucius still affirmed it, and sighed" In lamenting, "If you do not go in the middle and go with it, you will also be crazy!"

Then it is a statement of the characteristics of the madman and the fox, saying that the madman can forge ahead, the fox can not do something, this is a positive description, this chapter and the "Analects of the Zilu" chapter, the language is similar, the righteousness is similar, from the context, the tone, the meaning, etc., "dead and have" Three is a positive description of the perpetual is reasonable. If it is said that all three are negative, then is it necessary to be content with "nothingness", "virtuality", and "covenant" without seeking progress? Confucius certainly did not mean that.

Although Confucius has different moral requirements for all levels of society, but what he strives to practice is the educational practice of "teaching without class", the ideal is to achieve universal indoctrination of society, everyone can receive education to improve their virtue and ability, and cultivation is an endless process, Confucius is not to let a certain part of people settle for a certain state and not make progress, from theory and fact, people can not forcibly suppress their desire to improve morality and practice moral behavior.

Looking at the specific meaning of the words in the sentence, what does it mean to be dead, virtual, covenant and have, ying, and tai? A chapter of the Analects of Taber is of great reference significance for understanding this chapter. Zeng Zi said: "To be able to ask questions is not to be able to ask, to ask more questions is to be widowed; if there is nothing, if it is false, if it is a mistake, it is not a school, and in the past my friends tried to engage in Yu Siyi." (Analects of Tabernacle) This sentence refers to Zengzi praising his friend, which is generally believed to refer to praising Yanzi.

The words "can" and "can't", "many" and "widow", "have" and "nothing", "real" and "virtual" in this chapter are used side by side, and are very similar to the use of words in this chapter, especially "there is none, real as virtual" and "dead for being, virtual for profit" can be compared, the latter "death" is nothing, and "profit" and "virtual" opposite, have a real meaning. Zeng Zi's words are saying that Yan Zi can do it to ask people who are lower than him, and he knows more to ask people who know less than he knows, and there is like no, but the fullness is like emptiness.

The "being" and "real" here refer to the knowledge and moral reality, and the non-harmony and virtual refer to the work body and appearance of the Yanzi, and the chapter shows the weather of the Yanzi who is good at learning and inquisitive and humble. The word "for" has a basic meaning, which is the meaning of doing, doing, and practicing, and is used in many places in the Analects, such as "for benevolence by oneself", "for courtesy and disrespect", "for three years without pleasure", "for benevolence", "for etiquette", "for pleasure", that is, the practice of benevolence, etiquette, and music, and for example, "for example, for the mountain, not a basket, stop, I stop also." For example, the flat earth, although covered with a basket, enter, I go to the same" ("Analects of Zihan"), the "for the mountain" in this sentence is to pile up the soil into a mountain, is to actively give action, for the time, the mountain has not yet formed, the mountain is a goal and result of the action, for the mountain is to describe the process of an action.

The "for" in this chapter should also be interpreted as practice and action, not "as", the process of "doing nothing" is like "for the mountain", it is a process from starting to doing something, and it is also a process of accumulating and continuously improving a person's knowledge, experience, and ability. "Nothingness is profitable" means that a person's knowledge and morality are constantly improved in order to achieve a state of real gain and moral abundance. "Covenant" does not mean poverty, "covenant" is to restrain one's own practice of work, "Tai" refers to the peace of mind and ShuTai, is a state of peace of mind and stretching, is the effect of work, "covenant for Tai", it is said that through the moral practice of the covenant, to achieve inner peace and comfort.

Yan Zi is the most studious, his image is characterized by great wisdom and foolishness, his words and deeds show that "there is nothing" and "real as virtual", "have" and "real" refers to Yan Hui's knowledge and moral level, and "nothing" and "virtual" is to describe Yan Zi's mentality when doing work and show the work style, Zeng Zi praised Yan Zi's "have" and "real", and Yan Zi's "nothing" and "virtual" are not criticism but the same praise, and so on, the "nothing" "virtual" and "covenant" in this chapter refers to the psychology and appearance of the constant person when doing work. Only in this way can the level be accumulated and the realm can be improved, if it is the opposite, such as thinking that you have, have profit, and have Thai, then it is difficult to have the motivation to improve yourself, let alone maintain perseverance and work for a long time.

In the past, scholars understood "for" as the meaning of pretending, saying that a person was originally in the state of "death", "virtuality", and "covenant", but he had to pretend to be in the state of "having", "ying", and "Tai", and should have done the things of "death", "virtual" and "covenant", but he wanted to do things that were "have", "ying", and "Tai", and specifically to do or not to do the things in the later state. It can be purely pretended without actually doing, or pretending to be actually doing. This "pretending" is falsification, so this sentence is talking about a question of straightness and dishonesty, sincerity and dishonesty, and is not directly talking about the problem of impermanence, because the emphasis of impermanence is whether the will can be sustained.

Although there is still a certain gap between the experience and the realm of the good person, it can be in a process of continuous moral purification and continuous accumulation of knowledge, and this process will not be stopped by external interference. Having heng is the basic quality of a person's moral cultivation, to enter the moral cultivation, there is a constant beginning, Zhu Xi particularly emphasized the role of heng in moral cultivation, he said: "Foolishly, there is a constant and a saint, high and low are suspended, but there is no one who can reach the saint without his own eternity." Therefore, at the end of the chapter, it declares that there is a constant righteousness, and its door to show people to enter the morality can be described as profound and clear. ”【12】

Zhu Xi's understanding is in line with the meaning of this chapter, but if the three "nothings are" to be understood by negative descriptions, then what the end of the chapter is saying is not that there is no constant, what is difficult to achieve there is a constant, then what is there is a constant, there is no direct description, it is difficult to support his theory that "there is a sense of eternity at the end of the chapter", and the positive description at the end of the chapter has a constant understanding, which is the positive "the meaning of the affirmation has the meaning of eternity".

At the end of the chapter, the positive description of Youheng emphasizes that the premise of work is to have perseverance, only to maintain perseverance, and to do work at all times, such as the continuous flow of water, the backward progress of Yingke, and the true accumulation of strength will suddenly penetrate for a long time. But it is not easy to maintain perseverance, it is not easy to maintain a continuous state of practice, it is easy to slacken off, so Confucius, after describing the characteristics of perseverance in a positive way, lamented that it is difficult to have perseverance, so it is said: "It is difficult, there is a constant!"

In short, the last sentence of the chapter can be interpreted as: from nothing to do something, to achieve reality with virtuality, to restrain oneself to reach the realm of inner Comfort, it is really difficult to have perseverance! In this chapter, Confucius talks about the four personality types of saints, gentlemen, good people, and youheng, which require people to maintain constant qualities, continue to do moral cultivation, attach importance to accumulation, pick up the ladder, and constantly improve their spiritual realm.

4. The work of the covenant

The work of the covenant is the subject's constraint on the heart and behavior, a kind of inner respect and obedience to the norms in behavior but not rigidity, this work is a continuous practice process, which requires perseverance and continuous accumulation to achieve the state of righteousness and maturity. Confucius said, "Self-denial is benevolence." One day of self-denial, the world returns to benevolence. For the sake of benevolence, but for others?" (Analects of Yan Yuan)

Here "self-denial" is to make a promise, "for benevolence by oneself" emphasizes that the subject of moral practice is oneself, the covenant is one's own conscious and voluntary restraint of oneself, not others to restrain oneself, nor is it the external coercive force to restrain oneself, in family and social life, one's own words and deeds will certainly have appropriate restrictions, but this is the restriction that requires the subject to consciously and voluntarily and rationally recognize and practice, rather than blind or forced compliance. Through moral rationality and cognitive rationality, we must reflect and recognize external rules in order to do a good job.

The work of the covenant is to come from the true moral feelings of the heart, the experience of the emotional authenticity of benevolence, rather than the formal observance of red tape, etiquette is a way of indoctrination, but the practice of etiquette should avoid the formal understanding and observance of cultural etiquette, such as the alienation of etiquette in later generations, which binds and stifles human nature, resulting in the withering of the individual life spirit, which violates the fundamental spirit of Confucian benevolence. External forces should not force the subject to comply with requirements beyond reasonable limits, and cannot impose values recognized by society and others on others, but promote the awakening of individual morality and reason through guidance and indoctrination, so as to reach the individual's consciousness and responsibility for his own behavior.

From the perspective of cognition, the covenant ceremony needs the support of bowen, Confucius attaches great importance to the work of bowen, emphasizing the study of knowledge, bowen is the inherent requirement of the covenant, supporting the development of the work of the covenant. The covenant is based on one's own moral reason, and at the same time requires a certain level of cognitive ability and level, and requires extensive and in-depth access to knowledge and information in order to properly regulate one's emotions and behaviors.

Bowen and covenant ceremony is a holistic framework of mutual integration, Wang Yangming said that bowen is the work of the covenant, saying that the covenant is to be based on a certain level of academic speculation ability and level, academic speculation is a necessary process of practicing the covenant of the li, to have an understanding and grasp of various things, to face the specific situation to make specific behavior, to do work with an open vision of understanding, try to avoid the blindness of individual behavior choices.

From the perspective of emotion, it is a kind of regulation of emotions, regulating the content and expression of emotions, restricting the issuance of unreasonable emotions and the arbitrary expression of emotions, this kind of regulation is not an irrational inhibition, and forcibly suppressing oneself from moving oneself is the way to tell oneself, while the Confucian self-cultivation work is not like this. Confucius's work has always carried out the spirit of benevolence, so that true emotions can be generated, and the covenant is expressed in a more appropriate way through moral integration and rational choice.

To express emotions appropriately, we can ensure the continuity of emotional work. Excessive repression and excessive release of emotions will cause harm to people's physical and mental health, and about is an emotional regulation, which is the protection of emotions and body and mind. Emotion is a two-way sexual relationship between people, only the practice of covenant, can establish a reasonable and moderate emotional relationship with others, so the covenant is also a protection for interpersonal relationships.

Confucius criticized "disrespect for courtesy" ("Analects, Eight Nobles"), requiring "self-cultivation to respect" ("Analects, Xianqing") and "faithfulness in words and deeds" ("Analects and Deeds of Reverence" ("Analects• Wei Linggong"), emphasizing that the work of the covenant should be based on respect, and that the nature of faithfulness should be maintained, while maintaining the mentality and style of faithfulness and respect. Respect requires that the mind be condensed, not scattered, not too casual in words and deeds, and not too rigid, and there is a problem of moderation and moderation here, and it is about to grasp this measure and scale.

The original meaning of the covenant is constraint, but Confucius's covenant work is not only a aspect of constraint, but also the ability to regulate, including the aspect of ShuTai, and the praise of Confucius Yanju's "Shen Shen Ru Ye, 夭夭如也" and "and point" all express this Confucian relaxed and comfortable side. From the realm of keeping the covenant to the end, continue to maintain a respectful mentality, work skillfully, and naturally achieve a state of mind of happiness, that is, the "covenant is the Tai" mentioned above, can produce happiness is the intrinsic function of keeping the covenant, and the observance of etiquette is to act for people to have a basis and follow, so that they can be at ease, only reverence can be sprinkled, and it is true to be able to keep the ceremony.

Confucius's work of the covenant is the unity of the covenant and music, while Yan Zi is deep in the body of music, Zeng Zi focuses on keeping the covenant, Yan Zi died early, can not pass on confucius music, and Zeng Zi has many disciples, and his way of keeping the covenant is the mainstream of confucianism in later generations, all of which are in awe and strictly abide by the rules, which has a great impact on the basic appearance of Confucian work. However, later generations of Confucians such as Zhou Dunyi, Cheng Mingdao, and Wang Yangming were able to deeply understand the Way of Music, and their doctrines corrected to a certain extent the problem of excessive observance of the covenant.

Confucius's learning is the study of self-cultivation and self-governance, and its root is self-cultivation, self-cultivation is self-cultivation, it is a way to deal with problems in one's own self-cultivation, to deal with excessive selfish desires, bad habits, etc., in order to achieve the goal of changing temperament and achieving personality. People's energy is limited, the energy is used in the negative aspect, then the positive activities will be compressed and affected, about to guide words and deeds into more reasonable activities, for personal growth, career success, are very important.

Therefore, on the one hand, the covenant is to govern, to reflect inwardly, but also to push outward, is the process of self-achievement, and it is also the process of opening things into things. From the perspective of handling various relationships well, the covenant is a way of behavior that deals with the relationship between the individual and the whole, the individual and the whole, and what it pursues is to establish the universality of emotional communication between people, so as to achieve the harmony of the whole while achieving the moral practice of the individual. In summary, it can be concluded that "covenant" is the core concept of Confucius's kung fu thought.

With the development of the times, production and lifestyle have undergone great changes, the corresponding ethical and political order, mental and moral cultivation is also undergoing profound changes, perceptual individuals face others and society in a more independent way, about as a self-cultivation work its content and form will undergo great changes, about the work of the theory will also have an innovative transformation and development on the basis of attaching importance to respect and protection of individual rights.

exegesis

1 Cheng Shude: Analects of the Analects, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2014, p. 296.

2 He Yanzhu and Xing Fushu: Analects of Analects, China Zhigong Publishing House, 2016, p. 52.

3 Zhu Xi: Notes on the Collected Chapters and Sentences of the Four Books, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2016, p. 69.

4 Jiang Boqian: Four Books, Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House, 2017, p. 103.

5 Li Zehou: "Analects Of Reading Now", World Book Publishing Co., Ltd., 2019, p. 66.

6 Etiquette and Justice, Peking University Press, 1999, p. 1400.

7 See Xiong Gongzhe: Xunzi's Notes on the Present Translation, Chongqing Publishing House, 2009, p. 39.

8 Cheng Shude: Commentaries on the Analects, p. 1056.

9 Cheng Shude: Commentaries on the Analects, p. 630.

10 Zhu Xi: Notes on the Four Books, Chapters and Sentences, p. 99.

11 Cheng Shude: Commentaries on the Analects, p. 631.

12 Zhu Xi: Notes on the Four Books, Chapters and Sentences, p. 99.

The bold characters were added by the editors of the Confucian network.

In order to adapt to mobile phone reading, the paragraph length is adjusted.