Zi Yue: "Clever words, fresh ren!" ”
Clever words: clever, good; order, good. Clever words, that is, full of flattering words, the face pretends to be pleasing to the face.
Confucius said, "A man who speaks cleverly and disguises a kind face lacks benevolence." ”
Fresh! Confucius used such a fierce language as lack of benevolence to remind and warn his disciples not to be clever, pretend to be kind, and for their own interests, they said beautiful words, and then made profits. Literally, it seems that this sentence should be translated like this, but when we carefully understand Confucius's life experience, we know that in fact, Confucius's deep meaning of this sentence has extended more worldly values.
In Confucius's mind, the image of benevolence is: a person who stands on his own, a person who has attained perfection, and a person who has perfected virtue. Throughout history, the words and deeds of a virtuous person or a gentleman have all come from the heart and sincerity: sincerity is strange, and red guts are vertical and horizontal. This state of being consistent in words and deeds and being a sincere person often makes the world unconsciously hear and follow.
Confucius's benevolence is basically centered on the practice of morality, and the inner virtue of the human heart is consistent with the external behavior, and its root is the true feeling of truth nurtured by the heart, this true state of internal and external consistency, the unity of character and behavior, we have a word to describe: the unity of heaven and man. This ideal state of life with a high degree of unity of heart and behavior was deeply displayed by a man named Li Bai in the Tang Dynasty more than a thousand years later.
Twenty-six-year-old Li Bai, in order to realize his political ideals, "strive for his wisdom and be willing to be an auxiliary, so that the Huan District is fixed and the Hai County is clear." He traveled with his sword and began a long journey to seek fame. From Bashu to Jiangnan, from Dongting to Taiyuan, from Taishan to Luoyang, the footprints have traveled to most of China.
In 742, Emperor Xuanzong, after being elected by He Zhizhang, ordered Li Bai to enter the capital and join the army. When Li Bai left home, he wrote the poem "Laughing at the sky and going out, my generation is a basil person". Li Bai, who had just arrived in Chang'an, was amazed as a "who immortal", and even when the emperor summoned him, he could not help but "descend to meet him".
The subjects of the Tang Dynasty only knew that Li Bai's poetry was an amazing poet, but they did not know that he himself had lofty political ambitions. All along, Li Bai has been convinced of his talent, "If you hunt in the water, you can be an imperial master."
Li Bai, who originally thought that he could show his ambitions, did not think that what the emperor loved was his immortal poetic talent, and his poetry and his words could embellish and praise the kaiyuan prosperous world.
Li Bai, whose political ideals were shattered, submitted his resignation to the emperor in less than three years after serving Hanlin, and finally the emperor approved his request and "gave the gold to return". Although the emperor treated him with enough tolerance, the court imprisonment and slander of the magnates finally made Li Bai understand: "An can destroy the eyebrows and bend the waist of the magnates, so that I cannot be happy." ”
Li Bai did not speak cleverly, bent over backwards to do things for the magnates, is this not the best example of the spiritual inheritance of Confucius's benevolence? Different eras, but there are almost the same encounters. Confucius, who preceded Li Bai by more than a thousand years, also had the same situation.
Twenty-five years after Lu Zhaogong, Confucius was in the State of Qi. His political program of "father and son of kings and subjects" was often deeply appreciated by Qi Jinggong. Not only did he hope to entrust him with a heavy responsibility, but he also rewarded Confucius with a fief. However, the nobles and Yanzi in the State of Qi believed that Confucius's ideas did not conform to the national conditions of the State of Qi and hurt the interests of the magnates. In the end, Qi Jinggong was forced by the pressure of various forces to issue an edict and let Confucius leave the State of Qi.
If at that time, Confucius "clever words and color", I believe the end will not be so. But how can a gentleman abandon his principles? What about flattery to gain benefits from rulers? Confucius regarded his ideals above all else, and he was a man who "knew what he could not do." The realization of the ideal is definitely not to rely on the use of clever words to make the color to ascend to the throne, the so-called "gentleman loves money, take it with a way".
That said, it seems that Confucius is very disgusted with rhetoric, as we are working hard in the direction of a gentleman, do we have to speak out? In fact, Confucius never opposed beautiful words, the key lies in whether this beautiful vocabulary comes from the original intention and expression of benevolence.
Confucius was gentle but not laissez-faire, dignified and not aggressive in his teaching. In the Analects of Zi Zhang, it is said: "A gentleman has three changes, and his hopes are like that of a gentleman, that is, he is also warm, and he listens to his words vigorously." It is said that when a gentleman speaks far away, he is serious and respectable; when he is close, he is gentle and amiable; and he listens to his words and is strict and lawless. It can be seen that Confucius was not opposed to beautiful words. Our culture has a deep connotation, a broad meaning. If we only focus on the interpretation of a single word in a sentence, it is actually easy to understand the original meaning of misinforming others.
In real society, communication between people is methodical. Throughout the ages, many loyalists have been killed and degraded for their outspokenness, and we admire their courage, but they sometimes neglect the method of communication. Communication is to hope that their views are accepted by everyone, but if they are too blunt to express, and then hurt the emotions of the surrounding people, resulting in exclusion, then why can't we use "clever words" to state and deal with such communication from another angle?
We advocate harmony between people, as small as a family, a class, a company; as large as a city, a society, and a country. From the perspective of benevolence, using clever language to communicate is mutual respect, superb handling of harmonious relations, empathetic thinking, and the art of language. Of course, we do not advocate sneaking and patting horses, hypocrisy, and clever words are not sleek and not flattering.
The study of traditional culture is to let us understand the wisdom condensation of the ancient sages, and to precipitate the determination of the heart and the ambition of life. I hope that in such a rapidly developing society, we can all talk with people and be kind, but it is by no means clever and rare.