Ji Kangzi suffered from theft and asked Confucius. Confucius said to him: "Gou Zi does not want it, although he does not plaguate it." ”
Ji Kangzi was worried about the theft in the Lu Kingdom and asked the master how to govern. The Master replied, "If you do not have the heart to be greedy yourself, even if you reward stealing, no one will do it." ”
In 484 BC, the 68-year-old Confucius was sent by Ji Kangzi to welcome him back to the Kingdom of Lu and honored him as a national elder. The "Ji Kangzi Thief" incident should have happened after this.
When Ji Kangzi took state power, the treasury of Lu State was very empty. According to the Analects of Yan Yuan, the Duke of Lai asked Yu Youruo: "What is the hunger of the year, and the use is insufficient?" ”
Ji Kangzi is "rich in the Duke of Zhou, and Qiu also gathers and benefits for it." (Analects of Speech) (Ji is richer than the king of the kingdom of Lu. Ran also scavenged taxes for him to make him richer. ）
Plus "between the great powers, plus divisions and brigades, and therefore hunger." (Analects of Speech) (Sandwiched between great powers, often invaded by foreign armies, and internally subject to famine. The population lacks food and clothing.
As a result, theft occurred in many places in Lu Country.
The "affliction" of "Ji Kangzi suffers from theft" is a morphological character. The word "string" is a group of things worn on the rope, and to hang a group of things worn on the rope on the heart is to worry. The original meaning is to be fearful. The explanation given by the "Sayings" is "suffering, worry." ”
The original meaning of "theft" is to cross the river and cross the border, looting goods and goods. But the original meaning has disappeared. Later, it was extended to theft, theft. Then from stealing, stealing leads to thief, thief. The explanation given by the "Sayings" is: "Theft is also personal gain." In the Western Zhou Dynasty literature, the Spring and Autumn to the Warring States documents, the basic usage of the word "theft" is the meaning of stealing other people's property.
Associated with "theft" is "plagiarism". The original meaning of "plagiarism" is stealing. The explanation given by the "Shuowen" is: "Plagiarism, theft from the middle of the plagiarism." ”
But it should be clarified; "Theft" is a clear robbery and an act of robbery, and the social impact is too bad. "Plagiarism" is stealing behind the back of the owner, in our parlance today, petty theft.
The "theft" here cannot be explained as someone going to Ji Kangzi's house to rob things, Ji Kangzi is powerful, who dares to go to his house to rob him? Unless it's this person, he doesn't want to live! If there is such an act, it can only be "plagiarism".
Ji Kangzi, as the chief secretary of the State of Lu, is the ruler of the State of Lu. Why is the monarch of the Kingdom of Lu not at home? Because his power was stolen by the "Ji Clan Sanhuan". Ji Kangzi is actually a "thief of the country".
Here, since Ji Kangzi is a "thief", it should be understood that there are some "thieves" and "steals" in society. Why? Because the people can't live anymore! "Theft" and "theft" can be said to endanger normal social order. Ji Kangzi himself wants to effectively crack down on theft in society, and if there is really resentment, he also says that this idea was made by Confucius, and I just adopt Confucius's opinion. If you think about it, Ji Kangzi is really a master of politics.
Hearing Ji Kangzi's question, we looked at Confucius's answer, "Gou Zi does not want it, although he does not plagiarium." ”
"Desire" is a morphological word. "Owe" indicates that there is something inadequate, so there is desire. The original meaning is the meaning of desire. The explanation given by "desire" in the Shuowen is "greed", which means greedy for financial gain. If a person is always greedy for money, this person's yang qi is definitely insufficient. Because greedy people think about making money, this heart will be dark, and the yang qi will decline. People rely on yang qi to survive, and when a person dies, the yang qi is all gone. So if you want to be healthy, nothing else, less contentment, you can live a long and healthy life.
The original meaning of "reward" is repayment, compensation, pronounced cháng, which was later written as "repayment". Later, under the guise of righteousness as a reward; By extension, gifting; It is also extended to refer to reward, which is pronounced shǎng. Later, under the guise of righteousness, it was rewarded. The explanation given by the Shuwen is: "Reward, give merit." "Xunzi Wang System" recorded: "No merit is rewarded." ”
"Gou" means if, if.
The meaning of this phrase is to say; If a person does not have greed and does not accumulate ill-gotten gains, the people will have plenty of food and clothing. Confucius said, you just offer a reward for them to steal and rob, and they will not do it.
In fact, there is another layer of Confucius's statement, that is, because Ji Kangzi has a greedy heart and has amassed a lot of wealth, it has attracted these thefts. Confucius said that Ji Kangzi here is indeed admirable, this is a true master of language, who can not only guide people on the right path, but also not offend people in front of them!
The Book of Rites and Clothing records: "The best is a thing, but the lower will be even more." "The people above like this kind of thing, and the people below must like this kind of thing. For example, if the leader of a unit likes to drink, the unit will rise the trend of good wine, not because of how much employees like alcohol, but because drinking can get the opportunity to contact the leader, and then use the power held by the leader to seek some personal benefits for themselves. Here, when Confucius said that "the son does not want", it is actually one of the contents of "Zishuai Yizheng".
There are three ways to solve theft: first, strict punishment, once the theft is discovered, it will be strictly punished, so that the thief does not dare to steal; Second, for politicians "not expensive and rare goods", things are not rare, what else do you have to steal; The third is to carry out indoctrination. As long as everyone can "self-denial", "self-denial" is to overcome their greed, cultivate themselves in accordance with the requirements of "propriety", and constantly improve their morality, theft will gradually decrease, and eventually disappear.
Speaking of which, I really admire Shang Tang, the first emperor of the Shang Dynasty. It is recorded in the Analects of Yao: "Yu Xiaozi, dare to use Xuan Mu, dare to tell the emperor and emperor: if there is a crime, he does not dare to forgive, the emperor does not hide, and Jian is in the emperor's heart." There is no way to be guilty; All sides are guilty, and sin is bowing down. "朕" is the emperor's own title, and "Wanfang" means the people of the world. We see, SenseTime said, "All sides are guilty, and sin is bowing down." "If the people of the world are guilty, whose sin is it? SenseTime himself said that this is my sin as a monarch. Why? One is; What SenseTime wants to say is that he didn't do a good job; Second, he did not civilize all the people well. I dare to take responsibility.
Theft is greed. We see, Confucius said the reason for the theft, why do people steal in society? It is because the "politicians" have a greedy heart. If a person's desire is too heavy, he will be greedy, the interests of the country can be greedy, the collective wealth can be appropriated, and from small greed and small occupation will gradually develop into large greed. What does not belong to you, but you take it for yourself, this is "theft"! Who forced you? No, it's your greed that is at work! As the saying goes, "If you plant melons, you get melons, and if you plant beans, you get beans." "If you steal something you shouldn't have, you have to accept social punishment, this is the law of cause and effect!"
"Not desire" means not coveting money, and if you want to eliminate theft, you must cut off the root of greed. "Do not want" is the fundamental law to control theft in society! In this way, the word "do not want" is not only the root of solving theft, but also the root of solving all social contradictions!
It needs to be noted here that the accumulation of wealth by politicians is one reason, but not the only reason, for "theft" and "theft". In this chapter "Analects", Confucius emphasized the importance of "being righteous and righteous" for politicians, not emphasizing the cause of "theft" and "plagiarism".
In Confucius's view, if the politician is incorruptible, does not be greedy, and does not move greed, then he himself will not have a thief heart! The so-called upside and downward effect! When the people see that the rulers are so incorruptible, they will naturally not have any greed, so that there will be no "theft" in society.
To be honest, after reading this chapter of the Analects, I feel that Confucius's ideas are really too great. The saint can see that the key to solving social problems is that something is wrong with a person's heart! Only by solving the problem from the heart can the problem be fundamentally solved!
The so-called hitting the snake and hitting seven inches, the morning glory must hold the cow's nose, this is the great place of Confucius! Many times, it is already very difficult for us to see our mistakes in one thing, let alone correct ourselves in theory, and it is even more difficult to correct ourselves from the heart!
