Zi said: "The gentleman is chaste and does not forgive. ”
The Master said, "A gentleman will stick to the right path, and not keep the letter that violates morality." ”
"The gentleman is chaste and does not forgive" is the abbreviation of "the gentleman is chaste (in the way) and does not forgive (in people)".
The original meaning of "Zhen" is the meaning of divination. The explanation given in the "Shuowen" is: "Zhen, Bu Wen also." "Zhen" has the following meanings: first, firmness and moderation; second, it refers to a moral concept that binds women in the old rites, referring to women not remarrying; third, the meaning of divination and asking hexagrams; fourth, it is the same as the word "zhen" in ancient times. The "chastity" here is pretended to be "upright" and "fixed", which is upright and upright, and has the meaning of uprightness, which means adhering to benevolence and morality.
The original meaning of "forgiveness" is honesty, faithfulness. The explanation given in the "Sayings" is: "Forgive, believe also." The "forgiveness" here means stubbornness and insistence on one's own opinions. "Unforgiveness" can be understood as not stubbornly keeping the promise that violates morality.
The main theme of this chapter is "people can promote the Tao", and the "chastity" and "forgiveness" here should not be understood as the content of moral norms, because the subject of this sentence is a gentleman, and a gentleman is originally a moral, cultivated, and educated person. Therefore, it should be understood that Confucius meant that in the process of propagating the Tao, people will encounter some "moral conflicts" that are known today. For example, if you are in a leadership position in a unit, and the former head of the company comes to you to open a back door and do you a favor, what should you do? This is prone to a dilemma. Help, you may get more recognition that you are a righteous person, but this will definitely damage the name of justice behind public office. If you don't help, those people should say that you don't know the phrase "be rich and noble, don't forget each other", don't pay attention to righteousness, and don't be enough buddies. Confucianism holds that all human thinking and activities should be placed under the premise of "Tao" and must not deviate from the orbit of "Tao"; otherwise, a gentleman will become a sanctimonious hypocrite and a real villain.
"The Analects of Liren" records: "A gentleman is also in the world, there is no suitability, there is no Mo, and righteousness is compared." Confucius said: A gentleman has no relatives, alienation, or difference between thick and thin people and things in the world, and everything is based on 'righteousness'.
Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty recorded in the "Historical Records of the Confucius Family" that after Pu, the uncle of the Hui Gong would take Pu Pan, and Pu people would stop Confucius. If the disciples have good children, they will take five rides from Confucius in a private car. He is a virtuous man with courage, and he said: "In the past, my master was killed in Kuang, and now I am killed here, and my life is gone." If I and my master die again, I would rather fight and die. "It's a lot of fighting. Pu people are afraid, and Confucius said: "If you are not suitable for defense, I will be a son." "Ally with it and go out of the east gate of Confucius. Confucius was then able to defend himself. Zigong said: "Can the alliance be evil?" Confucius said: "If you want an alliance, God will not listen." ”
The gist of this passage is that Confucius and his entourage passed through Puyi and encountered the rebellion of the Gongsun clan, the great doctor of the country, who occupied Puyi, and the people of Puyi wanted to prevent Confucius from defending the country. The disciples of Confucius fought fiercely with the Puyi people. The people of Puyi were frightened and said to Confucius, "If you don't go to Weidu, we will let you go." Confucius made an oath with them, and the people of Puyi released Confucius from the east gate. Confucius then went to Weidu. Confucius's disciple Zigong asked, "Can the oath be broken?" Confucius said, "This is an oath made under duress, and God will not pay attention to it."
Confucius believed that if a promise is made that does not violate the principle, it should be fulfilled. If a promise is made under duress, then it is necessary to make a decision to terminate the promise immediately. This thought reminds us that when making and fulfilling commitments, we need to abide by principles and not go against the "Tao".
"The Analects of Yang Goods" records that Yang goods want to see Confucius, but Confucius does not see Confucius, and they belong to Confucius. Confucius died when he died, and he worshiped him and met all the Tu. Confucius said, "Come! He said: "It can be said that it is benevolent to cherish its treasure and be fascinated by its state?" "When you are good to do it and you are desperate to lose it, you can say that you know it?" said: "No." "The sun and the moon are gone, and the years are not with me. ”
The gist of this passage is that Yang wanted Confucius to come out as an official and use it for him, and the point of view he said could be said to be the head of the Tao. Confucius was forced to be helpless, and just said, "No, I will do it." Confucius promised to become an official. Although Yang Xiang was a "courtier who held the country's order" and was the real power faction of Lu at that time, Confucius did not come out to be an official during the period when Yang Xiang was in power. According to the saying of "faith", does Confucius not speak of trust?
A disciple of Confucius said, "Faith is close to righteousness, and words can be repeated." "There is a son who said: Stressing credit must conform to righteousness, and credit that conforms to righteousness can be practiced. It can be seen that Confucianism attaches great importance to "faith" and there are conditions, and the promises made must pass the standard test of "Tao"; otherwise, they will not fulfill them. Confucius was a man who adhered to the etiquette system, and he was "depressed and depressed, and I followed Zhou." "He will definitely not be willing to serve the yang goods that transgress the etiquette system. If the fulfillment of the promise is detrimental to the general good, there is no need to keep the promise, and such a breach is not condemned by moral conscience.
According to the Analects of Confucius, Zigong said: "Those who are not benevolent in charge of Zhong and Gong Huan kill their sons, and they cannot die, and they are the same." Zi said: "Guan Zhong Xianghuan, dominate the princes, and the world is a Kuang world, and the people are given by it today." Microtubule Zhong, I wear the left side of the hair. If the husband and the wife are forgiven, they will not know it through the ditch!"
The gist of this passage is that if Guan Zhong is like Zhaohu and corrects the martyrdom for his protagonist, this is "loyalty". But this kind of "loyalty" is just a person or a master, and it has not yet reached the level of a benevolent person, because "a benevolent person, a lover of people" loves the people of the world, and from this point of view, the value of summoning a sudden death is not so great, because he did not die for the people of the world. Confucius's evaluation of Guan Zhong is, "If the husband and the wife are forgiven, they will not know what they know from the ditch." At that time, Guan Zhong was not greedy for life and afraid of death, but had the people of the world in mind, and he lived to serve the people of the world. At this time, Guan Zhong didn't care about the so-called small name, he cared about the great cause of saving the world and benefiting all the people. If Guan Zhong committed suicide in a stinky ditch for the sake of the so-called buddy righteousness, and was not known, is it worth it?
The most ambiguous thing about this sentence is the understanding of "chastity" and "forgiveness".
Some scholars believe that the word "chastity" in this chapter means great faith, and "forgiveness" means small faith. This sentence of Confucius is to say that a gentleman speaks of great faith, but not of small faith. The Analects of Politics records: "People have no faith, and they don't know what they can do." Confucius said, "As a person who does not speak faith, I do not know what he relies on to do well in this world." Whether it is a "big faith" or a "small faith", as long as it does not violate morality, it should be kept. Otherwise, this contradicts Confucius's view that "people have no faith and do not know what they can do". If a person does not keep his moral credit, what credibility does this person have? Can this still be the behavior of a gentleman? Confucius here does not mean that a gentleman should not attach importance to the so-called "small faith," but on the contrary, he teaches a gentleman not to lose his way in order to take care of his own trustworthy moral image, and this is the most important thing.
There is also an understanding that there is an idiom called "those who achieve big things are not informal", which describes treating people without being confined to small things and not being constrained by small things. It is necessary to make a concrete analysis of specific problems. "The big line does not care about the details, and the big gifts do not give up the small ones", that is, the people who do big things do not stick to the small sections, and the people who have big etiquette do not blame the small mistakes. I do not agree with Confucius's remark from such a point of view.
It should be noted here that the Analects of the Analects of the Ninth Road records: "Words must be believed, and deeds must be fruitful." It's a villain. The gist of this passage is that you must keep your word and act decisively, and be a well-known man in the eyes of the people, which can also be said to be a first-class taxi again. Confucius said, "Words must be believed, deeds must be fruitful." "This is not the act of a gentleman, but the act of a villain. It can be seen that "words must be believed" and "words must not be believed" is not a question of right and wrong, and how should we choose? Confucius gave the answer: that is, "chastity" means to conform to "Tao." If your promise conflicts with the Word, then take the Word and abandon the Covenant, that is, "chastity without forgiveness." ”
This view of Confucius was developed again by Mencius, a thinker during the Warring States period. He proposed, "Life is what I want, and righteousness is what I want." You can't have both, and those who sacrifice their lives to take righteousness are also. Life is what I want, and what I want is more than that of the living, so I do not get it, and death is also what I hate, and what I do evil is more than that of the dead, so I cannot get rid of it. ”
Mencius believed that although life is what everyone wants, there is something more important than life that people want, and although death is something that everyone hates, there is something more powerful than this. Therefore, being a man will not steal his life, and he will not avoid disasters when encountering disasters, which is Mencius's idea of "sacrificing one's life for righteousness".
In this way, although we see life as precious, the value and meaning of life are by no means limited to "living". When faced with the choice of life and death, we should keep in mind the "righteousness" in our hearts and let life shine.
On June 11, 1898, Emperor Guangxu promulgated the "Edict on the Establishment of the Country", which opened the curtain of the Hundred Days Restoration. In just one hundred and three days, Cixi imprisoned Guangxu and hunted down the reformers, and the Wuxu Reform was declared a failure. Among them, Tan Sitong had a chance to escape calmly. On that day, Tan Sitong personally sent Liang Qichao to the Japanese Embassy. When Liang Qichao asked him to leave Japan with him, Tan Sitong said: "If there is no doer, there is no way to plan the future, and if there is no dead, there is no reward for the Holy Lord." On September 28, Tan Si was righteous with the six gentlemen of Wuxu. When he was dying, Tan Sitong shouted: "I have the intention to kill the thief, I can't return to heaven, I die as I deserve, hurry up!" Tan Sitong generously went to die. Some say he's foolish. As a matter of fact, Tan Sitong's death had an extremely far-reaching impact on future generations, and as he himself said, he died a well-deserved death! This is a great righteousness, not the great righteousness of ordinary people, and it is more worthy of people's respect and admiration. "Life" or "death" is really an unavoidable and unavoidable issue, and the key lies in whether it is in line with "morality".
The theme of "chastity without forgiveness" is the gentleman, and insisting on morality is the "scripture", that is, the principle, but the gentleman also needs to know the "right", that is, the flexibility.
In modern society, the relationship between people is becoming more and more complicated, and the observance of the "Tao" must not change; the observance of the "Tao" does not have to be stubbornly observed, it can be changed. In this way, this is also in line with the dialectical nature of Confucius's thought.
"Purity without forgiveness" is for individuals to seek peace of mind, for society, to suppress evil and promote good. The result of suppressing evil and promoting good is to make society more stable and harmonious.