More than 900 years ago, Wen Tianxiang asked this question in prison: "What did you learn by reading the sages?" "What is the study of the books of the sages?
In fact, in front of this sentence, Wen Tianxiang had already expressed his own opinion: "Kong Yue Chengren, Meng Yue taking righteousness." "To learn the way of the sages is to know what is benevolence? What is righteousness? It is necessary to achieve what Confucius called Cheng Ren and what Mencius said to take righteousness.
Confucianism believes that benevolence and righteousness are the principle of doing things as a person, and it is the basis for a person to settle down in society, as Confucius said, whether it is in the work of a meal or in the midst of turmoil and displacement, you cannot leave benevolence for a moment.
Wen Tianxiang believes, "Only its righteousness is exhausted, so it is benevolent." "Only by being loyal and righteous is to the extreme, and we can also achieve benevolence." To achieve the ultimate righteousness of the people, it is necessary to be able to stand up when the country is in danger, sacrifice their lives for righteousness, and kill themselves to become benevolent.
Therefore, in the face of the threats and inducements of the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty, Wen Tianxiang never yielded, heroically and righteously, he said, "Now and after that, Shu is almost unashamed", sacrificing his life for the country, he believes that he has done it without shame and died without regrets.
The question raised by Wen Tianxiang is also a question that all readers in the past and the present must answer, and Wen Tianxiang interpreted with his own actions what the purpose of reading the sages' books is for and what should be learned, and has achieved the unity of knowledge and action, which is the highest state of learning.
300 years after Wen Tianxiang's righteousness, a Ming Dynasty reader answered Wen Tianxiang's question in popular language, he was feng Congwu, a famous thinker and educator in the Ming Dynasty.
Feng Congwu (1557-1627), also known as Zhonghao, was a native of Xi'an, Shaanxi.
Historically, since Zhang Zai in the Northern Song Dynasty, the Guanzhong region of Shaanxi has formed a school of science, known in history as "Guan Xue". Feng Congwu was a representative figure of The Ming Dynasty Guanxue, the ming Dynasty Guanxue who integrated cheng Zhu Lixue and Lu (Lu Jiuyuan) Wang (Wang Yangming) mind learning, and was the leader of the Donglin Party in the northwest.
Feng Congwu's style of learning was thick and simple, opposing sitting and discussing the Tao, advocating practicing what he had learned, and applying what he had learned In order to publicize his academic views and political ideas, he gave lectures at many academies in Guanzhong and Heluo regions.
In the twenty-fourth year of the Ming Dynasty (1596), when Feng Congwu was lecturing at Baoqing Temple (now Xi'an Shuyuanmen Primary School), he deliberately wrote a short essay of only 108 words, "Sayings and Customs", in which he said: "Thousands of lectures, but we must be good people, have good intentions, and do good deeds. Because of the record of the old couplet: to be a good person and to be in the body and to be stable in the soul, to do some good deeds, to know the ghosts and gods. ”
This is Feng Congwu's most popular language and writing, summarizing and summarizing the purpose of how the ancient sages and sages of Our country have been preaching the scriptures and mingdao for more than 2,000 years.
The purpose of reading the ancient sages is to be a good person, have a good heart, and do good deeds, and these 3 sentences are closely linked and complement each other.
Being a good person is the goal. The meaning of life is not how long you live, but what kind of person you are.
Everyone has the right to choose their own life, but there are values that society generally agrees on, that is, to behave correctly.
You may not be a tall hero, but you can't be a bad person, you can't be a good person.
To be a good person, in order to "have a stable mind and a stable mind", that is, to "not do bad things, not afraid of ghosts knocking on the door", be frank and frank, have a peaceful mind, and be stable in body and mind.
Having a good heart is the premise of being a good person.
Thoughts determine actions, and if you want to be a good person, you must first be determined and confident to be a good person.
Confucius said, "I want to be benevolent, but I am the most benevolent." "As long as you want to be benevolent, you can achieve benevolence." As long as you consciously work in this direction internally, you will certainly be able to do it.
The key here lies in whether it is conscious and active in subjective will. Without the idea of being a good person, of course, there is no consciousness of action and taking the initiative to be a good person.
Mencius, for example, crossed the North Sea with Mount Tai and said that he really couldn't do it; when he met the old man, he folded a branch for him to make a crutch, and helped the blind man cross the road, such a small thing, if you can't do it, you don't want to do it rather than can't do it.
Doing good deeds is the means to achieve being a good person.
Being a good person is not an empty concept and needs to be reflected through a series of behaviors.
Being a good person is not something unattainable, as long as we consciously and sincerely pursue it, it is not difficult to do it.
To do good deeds, first of all, we must not do bad things that harm nature and reason, and we must not harm people.
Confucius said, "Do not do to others what you do not want." "Educate people to learn to think in a different position, when doing things, don't just think about themselves, but also consider whether what they do will bring harm to others, and don't force what they don't want on others."
Not hurting people, this is the basic requirement of being a person, so that you can get closer and closer to being a good person; doing things is always harmful to others and self-interest, it is not a good person.
To do good deeds, we must help others and give them as convenient as possible.
Confucius said, "If you want to stand up for yourself, you want to reach and reach people." "I have strong ability, let myself have a position in society, my life is masterful, and I must also help others to base myself on society and be able to reach out in society."
It seems difficult to do good deeds by yourself, and as long as you do them, it is not difficult. To do good deeds, we must remember Confucius's teaching, "take the example nearby", that is, to start from the people around you, to do things around you, and to start from small things.
Doing good deeds is not necessarily an earth-shattering big thing, and doing some small things that raise your hand and persist for a long time is very remarkable.
Lei Feng's doing good deeds for the people is not a big deal, he once helped workers carry bricks on the construction site of a primary school with illness, helped a foreign woman who lost her ticket and money without leaving a name, helped an old lady who visited relatives find her son, and once braved the rain to send a mother and daughter who did not know each other home...
Lei Feng is an ordinary Chinese people's Liberation Army soldier, in a short life to help many people, put his limited life into unlimited service to the people, became the spiritual idol of posterity, "Lei Feng spirit" has influenced generations.
It seems difficult to be a good person, but it is not difficult, as long as you have good thoughts all the time and often do good deeds, you will definitely be able to become a good person.
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