The scholars of the past are for themselves, and the scholars of today are human beings
In ancient times, scholars were themselves; today, scholars are others
Confucius said, "The scholars of the past are for themselves, and the scholars of today are for themselves." Many people regard this phrase as an important symbol of Confucianism, believing that Confucianism is "learning for oneself."
But what does "for yourself" mean?
First of all, "for oneself" is certainly not to grab one's own interests or increase one's own possessions, which becomes extreme selfishness, but to enrich oneself and cultivate oneself; Or in my usual language, it means growing yourself. However, this kind of "growth" must include both positive and negative processes: One is to restrain one's original desires and instinctive desires from the negative side, that is, "self-denial and retribution for benevolence." Confucius taught Yan Yuan: "One day of self-denial and retribution, the whole world will return to benevolence." But is the practice of benevolence easy? Therefore, Yan Yuan only has "March is not against benevolence", and other students can only "just go to the sun and go"; The second is to study hard, from the positive cultivation of the power of benevolence, that is, to cultivate oneself to respect, "gentleman to reach", from which to experience the principle of being a human being and the implicit disposition, and motivate upwards, "not indignant, not enlightened, not afraid", so finally understand the principle of freedom of "for benevolence by oneself, but by others". That is to say: you have found a base for growth from your own life, so you can move forward steadily.
The "base of growth" has two meanings: One is based on righteousness: the existence of life or the existence of man is different from other animals, and man has his source of progress. This origin, unlike the instinctive desires of psychology, cannot be explained by raw instincts such as Freud, by sexual instincts, or even by the collective unconscious of Jung. The discovery of Western psychology is that only the source is mixed, and the gods and demons are not distinguished. One must have a perverse understanding of this source in order to enter, otherwise one will be lost for life. Later generations of Confucians, only Mencius experienced this most sincerely, so it is said that sexual goodness, the original heart, and benevolence and righteousness are all "inherent in me", not external. After Mencius, Lu Xiangshan, Wang Yangming, and even the contemporary Mr. Mou Zongsan repeatedly became enlightened; Although they have different approaches to each other, they have not been created differently. Mr. Mou calls it a "vertical system", that is, from the heart down, the premise of which is that there must be this affirmation of the transcendence of the original mind. The second is the meaning of direction: According to this basis, the only thing a person can do is to grow, become virtuous, and achieve his own personality qualities, rather than innate talents, which is the work of "learning". Confucius attached the greatest importance to "learning", he said: "I taste all day without eating, all night without sleep, thinking, useless, better than learning." J also said, "I am not born to know, but I am good, and I am sensitive to what I want." Confucius said a lot about this kind of words; later generations of Confucians, who can inherit this spirit of learning, first recommend Xunzi; Xunzi imitates Confucius's words: "I think all the time, it is better to learn what I have learned." Why do you have to work so hard? Because the way of learning must be accumulated over time, it must be specialized.
A hundred shots are missing one, not enough to shoot well
One missed shot is not a good shot
The so-called "one hundred hairs and oneness are not enough to be good shots" and "there is no understanding of the common, benevolence and righteousness are not the same, and there is not enough for good learning" are ultimately aimed at achieving the personality of a gentleman: "Rights cannot be poured out, the masses cannot be moved, the world cannot be swayed, the birth depends on the reason, the death is the reason, the husband is called the virtue; the virtue can then be fixed, can be determined and then can be responded; the can be able to cope, the husband is called an adult." This is very similar to Mencius's "great husband", but the way of "learning" is different: Mencius is devoted to intellectuality, and Xunzi is first outward. But those who deviate from the outside must return to the inside, so Xunzi also returns to the growth of personality, and reading must be in the heart, not in external knowledge. Therefore, I think that Confucianism is by no means as simple as the study of knowledge, whether it is Mencius, whether it is Xunzi, no matter how late Confucianism, in the direction of learning, it must return to itself, let its life grow, and make itself pass. What's the point? Pass the threshold of instinct, pass the pass of fame and fortune, pass the pass of temptation, pass the pass of discredit, pass the pass of right and wrong, and pass all the passes that are enough to hinder one's spiritual ascension.
Therefore, "learning" is a kind of exercise, a kind of adherence to the truth, and a kind of experience of the truth. Only through this sense of reality can we know that the way of life growth is not imaginary, and the teachings of the sages are not false, so Lu Xiangshan called his learning "simple" rather than "discussion", which is what it means. Because the growth base has these two meanings, Confucianism attaches great importance to clarifying the source: Confucius said: "Zhi is in the Tao", Mencius said "Shi Shangzhi", Lu Xiangshan said "Discernment" through Confucius's words "Gentleman is righteous, villain is yuli", Zhu Xi also said: "If you don't stand up, there is nothing that can be achieved in the world", and Wang Yangming "must establish a heart that must be a saint", although there is still a difference between anchors and baht, but they are all to find motivation for personality growth. According to the above, this driving force must come from its own source, or transcend the mind, without inclusion, in order to ensure the direction of growth. Always return to yourself.
Learning for yourself
For the study
Therefore, since the original purpose of "learning for oneself" is to enrich oneself and grow oneself, it must contain a knowledge that can break through oneself and pass one's own barriers. But if you want to break through yourself, you must first understand yourself and know where your strength comes from. Why are there obstacles? Why can't I pass?
And so on: The so-called understanding of oneself in this is not the concept of knowledge, or the understanding of empirical observation, but grows to the limit, practices to the limit of the yang. Encounter trials, even to the brink of extinction. only to manifest; Can pass or can not pass, this moment is meaningful. So "for yourself" is actually exercising yourself; You have to put yourself in the furnace of life growth to know who you are. In other words, one must not take the method of escape and escape the difficulties. One can be lucky, but one cannot expect to grow.