Hello everyone, here is a small broadcast reading, earlier we shared all seven pieces of "Mencius" in its entirety, today we come to briefly review and summarize Mencius's thought, through a video to fully understand Mencius and his ideological summary. First, let's briefly understand Mencius.
Mencius was born in 372 BC, is a native of Zoucheng, Shandong, he is a student of Zisi, but also the fifth generation of Confucius, Mencius studied Confucius Confucianism all his life, but also practiced Confucius's Confucianism, and Confucius, most of the second half of his life traveled to various countries, hoping that they would accept their own "benevolent government" concept of governance, but in fact, at the end of the war-torn Warring States, it was difficult to get the real practice of Renzheng thought, so it can be said that Mencius was lifelong. However, he became the inheritor of Confucius's Confucianism, and later generations coexisted with Confucius "Confucius And Meng", and was a famous thinker in ancient times.
Mencius was actually almost a contemporary of Zhuangzi, but neither Mencius nor Zhuangzi's writings rarely mentioned each other. Zhuangzi's Taoist thought in the book "Zhuangzi" is free-spirited, vivid and vivid, of course, very thought-provoking, is a classic of ancient Taoist thought, and compared to Zhuangzi thought, Mencius's thought is much more serious. Mencius consists of seven chapters: King Hui of Liang, Gongsun Ugly, Teng Wengong, Li Lou, Wan Zhang, Zhi Zi, and Dedication, each of which is divided into two parts, a total of fourteen. The dialogue collection of Mencius and the monarchs of the various princely states, as well as mencius's students, does not have a strong logical structure in terms of ideology. Mencius is very extensive in content, including the concept of governing the country, morality and ethics, self-cultivation, and principles of dealing with the world, and Mencius is also the foundation of Confucian philosophical thought, especially laying the foundation for the later "Lu Wang Xinxue".
Of course, Mencius's personality traits are also vividly reflected in this book, Mencius is a thinker with ideals, principles, integrity, and feelings. On the one hand, although Mencius had no ambitions in his life, he still adhered to the concept of "benevolent government" governance, ran between countries to tell each other, and persuaded the monarch bitterly, staying in the state of Qi three times and refusing to leave for a long time, hoping that King Xuan of Qi could change his mind and adopt his own suggestions, but still did not get the attention of the monarch. Mencius, who had not been rewarded with great ambition, said the magnificent words: "If you want to rule the world peacefully, in this world, who will give me up?" ”
Mencius in addition to being a very courageous politician, but also a very sentimental and ambitious thinker, Mencius once sighed, from Yao Shun to Shang Tang, after more than 500 years, Shang Tang has also heard of Yao Shun; from Shang Tang to King Wen of Zhou, after more than 500 years, King Wen of Zhou has also heard of Shang Tang; from King Wen of Zhou to Confucius, it has also experienced more than 500 years, Confucius has also heard of King Wen of Zhou, but from Confucius to now it is only a little more than 100 years, and now few people talk about Confucius, let alone someone inheriting Confucius's ideas. Mencius hoped to become the true inheritor of Confucius thought, inheriting and carrying forward Confucius's Confucianism.
Although the political ambition was not realized, but the ambition to inherit ideas was completed very well, Mencius traveled to Qi, Song, Teng, Wei, Lu and other countries, before and after more than twenty years, and finally returned to his homeland, and his disciples wrote books and lectures, wrote a book of Mencius, which became a Confucian classic in later generations. Zhu Xi, a great thinker of the Song Dynasty, called Mencius, The Analects, Zhongyong, and University the Four Books. The "Four Books" is the soul and foundation of ancient Chinese Confucianism, the "Four Books" is the song Dynasty's annual examination of the compulsory content, but also pushed the status of Mencius to the peak, Mencius became the representative of Confucianism, began to be "Confucius And Meng" and called , known as "Ya Sheng Gong".
The book "Mencius" has a total of more than 30,000 words, in the ancient works, it is relatively long, "Sun Tzu's Art of War", "University", "Zhongyong", "Lao Tzu" these classics are only a few thousand words, while another Confucian classic "Analects" is only more than 10,000 words, so "Mencius" is the book with the most text in the four books. So what ideological points does this book really say? I combed through three main lines, which can be summed up in three words: benevolence, kindness, and heart.
First of all, "benevolence" in the concept of governing the country. Mencius inherited and developed Confucius's idea of "rule by virtue" and developed it into the doctrine of "benevolent government", which became the core of political thought. Confucius put forward the concept of governing the country with "etiquette" and "benevolence" as the core, and he advocated that "for the sake of government and morality", the use of morality and etiquette to govern the country is the noblest way to govern the country. Mencius further put forward the concept of "benevolent political state", distinguishing between two completely different governing concepts of "king's way" and "hegemony", "hegemony with strength and false benevolence; benevolence with virtue", in the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, "hegemony" prevailed, for example, the "Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons" represented by The Duke of Qi Huan also appeared before. In the Spring and Autumn Warring States, where hegemony prevailed, Mencius still chose the "royal way" of "benevolence with virtue", and the core idea of wang dao was "benevolence", proposing: "The monarch is good and benevolent, and the world is invincible."
Mencius's thought on benevolent government has two important aspects: "inner saint and outer king" and "people-oriented". The monarch himself should be strict with himself, become an example for those around him, and be able to be a saint in the interior and be able to be a king; in the external strategy, it should be based on the people, and the possession of the people is the basis for governing the country, and he famously put forward: "The people are precious, the society is secondary, and the king is light." ”。
Mencius believed that the king should put love for the people first, and those who govern should protect the rights of the people. Specific strategies include "raising the people" and "educating the people", making the people work hard, eating and clothing, letting the people learn the principle of filial piety and faithfulness, and the monarch has to reduce taxes and punishments. In short, to "enjoy the happiness of the people, worry about the people's worries", Mencius said: "Protect the people and the king, Mo Zhi can also be the emperor", which is a typical "people-oriented thinking". Mencius's concept of governance has played a huge influence in China's modern and modern history, such as the Xinhai Revolution and the founding of the Republic of China, as well as our governing philosophy today, which is the practice of Mencius's concept of political state.
Second, in terms of ethics, the core keyword is: goodness. "Sexual goodness" is the main label of Mencius, Mencius said: "Human nature is good, Judah is also under the water", in Confucianism, Mencius talks about sexual goodness, and Xunzi talks about sexual evil, opposing each other, but in fact, there is no contradiction, there is a good side of human nature, there is an evil side, but Mencius saw that human nature has a good side, and encouraged through teaching, to guide the people to develop to the good side; and Xunzi saw that there is an evil side in human nature, so he hopes to punish evil and promote good, and guide people to good through the education of the day after tomorrow. Therefore, in fact, although Mencius and Xunzi have different emphases, they both have the same destination, guiding people to develop in the direction of goodness, although their positions are different, but their purposes are the same.
Mencius further put forward the "Four Ends Theory" on the basis of the goodness of human nature, inheriting and developing Confucius's Confucian thought with "benevolence" as the core, Mencius said: "Benevolence, the human heart also." Righteousness, the way of man also". On the basis of benevolence and righteousness, Mencius developed the four basic moral conduct of "benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom", and found the basis of moral humanity. Mencius said, "The heart of compassion is also the end of benevolence; the heart of shame, the end of righteousness; the heart of resignation, the end of etiquette; the heart of right and wrong, the end of wisdom." Mencius said that benevolence, righteousness, and wisdom did not come from the outside, but from the four natures of man, and Mencius constructed an ethical and moral system from the inside out.
In addition, Mencius also took "goodness" as the core in the way of getting along, and put forward the way of getting along with "being kind to others", Mencius said: "Take everyone as good, and be good with people." Therefore, a gentleman is not good with people", learning from the advantages of others to improve his own good character is to help others do good, and the most excellent characteristic of moral people is to help people in the world to do good.
Finally, the third key word at the heart of Mencius's thought: the heart. In Confucian philosophical thought, Mencius played a laying role, especially laying the basic theoretical framework for the later Lu Wang Xinxue. And the core of this framework is: the heart. On the basis of Confucius's moral concept of "benevolence", Mencius further proposed the "heart", benevolence is the essence or essential characteristic of the heart, Mencius put the "heart" into the position of subjectivity, the heart is the subject of human ethics and morality, but also the subject of self-knowledge.
Mencius believed that the mind is the subject of morality, or that human moral concepts are developed from the mind. Mencius's famous "Four Ends Theory" is to expound the four moral qualities of benevolence, righteousness, and wisdom, all of which originate from the four natures or original hearts of man, mencius said, benevolence, righteousness, and wisdom, these four moral qualities, originate from compassion, shame, resignation, and right and wrong, these four original minds. Mencius expanded the four hearts on the subject of "heart" and developed the four moral qualities of "benevolence, righteousness, and wisdom", on the basis of which he constructed the Confucian ethical philosophy.
Mencius said in the Confession of the Son: "Benevolence, the human heart is also", "The benevolent one loves others". Benevolence is the heart of man, the heart of kindness, and the heart of a lover. The mind is like an entity or subject, benevolence is the fundamental attribute of the heart, and people with this attribute can show the moral quality of benevolence and love for others, which is mencius's ethical philosophical system built with "heart" as the core.
In addition, in epistemology, its starting point is also "heart", Mencius famously proposed: "He who does his best, knows his nature." If you know its nature, you know the heavens", from dedication, to knowledge, and finally to knowledge of heaven. The basic idea of "epistemology" put forward by Mencius, starting from the heart, can reach the realm of understanding the Heavenly Dao through dedication, intellect, and finally understanding the Heavenly Dao. Mencius believed that in order to know the Heavenly Dao, it is not necessary to use external things, and it can be achieved by fully understanding the original mind of man. Mencius said, "He who is able without learning what man does not learn, so is his good ability." In fact, this laid the foundation for the development of the later Confucian epistemological philosophical system, especially the later Lu Wang Xinxue, which was specifically unfolded in this line of thought, Wang Yangming's mental classic "To Conscience", and Lu Jiuyuan's "My Mind is the Universe, the Universe is My Mind" "Mind Thought" all originated from Mencius.
Well, today we have a brief review of Mencius's life and his main ideas, which can be summarized in three aspects: benevolent political state, the theory of sexual goodness, and the beginnings of the study of mind. Of course, the wonderful content of Mencius's book is far more than this, to understand Mencius's thought in detail, you can read the original book or translation, I recommend Fu Peirong's "Fu Peirong Translation of Mencius".
Well, today's content is these, if you like my article, please pay attention to the small broadcast reading, we will see you in the next article.