【Chairman Mao's Comment on Mencius of the Pre-Qin Dynasties】
Mencius is a representative figure of the Confucian school after Confucius, and his ideas and views have deeply influenced future generations, and he is known as "Yasheng", and together with Confucius, he is respected by posterity as "Confucius and Meng".
Mencius, compiled by Mencius and his disciples, is also known as the "Four Books" together with the Analects, the University, and the Zhongyong, and has become the most important textbook of Confucianism in all dynasties.
Ban Gu wrote in the Book of Han: "Since the death of Confucius, the people who have embellished the literature have been many. Wei Mengke... Naturalistic knowledge, access to ancient and modern, its words have complemented the world. ”
The great modern writer Lin Yutang also said: "Modern young people should read more Mencius and often read Mencius." Mencius was handsome all over, and with the determination of young people, it was a kind of tonic. Mencius specifically talked about nourishing the mind and nourishing the qi, and the zhi is a pneumatic, and the qi is active. ”
Chairman Mao studied private school for 6 years when he was a child, and he was naturally very familiar with Mencius, and many of Mencius's ideas and views also had a deep influence on Chairman Mao, which played a great role in his later leadership of China's revolutionary construction.
So, in Chairman Mao's view, what are Mencius's ideas worth affirming?
First, Mencius advocated positive and ambitious ideas.
As we all know, Mencius advocated ambition and sustained struggle for it. In the work of Mencius, there are many words that embody this idea of his, such as "In five hundred years there will be a king who will prosper, and there will be a famous person in the world", "Fu Tian does not want to rule the world; if he wants to rule the world, in this world, give up who I am", "Cultivate the spirit of my grandeur", etc., all embody Mencius's atmosphere and self-confidence in pursuing lofty ambitions.
Mencius's majestic and magnificent spirit also deeply influenced Chairman Mao, and later when he read the German philosopher Bauerson's "Principles of Ethics", he had this comment: "My meaning is roughly the same as mencius's discussion of the meaning of the two chapters on the grandeur and the great husband." ”
On July 14, 1919, Chairman Mao presided over the inaugural magazine "Xiangjiang Review", in which he wrote: "The world under the heavens, our world; the state, our country; the social, our society." We don't say, who says? If we don't do it, who does it? The words revealed the mighty spirit of sacrificing oneself and others and striving for the liberation of the Chinese nation. This spirit is in line with Mencius.
In July 1938, Chairman Mao attended the Yan'an Memorial Conference to Commemorate the Fallen Soldiers and Compatriots of the Anti-Japanese War, personally laid the foundation stone for the Memorial to the Fallen Soldiers of the Anti-Japanese War, and presented an elegy: "The War of Resistance to the End, the Great Spirit Will Last Forever." It can be seen that Chairman Mao gave high praise to those heroic anti-Japanese martyrs who sacrificed their lives, believing that they were people with lofty ambitions and who fought for them.
In fact, Mencius, while emphasizing lofty ambitions, also talked about the method of realization, which roughly has the following three keywords.
One is the word "heng".
In the Mencius Confession, it is said: "Although there are things under the heavens that are easy to be born, one day is violent, ten days are cold, and there are no ones who can be born." "Emphasize the need to be persistent in doing things.
Chairman Mao had a very deep experience in this, and in 1915, he once wrote such a couplet of self-encouragement: "If you are noble, why should you get up three times and sleep five times; the most useless thing is that you are afraid of being cold for ten days a day." In 1917, Chairman Mao wrote in "The Study of Sports": "Everything should be constant, and so should sports." There are two people here, and their movements are also, one person is doing time and time, and one person is unremitting, then the effect will be divided. ”
One is the word "strong".
In the Mencius Teng Wen Gongxia, it is said: "The rich and noble cannot be adulterous, the poor cannot be moved, and the mighty cannot be bent." "The emphasis is on being a man with a firm will.
On May 30, 1939, Chairman Mao, in exhorting exemplary youth, said: "We must have a 'firm and correct political direction.'" This direction is unshakable, and we must adhere to this direction with the backbone of 'the rich and the noble cannot be adulterous, the poor cannot be moved, and the mighty cannot be bent'. ”
After Li Gongpu, a well-known democrat, was assassinated by Kuomintang agents, Chairman Mao wrote in a telegram of condolences: "Sir, who has done his utmost to save the country and the cause of progress and culture, is mighty and indomitable, and is not lascivious to the rich and noble, and is now being poisoned by reactionaries for the sake of peace and democracy, which is a loss to the people of the whole country or an immortal glory for him." ”
One is the word "grinding".
In the Mencius Confession, it is said: "The heavens will descend upon the Scythians, and they will first suffer their hearts, strain their bones, starve their bodies, empty their bodies, and confuse their deeds. ”
In 1943, when Chairman Mao wrote to Chen Yi to encourage him not to fear difficulties and persist in the War of Resistance, he wrote a similar content, which read: "Be patient in everything, think more about your shortcomings, and gain what you can't do." ”
In 1965, when Chairman Mao encouraged his daughter Li Ne, who had just graduated from Peking University, he also hand-wrote Mencius's famous words and gave them to her as a motto.
The second is Mencius's people-oriented thought.
Mencius wrote in "Mencius's Dedication chapter and sentence": "The people are precious, the society is secondary, and the king is light." Therefore, it is because of the people of Qiu and the Son of Heaven, the son of heaven as the princes, and the princes as the doctors. The princes are in danger of social welfare, and they are changed. Sacrifice is complete, prosperity is clean, sacrifice is timely, but drought and water overflow, then change the community. ”
Mencius's phrase "the people are precious, the society is secondary, and the king is light" has been widely circulated, and his "people-oriented" thinking has also had a very profound impact on Chairman Mao's revolutionary thought, such as "serving the people wholeheartedly" and "the people, only the people, are the driving force for creating world history." These are All of Chairman Mao's exposition and development of Mencius's "people-oriented" thinking.
In 1929, Chairman Mao, in a conversation with a friend, said: "Historically, the masses of the people have actually been in the position of ruled slaves. Mencius's statement that 'the people are precious' and 'the king is light' is nothing more than a utopian ideal that could not be realized in the old society. The 'people as slaves' cannot directly and spontaneously overthrow the old rule and become the 'master people'. Only by concentrating their own essence, forming advanced ideas and class vanguards that can compete with the ruling class, and achieving revolutionary success, can they complete the qualitative transformation process from slaves to masters. ”
In 1942, Chairman Mao wrote an article entitled "Rectifying the Party's Work Style," in which he emphasized: "In the sense of origin and essence, the people are the main body, driving force and creator of history, and the Communist Party is the class tool for the people to achieve their own liberation and freedom." Chairman Mao believes that if we do not rely on the masses and do not link up with the masses, all struggles will be impossible to talk about and will be doomed to failure.
The third is Mencius's "Tao."
The "Tao" that Mencius called is actually the development relationship between human beings and nature, and how a thing develops is very critical.
In mencius, "Leaving Lou Shang", it is said: "Those who lose the world are also lost, and those who lose their people lose their hearts." There is a way to win the world: to gain the people, to get the world. To have the way of the people: to get the heart, to get the people. He has a way of heart: he who wants to be with him, and do not give it to him. ”
Obviously, Chairman Mao was also deeply inspired by this, and after the People's Liberation Army captured the old nest of the Kuomintang in Nanjing, he wrote a poem entitled "Seven Laws: The People's Liberation Army Occupies Nanjing" with a stroke of his pen, which contains two sentences: "If the heavens are full of love, the heavens are also old, and the right way in the world is vicissitudes." It was precisely because of the influence of Mencius's "Tao" that chiang kai-shek's march against the times was bound to be overthrown.
In addition, Chairman Mao also greatly admired Mencius's "Yao Shun Way", which means that the country must be governed according to the will of the people and the people, so in "Mencius's Confession", there is a saying that "everyone can be Yao Shun".
Chairman Mao understood this phrase as "equality," and only when everyone is equal and unanimous and makes concerted efforts can we realize our common ideals and pursuits. On July 1, 1958, Chairman Mao wrote in "Seven Laws and Two Songs: Sending plague gods": "There are thousands of willows in the spring wind, and 600 million shenzhous are shunyao." These two sentences were also regarded by many people at that time as spring leagues and pasted on the door.
Mencius's "Tao" also has the view of determining victory or defeat and fate, for example, in "Mencius Gongsun Ugly", there is such a thing: "Heaven and time are not as good as the land, and the location is not as good as people." "Those who have gained the Tao have much help, and those who have lost the Tao have little help." The little helper comes, the relatives go along; the more help comes, the world goes along. Attack the side of relatives with the place of the world, so if a gentleman does not fight, the battle will be won. ”
Chairman Mao very much agreed with these remarks and applied them to guide China's revolutionary construction, the most prominent of which was chairman Mao's writing in "On Protracted War": "Although Japan can receive assistance from international fascist countries, at the same time it cannot but encounter an international opposition force that exceeds its international aid force. This latter power will grow gradually, eventually not only counteracting the former's aid, but putting pressure on Japan itself. This is the law of the loss of morality and lack of help, which arises from the nature of war in Japan. ”
He also emphatically said: "The war we are waging is a just war, a war that has been widely supported by society, the initial strength is weak does not mean the long-term, and the future victory must belong to the righteous side." ”
In May 1970, Chairman Mao issued a statement entitled "The People of the Whole World Unite to Defeat the American Aggressors and All Their Lackeys" on the united States' invasion of Cambodia, in which Chairman Mao once again emphasized the viewpoint of "more help than the wrong way, and little help for the wrong way", saying: "Countless facts have proved that there is more help for the way and less help for the wrong way. Weak countries can defeat strong countries, and small countries can defeat large countries. As long as the people of small countries dare to rise up and struggle, dare to take up arms, and take charge of the destiny of their own countries, they will certainly be able to defeat the aggression of the big powers. This is a law of history. ”
(References: "Mao Zedong Pin Guoxue", "Historian Mao Zedong", "Mencius", "Old News and New Knowledge")
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