Confucius said, "Learn the Tao in the morning and nightwish will die."
The "Tao" in this sentence is not a general "truth" or "truth", but a Confucian "way of benevolence and righteousness". Knowing the truth of benevolence and righteousness, you should practice it all your life, sometimes even at the expense of your own life to defend it.
This is Confucius' moral view, and this is the profound connotation contained in the sentence "Listen to the Tao early and die late". This connotation can be confirmed by the Analects of Confucius, the ideological essence of Confucius' life.
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Appreciation of "When you hear Tao, you can die in the evening"
Confucius traveled around the world all his life in order to promote his "benevolent government", but his political ideas could not be adopted by the rulers, so he had to give lectures and teach his disciples, hoping to cultivate talents with both ability and political integrity, and through them to promote his thoughts and theories and realize his political ideals.
In this way, Confucius used his life to carry out his political opinions, practice his moral ideals and work tirelessly until his death. The sentence "If you listen to the Tao, you will die, and if you die in the evening" reflects Confucius' persistent pursuit of political and moral ideals all his life. Confucius lived for Tao and died for Tao.
On the other hand, "benevolence" is the highest political ideal of Confucianism, and few people can reach this realm, so Confucius never promises people with "benevolence" easily. None of Confucius' contemporaries was called "Ren". According to Confucius, the sages who can be "benevolent" are all ancient sages: Taibo, Wenwang, Ji Zi, Bigan and Guanzhong.
The actions of these people are related to the plans of all countries in the world and to the sufferings of the people. His evaluation of whether a person is a "benevolent" focuses on his political achievements. However, as a kind of moral cultivation, "benevolence" is divided into high and low levels. You can consciously strengthen your self-cultivation, demand yourself with the beauty of love in all aspects, and approach the highest realm step by step.
People's moral cultivation is a process of continuous improvement from low to high, and this process has no end. A person can only bravely provoke the burden of "benevolence", constantly restrain his own desires, be strict with himself, reflect on himself, and consciously regulate his behavior according to the laws, regulations and behavior habits of the country and society.
We should not go beyond etiquette, so we should constantly improve our moral cultivation. Perseverance through this difficult process will surely reach the highest state of "benevolence". This difficult process is a lifetime for a person and a generation for a country and a nation. "Governing the country by virtue" and "building a harmonious society" can be said to be the continuation of Confucius' moral ideal in the new historical period.
This process will not end, but will continue to improve, which is an eternal theme. Secondly, "listening early and dying late" emphasizes the spirit of sacrifice. If a person is interested in "benevolence", he will practice it all his life and have no regrets. In order to pursue the highest state of "benevolence", he even sacrificed his own life.
This is to regard "benevolence" as the highest moral accomplishment and put it above life and death. Later, Mencius developed this idea of Confucius: "Life is what I want; Righteousness is also what I want. You can't have both, but you have to give up your life for justice. " Righteousness "is a" reasonable thing ".
"Giving up one's life for righteousness" means sacrificing one's life for a just cause, for the benefit of others, for the benefit of the whole people, and for the benefit of the country and society. "Benevolence" is the inherent essence of human beings, while "righteousness" is the external behavior of human beings, and the two are unified. Knowing the truth of benevolence and righteousness, you must practice it all your life, even sacrifice your life for it, spare no effort and have no regrets.
Confucius's "killing for life" and Mencius's "sacrificing one's life for righteousness" are the best footnotes to the sentence "If you listen to Taoism, you can die in the evening".