First of all, I think Mencius' great strength lies in that the idea of "benevolence and righteousness" advocated by him can best grasp the essence of things. Mencius saw that "life" and "profit" were short-sighted about the interest relationship of things, while benevolence and righteousness could have a long-term impact on the future, so there were theories of "sacrificing life for justice" and "sacrificing profit for justice". In a narrow sense, "benevolence and righteousness" refers to the loyalty and filial piety of human relations in feudal times, but it is actually a misunderstanding of Mencius for thousands of years, because since the May 4th New Culture Movement, the three cardinal guides and five ethics have changed their lives; "The Doctrine of the Mean" says: "Tao can't be separated from it for a moment, but it can be separated from non-Tao." Then, does this "benevolence and righteousness" still have eternal significance? Therefore, to understand Mencius' "benevolence and righteousness" today, we should stand on a high ground and start from a broad sense: just as Taoism's "Tao" and Buddhism's "Bodhi" are all understandings of objective universal laws, Mencius' "benevolence and righteousness" is also unique. And this kind of understanding, can let Meng Zi like a skilled fisherman's hand clamp in the crab to the point, let the crab force again fierce, even if there are thighs and big feet, you can't get rid of it. No matter how complicated problems or difficulties appear on the surface of things, Mencius is not dizzy or scattered, and he often saves the day and turns the difficult into the easy, which is more than enough.
Today's world-famous "system theory" and "systematic thinking", although they keep saying that they are opposed to giving up the basics, want to look at things dynamically and in the long run, which is quite clear: all of them can find their embryonic form from Mencius' thought of benevolence and righteousness. In Mao Zedong's words, it is most appropriate to describe Mencius' way of benevolence and righteousness. People who can't grasp the essence of benevolence and righteousness are like walking on the vast desert or ocean, exhausted by the pursuit of a mirage that appears at any time.
another point, I think what Mencius deserves to be imitated by later generations is his spirit of being independent and not in cahoots with others. This is doomed that if he has the opportunity to do something and give him a stage to play his talents, he will surely become a big shot in Wang Ye! A maverick, with a firm stand and independent consciousness; Those who don't go with the flow can do it without seeing the difference and thinking about it. With these two things, Mencius' great boldness of vision was created, which was magnificent and majestic in his style of writing. When he was used to start a business, the whole world fell to him alone. Sun Tzu's art of war said that "people should not be affected by others" was reflected in Mencius. Nowadays, the social situation is surging, and people often put themselves in it without arguing about the direction. If you learn a thing or two from Mencius, why not make the gods cry?
Although the time spent studying Mencius is short, Mencius' bright way of benevolence and righteousness is enough to benefit people all his life. Finally, I will make a summary of Mencius' way of benevolence and righteousness: first, his thought of abandoning the end, second, his maverick spirit, and third, his boldness in controlling the situation. The world, where there are people, is the world, and the king of the world makes the people of the world submit to it rather than dominate it. The fundamental difference between the king and the tyrant lies in whether to implement benevolent policies, the root of benevolence lies in loving people, and the center of benevolent policies lies in loving the people.
Mencius' ambition is to make the vassal States implement benevolent policies and then rule the world. Although many of his places talk about being king in seventy miles, he actually thinks that it is more likely for a big country to implement benevolent policies and then rule the world. Therefore, although he has visited many vassal States, he feels that he is not devoted enough to small countries such as Teng, Zou and Lu, but he spends more time in Wei and Qi, especially Qi. Based on the grasp of the situation at that time, Mencius believed that the people had been struggling for years since the Spring and Autumn Period, and people all hoped for a benevolent king to save them, just as it was urgent for people who were hung upside down to be rescued by others. Therefore, if any monarch could implement benevolent government, the people in the world would inevitably submit to it, thus achieving the ideal of being king of the world. This expectation of Mencius was not realized in Liang Huiwang. After a short trip to Wei, Liang Huiwang died one year later, and the successor Liang Xiangwang didn't seem to be a benevolent person. At that time, the state of Qi was prosperous, with vast land, large population and a large number of wise men. Therefore, Mencius stayed patiently in Qi twice, and for a long time. The second time he went there, he was 71 years old. He still tried to persuade Qi Xuanwang to implement benevolent policies in order to realize his ambitions, but the result was contrary to Qi Xuanwang's opinion and he was depressed. Qi Xuanwang didn't even send someone to stay.
If the ultimate goal of Mencius is to rule the world, then the starting point is to implement benevolent policies in China. Mencius divided the implementation of benevolent policy into four levels: first, protect the existing resources and realize the sustainable utilization of resources, so as to ensure that the people can live and die, so that the people will not leave the country; Second, teach the people to be self-sufficient and ensure the basic needs of life. At the same time, the state should pay attention to the production season so that the people can work with peace of mind; Third, reduce taxes and reduce the burden on the people; Fourth, after the first three aspects are realized, moral education will be carried out to form a good social fashion of respecting the elderly and loving the young. These four levels are progressive step by step. If benevolent government can be implemented according to this, the benevolent virtue of the monarch of this country will be well known, so that all the people in the world yearn for coming to this country. At that time, it will be easy to rule the world.
after the implementation of the benevolent policy, we can win the hearts and minds of the people all over the world, and the next thing to do is to save the people of other countries from fire and water, that is, the problem of conquering, which is the outward promotion process of the benevolent policy. Mencius said that there was no righteous war in the Spring and Autumn Period, in fact, it was the same during the Warring States Period. The wars between vassal States were all about the competition for land and population. It was not practical at that time to say that it was only in the late Warring States period that other vassal States were devastated and unified under the national situation of Qin Guoqiang. When Mencius said "King of the World", he actually did not mean the world in the sense of land, but the world in the hearts of the people. If you can win the hearts and minds of the world, you will get the world. As for conquering other countries, it must be out of righteousness and righteousness, which is also public opinion in Mencius' view. Mencius said that the weather is not as good as the geographical position, and the geographical position is not as good as people's peace, which means attaching importance to the role of people's hearts. It is not complete to say that Mencius must be called Yao and Shun, but it is more about Shang Tang and Zhou Wenwang, among which Shang Tang is more detailed. For example, Shang Tang is actually the king's role model that Mencius often mentioned. Shang Tang's conquest was to save the people from fire and water, so he complained about the east and the west, and this "resentment" was to complain that he didn't come to save himself first. It can be seen that this conquest was out of the hearts of the people, so the people all hoped that the benevolent monarch would come first to help them get rid of their plight. Therefore, when the "righteous teacher" arrives, it will be a piece of cake to fight for Julian Waghann.
Mencius attached great importance to the people's heart and public opinion, even saying "the people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the least" to show the importance of the people's heart, and even saying "I have heard of killing a husband, but I have never heard of killing a king" to warn the king. Although Mencius didn't realize his ideal all his life, his attention to people's hearts and his interpretation of benevolent government had a great influence on future generations from both positive and negative aspects.