"If the ancient desire is clearly superior to the world, rule the country first; If you want to govern your country, you should first get your family together; If you want to get your family together, repair your body first; If you want to cultivate your body, you should first correct your heart; ..... The mind is right and then the body is repaired, the body is repaired and then the family is neat, the family is neat and then the country is ruled, and the country is ruled and the world is flat. " (Book of Rites University) We can regard it as the highest and most perfect summary of the life value of a virtuous person. To achieve the highest state of "ruling the country" and "leveling the world" is naturally beyond people's reach, but within the scope of our own career, we should regard it as a kind of value pursuit. And "self-cultivation" is the basic pursuit of being a man.

"Benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith" in Confucianism are all related to "self-cultivation". Self-cultivation is particularly incisive in the Analects of Confucius. It is no exaggeration to say that a part of the Analects of Confucius talks about "self-cultivation". Therefore, the Analects of Confucius can be called an encyclopedia ceremony that teaches people to cultivate themselves. Whether in Japan, Singapore or Hong Kong, it is by no means appropriate for their schools to use The Analects of Confucius as a self-cultivation textbook. They have a vision.

self-cultivation, one is Xiu De, and the other is to cultivate one's intelligence and have both ability and political integrity, which is the ideal result of self-cultivation. And Xiu De is the primary task of self-cultivation. Confucius said, "Disciple, when you enter, you are filial, when you leave, you are sincere and trustworthy, and you love people all the time, but you are kind. If you have spare energy, you will learn literature. " It is said that we should first understand "filial piety", "sincerity" and "benevolence", and then "learn literature", which clearly tells us that Xiu De should be the first. "Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faithfulness" are called the "five permanents" of Chinese ethics, and Confucianism advocates "benevolence, righteousness, propriety and faithfulness" for Xiu De. Walking into The Analects of Confucius, you will find that Xiu De's way is everywhere. For example, "If you are determined to be benevolent, there is no evil." "A gentleman is a metaphor for righteousness, and a villain is a metaphor for profit." "see no evil, don't listen to evil, don't say evil, don't move." "Make friends without believing?" It has become a well-known saying. The Analects also warns us that solemnity, generosity, honesty, diligence and kindness (courtesy, tolerance, faithfulness, sensitivity and kindness) are the "five virtues" of human beings. As for cultivating wisdom, The Analects not only points out the correct attitude of "being quick and eager to learn, but not ashamed to ask questions" and the learning method of "citing one corner" and "making inferences from three corners", but also clarifies the relationship between book knowledge and practice. Confucius said that even if "reciting poems for 3", it can't be used in practice ("teaching it by politics is not up to it; What's the use ("although there are many, I also think")? Therefore, he advocates that scholars should be "practical gentlemen". He also taught readers not to be narrow in knowledge, but to be broad in knowledge, and put forward "swimming in art" (that is, to learn "six arts": etiquette, music, archery, calligraphy and mathematics).

It can be seen from this that the Analects of Confucius has a very high evaluation of self-cultivation. Therefore, since ancient times, the Chinese nation has followed such an old saying: "From Tianzi to Shu Ren, all are based on self-cultivation" (Book of Rites). The school is a sacred place for educating people. Self-cultivation is naturally the main task of the school. No matter teachers or students, they should be "self-cultivation-oriented" and learn to be human.