Source "Fish I Want" (selected from "Mencius Gaozi Shang")

The reason for the original text is that you don't need to be born, and because you are born, you can avoid pain and do nothing. A bowl of rice, a bowl of soup, you can live if you get it, but you will starve if you don't get it. But with disdain to drink and eat, hungry pedestrians are unwilling to accept it; Kick others' food with their feet, and beggars will not accept it.

You can survive by some means, but some people refuse to use it; Some methods can avoid disaster, but some people refuse to adopt them. It can be seen that what they like is more precious than life; What they hate is something worse than death. Not only sages have this idea, but everyone has it. It's just that sages can't be abandoned.

The creative background "Fish I Want" is a masterpiece of Mencius' in-depth discussion on human life and death based on his theory of good nature. Emphasize that "justice" is more important than "life" and advocate giving up life for justice. Mencius believed that "everyone has a heart of shame and evil", so people should maintain a kind nature, strengthen their usual cultivation and education, and don't do anything that violates etiquette.

Extended data

The idea behind the sentence "Desire is more than enough, but hate is more than enough":

"What I want is more than the living, and what I hate is more than the dead" comes from "What I want" in Mencius Gaozi. This paper discusses an important proposition of Mencius: righteousness is more important than life. When righteousness and life cannot be balanced, we should give up life for righteousness. Mencius demonstrated the significance of sacrificing one's life for righteousness from three aspects:

1, "I want to live, I want more people than alive, so I don't want it; Death is also what I hate. It is more evil than the dead, so I have nothing to lose. "

These arguments say: life is what I cherish, but there is something more valuable than life (meaning justice), so I can't do anything to drag out an ignoble existence; I hate death, but there is something I hate more than death (injustice), so sometimes I don't want to avoid disaster (death). This is a positive argument. Righteousness is more precious than life. When they can't have both, we should give up our lives for righteousness.

2. "If people want nothing more than life, why not use people who can live?" What makes people worse than the dead, so why not avoid the patients? "

These arguments say: if there is nothing that people cherish more than life, then no means can be used to save life! If there is nothing more disgusting than death, then what can be used to avoid disaster (death) cannot be done! The implication is: if this goes on, will people's behavior become omnipotent and despicable?

This is a negative argument that righteousness is more important than life, and when you can't have both, you should give up your life for righteousness.

3. "Born with it, born without it, with it, born without it. A bowl of rice, a bowl of soup, you can live if you get it, but you will starve if you don't get it. Not only the sages have a heart, everyone has a heart, and the sages must not lose their ears. "

These arguments say that such means can save lives, but some people are unwilling to adopt them; In this way, disaster (death) can be avoided, but some people are unwilling to do so.

Therefore, there are things that people value more than life (meaning righteousness) and things that people hate more than death (meaning injustice); This loyalty is not unique to sages, but everyone has it, but sages have not lost it.