Mencius's so-called true man has standards, which means "wealth and honor cannot be licentious, poverty and lowliness cannot be moved, and power cannot be subdued. This is called a true man."
Original text from "Mencius· Teng Wen Gong"
Original text: To live widely in the world, to establish the right position in the world, to walk on the great road of the world. If you have a will, follow the people's will, if you don't have the will, just follow your own way. The rich and noble cannot be promiscuous, and the poor and lowly cannot Move, be mighty and unyielding, this is called a real man.
Translation: As for a real man, he should live in the widest house in the world, stand in the most correct position in the world, and walk the brightest road in the world . When you succeed, you move forward with the people; when you fail, you stick to your principles alone. Wealth cannot make me arrogant and extravagant, poverty and lowliness cannot make me change my moral integrity, and power cannot make me surrender my will. This is what you call a real man! ”
Mencius is one of the most representative figures in Confucianism after Confucius. His discussion of the standards of a man fully represents Mencius’ inheritance and development of Confucianism. His representative thoughts include< /p>
1. The Theory of Good Nature
The main philosophical thought of Mencius is his theory of the goodness of human nature. "The Theory of Good Nature" is the theoretical basis for Mencius's discussion of life and politics. In his ideological system. It is a central link.
“Everyone has the heart of compassion; everyone has the heart of shame and shame; everyone has the heart of respect; everyone has the heart of right and wrong. The heart of compassion is benevolence; the heart of shame and hatred is righteousness; the heart of respect and the heart of right and wrong are wisdom. Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom are not imposed on me from outside, they are inherent in me. "("Gaozi" Part 1)
"He who is able to do things without learning is his good ability; he who knows without worrying is his good knowledge. "("Jin Xin" Part 1)
He believes that "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom" are things that people are born with and are not acquired from the objectively existing external world. "Theory of Good Nature" is A set of idealistic statements, however, Mencius used the "theory of human nature" as the theoretical basis for people to cultivate their moral character and practice kingly and benevolent government; it also has a certain degree of positive significance.
2. Moral Theory
"Benevolence and righteousness" is the core idea of ??Mencius's moral theory. The "benevolence and righteousness" mentioned by Mencius is class-based and is based on the feudal hierarchical society. However, he opposed the exploitation of the common people by the rulers. , Opposing war between countries and families.
Benevolence is an ancient political and ideological category. "Shuowen" explains the word "ren". From the second person. "With the development of society, its meaning has continued to evolve. Confucius's discussion of benevolence has given more enrichment and development. Benevolence is the highest moral ideal of Confucius: Confucius uses the concept of benevolence in many senses, reflecting The theory of Confucianism is not complete and rigorous enough. Mencius also attaches great importance to benevolence. Mencius’s development of Confucius’s thoughts on benevolence is especially reflected in the fact that Mencius proposed the four virtues of benevolence, justice, etiquette, and wisdom based on this theory. The point is benevolence. He further discusses the relationship between benevolence, justice, propriety and wisdom. Secondly, based on the ethical thought of benevolence, Mencius put forward the theory of benevolence. Mencius takes benevolence as the starting point of governance and requires rulers to "implement benevolent governance." The people ("King Hui of Liang" Part 1) also put forward specific benevolent measures in economic, political and other aspects.
3. Political and Economic Aspects
Mencius focused on Confucius's "benevolence" thought and put forward the political proposition of "benevolent government".
"Benevolence" and "righteousness" are the core of Mencius' ideals and the starting point of his political economy theory. Mencius's political theory is a royal way with benevolent government as its content, and its essence is to serve the feudal ruling class.
Benevolence, according to Mencius’ explanation, is the “human heart”. What does it mean to be benevolent? According to the book "Mencius", it can be summarized as follows: First, kiss. Mencius advocated that rulers should "live with the people" and "live with the people." Second, use virtue. “He who wins people for the world is called benevolence.” (Teng Wengong, Part 1) “Respect the wise and enable them, and the heroes are in office.” (Gongsun Chou, Part 1) “The wise are in office, and the capable are in their posts; their administration and punishment are clear. "Third, respect human rights. Mencius publicly promoted the slogans of "the people are the most precious" and "the king is the least important", and advocated the reconciliation of the relationship between the rulers and the working people within a certain scope. Fourth, compassion. The rulers are required to use the method of "old people and other people's old people, young people and their young people" to govern the people. It is believed that by doing so, they can gain the welcome and support of the people, thereby achieving "invincibility in the world." Fifth, killing the unrighteous is also benevolence, and it is the greatest benevolence. Mencius demanded that all tyrants and corrupt officials who seek to harm the people should be severely condemned, and tried to develop the real society onto the political track of "protecting the people and becoming king".
Taking "benevolent government" as the fundamental starting point, Mencius created a set of ideal economic plans based on the "well field" model. He advocated ideas such as "saving penalties, reducing taxes and collecting taxes", and "not violating the farming season". Feudal countries were required to pay attention to production and develop production to make the people rich while collecting taxes, so that there would be sufficient sources of fiscal revenue. This kind of thinking should be affirmed. As a thinker of the emerging landlord class, Mencius also proposed the theory of emphasizing agriculture but not suppressing commerce, which improved the traditional thinking of "emphasis on agriculture and suppressing commerce". This economic concept was progressive at the time. Mencius's ideal of "well-field system" had a profound influence and guiding significance on later generations to establish state governance theories that restricted land annexation and eased class conflicts.
4. In terms of philosophical thought and epistemology
Mencius’s views contain a certain element of idealism. Mencius' Tao of Heaven believes that Heaven is the highest willed being, and that the replacement of dynasties, the changing of kings, the rise and fall of life, wealth and poverty in the human world are all determined by Heaven's destiny. Man must be obedient to Heaven. "Those who obey Heaven will prosper, and those who go against Heaven will perish." God's will is irresistible. He stood on the opposite side of the materialist reflection theory, denying that human thoughts are a reflection of social existence, and believed that human beings are born with the germ of innate goodness.
Mencius’ thoughts are complex, and his thoughts mainly contain materialist elements: the epistemological insights reflected in the book "Mencius" contain many simple materialist thoughts.
There is a saying in "Mencius": "...when Heaven is about to entrust a great responsibility to this person, he must first strain his mind, strain his muscles and bones, starve his skin, deplete his body, and mess up his actions. What you do, so you are tempted to endure, has (increased) what you can't..." ("Gaozi" Part 2) points out that many knowledge and abilities must go through difficulties, setbacks, failures, continuous lessons, and training before they can be acquired. . The objective world has its own laws, which cannot be violated by humans.
Mencius clearly saw that the development and change of all things has its own certain process. He told a story in the book as a metaphor: There is a person in Ning who pinches his seedlings when they are not growing. He returns with a bright light and says to him: "I am sick today! I will help the seedlings grow!" But if you look at it, the seedlings are haggard. There are very few people in the world who don’t help young people grow up! Those who think it is useless and abandon it are those who do not cultivate seedlings. Those who help the elders and pull out the seedlings are not only useless, but also harmful. ("Gongsun Chou") (Part 1)
Understanding the world is to transform the world. The most important part is to master the objective laws. Mencius used Xia Yu's water control, and based on the law that water flows downwards, can be directed but cannot be contained, to illustrate that this is how people must understand and transform the world.
Mencius inherited and developed the idea that when educating, a variety of methods must be adopted that vary from person to person. Confucius’ educational method is “teaching students in accordance with their aptitude”. However, Confucius' "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude" has developed. It is believed that educating students must have certain standards so that students have a clear goal to strive for. The learning methods and education methods advocated by Mencius are the crystallization of ancient Chinese pedagogy and still have certain reference value for our learning and education today.
In addition, Mencius also attached great importance to self-cultivation. In terms of cultivating one's mind, Mencius started from the fundamental idea of ??"The Theory of Good Nature" and believed that the most important driving force for implementing "benevolent government" was entirely dependent on a gentleman's "benevolent heart". This kind of "conscience" and "good ability", "what you do is saved, what you give up is destroyed", the most important thing is the word "nurture". Based on Zisi's "Tao of Sincerity", Mencius put forward the views of "devoting one's heart", "intellectual nature", and "knowing heaven", thus forming a set of ideological system containing elements of subjective idealism.