In our country’s long feudal society, Confucianism held a dominant position. Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty regarded Confucius as the "King of Wenxuan"; Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty respected him as the "Sage Wenxuan King", and Chengzong of the Yuan Dynasty gave him the title of "Dacheng the Most Holy King Wenxuan". In the early Qing Dynasty, Confucius became more prominent and was regarded as the "Sage Wenxuan King" by the Qing Emperor. "Dacheng's Most Holy Master Wenxuan Wang". Whenever the emperors offered sacrifices to Confucius, there would always be a great scholar from the Confucian school accompanying Confucius. He also has the lofty title: "Holy Duke Zou Guoya". Obviously, in the Confucian school, his status is second only to Confucius, and this great scholar is Mencius.

Mencius, named Ke and Ziyu, was a native of Zou State during the Warring States Period and now Zoucheng City, Shandong Province; he was born in about 372 BC and died in 289 BC. Although he is a descendant of the Meng Sun family, a noble of the Lu State, he lost his father when he was young and his family is poor. According to legend, Mencius's mother was a very virtuous mother who worked hard to raise him up. In order to create a good neighborhood environment for Mencius, Meng's mother moved to his home three times, and finally found a scholar as a neighbor, which made Mencius a great man. Returning to his hometown, together with Wan Zhang and other close students, he "prefaced the Poetry and the Book, described the meaning of Zhongni, and wrote seven chapters of Mencius." On the one hand, he organized and analyzed Confucian classics, and on the other hand, he compiled his own remarks and deeds into books. So far, the most important basis for us to understand and study Mencius' thoughts is the book "Mencius". Mencius was a famous thinker in ancient my country. He was born in the era when my country's slavery was transforming into feudalism. He was a representative of New Confucianism who inherited and developed Confucianism founded by Confucius. He was the second greatest master of Confucianism, and was honored as Yasheng in later generations. .

Confucius was a great scholar in the Spring and Autumn Period (551 BC to 479 BC). He was the first to open a private school and founded the Confucian school

. Mencius was a great scholar during the Warring States Period (the year of his birth and death is unknown, one says 385 to 304 BC, another says 372 to 289 BC). He inherited the teachings of Confucius and influenced Confucianism. made significant contributions to its dissemination and development.

Confucius was born in Qufu, Shandong today, and Mencius was born in Zouxian County, which is only a few dozen miles away from Qufu. They were both bathed in the Qilu culture centered on Mount Tai

Mount Tai.

----In the middle of the 2nd century BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty realized that Confucius's teachings were conducive to a centralized and unified social structure.

So he adopted Dong Zhongshu's "Depose all schools of thought and establish independence." "Respect Confucianism" suggestion; from then on, during the feudal society period of more than two thousand years, China has always respected Confucius as a saint and Mencius as a sub-sage; from the emperor to the common people,

As well as the descendants of Confucius and Mencius, they all consciously or unconsciously believe or think that Mencius’ academic thoughts are in the same vein as Confucius

or are completely consistent. In short, it is the so-called The family of Confucius and Mencius. In fact, this is a huge misunderstanding, and perhaps it is also a political conspiracy that has lasted for two thousand years. Because, the actual situation is that part of Mencius' academic thought was inherited from Confucius' thought, and the other part was Mencius' own creation, and the content of this latter part has been greatly surpassed.

Confucius.

----The fatal problem with the social structure advocated by Confucius is "lord, minister, father, son, son" is that being a king does not fulfill the role of a king. When responsibility arises, or when a king behaves recklessly, people have no legal way to correct the king's mistakes or replace the king. Confucius knew this problem very well, but he did not find or did not dare (

Unwilling?) to propose a solution. In contrast, Mencius clearly pointed out: "The people are the most important, the country is second, and the king is the least." In Chinese history, he was the first to clearly advocate that the interests of the people are supreme. Yes, the interests of the court should be subordinated to the interests of the people, and the interests of the king should be subordinated to the interests of the people and the interests of the court.

----In order to restrain the behavior of the king, Mencius advocated that the appointment or dismissal of officials should not be left to the king alone

nor to a few people The ministers have the final say, but must seek the opinions of the people; the king alone cannot have the final say on the amount of conviction and punishment, and the king's cronies are not allowed to have the final say or the ministers are not allowed to have the final say privately ,

The opinions of the Chinese people must also be solicited. Regarding the incompetent king, Mencius put forward in a fearless spirit: "If the king has serious faults, he will give advice. If he repeats it and refuses to listen, he will change his position ("Mencius·Wan Zhang 2")." In the king and his ministers In terms of relationships, Mencius

also insisted on the dignity and equality of human beings. He once said to King Xuan of Qi face to face: "If the king treats his ministers as dirt, then his ministers will treat him as if they were Kou Yu ( "Mencius·Li Louxia")."

----In fact, the above propositions of Mencius were never put forward by Confucius, which shows that Mencius' academic thought,

The political philosophy is quite different from that of Confucius. Strictly speaking, they are not the same school of thought. Confucius and Mencius are not the same family.

In fact, there are essential differences between the thoughts of Mencius and Confucius, and the feudal emperors and their imperial literati knew this in their hearts.

After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he was very angry with many of the ideas in the book "Mencius" and wanted to move the statue of Mencius out of the Confucius Temple in a rage.

But he After calming down, I found that it was really necessary to place the statue of Mencius in the Confucius Temple.

This is because as long as the family of Confucius and Mencius is promoted, Mencius will always be relegated to the status of a lesser sage. The correctness of Mencius’ ideas

must be based on Confucius’ thoughts. ; In this way, the true sage can be used to suppress the inferior sage, and the thoughts of Confucius can be used to bury the thoughts of Mencius, thus strangling the spread of the democratic ideas advocated by Mencius.

----During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period when a hundred schools of thought contended, Mozi advocated that the people had the right to participate in national affairs. Mozi's followers also established

a strict group organization to realize their goals. Put into practice what you advocate. In contrast, Mencius was a theorist rather than a politician. He hoped to theoretically persuade the king to adopt a management method similar to a "constitutional monarchy". However, for the feudal autocratic emperors, the most valuable theory was Confucius's ideas, because Confucius's ideas helped to maintain the established pattern, which was expected to permanently stabilize the world. The emperor's most popular one (no one in the world uses Confucius' teachings). Therefore, Confucius and his teachings were treated with courtesy by feudal emperors of all dynasties, while Mozi's teachings received a cold reception, and Mencius's teachings were "recruited." Unfortunately, most literati and scholars do not understand the mystery; as for ordinary people, they are even kept in the dark. The sign of this is their belief in "Confucius and Mencius" >family".