Moral etiquette knowledge

Benevolence, courtesy, wisdom and faith? P5？ It is the five most basic moral norms summarized and refined by Confucianism from many ancient moral orders. In ancient China society, these five moral norms were the most basic code of conduct for dealing with the relationship between people, and also the most important content of personal cultivation. It runs through the whole moral life and profoundly affects the cultivation of moral quality and the formation of moral spirit of the Chinese nation.

(1) Ren

What is benevolence in Confucian ethics? Right? This is a category that contains all virtues. Loyalty, self-denial, filial piety, wisdom, courage, courtesy, tolerance, honesty, sensitivity, benefit and other moral norms can all be regarded as different requirements of benevolence, including them. If a person can be called benevolence, it is perfect, and if a person violates any moral requirements, he can be accused of being heartless. On the other hand, if a person has some good qualities, he may not be called a benevolent. In other words, every virtue is a necessary condition of benevolence, not a sufficient condition of benevolence. Only the sum of all virtues constitutes benevolence.

What is the core of benevolence? Lover? . From the etymological point of view, benevolence is subordinate to people, which is a category involving the relationship between people. Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, has started to use it? Lover? Explain benevolence and think that benevolent people should sympathize, care, love, respect and help others, and always push others themselves and think of others. You want to stand up and be a man, you want to touch someone? ("The Analects? Yong also "). Mencius inherited and developed Confucius' thought of benevolence, and put forward? Kiss, be kind to people, be kind to people, and cherish things? ("Mencius? Dedication "), advocate loving the people, caring for the people and caring for everything. In Confucius' and Mencius' view, people were placed in the blood relationship of their families at birth, enjoying the caress of their parents and relatives, and gradually developed a deep attachment and love for their relatives. Therefore, benevolence is directly triggered by family blood relationship and has its natural psychological basis. The basic connotation of kindness is to kiss and respect your elders. Expanding this family kinship will lead to love for others, treat all people, old and young, and establish harmonious interpersonal relationships, which will eventually expand into love for everything in the world. It can be said that the Confucian view of benevolence originated from the family blood relationship and surpassed it. It requires people to advance recursively from the inside out, from near to far, layer by layer on the basis of respecting their loved ones and the natural moral feelings of their elders, and finally realize it? The benevolent is one with everything in the world? Field.

Confucian classic The Book of Rites? The article "On Confucian Behavior" elaborates the specific connotation of all aspects of benevolence. It is believed that gentleness and kindness are the foundation of benevolence; Respect and caution are the essence of benevolence; Generosity and calmness are the embodiment of benevolence in manners; Modesty reflects the function of benevolence; Etiquette language embodies the solemnity and literary talent of benevolence; Poetry and music embody the harmony between benevolence and virtue; Sharing wealth to help the poor reflects charitable giving. After the Han Dynasty, Confucian scholars further developed the idea of benevolence in theory. Han Yu, a great scholar in the Tang Dynasty, proposed in The Original Road? Is fraternity called benevolence? Advocate broad and universal love; Zhang Zai, a Neo-Confucianist in the Northern Song Dynasty, proposed in Mingxi? People, my compatriots; Things, me and also? His famous proposition is: treat everyone in the world as brothers and everything in the world as friends. This further deepens the connotation of benevolence. Since then, Zhu, Kang Youwei, Tan Sitong and other thinkers have all thought about benevolence. Benevolence has become an extremely important part of China's traditional virtues.

China ancient thinkers not only put? Ren? As the basic principle of being a man and the emotional requirement of dealing with interpersonal relationships, they often want to put? Ren? This spirit permeates the process of political operation. In the pre-Qin period, Mencius strongly advocated? Ren? , put forward a set of benevolent policies. Book of rites? In "Li Yunzhang", there is also a pattern full of kindness? Datong? Society:? When the avenue prevails, a public spirit will rule the world. Choose talents and abilities, practice beliefs and cultivate mutual understanding. An old friend is not only a relative, but also an only child, so that the old will have an end, the young will be useful, and the widowed will have a unique support. Do you want to be closed instead of prosperous, steal thieves instead of doing it, so don't close the door, is it Datong? . This is a beautiful picture of love and harmony between people, and it has also become a social ideal that people have been pursuing and yearning for endlessly throughout the ages. In order to realize this ideal, many thinkers throughout the ages used it? An ren an min? Take this as the highest criterion, worry about the world and enjoy the world? , reflecting the higher requirements of benevolence. Fan Zhongyan, a famous Confucian in the early Song Dynasty, wrote a famous saying in Yueyang Tower. Worry about the world first, and enjoy it later? It is undoubtedly the sublimation of the traditional Confucian spirit of benevolence.

(2) Significance

Is benevolence and righteousness Confucian? P5？ One is the basic moral principle of dealing with interpersonal relationships. From the perspective of glyphs, what is the origin of traditional meanings? Sheep? And then what? Me? Composition, sheep symbolizes beauty and kindness; From the point of view of word meaning, is it righteous and appropriate? . Appropriate means should, should. Therefore, it can be said that righteousness is good and beautiful, which is just and reasonable.

Morality, as a special code of conduct to regulate the relationship between people and between individuals and society, must establish a value standard for people's behavior choice and tell people what to do when dealing with the relationship between people and between individuals and society, what is just and reasonable, and what is unfair and unreasonable. Just and reasonable behavior can be called good, and vice versa. ? Righteousness is such a value standard to judge whether people's behavior is good or bad, which plays a guiding and directional role in people's behavior and is a criterion that people's thoughts, words and deeds must follow, so Confucianism emphasizes it very much? Juren friendship? Regard righteousness as the only way for people to achieve moral perfection.

Judging from its realistic content, righteousness is the embodiment of the common fundamental interests of mankind. What does it have to do with the individual's own special interests? In other words, how to correctly understand the relationship between moral behavior and material interests, and the relationship between personal interests and the overall interests of society and the country? In the history of China's thought, this is an important issue that has been debated for a long time. Within Confucianism, there are also two different views.

Confucius once suggested? See what you mean? In the face of interests, we must first consider whether it should be reasonable. This kind of thinking does not deny people's pursuit of personal interests, but only measures their behavior by righteousness. Mencius developed Confucius' thought of "one" and paid more attention to the guiding role of righteousness in human behavior. He believes that if it is not moral, even if he is given the wealth of the world as a salary and thousands of good horses, he should not turn back. Even if there is a contradiction between life and morality, he should give up life and take morality. This kind? Give up your life for justice? As an important part of the Chinese national spirit, value orientation has inspired countless people with lofty ideals to work hard for the just cause and even give their precious lives.

However, it is worth noting that in Mencius' thought, there is a certain tendency to value righteousness over profit. When Liang asked Mencius which methods were beneficial to Wei, Mencius said? Why did the king say "profit"? He also has righteousness. ? ("Mencius? Liang Shang) In the Western Han Dynasty, Dong Zhongshu proposed? Is it true that loyalty (righteousness) does not seek its benefits, and knowing its way is not its merit? Proposition has pushed the concept of valuing righteousness over profit to the extreme. Neo-Confucianism in Song Dynasty inherited this concept, emphasizing? Debate between righteousness and benefit? Regard righteousness as the first principle of Confucian learning to be a man and live in the world. It is believed that a gentleman takes righteousness as the foundation, gains righteousness as the priority, loses righteousness as the light, is proud of righteousness, and is ashamed of betraying righteousness. All honors and disgraces are based on whether they conform to justice or not, and the rest are not worth mentioning. This view of justice has the significance of safeguarding personal dignity and realizing personal value, and deepens the connotation of justice. However, at the same time, Neo-Confucianism also rejected and denied the pursuit of personal interests, thus forming the dominant situation of traditional Confucian ethics.

Of course, some Confucian thinkers in the past dynasties advocated the combination of morality and utility, which reasonably solved the problem of the relationship between righteousness and benefit. At the end of the Warring States period, Xunzi had proposed that people should have both righteousness and benefit? ("Xunzi? Rough "). In his view, even Yao Shun, an ancient sage, could not get rid of the people's pursuit of profit, and only made them value money and profit over righteousness. Therefore, in the relationship between justice and benefit, interests should not be excluded or denied, but should be? Righteousness before profit? On the premise of first affirming morality, we should also give consideration to the satisfaction of personal interests. Did Yan Yuan, a thinker in the early Qing Dynasty, think more clearly? The benefits of benevolence and righteousness are also expensive for a gentleman? . In order to correct the long-term utilitarian moral prejudice, Yan Yuan proposed? Is it really friendship for its benefit, knowing its way and counting its merits? The idea of combining righteousness and interests and unifying them. It should be said that this proposition solves the problem of the relationship between righteousness and interest. In the traditional Confucian ethics, the idea of valuing righteousness over benefit is dominant, but the view of the unity of righteousness and benefit has been attacked and denied by orthodox Confucianism, and even regarded as heresy. For us, how to establish a concept of justice and benefit that suits the needs of the times is still an important topic. All kinds of Confucian expositions on the relationship between righteousness and benefit provide us with valuable theoretical resources. What does the traditional Confucian view of justice include? See what is right, and then take what is right? We need to inherit and carry forward this idea. Forgetting righteousness and valuing profit? We should also criticize and spurn our ideas, but we should also abandon those views that only value righteousness over profit.

(3) Ceremony

Rite is one of the important categories of Confucian ethics, which is of great significance in personal cultivation and interpersonal communication. In terms of content, A gift? It can be roughly divided into three aspects: on the one hand, it refers to the hierarchy, legal provisions and ethical norms of the whole society; The second aspect focuses on the moral norms of the whole society; The third aspect refers to etiquette, etiquette and the way of dealing with people. As? P5？ One of the gifts mainly refers to people's specific code of conduct.

Rite is a category that is intrinsically related to benevolence and righteousness. Confucianism regards benevolence as the most fundamental moral requirement in dealing with interpersonal relationships, and at the same time requires lovers to follow certain principles instead of loving everyone indiscriminately. This principle is righteousness. However, due to the different relationships between people, their moral obligations and responsibilities are also different. Therefore, people's behavior has different moral requirements for different interpersonal relationships. This requires transforming righteousness into specific codes of conduct, so that these codes of conduct correspond to specific interpersonal relationships respectively. In this way, etiquette as a specific code of conduct in dealing with interpersonal relationships came into being. It can be said that ceremony is the external norm of benevolence, the concrete form of righteousness, the implementation and embodiment of benevolence, and benevolence is the internal essence of ceremony. According to Confucianism, propriety and benevolence are closely linked. Without benevolence and righteousness, courtesy is just a form of hypocrisy. Without ceremony, benevolence and righteousness will become empty talk that cannot be implemented.

Confucianism attaches great importance to etiquette, and makes a comprehensive and detailed exposition, and constructs a huge and perfect etiquette system, involving all aspects of social daily life. Confucianism regards monarch and minister, father and son, couple, brother and friend? Five LUN? This paper summarizes the main social and moral relations as a whole, and puts forward the five-ethics ceremony, including loyalty of monarch and minister, filial piety of father, obedience of husband and wife, respect of brothers and friends, and trust of friends. For each specific relationship, there are specific etiquette rules. For example, in the father-son relationship, children are required to honor their parents by obedience, respect, education, inheritance, death and sacrifice. Under these specific etiquette, there are also very detailed specifications and requirements. The whole system is very large and meticulous, and various regulations permeate people's audio-visual, speech movement, diet and daily life, so that people can follow all kinds of behaviors in daily life.

It is precisely because ceremony, as a specific code of conduct, has formed a fixed behavior pattern in a specific interpersonal relationship, so in Confucian view, ceremony is the foundation of establishing people and the foundation of being human. Confucius once said:? Poetry is full and ceremony is neutral. ? ("The Analects? Taber ")? If you don't learn manners, you can't stand it ? ("The Analects? Ji). We know that people always live in society, in various social networks, play a certain role and bear certain social responsibilities and obligations. Ceremony is a moral requirement put forward by some social role. To play a certain role in social life, we must abide by the code of conduct of different roles stipulated by etiquette. The father should meet the requirements of the father's role and the son should meet the requirements of the son's role. In this way, the whole society can present a harmonious and orderly state. For an individual, to successfully play a specific social role, become a qualified social member and be recognized by the whole society, we must first understand and learn the various requirements put forward by society for this role, and put these requirements into action, otherwise we will not be able to move forward. Book of rites? Qu Li Shanglian said:? Politeness is safe, rudeness is dangerous. ? It can be seen that in Confucianism's view, etiquette is the basis for people to stand in the world, and learning etiquette naturally becomes the premise for people to stand in the world.

As a traditional moral standard, etiquette has played an important role in improving personal moral quality, maintaining interpersonal harmony and maintaining social order and stability. Undoubtedly, the shaping of the image of the Chinese nation as a country of propriety and righteousness is closely related to the popularity of the concept of propriety. It should be pointed out that in China's long-term feudal society, due to the influence of the hierarchy and the concept of inferiority in different periods, excessive behavior often occurred? Humble? And other negative aspects that we need to abandon today.

(4) Wisdom

Wisdom, namely reason, rationality and wisdom, is one of the basic norms of China's traditional morality. Confucianism attaches great importance to the ethical value of wisdom, and regards wisdom as? P5？ One. Book of rites? The doctrine of the mean puts wisdom and benevolence and courage together. What is this called? World virtue? .

In Confucian ethics, wisdom mainly refers to moral understanding and moral rationality. In Confucius' view? Smart people are not confused? Correct moral understanding is the premise and guarantee of correct moral behavior, and wisdom is an important condition to realize benevolence. Therefore, he repeatedly put forward benevolence and wisdom at the same time, and unified wisdom, benevolence and courage into the basic moral character of people with lofty ideals. Mencius regarded wisdom as a kind of ability and concept to distinguish right from wrong, good and evil, and put forward? Heart of right and wrong, wisdom also? This proposal. Dong Zhongshu, Han Confucianism, both benevolence and wisdom, Spring and Autumn Period? The connotation of wisdom is discussed in detail from many aspects. Since then, the Confucianists of past dynasties have generally affirmed the importance of wisdom, explained or developed it, and endowed it with rich moral connotations. In a word, the moral connotation of wisdom mainly includes the following aspects: first, the unity of knowledge and action; Second, benefiting the people and the country; Third; Know yourself and yourself; Fourth, be cautious; Fifth, see a little knowledge. In addition, it also includes learning, acting according to one's abilities, being prepared for danger in times of peace and so on.

Jizai? P5？ Has a very special position. As a kind of moral knowledge, wisdom's basic function is to distinguish right from wrong, good from evil, and to establish a correct moral concept. People are always in the complicated social life, in the realistic moral environment, and various social phenomena are confusing, so it is difficult to distinguish right from wrong, good from evil. This requires the use of reason and wisdom to analyze and judge, establish a correct moral understanding, and make correct behavior choices under the guidance of moral reason. If a person does not have a correct understanding and understanding of the moral relationship between people, and does not clearly grasp what should be, what should not be, what is good and what is evil, it is hard to imagine that there will be correct moral beliefs and moral qualities and conscious moral behavior. According to Confucianism, some behaviors similar to morality also exist in animals, such as tigers and wolves have the benevolence of father and son, while bees and ants have the righteousness of father and son. But these are only natural behaviors of animals, and only human beings can conduct conscious moral behaviors under the guidance of moral understanding. Therefore, Confucianism believes that wisdom is the premise of all moral qualities, moral concepts and moral behaviors, and it is a tool to understand the other four virtues.

The wisdom of Confucianism is inseparable from morality. If people's understanding and rationality are not related to virtue and virtue, it will not become people's realistic moral quality, and even go to the opposite of morality. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Wang Fuzhi, a great scholar, said that wisdom is harsh when it comes to benevolence, shallow when it comes to ceremony, smart when it comes to righteousness, and cunning when it comes to letters. This is a very profound insight. Because of this, Confucian wisdom is always associated with the other four virtues. As? P5？ One of wisdom is actually the recognition and understanding of moral principles such as benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and faith. Of course, as a kind of moral understanding, wisdom must also be implemented and embodied in moral behavior, which is consistent with moral behavior and truly becomes a realistic moral quality.

(5) Letters

Honesty is an important principle of China's traditional morality. It requires people to be true, sincere, kind-hearted and consistent in words and deeds. People often call faith, loyalty and honesty loyalty and honesty. In the history of China's thought, scholars of various schools attached importance to faith in different procedures, especially Confucianism. Letter? Most admired. Especially in the Han dynasty, the letter was included by Confucianism? P5？ After that, its position became more prominent and became the most basic moral norm.

In Confucian view, what is faith? The basis of studying in Germany? 、? How to establish a person? And then what? The basis of legislation? . Zhouyili? What is the word "Gan" in Classical Chinese? Loyalty, so you went to Germany? This paper holds that loyalty is the fundamental way to enhance virtue. Didn't Sun Tzu not only put it forward? People who don't believe don't know what they can do. ("The Analects? For politics) proposition, trust is the foundation of the people, and trust is the foundation of the country. Think? People can't stand it without faith? ("The Analects? Yan Yuan "). If the people don't trust, national politics will be untenable, so even if you go to eat as a soldier, you should keep your word and would rather die than believe it. In addition, the Meng Si School, represented by Zi Si and Mencius, raised the ethical principle of honesty to Heaven, and made a philosophical and speculative analysis of it. They believe that everything in the universe is an objective reality, the objective heaven is true and innocent, and human beings as the embodiment of heaven in human society should also be true and innocent. What does this mean? Honesty is the way of heaven, honesty is the way of being human? Mencius also put forward this proposition:? Honesty is the way of heaven, honesty is the way of being human? . Honesty is the attribute of heaven. When people talk about honesty, they imitate the true and innocent moral character of heaven, respect, identify with and follow the objective heaven, and improve human nature. In this way, Confucianism skillfully demonstrated the objectivity, rationality and absoluteness of the principle of good faith. Later, Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties made a more detailed and in-depth interpretation of the letter along this line of thought.

As a code of conduct for interpersonal communication, the basic requirements of letter are sincere treatment, honesty and trustworthiness, attention to credibility and keeping promises. Confucius said,? Make friends and keep your word? ("The Analects? Learn and "),? What if you believe it? ("The Analects? Yang Huo "). In the communication between people, we must match words with deeds, keep promises and keep promises, which is the basis for gaining respect, understanding and building mutual trust. If you don't treat people honestly, you don't do what you say, you have sex, you cheat each other and you suspect each other, which will lead to a crisis of trust, a communication gap and a deterioration of interpersonal relationships. Yang Quan, a Wei and Jin thinker, once pointed out in On Things:? Communicate with people by letter, and everyone in the world believes; If you don't trust others, your wife will suspect them. ? It can be said that faith is a spiritual bond between people, which can closely and firmly connect people. Without the bond of trust, it is impossible to establish a sincere and harmonious relationship between people, even the closest ones.

Confucianism attaches importance to and advocates faith, and requires people to be consistent in words and deeds, but it does not regard words and deeds as an absolute behavior discipline and apply them rigidly to interpersonal communication. We know that due to the constraints and changes of subjective quality and objective environment, people's speech can't be done, and even should be done. Therefore, if you talk nonsense, you must look at it with righteousness, and whether what you say needs to be put into action should also be measured with righteousness. Mencius said? My Lord, you don't have to believe what you say, and you don't have to bear what you do, but what is the meaning? ("Mencius? Li Lou), the philosopher Zhang Zai of the Northern Song Dynasty also said? A gentleman would rather die than die? ("Zheng Meng? Have virtue "). If you break your word, you'd rather break it. It can be seen that Confucianism pays attention not to form, but to spiritual essence. If we deviate from moral standards and emphasize faith unilaterally, it will inevitably lead to the denial of moral responsibility, destroy the normal social order and not conform to the essence of faith. This is also what we need to pay special attention to in carrying forward the fine moral tradition today.

Moral etiquette story: giving is happier than receiving.

There is a professor and a student walking together. They saw a pair of shoes on the path, which probably belonged to people who worked nearby. The student said to the professor, let's hide his shoes behind the bushes and see how he feels when he can't find them.

Professors are more educated. He said:? We can't base our happiness on that person's pain. You can try another method. You put a coin in each shoe and then hide it to see his reaction. ? The students did, and then they hid in a nearby tree.

The man finished his work, came back here, put on his clothes and put his feet in his shoes. Suddenly, I felt something hard in my shoe, bent down to touch it and found a coin. His face was full of surprise and joy. He then put on another shoe and found another coin. He looked up at the blue sky excitedly and thanked him loudly. His words talked about his sick and helpless wife, children with nothing to eat, and even gave up the idea of suicide.

The student was deeply moved and his eyes were full of tears. Then the professor said:? Do you think this is more interesting than a prank? The young man said. I feel a sentence I didn't understand before-giving is happier than receiving! ?