It means: If a country is managed with strong administrative power, policies and laws to make its people obey, and strong punishments are used to restrain them in a persuasive way, so that they can achieve the so-called "keeping oneself in peace" , it just makes people hide a shameless heart.
Source: "Wei Zheng"
"Wei Zheng" contains 24 chapters. The main content of this article involves Confucius's thought of "governing with virtue", the basic principles of how to seek an official position and working in politics as an official, the relationship between learning and thinking, Confucius's own learning and cultivation process, the learning method of reviewing the past and learning the new, and the Further elaboration of moral categories such as filial piety and brotherhood.
Extended information:
Interpretation:
Government and punishment are applied to the people, hiding their shame and turning them into dramas after a long time; loving them with virtue and etiquette, accepting them, Those who are shameless and dignified, the people are close to each other and live in harmony.
The Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period refer to Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Xiang of Song, Duke Wen of Jin, Duke Mu of Qin and King Zhuang of Chu. (Another way of saying it is Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Jin, King Zhuang of Chu, King Helv (hé lǚ) of Wu, and King Goujian of Yue.
This theory is found in Wang Bao's "Four Sons Talk about German" . ) There is a common thing during this period, which is to solve everything in a tough way, so in just over 290 years, wars broke out and wars raged.
Sima Qian said: "During the Spring and Autumn Period, "Thirty-six kings were killed, fifty-two countries were destroyed, and the princes ran away and could not protect their country. There were countless people." The only method is punishment, most of which are under the guise of virtue and etiquette.
Most of the overlords can do this by pulling up the flag and pretending to be false. They practice both morality and government, and use both etiquette and punishment. Therefore, people always follow their own delusions and cannot restrain their ugly faces, which all appear in the In the world, isn’t it the best expression of people being free from shame?
Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia---Tao Zhizhi Gong