Translation: People who pursue benevolent policies are invincible in the world.
reading thoughts: reading Mencius' works can indeed reveal many truths, but there is always one thing I don't like very much, that is, it is too politicized, and politics is marginalized everywhere. Let's see how many good ideas he has spoken! What do you mean, "protect the people and be king, and you can't resist it." What do you mean? "The world can be transported in the palm of your hand." And so on, these thoughts are very profound, but in the end they have to stay in the palm of their hand. In the end, these ideas were used by the rulers and became a "killing weapon". I'm really sad. It's not Mencius' fault. Mencius' starting point is really "for the people", but his "way for the people" is linked with the rulers everywhere, unlike Buddhism and Taoism, which understand the essence of life on the basis of "equality of all beings", while Taoism pays attention to "doing nothing" and is also restoring people's natural nature, while Confucianism alone emphasizes politics and politics everywhere. From the sentence "the benevolent is invincible", we can see the clue. Since we are going to be "benevolent", why should we be linked to "invincible"? A benevolent person is a benevolent person. A benevolent person is a person who is connected with heaven and earth, an awakened person, and a person with great morality. When I really become a "benevolent person", I still have many lifestyles. I can go to educate others and all beings in my own way, and I will never be "hostile" to people. This is exactly what I can't figure out. No wonder foreigners don't like the Confucius Institute in China, which is precisely because what Confucian culture advocates is not "equality for all".
2. The world is in the palm of your hand.
translation: Respect the elderly in your own family, thus extending to respect the elders in other people's families; Take care of your own children, so as to promote the care of other people's children. All political measures are based on this principle. It is as easy to unify the world as turning things in the palm of your hand.
Reading impressions: Apart from the gilded words of "the world can be transported in the palm of your hand", I should give Mencius full marks only for the two sentences of "old people are old, young people are old, young people are young, and young people are young" (unfortunately, the latter sentence, so as a whole, I can only give Mencius 85 points). From this sentence, I see "filial piety". What is filial piety? Modern people think that giving parents a little money and a little material is filial piety, but it is far from it. Now people are unfilial, and it is a big unfilial. Filial piety is hierarchical: filial piety to adoptive parents; Filial piety to foster parents; Filial piety to foster parents. These three levels can be said to be filial piety, middle filial piety and great filial piety. We can compare them. Which level of filial piety have we achieved? Have we taken care of our parents? Have we raised our parents' hearts? Have we raised our parents' aspirations? Why do I think of filial piety from Mencius' words? This is precisely because I saw the "great filial piety" from this sentence, and I saw the filial piety of adoptive parents. I believe that we parents all want our children to be "old and old, young and young, and young". This is the ambition of parents. If we children can understand this ambition of parents, we must follow their path. This is the real filial piety! Look at what modern people have done. Not to mention Mencius' great filial piety, many people have not even done it. When parents are sick, what can we do to solve their parents' "physical health"? Do we have this wisdom? Many people drag their parents into the hospital with tubes all over them, which is naturally good, but it is really unfilial to let our parents suffer invisibly because of our own lack of wisdom!
3, right, and then know the weight; Degree, then know the length.
translation: only when you weigh it can you know the weight; Only by measuring can we know the length.
reading impressions: only by personal experience can we have a deeper understanding of everything. This passage of Mencius reminds me of the "experience of life". In fact, life is the process of experience in plain English. How to experience it? This requires us to melt ourselves into the ocean of life and feel the rough waves on the sea by ourselves. I like what Mencius said, which is very pure, simple and profound, and there is no political flavor involved. Nowadays, people have completely forgotten "experience" because life is too good, but more are "analyzing life" or "observing life". When they encounter a little bad things, they complain. When I meet a little bit of good things, I am ecstatic. Our hearts can never be calm, and if we can't be calm, we can't talk about the experience of life. Modern people are pursuing external things, but they separate "life" from "life" and both pursue it outward. They regard life as more important than anything else, and forget that the protagonist of life should be "our own heart", so I often say that modern life has no heart. In their eyes, it seems that there are only external substances. Such a life is definitely not happy, let alone the experience of life.
4. who is happy, being alone or having fun with others?
Translation: Which is happier, enjoying music alone or enjoying music with others?
reading impressions: this is what Mencius asked Qi Xuanwang. Mencius believed that only by sharing happiness with the people can a king govern the country well and unify the world. Here comes politics again. Of course, this sentence itself is also very wise, because the main meaning of this sentence is "sharing", which is also a kind of charity from the perspective of Buddha. Modern people can't figure out the true meaning of wealth. Many people think that grasping "tangible material" is called wealth, but it's not. It's just "ashes" and it's a false picture. True wealth is the wealth of the soul, which truly belongs to oneself and no one can take it away. What are we going to share with others? It is spiritual wealth, because this kind of wealth can change a person's life and bring it back. At first, I didn't know much about the happiness of sharing. When I understood the essence of life, I found that sharing can not only bring happiness to people, but also change my life. Most people in modern times are selfish, and this selfishness is extremely morbid. Even if we have more, we can't live with happiness if we don't share it.