Confucius said: If you are not in your position, you will not seek government.
Detailed explanation: This is a sentence that almost all Chinese people know, but basically no one can really understand its meaning. The usual explanation is roughly "If you are not in that position, don't consider the political affairs of that position." Because this kind of explanation is often accused of being irrelevant, being high-minded, being prudent, and not making progress. Therefore, there have been many excuses to make this seemingly derogatory statement into a positive one. For example, "The key is to find your position. If you are not in your position and do not understand the situation, talking about it will not help, but will only add chaos. It is better to act in your position and be at peace." etc., etc. , they all make mistakes after mistakes, and make mistakes after mistakes. How do you really know what "not in his position, not planning his politics" means!
All the previous explanations were due to the fact that the person's knowledge and mind were too small. How could he really understand Confucius if he could only see the sky through a hole? Regarding this chapter, the previous chapters have repeatedly mentioned that "the root is born without a position, and the position is born without a root." What is "position"? It refers to the position of change. For example, the Qian hexagram in the "Book of Changes" has different positions from "Chujiu" to "Shangjiu", corresponding to different states of change. And everything starts from and can only start from reality. What stage and position of reality are the first issues that must be analyzed. Correspondingly, "its politics" must be compatible with "its position". "Don't plan for politics if you are not in your position" means "don't plan for politics that is not in your place", and do not plan for political affairs, political relations, political systems, superstructures, production relations, etc. that are inconsistent with the status of actual changes. In the final analysis, seeking political power without being in place is the root cause of all utopian tragedies in history.
Confucius said: If you are not in your position, you will not seek government.
In Marx's investigation of the overall social structure, there is the so-called "production relations adapt to the productive forces". This is actually the special meaning of "not in place, not seeking political power" in the movement of the overall social structure. Expression. Marx defined the rank of the overall social structure based on the changing rank of productive forces, and "its politics" must adapt to "its position". "If it is not in its position, it will not seek its politics." It is impossible to transcend the rank of productive forces and reach a higher position. The production relations corresponding to secondary productive forces. Similarly, the "superstructure" must adapt to the "economic base", which is also a special expression of the internal relations of the social structure of "not in its place, not in its place". Unfortunately, apart from Confucius, the only person in history who truly understood that "one is not in one's position, one does not seek to govern" is Marx. Although their expressions are different, the connotation is the same. It is still the same sentence: Confucius and Marx are always so close to each other.
The consequences of violating the principle of "not being in one's position and not pursuing one's political goals" are countless in history. Why is this? Because those people have no understanding of "politics are righteous, and the commander-in-chief is righteous, who dares to be unrighteous?" They turn reality into a utopia and thus abandon reality. They are eventually abandoned by reality, and they don't know how to "not seek political power if they are not in their position." ", in this case, it would be strange if those farces and tragedies did not occur. Those who clamor to overthrow the "Kong Family Store", such as Lu Xun and Hu Shi, don't even understand that "they are not in their position and do not seek to govern". They have the nerve to be reckless and talk nonsense. They are really the worst in history. Shameless people, if they don't correct their origins, will they be allowed to continue to poison future generations? They must be destroyed and destroyed quickly!
Confucius said: "If you are not in his position, you will not seek his government." Zengzi said: "A gentleman cannot think beyond his position."
Written by Zen Master on November 12, 2006 AD 12:05 noon
Detailed explanation: "If you are not in your position, you will not seek political power." I just finished saying it in the previous chapter, why do you say it again? In fact, in the original arrangement of "The Analects", the previous chapter appeared in the chapter "Taibo", and this chapter appeared in the chapter "Xianwen", which also shows the confusion in the original arrangement. In the previous chapter, only the original words of Confucius were recorded, while in this chapter, the words of Zeng Shen (a close disciple of Confucius) were added. But it was his words that made ignorant people’s misunderstandings add to the misunderstandings throughout the ages. Of course, the responsibility does not lie with Zeng Shen, but it only exposes the absurdity of ignorant people making false claims about the Analects of Confucius and criticizing the Analects of Confucius.
First quote a common explanation about this chapter: "If you are not in your position, you will not seek your own government. Then, if you are in your position, you must seek your own government. However, you should also "not think out of the way" to seek your government. "His position", he should not consider issues beyond the scope of his position. Such explanations are completely wrong. As for the criticism of this sentence, in modern times, the most famous one may be Lu Xun's cynicism in "Qiejieting Essays: Separation", which is quoted as follows: "Slaves can only follow what they follow and are not allowed to express opinions; of course, they are not allowed to comment, and they praise themselves without permission." No, this is "not being able to think about the situation." For example, saying: Master, the corners of your robe are somewhat torn. If you drag it on, it will become more tattered, so you might as well mend it, but in fact, you think you are being loyal. But he has committed a crime, because there are people who allow him to say such things, and not everyone can say it. If he says it randomly, he is "making a mistake". Of course, if he thinks he is "loyal and gets offended", then he will be punished. It's just his own confusion." This kid Lu Xun wanted to overthrow the Kong family store, so Wen pinned his ignorance on the shameful shelf of history forever. He simply does not know what it means to "not seek political power if he is not in his position", let alone what it means to be "a gentleman who cannot think of his position". You can imagine how shameless a person is when he makes such shameless remarks based on his poor knowledge.
The true meaning of "If you are not in your position, you will not seek political power" has been stated in the previous chapter and will not be repeated again.
As for "a gentleman cannot think of his position", Zhu Xi is still smarter than Lu Xun and other vernacular idiots. At least he knows that this is actually a reference to the "Gen Gua" image in the "Book of Changes". In other words, Zhu Xi correctly pointed out , Zeng Shen quoted the image of "Gen Gua" in the "Book of Changes" to explain and confirm that "if you are not in your position, you will not seek your government." Of course, this actually doesn’t require much effort. Anyone who is familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics will know the origin of the saying “A gentleman cannot think of his position.” But knowing the source does not mean that you really understand it. Zhu Xi is only better than Lu Xun and others. As for the meaning, it is a toad diving and plopping. There is even a modern person, Li Zehou, who thinks that Zeng Shen's interpretation of Confucius may have many reasons and is too conservative, which proves that he does not know what it means to "not be in his position and not to plan his political affairs", let alone what "a gentleman cannot think out of his own affairs" means. Bit".
"Gen Gua", its image is "Jianshan", sandwiched by two mountains. "Tuan Zhuan" says, "When it stops, it stops, when it moves, it moves; when movement and stillness do not lose their time, the path is bright." Gen Qi Zhi, Zhi Zhi Ye." What this means is "not in its position, not seeking its own government", which is the corresponding explanation in the previous chapter. For those who like to make a fuss, they think that the author’s interpretation is a random fabrication and deliberately misinterprets the meaning of the holy interpretation of Confucius. However, they do not know that the author’s interpretation does not understand the meaning of Confucius. Xiangci and "Tuan Zhuan" were also written by Confucius. , even if people like Qian Mu and others doubt that Xiangci and "Tuozhuan" came out later, it cannot be denied that what Confucius and Confucianism agree with is what Xiangci and "Tuozhuan" discuss. And from the agreement between The Analects of Confucius, Xiangci and Tuan Zhuan, we can see that the explanation in this article is objective, fair and impartial.
I cannot comment on the Six Classics, let alone I comment on the Six Classics, the great work "The Analects", the sage Confucius, the author Li Biao has no place to live but his heart, no perspective but his perspective, look at Confucius , Marx's thoughts are like his own, that's why he can so easily discover things that no one has before, and refine more than 500 chapters of "The Analects" into a golden sword, sweeping away all the clichés for more than two thousand years. To have such an understanding, it is not necessary to read the Analects of Confucius many times. To be honest, the author of this article has not studied the Analects of Confucius too seriously. He just knows its meaning when he sees its text.
Back to this chapter, "A gentleman cannot think beyond his position." "Si" is not the "thought" that Lu Xun, Qian Mu, Li Zehou, etc. usually think of, but the general holiday of "Si". What does "Si" mean? ? Zheng means the same thing as "for government". A "gentleman" is a person who "hears, sees, learns, and practices" the "way of the sage" and "cannot think of his position", that is, he is "not in his position and does not seek his government." For the corresponding explanation, please refer to the previous chapter.
"If you are not in your position, you will not seek your government." "When you stop, you will stop, and when you move, you will move; when you move or still, you will not lose your time, and your path will be bright. If you stop, you will stop where you are." This is This is what a gentleman must always keep in mind when practicing the "way of a saint". As for "彖传", I won't explain it in detail here.
But one thing must be pointed out: "Shi" does not mean to keep pace with the times or to keep pace with the times, but as repeatedly emphasized in the first few chapters of this book: "keeping up with the times and heaven keeping up with the times"; "Stop", what is "stop"? It is what has been emphasized repeatedly in the previous chapters: "the root is born without a position, and the position is born without a root". This is "stop", not the commonly understood "station, residence, stop, stop, stop", etc. The so-called "stop".