"Four Sentences of Hengqu" comes from Zhang Zai's Quotations of Hengqu. The original text is as follows: "Make a heart for heaven and earth, make a life for the people, link the past with the future, and make the world peaceful." Establish the heart of life for heaven and earth, point out a way for the people to follow, inherit the knowledge of Confucius and Mencius and other sages, and open up the foundation of permanent peace for future generations.
Zhang Zai (1020—107765438+February 6th), born in Hengqu Town, Fengxiang County (now Meixian County, Shaanxi Province), was a thinker and educator in the Northern Song Dynasty and one of the founders of Neo-Confucianism. Known as Mr. Hengqu in the world, Zhang Zi is honored as a saint, and he is thirty-eight in the west of Confucius Temple. His famous saying, "Make a heart for heaven and earth, make a life for the people, link the past with the future, and create peace for all generations", was called "four sentences in a horizontal canal" by contemporary philosopher Feng Youlan. Because of its simplicity and grandeur, it has been praised by people throughout the ages.
The extended data "four sentences in horizontal canal" contains the following meanings:
1, "Heart is heaven and earth", Cheng Yue said: "Heaven and earth are unintentional, but creatures are hearts." He said, "Heaven and earth were formed unintentionally." Heaven and earth are unintentional, and people have a heart. The human heart is the heart of a benevolent person who can help others, and the heart of a sage of Dagong.
In fact, compassion is the heart that can't bear others, which is what Confucius said, "Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you", which is the starting point of benevolence. In this way, Mr. Ma Yifu concluded: "Scholars should not seek benevolence with knowledge, and be kind and heartless, but should be based on the heart of heaven and earth. "
2. "Making a living for the people" comes directly from Mencius' thought of "making a living". There is a saying in Mencius: "He who does his best knows his nature. If you know its nature, you will know its nature. Keep your heart and cultivate your nature, then things will be natural. I want to live a long life, and I cultivate my self-cultivation, so I am very firm. "
Through self-cultivation, if a person can finally achieve such a state that he can maintain his sexual integrity regardless of his life span, then the individual can be said to have settled down. The "life for the people" marked by Zhang Zai is actually "life for the people, the life of my compatriots", and its life lies in teaching, and "cultivation is called teaching", which is the so-called.
3. "The past is not forgotten", so those who "go to the holy" are the first to promote Confucianism represented by Confucius and Mencius; Juexue is Taoism advocated by Confucius and Mencius. As far as Confucianism is concerned, Confucius is certainly a master, and the Song Dynasty masters such as Lian, Luo, Guan and Min pushed the development of Confucianism to a brand-new stage. Only Confucianism in Song Dynasty can truly carry forward Confucius and Mencius.
4. "Harmony is the world" expresses the eternal political ideal of pre-Qin Confucianism and Song Confucianism. The expectation of "openness" is called. Only by "making peace for the world" and realizing the cultural ideal described in Zhang Zai's Mingxi can ignorant modern people return to the honest spiritual home of mankind.
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Four Sentences in Hengqu