In today's world, who else but me? Why should I not hesitate?"

Source: "Mencius: Gongsun Chou"

Original text< /p>

When Mencius went to Qi, he asked on the way to Yu, "Master, if you are hesitant, you will look like this." The day before yesterday, Yu heard that the Master said: "A gentleman does not blame Heaven, nor blame others." ’”

Say: “That moment is the same as this moment. In five hundred years a king will surely rise, and during this period there will be a person who is famous in the world③. It came from Zhou and was more than seven hundred years old. If you use the number, you will pass; if you test it at the right time, you will pass. God does not want to rule the world in peace. If he wants to rule the world in peace, in today's world, who else but me? Why should I not hesitate?"

Notes

①Happiness: happiness , happy. ② Don’t complain about heaven, don’t blame people: This is a quote from Confucius, see "The Analects of Confucius". ③ Famous people: People who are famous and assist the king. p>Translation

Mencius left Qi, and Chong Yu asked on the road: "Teacher seems unhappy. But I once heard your teacher say: "A gentleman does not complain to God or blame others." ’’

Mencius said: “That was a time, and now is another time. Historically, a sage monarch will rise every five hundred years, and there must be a very famous assistant among them. It has been more than seven hundred years since King Wu of Zhou Dynasty. Judging from the number of years, it has been more than five hundred years; judging from the current situation, it is about time. Maybe God doesn’t want to make the world peaceful. If he wants to make the world peaceful, who else in the world today besides me? Why am I unhappy?”

Interpretation

< p>This passage is not limited to famous quotes, but it expresses very complex thoughts and feelings of Mencius. Some of them are like a song about returning to the hometown after old age, and some are like a poem about returning to the countryside.

Mencius's students are very complicated. Yes, I knew the teacher's mood well at this time, so I quoted the teacher's usual saying of "Don't complain about God, don't blame others" to comfort me. The teacher was also very good, frankly admitting that "this moment is the same." "People are not saints and sages, how can they not have their own emotions? Therefore, it is right to say "don't blame God, don't blame others", but once things really happen to you, it is understandable to complain.

Next, Mencius talked about the general trend of the world, and actually explained to the students the reasons for his unhappiness. "In five hundred years, a king will surely rise, and during this period there will be a famous person." This is Mencius's political and historical manifestation, which has become a famous saying and has a profound impact on later generations. According to this point of view, a "king" should have risen in Mencius's era, but Mencius traveled around the country and found no such "king". He finally met King Xuan of Qi, and he seemed to have some clues, but in the end he couldn't defeat those kings. The "cheap husband" himself failed to persuade Qi Xuangong to implement the "Wang Tianxia" plan for governing the country and bringing peace to the world. Without a "king", how can a "famous person" appear? And Mencius clearly felt that he should be the "famous person", so he felt so melancholy, so suddenly. How can we "not complain about Heaven and not blame others"? So he said, "Maybe God doesn't want to make the world peaceful." In turn, he comforted himself by saying that if God still wants to make the world peaceful, "In today's world, Who else is it for me?' Thinking about it this way, there is nothing unhappy about it. "Why am I not hesitant?" It is more accurate to say that it is a self-deprecation rather than a response to the student's concern.

"In today's world, who else can I be?" This is very similar to what Confucius said: "I am born with virtue, how can I treat her like a son?" ("The Analects of Confucius? Su Er"). A sense of social responsibility and mission of "taking the world as one's own responsibility". Of course, Mencius' expressions were filled with anger, so he became one of the targets for later generations to criticize the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, who thought he was arrogant and arrogant to the extreme. When it comes to arrogance, great people are always a little bit arrogant in their hearts. If we want to condemn it outside of the specific language environment, then Mencius certainly cannot escape the blame, because after all, he said that. !