Question 1: Mencius’s comment on the practical significance of fame and wealth: Wan Zhong is accepted without arguing about etiquette and righteousness. How can Wan Zhong be added to me?

Some people do not distinguish between generous salaries. If I accept it whether it is in line with etiquette or justice, what good will the generous salary do to me?

If I accept the temptation of a salary of ten thousand minutes without distinguishing whether it is in line with etiquette, law and morality, then what good will the salary of ten thousand minutes do to me?

If the generous material treatment If I accept it easily without considering whether it is moral or not, what good will this kind of generous material treatment do to me?

What is emphasized is that the author's conduct is noble and upright, and he attaches great importance to etiquette and morality. From our modern point of view, it emphasizes having a correct outlook on life and values ??

People should not violate righteousness at any time and do not lose it. One's own true intention

Don't blindly pursue fame and fortune, remind people that they should always be vigilant and reflect on themselves, and not covet fame and fortune, lose their personality and dignity, and do things they shouldn't do,

Question 2: All troubles are caused by fame and fortune. Mencius has only read a few chapters of "Mencius". His political ideals can be summarized as follows: If you govern one place, you will benefit one place; if you govern for a while, you will benefit the future; if you govern with benevolence, the people will support you. They are like the sun and moon; they serve the interests of government, but the people regard them as nothing more than grass and grass.

Compared with today’s politicians, some leaders are like the sun and the moon? Like grass? To himself, he hates that all the wealth in the world can be owned by him; to others, he hates not to have any of his wealth for others to use; he regards himself as the most noble and noble, and regards others as humble and humble; he shouts, "A gentleman should be indifferent to fame and fortune." , strive for self-improvement", but in reality it means "if you don't do it for yourself, heaven and earth will destroy you, but for the benefit of yourself"; it is euphemistically called "leaders are public servants, caring about the survival of employees", but in reality it means "only let the cows run, and don't let the cows eat grass" ; It is said that "the head of the government is like a cow, eating grass and milking milk", but in fact, "the employees have really become cows, eating fruits and grass, and milking milk, but the leaders are still aloof. People who feed on milk are milked for evil and hypocrisy."

People’s morals have not been strong for a long time, and people’s customs have not been honest for a long time! Investigating its fundamentals, it has been working for a long time! If you want the people to be virtuous, you must use your own virtues to educate the people. In this way, the spring breeze can turn into drizzle, and the moisturizing can be silent.

I am greedy, but I ask my employees to be selfless;

I am extravagant and wasteful, but I ask my employees to be simple and moral.

How are such politicians different from animals? Whether it is a wolf in sheep's clothing or a beast in human skin is unknown. I only hope that as a politician, I can examine myself three times every day, and I can make my own judgment on whether I am a human being or a beast.

Question 3: How to evaluate Mencius’s thoughts on righteousness and benefit? For a long time, Mencius’s thoughts on righteousness and benefit have been misunderstood. People believe that his emphasis on righteousness and disregard of profit has seriously hindered the development of China’s economy and denied people’s maintenance of justice. and the right to pursue legitimate material interests. There are two main reasons for this misunderstanding: First, the context of the original text is extracted, which separates Mencius's words about the relationship between justice and benefit from the specific time, place, and social background, and places them in absolute time and space. For example, "Why daily profit? There is only benevolence and righteousness." This sentence was said by Mencius to King Hui of Liang, and it has a special context. And like many people, I regard it as Mencius' typical judgment on the issue of justice and benefit, and derive from it the views of emphasizing justice over benefit, absolutely opposing righteousness and benefit, and opposing speech and benefit. In addition, we have also extracted this sentence from the entire discourse system of Mencius, cut off its internal connection with many related discourses before and after, and treated it as an isolated philosophical proposition. This makes a sentence that originally had its own Reasonable assertions become absurd and unbelievable. The second is the context replacement of the quoter, that is, after stripping off the original context of Mencius's discourse on justice and benefit, it was moved to China in the 1980s, and a past tense discourse was changed into the present tense. At that time, China had just emerged from the nightmare of the Cultural Revolution. It was suffering from material shortages, moral idealism was shattered, and economic development became a top priority. With the reform and opening up, concepts have changed. Everyone wants to get rich as soon as possible, and material interests have received great attention. Marx's assertion that interests are the basis of morality has been discovered as a cultural relic by the ethics community and has attracted widespread attention. When encountering Mencius in such a context, one must think that "Why daily profit? There is only benevolence and righteousness." This is a backward and reactionary thought that hinders social development. The social atmosphere has undergone great changes in the past twenty years. Behaviors that are unjust, profit-seeking, and morally corrupt have caused widespread concern in society. Re-reading "Mencius" at this time, I discovered many misunderstandings about Mencius's view of justice and benefit. Since the misunderstanding is caused by contextual extraction and replacement, we should use contextual restoration to clarify the specific background of Mencius's talk about justice and benefit, and understand what his intention was. Reading the book "Mencius" carefully, we can see that it was in a period of social transformation at that time, "the collapse of rituals and the collapse of music", "the world is declining, heresy and atrocities are common, some ministers murder their kings, and some sons murder their fathers" ", "People in the world only seek profit." The social atmosphere is to value profits over righteousness, and forget righteousness when seeing profits. When Mencius lobbied the princes, he met King Hui of Liang and King Xuan of Qi. They were all profit-seeking people eager to become kings and hegemons. Did Mencius need to talk about profit in front of them? As a thinker with a strong sense of social responsibility, when the world is in decline, he has to overcorrect and talk about valuing justice over profit, in order to correct the current shortcomings of valuing profit over justice and pursuing profit only.

If we comprehensively analyze the discussion of morality and interests in "Mencius", we will see that Mencius's view of justice and interests is not as one-sided and extreme as we imagine, and only talks about justice but not interests. His thoughts on righteousness and benefit include three levels: first benefit and then righteousness, using benefit to explain righteousness, and first righteousness and then benefit. (1) Put benefit first and justice later. Mencius inherited Confucius' idea of ??satisfying people before teaching. Like Guan Zhong's saying, "If you have enough food and clothing, you will know the etiquette. If you have enough food and clothing, you will know the honor and disgrace." Basic material needs of life. Mencius was not a moralist; survival was the first priority. The first thing ordinary people think about is maintaining the survival of their family. Only when the problem of survival is solved can we think about how to survive decently and be a respectable person who respects etiquette and justice. Obviously, Mencius believed that morality should be based on certain materials. He also linked the level of morality to private property, making the conclusion that "those with permanent property have perseverance, and those without permanent property have no perseverance." "Perseverance" here refers to fixed properties such as land, houses, and farms, as well as stable occupations associated with them; "perseverance" refers to basic moral concepts. (2) Use profit to explain righteousness. Mencius linked righteousness and benefit, and repeatedly told people that only by acting in accordance with moral principles can they obtain legitimate and long-term benefits. Mencius's method of lobbying the princes and persuading the people was obviously utilitarian. He emphasized benevolence and righteousness because it is useful. If it is large, it can win the world, and if it is small, it can satisfy personal desires for profit, fame, and self-esteem. "Three generations gained the world with benevolence, and lost the world with unkindness." "Those who are benevolent love others, and those who are polite respect others. Those who love others will always love them, and those who respect others will always respect them." Everyone wants to seek fame and wealth, wealth, and honor. To achieve these goals, Mencius believed that only righteousness is the most correct, spacious and safe way. (3) Put justice first and benefit later. Mencius was a thinker who was keen on governing the country and bringing peace to the world. Putting justice before profit and valuing justice over profit were mainly put forward as a strategy for governing the country. He believed that "people in the world were only seeking profit" at that time, and they were obsessed with... >>

Question 4: There is a classical Chinese saying that means: "Virtue is the best thing, but people in the world only I find it incomprehensible to pursue fame and wealth by doing good deeds. "Words and actions are the best examples. Don't look at what others do. You should have your own rules of life and know etiquette, justice, integrity, and shame.

Question 5: What is the difference between the Confucian and Taoist views on fame and fortune? The representative figures of Confucianism are Confucius and Mencius, and the classic works are the Four Books and the Five Classics. Confucianism affirms people's pursuit of fame, fortune, and wealth, but emphasizes that this pursuit should be subordinated to benevolence, righteousness, and morality. As a life theory that advocates active participation in the world, it does not oppose ordinary people's pursuit of fame, fortune and wealth. It is generally believed that wealth is better than poverty. It repeatedly emphasizes that although fame, fortune, and honor are good, there is something more valuable than power, money, and honor in the world, and that is benevolence and righteousness. In the dispute between justice and profit, justice should be put first. Seeing benefits and forgetting righteousness - seeing benefits and forgetting righteousness.

The representative figures of Taoism are Laozi and Zhuangzi. It also occupies a very important position in Chinese history, especially in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. On the basis of China's original religion and mythology, it absorbed the basic ideas of Taoism. After the formation of Taoism, a unique religion in China, Taoism took on the cloak of religion and penetrated more widely into all strata of society, exerting a profound influence on the way Chinese people think and behave. Later, when Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty became emperor, he wanted to find a basis for his inheritance. After searching around, he found that Lao Tzu was from the same family, and his original surname was Li. So he called Lao Tzu his first punishment, praised Taoism as the state religion, and adopted it. Official force was implemented across the country. The Taoist view of fame and wealth can be summed up in one sentence: "Be humble and don't fight, use defense as offense." It advocates the word "light" in life. "Why should we be humble and not fight? Because in Taoist view, the main reason for fighting for fame and wealth is to satisfy personal desires. However, human desires can never be satisfied. If they are not satisfied, they will cause distress and harm the body.

Question 6: What are the stories related to Mencius? Mencius divorced his wife

Mencius’ achievements in his life are inseparable from his mother’s teachings.

One day, Mencius's wife was alone in the house, squatting on the ground with her legs spread. When Mencius entered the house and saw his wife like this, he said to his mother, "This woman has no manners. Please allow me to divorce her."

Meng's mother said, "What's the reason?"

Mencius said: "She squatted on the ground with her legs spread apart."

Meng's mother asked: "How did you know?"

Mencius said: "I saw it with my own eyes. "

Meng's mother said: "This is because you don't follow etiquette. It's not because women don't follow etiquette. Isn't it said in the Book of Rites? When you are about to enter the door, you must first ask who is in the house. When you are about to enter the hall, you must shout loudly to let the people inside know; when you are about to enter the house, you must look down. The "Book of Rites" says this in order to prevent people from being caught off guard and unprepared. Now you go to the place where your wife is relaxing, and no one knows when you enter the house, so you see her squatting on the ground. This is because you are not polite, not because your wife is not polite." Mencius listened. After Meng's mother taught him, he realized that he was wrong and never dared to talk about divorcing his wife again.

Three Moves of Mencius's Mother

When Mencius was young, his father died early and his mother Zhang [zhang] kept her family.

The place of residence was close to the tomb, and Mencius learned about funerals, [bi, the two words combined into one] and the mourning. The mother said: "This is not the place for me to live." So she went to the market and was close to the butcher. Mencius learned how to buy, sell and kill. The mother said again: "That's not why I live with my son." Then she moved to the school next to the palace. On the first day of every month in the lunar calendar, officials entered the Confucian Temple, bowed and bowed, and bowed their hands to allow them to advance or retreat. Mencius saw them and memorized them one by one. Meng's mother said: "This is really a good place for a son to live." So she lived here. [Vernacular] In the past, when Mencius was a child, his father died, and his mother, the Jin family, kept the tradition. The place where he lived was very close to the cemetery, and Mencius learned some things about funerals and crying bitterly. The mother thought: "This place is not suitable for children to live." So she left and moved her home to the street, very close to the place where pigs and sheep were killed. Mencius learned some things about business and slaughter. The mother thought again: "This place is still not suitable for children to live." She moved her family next to the academy. On the first day of every month in the lunar calendar, officials entered the Confucian Temple, bowed and bowed, and bowed before advancing or retreating. Mencius saw them and remembered them one by one. Meng's mother thought: "This is the place where the child will live." So she settled here.

The originator

This idiom comes from "Mencius, King Hui of Liang, Part 1": "Zhongni (Confucius) said: The one who first made the figurines has no descendants! They are used to resemble people."

During the Warring States Period, Mencius once discussed the way to govern the country with King Hui of Liang. Mencius asked King Hui of Liang: "Is there any difference between beating someone to death with a stick and killing someone with a knife?"

King Hui of Liang replied: "There is no difference."

Mencius asked again: "What is the difference between killing people with a knife and killing people with politics?"

King Hui of Liang said: "There is no difference."

Mencius Then he said: "Now there is a lot of fat meat in the king's kitchen, and there are many strong horses in the stables, but the faces of the people are hungry, and people are lying dead of starvation in the wild. This is the person in power leading the wild beasts to eat people! Think about it, the king Wild beasts eat each other, which is disgusting to people. So how can those in power be good parents and officials to the common people when they bring wild beasts to eat people? Confucius once said that the first people to use figurines (the puppets or earthen puppets that accompanied the dead in burials in ancient times) were the first to use them. Man, he has no descendants and no descendants! You see, it is not possible to bury him with a human-shaped clay doll, so how can he let the people starve to death?"

According to Confucius, "The person who created the terracotta warriors has no descendants. "Ever", later generations used "the instigator" as an idiom to describe the first person to do something bad or the founder of a bad trend.

Fifty steps laugh at a hundred steps. Fifty steps laugh at a hundred steps.

During the Warring States Period, the princes and kingdoms all adopted the strategy of joining forces vertically and horizontally, making contacts far away and attacking close range.

Wars continue year after year, which brings suffering to the people of all countries. Mencius saw it and decided to travel around the country to persuade those warlike monarchs. Mencius came to the state of Liang and met the warlike King Hui of Liang. King Hui of Liang said to Mencius: "I have tried my best to govern the country and love the people, but I don't see the number of people increasing. What is the reason?"

Mencius replied: "Let me use war as an analogy! When two armies meet on the battlefield, a fight will inevitably result. The defeated party will inevitably throw away his helmet and flee for his life. If a soldier runs slowly and only runs fifty steps, he will run away in mockery. A soldier with a hundred steps is greedy for life and afraid of death."

After Mencius told the story, he asked King Hui of Liang, "Is this right?" King Hui of Liang immediately said, "Of course not!" "Although you love the people, but if you like to fight, the people will suffer. This...>>

Question 7: What is the connotation of "righteousness" mentioned by Mencius? Today we Do we still need to persist? Why? If we comprehensively analyze the content of morality and interests in "Mencius", we will see that Mencius's view of justice and benefit is not as one-sided and extreme as we think. He only talks about justice but not benefit. The idea of ??benefit includes three aspects: first benefit and then righteousness, using benefit to explain righteousness, and first benefiting and then benefiting. "Etiquette, adequate food and clothing, you will know honor and disgrace", he believed that in order for the people to be moral and righteous, we must first ensure their minimum material interests and meet their basic material needs. Mencius is not a moralist, survival is the first priority The first thing ordinary people think about is maintaining the survival of their family. Only after the survival problem is solved, they will think about how to live decently and be respectable and ethical people. Obviously, Mencius believes that morality must be based on certain materials. As a basis, he also linked the moral level to private property, making the conclusion that "those with permanent property have perseverance, and those without permanent property have no perseverance." The "permanent property" here refers to land, houses, pastoral and other fixed properties and the related properties. A stable career; "Perseverance" refers to the basic moral concept. Mencius linked righteousness and benefit and repeatedly told people that only by acting according to moral principles can they obtain legitimate and long-term benefits. The way the princes persuaded the people was obviously utilitarian. They talked about benevolence and righteousness because it was useful. If it was large, it could win the world. If it was small, it could satisfy personal desires for profit, fame, and self-respect. "Three generations also used benevolence to win the world." , He lost the world because of his unkindness. "A benevolent person loves others, a polite person respects others." Those who love others will always be loved by others, and those who respect others will always be respected by others.

"Everyone wants to seek fame, fortune, and wealth. To achieve these goals, Mencius believed that only righteousness is the most correct, broadest, and safest way. (3) Righteousness first and profit second. Mencius was a thinker who was keen on governing the country and bringing peace to the world. Putting justice first before profit, and valuing justice over profit were mainly put forward as a strategy for governing the country. He believed that at that time, "people in the world only pursued profit." The rulers were very weak in practicing benevolence and righteousness. A glass of water can save a load of fire. "From the perspective of macro-control, it means that the power of profit-driven is too great and the role of moral restraint is too small. The pursuit of profit and justice, and the development of material civilization and spiritual civilization are seriously imbalanced. Faced with this situation, Mencius felt that we must increase Morality restricts people's profit-seeking behavior and emphasizes that only by governing the country with benevolence and righteousness can we achieve the goal of peace and prosperity for the country. Therefore, Mencius always advocated righteousness before profit when talking to princes. Kong Xiao and Mencius, the founders of Confucianism, probably realized that people pursue justice. The nature of material interests is difficult to change, but it must be restrained. The tragic consciousness of "knowing that it is impossible and doing it" is running around to advocate morality and promote benevolence. Mencius is different from Kantian Western thinkers. He is not engaged in purity in his study. He focused on metaphysical thinking and writing, but instead traveled around to lobby the princes and promote his own political blueprint. Therefore, he paid great attention to teaching according to people, and decided what to say and how to say it according to the specific target, and his words were recalled and recorded. They have become quotation-based classics such as "The Analects" and "Mencius" that we see today. Contextual restoration plays an extremely important role in understanding the connotation of their thoughts. If you abstract away from the context and blindly universalize it, it will be impossible. Leading to misunderstanding.

Remember to adopt it

Question 8: What are the similarities between Confucius and Mencius? Please tell me that in Confucian tradition, Confucius and Mencius always go hand in hand. , both the great sage and the sub-sage have the Analects of Confucius and Mencius, and their purposes are always consistent: "Mencius prefaced the book of poems and described the meaning of Zhongni. "Feng Youlan, a modern man, also compared Confucius to Socrates and Mencius to Plato. [Edit this paragraph] Confucius did not directly mention the good or evil nature of human beings. In "The Analects", the word "benevolence" appears 66 times, no two places have the same explanation. However, he said that even though he is a sage, he must always be vigilant to guard against unkindness. This shows that he believes that evil nature comes from innateness. He also said, "After observing, you know benevolence." , it seems that although the ability to correct mistakes and promote oneself to do good is active, it still needs to be generated by internal and external observation. Mencius once said categorically: "The goodness of human nature is like water flowing down." ; There is no bad person, and there is no water that cannot flow. "Confucius himself admitted that he studied all his life and was able to do whatever he wanted without breaking the rules until he was 70 years old. Mencius's self-confidence can be seen in his own words, "I am good at cultivating my awe-inspiring spirit." This kind of moral power was through his The explanation is purely internal and self-produced, so he said: "Whoever Shun is, he is the same as the one who has done something." "That is to say, everyone can be a sage. Confucius attaches great importance to "rituals". Although Confucius praised Guan Zhong for his contribution to state affairs, he still did not hesitate to attack him for his use of weapons and pomp that exceeded the limits of ministers. Yan Yuan was Confucius's favorite disciple , Confucius cried bitterly when he died, but Confucius opposed Yan Yuan's lavish burial based on the principle of "propriety"; and because of the need of "property", Confucius saw Nanzi, which made Zilu feel very unhappy although he did not know Yang Huo's character. , but in order to reciprocate, he still wanted to pay homage to Yang Huo when he was not at home. Mencius did not have such patience. Like a human being. "Gong Ping of Lu did not come to visit him, and he did not go to see Gong Ping of Lu. He accepted or accepted gifts from the kings of various countries based on his own wishes. He served as the mourning envoy of Qi State and went to Teng State. But he never mentioned the mission to the deputy envoy. This difference cannot be said to have nothing to do with the personalities of Confucius and Mencius. Perhaps the two books "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius" have different records, but it also has an impact. Yasheng, about two hundred years ago, China's situation has changed a lot. Mencius said, "This is the same as that." These eight words can be used to explain the distance between them.

Mencius is sometimes called "revolutionary". This is because the turmoil in the Warring States Period made him realize that just returning to the old state without changing his ways would not help. The people of Qi were preparing to attack Yan. He said that Yan could be defeated. King Xuan of Qi asked him about the duties of a noble relative, and he said: "If you have a serious fault, you should give advice; if you repeat it and do not listen, you will change your position. "That is to say, it is allowed to depose the king and establish a wise man in the clan. King Liang Xiang asked him: "Is the world evil determined?" He replied: "It is determined to be one. King Xiang asked again: "Who can do it?" Mencius said: "He who doesn't like killing can do it." " He once said to King Hui of Liang that "a place is hundreds of miles away, but you can be king." This is no longer the strict rule that Confucius said: "Don't look at anything that's not ritual, don't hear anything that's not ritual, don't speak anything that's not ritual, don't move anything that's not ritual."

When Mencius began to lobby, it was also the time when Shang Yang was punished, and Su Qin and Zhang Yi advocated the joining of the Seven Heroes in the Warring States Period, and they were already preparing for a long-term massacre, although the war at this time was not like that in the late Warring States Period. Violent - everyone over the age of fifteen must report to the defense line, and 400,000 or 450,000 soldiers will be buried together - but this is no longer the competitive war of the Spring and Autumn Period. One thing is to "make the people join forces", that is, to use the principle of military organization and add the whole people.

The cavalry appeared on the battlefield, and the number of infantry also increased significantly. "Beheading 60,000 people" and "Beheading 7,000 people" have begun to appear in the records of various countries. Mencius said: "Today, among all the people in the world, there is no one who does not like to kill people." This sentence may reflect the preparations of various countries for war at that time, or it can be said to be an accusation against the monarchs at that time for neglecting the lives of the people. What he said, "The people are hungry, and the wilds are dying of hunger" cannot be without purpose.

[Edit this paragraph]Confucius attached great importance to "ritual"

. Although Confucius praised Guan Zhong for his contribution to state affairs, he still did not hesitate to attack him for using his weapons and ostentation beyond the limits of a minister. Yan Yuan was Confucius's favorite disciple. Confucius cried bitterly when he died. However, Confucius opposed Yan Yuan's lavish burial based on the principle of "propriety"; and because of the need of "propriety", Confucius met Nanzi①, which made Zilu very unhappy. Although Confucius was not a man of value, but in order to reciprocate courtesy, he... >>

Question 9: I have what I want. Mencius rebuked those who did not understand etiquette and justice but were greedy for wealth and honor. A sentence that expresses contempt for an unjust gift is a shameful act. Answer: Meat-eaters are despicable and fail to plan far ahead.