Original text:

Mencius said: "When Jie and Zhou lost the world, they also lost their people; those who lost their people also lost their hearts. There is a way to win the world: to win it There is a way to win over the people. There is a way to win over the people. There is a way to win over the people. If you want to gather them, do not do what you want. The people should be benevolent. Down, the beasts are moving forward. Therefore, those who drive fish from the deep are called otters; those who drive the princes with clumps are called ducks; those who drive the people with soup and martial arts are Jie and Zhou. If the kings in the world are benevolent, then all the princes will be driven by them. Even if you want to be without a king, you have no choice. The person who wants to be a king today is like a man who has been sick for three years and is not a beast. ..." ("Mencius. Li Lou Shang")

Notes:

(1) Mencius (385 BC - 304 BC?) was named Ke, with the courtesy name Ziyu, Ziche, Ziju, a native of Zoucheng, Lu State (now Zoucheng, Shandong Province). A famous thinker in ancient China and a representative figure of Confucianism during the Warring States Period.

Mencius wrote the book "Mencius". There are seven chapters of "Mencius" handed down from generation to generation, which are one of the Confucian classics. Mencius learned from Zisi, inherited and developed Confucius' thoughts, and became a generation of Confucian masters second only to Confucius. He was known as the "Senior Sage" and was called "Confucius and Mencius" together with Confucius. The theory of human nature is the starting point of Mencius' theory, and its main propositions are the theory of "benevolent government" and "kingly way"

(2) "Jie and Zhou lost the world", and the word "zhi" symbolizes "Jie and Zhou lost the world" "There is no independence.

(3) "Lost their people", due to the loss of their people. "Qi" refers to "Jie Zhou".

(4) "Lost its heart" has lost the support of the people. "Qi" refers to "people".

(5) "There is a way to get the world", "way", path, method.

(6) "To win its people", "Qi" generally refers to people who want to win the world.

(7) "Si wins the world", "Si" means, then.

(8) "Gather with whatever you want", "desire", what you want. "With" here is the same as "for", substitute. "Gather for it," gather it for them. The former character "zhi" refers to "people", and the latter character "zhi" refers to "what you want".

(9) "Don't do to you what you hate", "what you hate" means what you hate. "Shi" means execution. "Er Ye" is used together with modal particles.

(10) "The people return to benevolence, the water goes down, and the beasts flee", "return", return, return. "Benevolence" refers to a king who is benevolent and conducts benevolent government. "Just" means approaching, tending towards. "Walk", run, run towards. "幹", wilderness.

(11) "So the one who drives the fish from the deep pool is the otter." Therefore, it is the otter that drives the fish from the deep pool. "Yuan", deep pool. "Drive" is the same as "drive", to drive.

(12) "The one who drives away the bush is the swan." The one who drives the birds away from the forest is the swan. "Clump", woods, forest. "Jue" corresponds to "que", bird. A "falcon" is a bird of prey that resembles a hawk.

(13) "Today there are some benevolent kings in the world", "good", like. "Benevolence" refers to the benevolence and benevolent government advocated by Mencius.

(14) "Then the princes will all drive him away." Then other princes will drive the people away for him.

(15) "Although you want to have no king, you have no choice but to do so." "Although" means even. "None", no. "King" is the king and rules the world. "Not available", impossible. "Hai" is a modal particle.

(16) "Moxa" is a perennial herbaceous plant. Its leaves are made into moxa velvet, which can be used for acupuncture. The longer it is stored, the better the curative effect will be. The "seven" and "three" in "seven-year disease" and "three-year moxa" are ordinal numbers that mean more, and they do not actually refer to "seven" and "three".

(17) "A dog is not a beast", if, if. "Animal xu" means accumulation and storage.

(18) "I am not determined to be benevolent", "ambition", ambition here means "to concentrate on".

(19) "Sorrow and humiliation", sorrow and humiliation.

(20) "To fall into death", "to", to cause.

Translation:

Mencius said: "Xia Jie and Yin Zhou lost the world because they lost their people; they lost their people because they lost the support of the people. Gained The way to win the world is: if you win the people, you will win the world. The way to win the people is to win the people's hearts. Don't do it if you don't want anything. The people who follow the benevolent king are like water approaching the land and animals rushing to the wilderness. Therefore, it is the otter that drives the fish from the deep pond; it is the swan that drives the birds from the forest. It was Xia Jie and Yin Zhou who drove the people for King Tang of Shang and King Wu of Zhou. Now if there are kings in the world who like benevolent government, other princes will drive the people for them, even if they don't want to rule the world. . People who want to conquer the world now are like those who have been ill for many years and want to cure their illnesses with moxa that has only been stored for a few years. If you govern benevolently, you will be miserable and humiliated all your life, and you will fall into death..."

Brief analysis:

This passage of Mencius summarizes that Yin and Zhou lost the world because they lost the support of the people. , proposed that the way to win the world is to win the people, the way to win the people is to win the people's hearts, and the way to win the people's hearts is to do what the people want and abandon what the people hate.

It is said that a king who likes to promote benevolence and benevolent government can naturally rule the world. Otherwise, he will never be in the world for the rest of his life, and even suffer from sorrow and humiliation and die. It fully demonstrates Mencius's thought of advocating benevolent government.

This passage from Mencius discusses the eternal truth that "those who win the hearts of the people will win the world, and those who lose the hearts of the people will lose the world." Among them, "the way to win the world, the way to win the people, and the way to win the hearts of the people" is very worthy of reference by today's people.

In terms of argumentation method, this article advances layer by layer, closely links each link, and occasionally uses metaphors, so that the argument is impeccable (data source online article/Yangliu Yiyi 123)