A translator said: It is rare for a person to be filial to his parents and love his brother at home, but he is good at committing crimes. There has never been a person who is not good at committing crimes, but is good at insurrection. Therefore, a gentleman seeks the root, stability and Tao. Isn't filial piety and filial piety the fundamental morality of benevolence?
My understanding
There are children, students of Confucius in his later years, who look like Confucius and speak like Confucius' thinking. So after the death of Confucius, many disciples recommended wanderers and pretended to be teachers. This matter was denied by Ceng Zi, but it failed.
This chapter tells a very simple truth. In a word, what my son is saying is that it is rare for a person to behave himself at home but contradict his boss outside. As for ulterior motives, insurrection is unheard of.
A gentleman, in Confucius' time, did not refer to a moral person, but originally to the son of a monarch. Generally, it refers to a person who has a title and an official position and wants to govern one side.
A gentleman should be cultivated from an early age, because he will inherit his father's career and manage one side in the future. Personal virtue is particularly important.
According to Confucianism, the foundation of virtue lies in filial piety.
We should know that morality is the product of group life and the fundamental factor to ensure order. The generation of morality is meaningful only when at least two people are together. Therefore, the foothold of Confucianism governing the world is different from that of Taoism. For example, smoking alone is harmful to health, but has nothing to do with morality. If someone else is present and lets others smoke secondhand smoke, it is related to social morality.
We need to understand this in order to treat "morality" correctly.
Since morality is the product of group life, it takes at least two people to take effect. So the starting point of morality lies in husband and wife.
However, not everyone must have a spouse, so the "love" between husband and wife is not enough to derive morality suitable for the whole society. But everyone must have parents. Moreover, in ancient times, a basic family had several children, so everyone should have brothers and sisters.
Morality is filial piety to parents. Moral education for brothers and sisters is for parents. Therefore, family filial piety is the basis of social morality.
Filial piety is human nature and an internal driving force. Confucius said, "Sex is similar, but learning is far away." Everyone is born at the same time, but the education and environment after tomorrow make the gap between people more and more obvious.
Therefore, Confucianism pays special attention to education, etiquette and music. Its purpose is to irrigate and fertilize people's inherent moral seeds and make them swell. If it is not unfolded, the original nature will not have much meaning.
As a son said, the foundation of a gentleman's self-cultivation and the foundation of governing the country in the future all begin with his family. With a son, a gentleman is not required to teach filial piety, but to be filial. Family and clan are actually places of practice for a person to grow up.
At home, I know how to be filial. Outside, I naturally have my own set of habits to get along with my elders and peers. This stems from the family, that is, "ceremony."
Know love at home and "benevolence" outside. Benevolence is followed by benevolent government. Benevolence, two people also. Two people get along, and many people get along, which is the highest criterion.
A gentleman can't seek outside, on the one hand, he should introspect, on the other hand, he should operate from his own wall in real time.
In this way, the foundation will be solid and the foundation will be solid.