Mencius
Opportunities vouchsafed by Heaven are outmatched by terrestrial advantages, which in turn are outmatched by the harmony among people.
The city of three miles (2) and the country of seven miles (3) are invincible. If the husband attacks it, he will get the right time; However, if you don't win, it's better to be in the right place at the right time.
The city is not too high, the pool is not too deep, the soldiers are not very profitable, and the rice is not too much; It's better to leave the Committee than to be at peace with others.
Therefore, the people in the territory do not take the government boundary as 7, the country does not take the danger of mountains and rivers as 8, and the benefits of the world do not take the military revolution as 9. Those who gain the Tao help more, while those who lose the Tao help less. Poor help to attending and relatives (11); With more help, the world will be smooth sailing (12). Take advantage of the world and attack their relatives; So a gentleman wins without fighting (13).
[Introduction to the author]
Mencius (about 372 BC-289 BC) was born in Zou (now Zou County, Shandong Province). During the Warring States period, he was a thinker and educator, ranking second only to Confucius. Later generations often call him "Confucius and Mencius". He lived in the middle of the Warring States period, where the annexation war was fierce, and politically advocated "law first". On the basis of Confucius' theory of "benevolence", he put forward a systematic theory of "benevolent government", advocating that the world should be unified by "benevolent government", and lobbying Liang, Qi and other vassal States to no avail. After he retired, he wrote books with his disciples Zhang Wan and Gong Sunchou. His words and deeds are recorded in Mencius. This book is not only an important academic work of Confucianism, but also a collection of essays with distinctive features in ancient China. His writing style is magnificent, full of emotion and strict logic; Be eloquent and unhurried; He is especially good at metaphor, explaining complicated truth with visual things and language. It had a great influence on later essayists such as Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan and Su Shi.
Mencius' distant ancestor was Meng Kongshi, an aristocrat of Lu, who moved from Lu to Zou after his family's fortunes declined. It is said that Mencius lost his father at the age of three, and Meng Mu worked hard to raise him. Meng Mu is very strict. His stories such as "moving a child to teach a child" and "breaking a loom" are not necessarily reliable, but they have become eternal stories, and they are a model of mother education for later generations. As for Mencius' learning from others, he once said, "If you don't take it, you can give it to others" (Mencius Li Lou), but Sima Qian called it a disciple of Zisi in Historical Records and Biography of Mencius Xunqing. Mencius admired and studied Confucius all his life, and thought that "the life of the people was not prosperous in Confucius"; "I want to learn from Confucius" (Mencius on Ugliness).
Mencius traveled around Qi, Jin, Song, Xue, Teng and Liang, lobbying for his thoughts of "kingly way" and "benevolent government" for about 20 years, and once became a guest of honor. But at that time, the vassal was busy with Lian Heng's annexation war, and no one was willing to take his advice. Therefore, Mencius retired to study and write books, which was greatly comforted in his teaching activities. He tasted that a gentleman has "three pleasures" and that "parents are both good and brothers are not happy; Yang is worthy of the sky, regardless of people, but also happy; If the talents in the world are educated, they will have three pleasures "("Mencius ").
Mencius is one of the most important representatives of Confucianism, but his position before the Song Dynasty was not very high. Since Han Yu wrote The Original Road in the mid-Tang Dynasty and listed Mencius as the only figure in pre-Qin Confucianism who inherited Confucian orthodoxy, there has been an "upgrading movement" of Mencius, and the status of Mencius and his works has gradually risen. In the fourth year of Xining in northern Song Shenzong (107 1), Mencius was first included in the imperial examination. In the sixth year of Yuanfeng (1083), Mencius was officially named "Zou Guogong" for the first time, and he was allowed to enjoy the Confucius Temple the following year. Later, Mencius was promoted to a Confucian classic. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu combined Mencius with The Analects of Confucius, Daxue and The Doctrine of the Mean into four books, and their actual status was even higher than that of the Five Classics. From the Yuan Dynasty to the first year of Shun Dynasty (1330), Mencius was named "Asian Saint" and later called "Asian Saint", ranking second only to Confucius.
[Notes]
(1) from "Mencius GongSunChou", the title is added by the editor.
(2) A city three miles (so small) around [Three Mile City].
③ circumference.
(4) [Pool] moat.
(5) [Bing Ge] refers to weapons and equipment. Soldiers and weapons. Leather, armor (military uniform used by ancient soldiers to protect their bodies).
6. 【 leave without authorization 】 refers to abandon the city and flee. Committee, give it up. Let's go. Leave.
⑦ [People in China are not bound by the frontier] means that people can settle down without moving to other places, and they cannot rely on the demarcated frontier boundaries. Domain, boundary, here refers to the restriction.
Today, consolidating the country does not depend on the risks of mountains and rivers. Consolidating national defense cannot rely on mountains and rivers.
Pet-name ruby 【 there is no benefit of military revolution in Wei world 】 shocked the world, can't rely on the power of force.
Attending the pole.
(1 1) preach "rebellion".
(12)[ Shun] Surrender to.
(13) 【 So, the gentleman won without fighting 】 So the gentleman won without fighting. A gentleman refers to the "enlightened person" mentioned above.
[Poetry translation, poetry]
The weather and seasons that are conducive to combat are not comparable to the geographical situation that is conducive to combat, and the geographical situation that is conducive to combat is not comparable to the people's hearts and internal unity in combat.
A small town in Lisan, a city outside Qili, surrounded and attacked it, but could not win. Encircling and attacking it must be a favorable condition for obtaining the weather season, but it can't win, because the weather season conducive to combat is not as good as the geographical situation conducive to combat.
The city wall is not high, the moat is not deep, the weapons and equipment are not bad, and the food is not small, but the defenders abandon the city and flee. This is because the geographical situation favorable to the battle is not as good as the popular will and internal unity in the battle.
Therefore, we cannot rely on the boundaries of territory to calm people's hearts, to consolidate national defense, to deter the world, and not to rely on the strength of weapons and equipment. People who practice benevolent policies will have more people to help and support him, while those who do not practice benevolent policies will have fewer people to help and support him. With so few people helping him, all his brothers and sisters will betray him. Many people helped him to the extreme, and everyone in the world surrendered to him. With the condition that people all over the world submit to him, they will attack those who betray him physically and by their brothers. Therefore, those who practice benevolent government will either not fight or win.
[Appreciation]
At the beginning of this essay, I put forward the view that "the weather is not as good as the geographical position, and the geographical position is not as good as harmony with people", and pointed out that "harmony with people" is the primary condition for defeating the enemy. "Harmony between people" means "helping more" and "obeying the world" mentioned below, that is, the support and support of the people, which embodies Mencius' political thought of "valuing the people but neglecting the monarch". Song Zhuxi's evaluation of this chapter is: "Yin Shi said: He who speaks the world wins the hearts of the people." Jiao Xun's annotation in the Qing Dynasty is: "Man is more important than heaven and earth, so Qiu Min is called the son of heaven." It can be seen that this chapter is not about war, but about people's hearts, and it is about the importance of "king" (that is, "benevolent government") by war. Therefore, the article first compares the harmony between weather and geographical location, geographical location and people step by step, and points out that these three factors play different roles in the war; Finally, the conclusion that "those who gain the Tao will help more, and those who lose the Tao will help less" is deduced from human harmony to complete the argument of this paper.
At the beginning of this chapter, the central argument is put forward and proved by a very general war example. Then, it is demonstrated theoretically, and the conclusion that "those who gain the Tao help more, those who lose the Tao help less" is drawn, and the essence of "human harmony" is clarified. At the end of the article, the "gentleman" who won "human harmony" and "victory in the war" is the conclusion, highlighting "human harmony" is the most important condition to determine the outcome of the war.
The sentences in this article are neat, fluent, coherent and convincing. For example, when demonstrating that geographical location is not as good as harmony between people, the author first uses four juxtaposed negative sentences to fully develop the favorable conditions of "geographical location" owned by the defensive side, and then suddenly turns the tables and tells the result of failure, which makes the conclusion that "geographical location is not as good as harmony between people" very convincing. For another example, when the author expounds his "Tao helps more", he also uses three negative parallelism sentences first, and naturally draws a conclusion; Then, through the comparison between "more help" and "less help", it is natural to deduce that "a gentleman can defeat the enemy without fighting."
The central argument is the first two sentences of the article. Mencius put forward three concepts, namely, weather, geographical location, and human harmony, and compared these three concepts to promote them layer by layer. Emphasize the importance of "harmony between people" with two "not as good". The comparison between the three is essentially the comparison between the former and the latter, emphasizing that various objective and multifaceted factors are not as good as people's subjective conditions and the "harmony between people" in the war, and it is people rather than things that determine the outcome of the war. The comparative argument is extremely impressive. The sentence pattern is the same, the tone is very positive, no doubt.
Two or three paragraphs focus on the central argument and further demonstrate it with two arguments. In the second paragraph, examples of attack and war are selected to illustrate that "the weather is not as good as the geographical position". A small town is surrounded on all sides and can't be broken. Even people with "good weather" can't win, which aims to show that "good location" is more important than good weather; In the third paragraph, examples of attack and war are chosen to illustrate that even if the city is favorable-the pool is not high, the soldiers are not determined to make profits, and there are not many meters, some people abandon the city and flee, because the favorable position is hard to compare with the harmony between people. These two examples are not actual examples of war, but general, that is, except for special circumstances. Therefore, the debate has universal significance and certain persuasiveness.
The above syllogism proves the truth that "the weather is not as good as the geographical position, and the geographical position is not as good as human harmony". The function of the fourth paragraph is to further elaborate on the basis of the previous syllogism and push the scope of argument from war to governing the country, thus fully embodying Mencius' political views and making the article more universal. Secondly, "winning the Tao" can actually be understood as "winning people's hearts", that is, "harmony between people". Those who win the hearts of the people will submit to it, and they will be invincible wherever they go. Those who lose people's hearts will do the opposite and collapse without attack. Therefore, paragraph 4 is by no means redundant.
The relationship between heaven, earth and people has always been concerned by people. Who is the most important of the three has become a topic of discussion. As we quoted in the notes, Xunzi once discussed the problems of climate, geography, people and harmony from the perspective of agricultural production. But he did not distinguish who is important and who is not, but the three are equally important and indispensable.
Mencius mainly analyzes and discusses the relationship between climate, geography and human harmony from the military aspect, and has a clear-cut banner: "climate is not as good as geography, and geography is not as good as human harmony." Of the three, "harmony between people" is the most important and decisive factor, followed by "location" and "weather". This is inseparable from his thought of always attaching importance to people's subjective initiative, and also from his purpose of discussing climate, geography, people and relations, and also from his purpose of discussing climate, geography, people and relations. It is from emphasizing the importance of "harmony between people" that he came to the conclusion that "those who gain the Tao will help more, while those who lose the Tao will help less". This led the problem from military to politics, and actually returned to his "old-fashioned" topic of "benevolent governance".
According to Mencius, the people can't be bound by blocking the border, and the country can't be saved by mountains and rivers. Therefore, there is no way to go abroad. We should reform and open up, strengthen our national strength and let the people live and work in peace and contentment. As long as this is achieved, that is, "those who get the word will help more", and if they help to the extreme, the people of the world will submit. Then there must be what Confucius said-"Then people from all directions will come without children." People from all over the world come to apply for studying abroad, doing business, and even applying for immigration and settlement with their wives and children. Where is the necessity of Frontier of Frontier? I'm afraid I can't get rid of it.
In this way, "those who gain the Tao help more, those who lose it help less" has become a famous saying, so that we still often use it to evaluate international relations and condemn hegemonism. Of course, "the weather is not as good as the geographical position, and the geographical position is not as good as the harmony between people" is also a famous saying, which is also widely used in business competitions, sports competitions, especially football competitions. This fully shows that its philosophy is rich, profound and broad.
The so-called "people are United, Taishan is the top." Who said that "human harmony" is not the most important wealth?
Inscription in humble room
The mountain is not high, and the fairy is famous. The water is not deep, and the dragon is the spirit. I am a humble room, but I am virtuous. The moss marks on the upper steps are green, and the grass is green. There is no Ding Bai who laughs and has a university. You can tune the pipa and read Jin Dian. There is no confusion, and there is no complicated form. Zhuge Lu in Nanyang and Ting Yun Pavilion in West Shu. Kong Ziyun: "What's the matter?"
-
Translation:
Mountains don't have to be high, and immortals can be famous all over the world. The water doesn't have to be deep. A dragon (alive) can bring good luck. This is a humble house, but the owner has good character. Moss covered the steps with a green carpet, and the grass reflected the curtains in blue. Talking and laughing are all profound scholars, not shallow people. You can play simple guqin and browse precious Buddhist scriptures. No (noisy) music disturbs your ears, and no official documents make you physically and mentally exhausted. Zhuge Liang's Nanyang Caotang and Yang Ziyun's Xuanting in West Shu. Confucius said: (although it is a humble room, as long as a gentleman lives in it), what is a humble room?