Mencius and Zhou Yi thoughtWen Wang Wanshun
Confucius and Mencius are collectively known as "Confucius and Mencius", and are representatives of the ancient Confucian school in China. "Zhou Yi" is the crystallization of the thought and wisdom of the ancient Han nation, and is known as the "source of the avenue". Mencius, Ming Ke, was a native of Zou in the middle of the Warring States Period (now a native of Zoucheng, Shandong). Mencius is an ancient thinker, who has traveled to Song, Teng, Wei, Qi, Lu, Liang and other countries, expounded his political ideas, and also worked in Qi Weiqing, retired in his later years and wrote books, there are seven articles of "Mencius", which have been handed down to this day. He inherited and developed Confucius's thoughts, and became a generation of grandmasters after Confucius, known as "Yasheng". Mencius had a deep understanding of the thought of "Zhou Yi", which is characterized by paying attention to the spiritual essence, not only talking about hexagrams, nor evaluating and analyzing the number of righteous and rational images, but applying the spirit of Yi to practice and comprehending it. The two hexagrams of Qiankun are the program of Yi, and the main idea of Yi is "Qian", and the idea of "Qian" is "good". "Qian" hexagram: "Yuan Henry Zhen." "Yuan Henry Zhen is the four virtues of Qian, Yuan is the beginning, Heng is Tong, Li is harmonious, and Zhen is positive. "Yi Chuan: The Biography of Words" said: "One yin and one yang are the Tao." The one who follows is good, and the one who becomes is sexual. The goodness mentioned here means that the essence of heaven and earth is goodness, and its specific manifestation is that goodness can generate all things, and by extension, it is a charitable heart. Mencius regarded benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom as a kind of conscience inherent in human beings, rather than as the result of education. Mencius said, "The heart of compassion is the end of benevolence; The heart of shame is also the end of righteousness; The heart of resignation, the end of courtesy; The heart of right and wrong, the end of wisdom. The idea is that compassion for those who are suffering is the beginning of humanity; A heart of shame and hatred is the beginning of righteousness; The heart of resignation and courtesy is the beginning of knowing etiquette and taking care of the overall situation; Having a heart that discerns right from wrong is the beginning of wisdom maturity. Mencius's theory of benevolence and righteousness is in common with the Book of Changes. The ethical viewpoint of "Zhou Yi", "the way to establish a person is benevolence and righteousness", which is to pay equal attention to benevolence and righteousness. Mencius said, "To be born is also to be righteous as I want; Righteousness is also what I want. The "sacrificing one's life for righteousness" proposed by him is a sublimation of Yi Xue's concept of benevolence and righteousness, and has had a very profound impact on the formation of the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation. Mencius had a unique play on the "strong and healthy thought". Rigidity is an important idea of easy learning, and it is reflected in the hexagram "Qian". "The Way of Heaven" refers to the movement of the sun, moon and stars with the sun as the main body and the law of the changes of cold and heat in the four seasons. Heaven is healthy, that is, broad, and strong is the most essential feature of heaven. "Zhou Yi Xiang Biography": "Tianxingjian, a gentleman is constantly striving for self-improvement", which is what people often call a strong and healthy spirit. Mencius attached great importance to Haoran righteousness throughout his life, and his interpretation of "Haoran righteousness" is the greatest and the most rigid. Mencius also believed that this kind of "righteousness" needs to be cultivated, and that "if it is directly cultivated and harmless, it will be stuffed between heaven and earth", that is, if it is cultivated without damage, it can be filled between heaven and earth. This is in line with the spirit of "a gentleman who strives for self-improvement". "The unity of heaven and man" is the highest ideal of easy learning, and Mr. Ji Xianlin, a master of Chinese culture, explained it as: "Heaven is nature; Man is man; Togetherness means mutual understanding and friendship. Mencius's thought is closely related to the idea of "the unity of heaven and man", and he once stated his proposition to King Hui of Liang: if you do not violate the agricultural time, there will be too much grain to eat; If the fine fishing nets are not put into the large ponds and marshes to catch fish, there will be too many fish and turtles to eat; If you go into the mountains and forests to cut wood at a certain time, you will have too much wood to use up. Planting mulberry trees in a five-acre mansion will allow a fifty-year-old to wear silk. Chickens, pigs, dogs and other domestic animals, if they do not disturb the season of their rearing, a seventy-year-old person can eat meat. If the 100-acre farmland does not hinder the farmer from cultivating it in a timely manner, the family of a few people can avoid starvation. Conscientiously run a school and repeatedly use the principle of filial piety to teach the children, so that the gray-haired elderly do not have to carry or carry heavy loads on the road. It has never been the case that a seventy-year-old man has silk to wear and meat to eat, and the common people cannot go hungry or freeze, so that the whole world cannot be subjugated. The idea of "the unity of man and nature" in "Zhou Yi" believes that the conditions for human survival are the natural environment and human society. The main factors that destroy the living environment of human beings are, first, the spontaneous "natural disasters" in nature, and second, the "man-made disasters" caused by human beings' own erroneous thoughts and behaviors. Therefore, human beings should consciously maintain the natural environment on which they depend. Mencius emphasized that people's production and life should conform to the laws of nature, and that planting and breeding should pay attention to protecting the natural environment.
Selected from Wang Wanshun's "Into Zhouyi", People's Liberation Army Shenyang Baishan Publishing House, 2016 edition.
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About author:Wang Wanshun, born in Anyang County, Henan Province in 1950, graduated from the Department of Chinese of Zhengzhou University, retired cadre of Anyang Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, senior Zhou Yi cultural scholar; Part-time researcher of the Institute of "Zhouyi" and Ancient Literature of Zhengzhou University, honorary president of Anyang Zhouyi Research Association, development consultant of Yili City, and the third most beautiful (erudite) old man in Anyang City; He has devoted himself to the study of "Zhou Yi" for nearly 30 years, and has written more than 1 million words of various works on Yi Xue's research and publicity, including more than 200 articles published in newspapers and periodicals (included by thousands of Internet platforms at home and abroad**), published books "Into Zhou Yi", "Yi Xue and Chinese Civilization", and co-edited "Words of Zhou Yi" with Yuan Jianguo, published by Zhengzhou University Press in 2022. He has given more than 100 lectures and professional lectures on the promotion of "Zhouyi" cultural knowledge in all walks of life in China.