Four Books of General Knowledge", written by Guo Qiyong, published by Zhonghua Book Company.
The four books, referring to "University", "The Middle Mean", "Analects" and "Mencius", are important classics of Confucianism, treasures of Chinese culture, and the main source of traditional values of the Chinese. "The General Knowledge of the Four Books" starts with "why we should read the Four Books today", and expounds the significance of the Four Books, the reasons for the formation of the Four Books, the characteristics of Zhu Xi's interpretation, and the academic nature of the Four Books. In accordance with the reading steps advocated by Zhu Xi, the text guides the "University", "Analects", "Mencius" and "The Mean" in turn. The concluding part discusses the evolution of the Four Books and the "Four Books" and their modern significance. Reading this book, you can have a complete and organic understanding of the content system of the four books, so as to understand the spiritual background of the Chinese. The author, Professor Guo Qiyong, is a well-known Confucian researcher in China, with a wealth of writings, and this book is the crystallization of his lecture notes on the teaching and popularization of the four books for many years. Although it is a small book, it condenses the author's decades of research experience, and is both readable and academic.
Professor Guo Qiyong.
Selected Readings: Introduction to the Analects: Core Categories Meaning of Benevolence.
The value ideal of humanism.
Zi said: "Liren is beautiful." If you don't choose to be benevolent, how can you know? (Analects of Liren).
Liren, Li is dwelling, here we talk about where we are, Liren is in the realm of benevolence. Choose, choose. 处 (chǔ), the way of the world. Know, the same as "wisdom", wisdom, wisdom. What do we live in? Dwelling in benevolence. Old Hankou has Juren Gate and Juren Li. Choice, the ancients talked about choosing a career, choosing friends, and choosing neighbors. Self-choice, the pursuit of the state of life, and not choosing benevolence, how can it be called a wise choice?
Ming) Zhou Chen painted "Mao's Poetry Diagram Vertical Axis", in which the distant mountains are continuous, the trees are verdant, there are several thatched houses, several people gather, talk about the world, and there is the wind of "Li Ren" as Confucius said.
Zi said: "Those who are not benevolent cannot be married for a long time, and they cannot be happy." The benevolent are benevolent, and the knower is benevolent. (Analects of Liren).
About, poverty. Happiness, peace. Anren realizes that "benevolence" is the basis for a person's life, and regards "benevolence" as the highest pursuit of life, regardless of whether life is difficult or happy. Liren recognizes the long-term and great benefits of "benevolence" for life, and thus takes "benevolence" as the purpose of life. Those who do not have benevolence cannot withstand the test of hardship and poverty, nor can they withstand the test of comfort and wealth. Not only adversity is a test, but so are good times. In a person's life, there will be countless ups and downs, but also happiness, which is an opportunity to exercise one's mind and personality. Mencius's so-called "the rich and the rich cannot be lewd, the poor and the lowly cannot be moved, and the mighty cannot be bent, which is called a great husband", and the so-called "born in sorrow and died in peace", all mean this.
Zi said: "Only the benevolent can be a good person, and a wicked person can be a bad person." (Analects of Liren).
好 (hào) people, love people who should be loved. Evil (wù) person, person who is disgusted should be disgusted. The benevolent person has an intuition, that is, the judgment of the moment, and the heart of right and wrong; The likes and dislikes of the benevolent are determined by them (the middle way). Zi said: "Gou Zhi is benevolent, and there is no evil." (Analects of Liren) Gou, if, if. Ambition to be benevolent, firm in the ambition of benevolence and practice. The absence of evil (è) prevents evil thoughts and evil deeds from occurring. This shows the importance of aspiration.
Zi said: "Wealth and nobility are what people want, and they are not obtained by their ways, and they are not everywhere; Poverty and cheapness are the evil of people, and if they don't get it by their way, they don't go. A gentleman goes to benevolence, and he becomes famous? The gentleman has no end of food, and the time must be so, and the upheaval must be so. (Analects of Liren).
The way, the right way, the right means. place, accept. Go, get rid of. This sentence is to say that a gentleman will not accept the use of improper means to get rid of poverty. The latter "go" means to leave, to abandon. evil (wū), how. Violation, violation, departure. In a hurry, in a hurry. Upheaval, displacement. Make a fortune and become a big official, this is what everyone wants; However, if you don't use legitimate means to get it, the gentleman will not accept it. A gentleman will not leave benevolence during mealtime, even when he is in a hurry and wandering, he is with benevolence. The value of human existence lies in his ability to transcend the desires of natural life.
Fan Chi asked. Zi said: "The righteousness of serving the people, respecting ghosts and gods and staying away, can be said to know." "Ask Ren. He said: "The benevolent person is difficult first and then obtained, which can be described as benevolent." (The Analects of Yongye).
Know, smart. The righteousness of serving the people enables the people to reach the realm of "righteousness". Remote, distant. Benevolence, benevolence. The benevolent first is difficult and then gained, and the virtuous person has the courage to bear hardships and hardships, regardless of what he gains.
The value ideal of benevolence is especially reflected in the conflict between morality and profit. Confucius did not belittle people's requirements for material interests and the satisfaction of their desires for food and sex, but only demanded that they should be taken in a proper way and courteously. He said:
The gentleman is in righteousness, and the villain is in profit. (Analects of Liren).
Scholars are determined to be in the way, and those who are ashamed of clothes and evil food are not enough to discuss. (Analects of Liren).
A gentleman has no food to eat, no shelter to seek peace, is sensitive to things and cautious in words, has the way and righteousness, and can be said to be studious. (The Analects of Learning).
"Benevolence" is grassroots. When I was a child, I often heard the old people in my family say that "people should be loyal, and fire should be hollow", "compare hearts to hearts", "scales are flat and full of buckets do not lose people", etc. The author's parents are always frugal, take care of the whole family, but deduct themselves and treat others sincerely. The family is not wealthy, but when the neighbors are in trouble or fleeing the famine to beg for food, grandparents and parents will help them.
Confucius's principles of morality, benevolence, love, loyalty and forgiveness, and values and ideals such as benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, and faith are centered on "benevolence". Confucius Renxue is the basis for Chinese people to live and live and Chinese culture can be great and long-lasting. These values and ideals have been manifested through his own life and life, and have become typical of the personality of Chinese intellectuals for thousands of years. This is the fourth meaning of "benevolence".
The artistic conception of melancholy and harmony and life.
Confucius had his own lifelong worries and lifelong joys: "A gentleman seeks the Tao but does not seek food", "the Tao is not worried about poverty" ("The Analects of Wei Linggong"), the virtue is not cultivated, the learning is not taught, the righteousness cannot be moved, and the goodness cannot be changed, it is my worries" ("The Analects of the Analects"). His happiness is the joy of the spirit. He praised Yan Yuan for living in a poor alley, eating and drinking, "people are unbearable, and they will not change their pleasures" ("The Analects of Yongye"). Eat and drink water, bend the humerus and pillow, and enjoy it. Unrighteous wealth and nobility are like floating clouds to me. At the same time, Confucius advocated the artistic conception of pursuing life cultivation, and recreational in the six arts of etiquette, music, archery, royalty, calligraphy, and mathematics. "Flourish in poetry, stand in ceremony, and become musical. (Analects Tabor).
Confucius also said: Those who know are happy with water, and those who are benevolent are happy with mountains; Those who know move, and those who are benevolent are quiet; Those who know are happy, and those who are benevolent are long. (The Analects of Yongye).
Fun, love. This sentence is to say that the wise man achieves the reason and flows around without stagnation, like water, so he enjoys water; Not stuck in a corner, nothing confused, so happy. The benevolent person is content with righteousness and does not move, like a mountain, so Leshan. Introspection is not guilty, there is no sorrow, so it is long-lived.
Sui) Zhan Ziqian painted a part of "Spring Tour".
According to the twenty-sixth chapter of the Analects of Confucius, Confucius once talked with several **, and Confucius said, if someone is willing to use you, what are you going to do? The strong and resolute Zilu hurriedly said that he was willing to govern a vassal state of a small size with a thousand military vehicles, and if it was in the middle of several great powers, with strong enemies outside and famine inside, I could make the country survive in about three years, and make the people brave and knowledgeable. After hearing this, Confucius smiled slightly, and asked the versatile Ran Qiu, what are your plans? Ran Qiu said, if there is a small country with a radius of sixty or seventy or fifty or sixty miles, I can make everyone rich in three years, and as for the construction of the ritual and music system and culture, I must ask another master. Confucius then asked Gong Xihua, who loves etiquette, what are you going to do? Gong Xihua said, I may not be able to take it, but I just want to learn. For the temple worship activities and the diplomatic alliance between countries, I would like to wear a dress and a top hat to be a master of ceremonies. Confucius asked Zeng Shen's father, Zeng Dian, how are you? Zeng clicked on the serpent as it was nearing the end, put the seer down with a sonorous sound, stood up and said, I am different from the three of them. Confucius said that it doesn't matter, it's just that everyone says their own aspirations. Zeng said: In late spring and March, wearing spring clothes, I took a bath by the Yishui River with five or six young classmates and six or seven children, and then went to the dance platform to pray for rain to blow the wind, and then sang all the way and walked home. Confucius lamented, "I am with the dots." From this story, we can appreciate the artistic conception of Confucius. Confucius usually encouraged students to actively join the WTO to engage in management work, but on this special occasion, he recognized Zeng's feelings. This shows that Confucianism also has a chic and comfortable interest in the pursuit of WTO accession. Confucius, the master of Confucianism, worked hard for self-improvement, and even knew that he could not do it. On the other hand, Confucius is also self-satisfied, at peace with what he encounters, he has a calm atmosphere, his chest is leisurely, and he flows up and down with all things in heaven and earth. Zeng Dian knew very well that the master's ambition was to make the old man safe, his friends to believe him, and the young to cherish him, and everyone to fulfill his or her own will. Confucius's life has its transcendent dimension.
This is the fifth meaning of "benevolence". We might as well understand the above five meanings in a comprehensive way, and understand "benevolence" from different perspectives.
Layout diagram of the Four Books of General Knowledge.
Author: Text: Guo QiyongTu: Publisher Editor: Jiang Chuting Responsible Editor: Zhu Zifen.