Cautious Independence in The University

The word "cautious independence" appeared in the University:

original text

The so-called sincere person is not deceiving himself. If the stench is bad, if the lust is good, it is called modesty. Therefore, a gentleman must be cautious and independent.

It is not good for a villain to do nothing and do everything he can. I hate seeing a gentleman, and I am not good at it, but good at it. It is no good for a person to see himself if he sees his lungs and liver. This is called sincerity in the middle and tangible outside. So a gentleman must be cautious and independent.

Zeng Zi said, "What you see with ten eyes and what you point to with ten hands is strict. 」

Rich house, noble body. Broad-minded and fat. Therefore, a gentleman must be sincere.

(Excerpted from Book of Rites University (IV))

To annotate ...

1 Modesty: After "promise", you feel at ease.

(2) "One": the special-shaped word of "Yan" covers up.

3 strict: awesome.

④ The Book of Rites: one of the Confucian classics, is an anthology of various etiquette works before Qin and Han Dynasties.

1, "If you stink, if you are slutty" is the explanation of the previous sentence "Don't deceive yourself";

2, cautious and independent, what I am talking about here is asking myself and answering. For example, Nie's blog said, "Confucius said that benevolence is a gentleman. And I have given up many opportunities to help children, so I can't talk about benevolence any more. What I want to do today is humanity and the pursuit of the basic value of being a man. In other words, in the face of these children, can I ask myself: am I still alone? " .

3. "People regard themselves as their own", and the people here are not others, but everyone. When everyone looks at himself, he can see deeply, "If you see your lungs and liver."

What I'm talking about here is caution and sincerity.

translate

Being honest in thought means not deceiving yourself. Just like you hate filth (don't deceive yourself), just like you love beautiful women (don't deceive yourself), that's what you feel at ease. So a gentleman must be careful when he is alone.

People without moral cultivation can do anything bad when they live alone. When they meet people with moral cultivation, they hide and try to cover up their bad deeds. Pretend to do something good and try to show your virtue. When people look at themselves, it's like seeing the liver and lungs (looking straight at the heart), (the result of self-deception can only be a lack of self-confidence), so what's the use of self-deception? This is called inner sincerity will go straight to appearance, so a gentleman will be sincere to himself.

Ceng Zi said, "Isn't it scary to watch with ten eyes and point with ten fingers?" ? ! "

Wealth can decorate the house, but morality can cultivate the body and mind, make the mind broad and healthy in Shu Tai. Therefore, people with high moral character must make their ideas sincere.

truth

Honesty from the heart should not be hypocritical, because' people look at themselves like their lungs and liver' and' what you see with ten eyes and what you point to with ten fingers is strictness!'

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Prudent independence in the golden mean

original text

Tao can't be separated for a moment, and non-Tao can be separated. So a gentleman is wary of what he can't see, and fear is almost unheard of. Don't be invisible, don't be subtle, so a gentleman is cautious.

translate

Tao (the master of nature) cannot leave at any time. Those who can walk can't call. Therefore, a gentleman will be more rigorous because he is worried about what he can't see, and more cautious because he is worried about what he can't hear. Nothing can show a gentleman's personality better than those inconspicuous places, and nothing can show a gentleman's demeanor better than the nuances. Therefore, a gentleman should be serious about himself.

To annotate ...

1, Tao is used to control nature. 2. The "qi" of "unseen" is the gentleman himself, not others. This is the basic syntax of pre-Qin. This also means "tasteless". 3. The subject of "Jian Mo Huyin" is the characteristics of a gentleman, which should be approximately understood as the character of a gentleman. 4. "Independence" is your own meaning; "Caution" is to face yourself seriously.

A gentleman doesn't worry about indulging himself where others can't see him. That was not the case. To be an open gentleman, you don't need others to restrain yourself. A gentleman should ask himself: Do you look like a gentleman? This is cautious independence. Nie Wentao said: Being cautious is not afraid of losing face, but of losing personality.

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Traditional interpretation

This explanation is widely accepted by the society, and it is literally more acceptable to the world.

Zhu explained that "the so-called sincere person: does not deceive himself, such as bad smell, such as lust, is called self-modesty, so a gentleman must be careful to be alone" and said: "Being alone is a place where people don't know but only know." People who want to practice know that their goodness is to get rid of their evil, so they should use their own strength and not deceive themselves. If you make it evil, it stinks like evil, and if you are good, it is lewd. You must seek what you will get, so that you can be satisfied with yourself quickly and you can't become a martyr. However, it is not true, and it is covered up by people who are unknown to others and people who know it alone. Therefore, it is necessary to make a judgment here. "

"Cautious independence" means that when people live alone, they can consciously and strictly demand themselves, treat their thoughts and behaviors cautiously, prevent immoral desires and behaviors, and let morality always accompany the subject.

For prudence and independence, Liu Shaoqi gave a more popular explanation: when a person works independently and unsupervised, it is possible to do all kinds of bad things. Whether people do evil, whether they are "cautious and independent" and to what extent they can achieve are important yardsticks to measure whether people insist on self-cultivation and the size of their achievements. As a method of self-cultivation, "cautious independence" not only played an important role in ancient moral practice, but also has important practical value for today's socialist moral construction.

Zeng Guofan summed up his life experience and wrote down the famous "four daily lessons", namely: cautious independence, respect for Taoism, benevolent politics and hard work. Of these four, prudence and independence are fundamental and "body"; The other three are branches and leaves, which are "uses".

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A new explanation

This explanation is the opinion of some scholars who specialize in China's ancient philosophy and Confucianism. The so-called "cautious independence" or "cautious independence" means holding or firmly maintaining the moral nature and initial heart of the self. From the perspective of kung fu, "cautious independence" means facing your own body and mind and how to "govern your body with your heart"; Facing the outside world, how to maintain moral consciousness and not be influenced by external things. From a negative point of view, "cautious independence" is a process of preventing and restraining the emergence and appearance of "self-immorality"; From a positive perspective, "cautious independence" is a process of maintaining and guarding the moral nature of "self".

Qing people advocated that "prudence" should be interpreted as "sincerity", and correspondingly, some people interpreted "independence" as "style". For example, Chen said, "the doctrine of the mean, cautious and independent words, is called sincerity." (See Wang Xianqian's Xun Ji Zi Yan Jie, Zhonghua Book Company, 1997).

Cautious explanation:

"On" in "Five Elements" explains the relationship between mourning system and inner sadness that "the son of a high and strict teacher" returned to his hometown and was sent to a distant field. The poem "Looking forward to tears like rain" says: "You can lose your feathers, and then you can feel sad. Words come true. Don't say if you make a mistake. If you don't die, you can be sad When a husband loses his life, he mourns while repairing his collar. What he says is nothing more than that. Yes, it is the so-called independence. If you are alone, you will give up your body. " In addition, there are also sayings of "giving one's life to be exclusive" and "giving one's life to be cautious, which is called independence". Clearly define "heart" as "independence" or "heart" as "independence".

"Xunzi meticulous" article: "A gentleman is not good at raising his heart with sincerity, and he has achieved nothing with sincerity. Benevolence is the defense, righteousness is the change, and it is called Tiande. The sky is silent and people push up, the earth is silent and people push up, and people are silent at four points. ..... The husband is obedient and cautious about the only one. Good people are the Tao, dishonest people are not alone, and those who are not alone are not shaped ... sincere people are also guarded by gentlemen, and the foundation of political affairs is also based on them. "

In Ming Confucianism, there are:

Liu: "The sages have said in a thousand words that the noumenon is hard, and it is always inseparable from the word' cautious independence'. This is the nature of destiny, and cautious independence is the best knowledge." (Book of Liu Ziquan, Volume 5, "What are the saints?" Prince Yangming)

"There is no ontology except independence, and there is no effort except caution." (The Book of Liu Ziquan, Volume 8, The Doctrine of the Mean)

"The power of prudence and independence can only be recognized everywhere if it is revealed to the true heart, so that everyone can shine and be in harmony with heaven and earth." (Liu Ziquan, Volume 6, Miscellaneous Interpretation of Syndrome)

Carefully explain:

Zuo Zhuan: "Keep One"

Zhou Shu: "Caution, morality is also cautious. Keep the end pure and solid. "

The "Three Virtues" in Shanghai's Bo Bamboo Slips: "A gentleman is great in virtue", "cautious in virtue" and "cautious and not lost in Tao"

The article "Smell of Success" says: "Be cautious and keep it, and those who belong to it will enter", and "Be cautious and ask yourself, and you will be smooth. ..... Therefore, a gentleman is cautious about six and often worships heaven. "

"Everything is animistic: Relieving the Old": "If you treat things outside your body today, don't mess with their spirits. True, cautious and solid. The virtue of self-cultivation is true. "

The way to be an official in Qin Bamboo Slips of Sleeping Tiger Land: "All the ways to be an official must be clean, prudent, firm, considerate and selfless."

From some of the above-mentioned use cases of caution, we can draw some important points: first, caution and defense are directly used, and caution can be interpreted as persistence (or concentration); Second, "prudence" is used together with "solidity" and "firmness", and "prudence" means firm maintenance; Third, according to the meaning of the sentence, "caution" can be interpreted as "keeping"; Fourth, "prudence" focuses on people's "heart" and "internality". According to these points, the prudence of "prudent independence" can be completely defined from the similar meanings of "keeping", "respecting", "respecting", "focusing", "holding" and "persisting", which should be the exact meaning of "prudent independence".

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An example of "cautious independence"

According to the "were Yang Zhenchuan" and "Yang Zhen suddenly became gold" records:

original text

Four moved to Jingzhou, and the governor of Donglai. County, the road through Changyi, so Jingzhou maocai Wang Mi cited as Changyi order, the audience night pregnant with ten pounds of gold. Zhen said, "An old friend knows a gentleman, but you don't know an old friend. Why? " The secret: "Twilight is ignorant." Zhen said, "Heaven knows, earth knows, I know, I know. What is ignorance! " Come out in shame.

translate

Yang Zhen was transferred to Jingzhou secretariat and Donglai satrap for four times. When he took office in the county, he passed by Changyi, and Wang Mi, the top scholar of Jingzhou, whom he recommended in the past, was working as a county magistrate in Changyi. In the evening, Wang Mi went to see Yang Zhen and gave him ten catties of gold. Yang Zhen said, "I know you, but you don't know me. What's wrong? " Wang Mi said, "It's so late that no one can know about it." Yang Zhen said, "God knows, God knows, I know, you know. How can you say that no one knows? " Wang Mi quit in shame.

meaning

Twilight in Yang Zhen tells the story of Yang Zhen's refusal to accept bribes at dusk. The beauty of this article lies in the word "dusk". In the dead of night, without the knowledge of the third party, Yang Zhen, as the boss and teacher of Wang Mi, resolutely refused to pay a large sum of money and solemnly declared. This is something that nature, jurisprudence, man and reason cannot tolerate. His spirit of "cautious independence" is commendable and can be called a model of all previous dynasties. Although the story is small, it is of great educational significance. A person, from small to large, is an official for the people, day and night, and when someone is away, he can be strict with himself, not greedy or greedy, and refuse to accept gifts and bribes. His noble character and moral norms are well known. This is a very good ideological education material, so as to expand students' thinking, guide students to understand the educational significance contained in Yang Zhen's words, and learn to be a noble person.