Throughout the ages, various ideas have emerged one after another, and various theories have emerged one after another. Although Confucius has been away from us for thousands of years, his thoughts are still around us and are still discussed and followed by the world. This also shows that his thoughts still have practical significance and practical value in modern society. The most basic and core of his thought is "benevolence". Benevolence is the core of Confucius' thought, and its spiritual connotation is richer, ranging from a person's personality cultivation and handling principles to a country, a nation and a society's political wisdom and anbang principles, which guide us to advance and develop.
First, the basic connotation of benevolence
There are many chapters in The Analects that mention the issue of benevolence. Benevolence is a virtue that a benevolent person should possess and a virtue that one should pursue. It doesn't need to be particularly abstruse, obscure or difficult to achieve. It should be the most authentic, inspiring and promoting character in life. A benevolent person will be content with benevolence, while a wise person can make good use of it. Benevolence is still a kind of conduct, an internal morality, and it can love itself and others and always practice it.
Only the benevolent can love, and the wicked can love.
Confucius' emphasis on love should be expounded from two aspects: filial piety and universal love.
The foundation of benevolence lies in filial piety, which itself is the expression of love. Throughout the ages, we have always emphasized filial piety to our parents, because this is the foundation of being a man. As children, we should repay the kindness of our parents. From starvation to growing up, parents did their best, but never complained. And a person who knows the love of filial piety, who can clearly recognize people and practice them all the time, is approaching benevolence. Confucius attached great importance to filial piety. It is recorded in The Analects of Confucius Yang Huo that I asked Confucius if three years of unfilial behavior was too long, and Confucius said it was unkind to kill me. It takes three years for a girl to leave her parents' arms, and three years of filial piety is to repay her parents' kindness. It can be seen that there must be filial piety in the connotation of benevolence.
Filial love is a small-scale love, which is not difficult to realize. I believe in Mencius' theory of good nature, that people are born to be good, and filial piety is the first of good. But it is not an easy task to achieve universal love. In the era of Confucius' life, etiquette and norms are very important, and Confucius also believes this. However, his view of "pan-loving the people" is the perfection and development of patriarchal hierarchy, and it regulates social order with kindness, thus promoting social development.
"pan-loving the people", that is, loving people, is it contradictory with the above-mentioned benevolent people and the wicked people? Of course there is no contradiction. "Pan-love" is to love those who should be loved, not everyone who has no standards. The complete narrative of the chapter of "pan-loving the people" in The Analects of Confucius is: filial piety is when you enter, filial piety is when you leave, honesty is when you believe, pan-loving the people, and kindness is when you are kind. In the end, it fell on the pro-benevolence, and the benevolence here should be understood as "human". Kindness is a person who is close to benevolence, so should love. A benevolent person can be a true lover or a wicked person. There is always a standard of good and evil in his heart, and his daily words and deeds follow this standard. What Confucius wants to see most is to push benevolence into society. Only by advocating benevolence in society and practicing benevolence in morality can we love and love.
Second, the theoretical basis of benevolence
Zhu Zeng, a Neo-Confucianism scholar in the Song Dynasty, once said: If you are not born in heaven, the ages will be like a long night. This shows that Confucius has a very high social status in China, and his thoughts have had a far-reaching impact on the development of China's ideological history. While sighing, we should learn more about Confucius and explore the timeless core of his thoughts.
Judging from the current research results, the idea of benevolence and benevolence was not initiated by Confucius, but was mentioned before Confucius. As for the exact origin and meaning of benevolence before Confucius, there is still no conclusion, and scholars have different opinions. But there is no doubt that Confucius expanded the ideological basis and connotation of benevolence.
The Analects of Confucius is the most important book to study Confucius' thoughts, and benevolence appears 109 times in the Analects, and all 58 chapters are about benevolence.
Confucius said:
Confucius said, "Clever words make you look good, fresh and kind!" (Learning the Analects of Confucius)
A disciple asked Ren:
Yan Yuan asked Ren. Confucius said, "Self-denial and courtesy are benevolence. A day of self-denial and self-denial, the world belongs to people. Be benevolent, rely on yourself, rely on people? " ("The Analects of Confucius Yan Yuan")
Facing different situations and different people, Confucius' interpretation of benevolence is different, which is enough to conclude that Confucius enriched and expanded the ideological connotation of benevolence. The biggest doubt brought by the enrichment and expansion of the connotation of benevolence is its theoretical basis, which requires us to find the answer from the Analects of Confucius.
Filial piety is also the foundation of being a man.
A Confucius said, "It is rare for him to be filial to his younger brother and then commit a crime." It is not easy to make mistakes, but it is not easy to make mistakes. Gentleman's business is based on inheritance and Taoism. Filial piety is also the foundation of benevolence! "("The Analects of Confucius Learning ")
"Be filial to your parents and love your brother. This is the foundation of benevolence! " . I think the phrase "if you are" reflects Confucius' belief that filial piety is the foundation of benevolence. Filial piety comes from the heart and is a unique social emotion of human beings. Filial piety has always been an important criterion for good people and the foundation of being a man. Each of us is in a family relationship, not an independent individual, which requires everyone to be filial. As the highest moral standard of Confucius' thought, the connotation of benevolence is bound to be related to the most natural and true emotion of human beings, and filial piety, as the representative of this emotion, is naturally the foundation of benevolence.
Filial piety is a human virtue and the most basic moral standard. Therefore, the foundation of benevolence can be further elaborated as self-cultivation, self-cultivation, self-cultivation and benevolence. To achieve physical and mental perfection, we must practice the foundation of benevolence.
Yan Yuan asked Ren. Confucius said, "Self-denial and courtesy are benevolence. A day of self-denial and self-denial, the world will return to benevolence. Be benevolent, rely on yourself, rely on people? " ("The Analects of Confucius Yan Yuan") "It is benevolence to restrain oneself and make words and deeds conform to the ceremony. Once you do this, people all over the world will recognize you as a kind person. Xiuren, all by yourself, but also by others? " It is natural that everything you say and do depends on your own efforts. The practice of benevolence is from the inside, starting from the heart, and is by no means initiated by outsiders. If you rely on others, it is not a real self-denial ceremony. While practicing benevolence, we should also add reflection, think about the root of etiquette and save the commonness of benevolence. Only by continuous reflection can we make continuous progress and get closer to the root of benevolence.
Ask Ren. Confucius said, "Be respectful at home, respect deacons and be loyal to others. Although it is destroyed, it cannot be abandoned. " Confucius' response to Fan Chi's words, from another angle, is also an attitude and behavior. You must not be a degenerate, behave abnormally, be loyal and sincere, be modest and honest. Don't rely on others to realize benevolence, but don't hinder others at the same time. We should follow the rules of moral etiquette at any time and place, and over time, cultivate self-cultivation and turn benevolence into benefit.
Third, discuss the practical significance of benevolence.
Through the preliminary exploration of Confucius' thought of benevolence, we can know that benevolence is constantly enriched and developed in the process of change and invariance. "Book of Rites University" mentioned "cultivate one's morality, keep one's family in order, govern the country and level the world." This concretizes the kernel of benevolence. It can be said that Confucianism with "benevolence" as the core is the most important and core component of China traditional culture. Now we still admire the idea of benevolence, which shows that it is still in a reasonable position in contemporary society. How to adapt such an important idea to the development of today's society, be accepted by contemporary people and continue to carry forward is something that everyone should face and reflect on. The following will be discussed from three aspects: life value, social value and the role of governing the country.
(A) Benevolence and the value of life
As mentioned above, the basic connotation of benevolence-benevolence. In today's society, more and more people lack the most natural and authentic morality and forget the simplest code of conduct. Everyone is eager to be a benevolent person and wants to make his virtue noble. However, benevolence is not just two words, it is the embodiment of outlook on life and values, and it is also the core and fundamental attitude of a person towards others and life.
"A gentleman is figurative, and a villain is figurative." We live in a modern society and naturally can't get along. And whether everyone's relationship is harmonious or not depends on everyone's moral integrity. As Professor Qian Liqun said, each of us is an exquisite egoist, and we all want to pursue our own interests to satisfy our own private interests. But have you ever thought that when we pursue personal interests, do we only pay attention to profit and ignore whether it conforms to the essence of justice? This should also be "unkind people, can not make an appointment for a long time, can not be happy." The embodiment of.
If you are a truly kind person, you will not be happy with things because you are sad. Because in the mind of the benevolent, anything that is the same or similar will have the same or very similar views and standards, but these views and standards are not mechanical. If you treat everything unilaterally, you can have a clear standard in your mind. It is this clear personal thought, the principle of fair life, and the judgment standard that can be accepted by the world that can keep the ceremony and keep the benevolence.
On the other hand, people now have lost this kind of benevolence and their standard, which makes them confused and numb. Without their own standards of judgment, they always follow the trend and pursue things that do not conform to righteousness and standards. Therefore, the relationship between people is commercialized and indifferent. In fact, each of us should strive to pursue a kind of benevolence, which is in line with social standards and self-reality.
On the other hand, Ren's life value should not only stay in his own thoughts, but should be truly restored to life. We don't just pursue benevolence, we don't just internalize it in our hearts, but we also show it in our bodies. As Confucius said, "Is benevolence far away? I want benevolence, and I am benevolent. " We are not far away from benevolence, but we are by no means within reach. Only by pursuing and exploring can we approach benevolence.
It cannot be said that the life of a benevolent person must be valuable, and vice versa. The relationship between life value and benevolence is the relationship between tolerance and being tolerated. Realizing benevolence is one aspect of realizing the value of life. It can be said that to realize Ren's life, we must reach a certain height, and others can only hope for it. It cannot be said that the value of life is completely equal to benevolence. At present, everyone should pursue benevolence tirelessly and realize it reasonably. Kindness is contained in the little things around us, depending on whether we know how to discover and practice.
(B) the social value of benevolence
In Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi, the word "benevolence" is interpreted as "being close to others and obeying others." Duan Yucai in the Qing Dynasty believed that "benevolence" was the intimate relationship between two people, so the word "benevolence" was changed from "ren er". It is not difficult to see that Ren is talking about the relationship between people, which embodies a kind of social values. Confucius founded the idea of benevolence, which is not only a moral standard and code of conduct for human beings, but also an advocacy for the situation of the collapse of ceremonies and the decline of people's livelihood in society. In order to change this situation, it can be said that Confucius is a true saint, always caring about the country and the people. In today's society, Confucius' thought of benevolence is still very important. Nowadays, social thoughts are surging, which can be described as varied and overwhelming. Even many western capitalist ideas are mixed in it. But it is precisely because there are too many ideas, and each idea is mixed, so it is inevitable that there will be a mixed situation. This requires us to have our own judgment and know what kind of ideas should be accepted and what kind of ideas should be resolutely abandoned. There is no China Theory, nor is it obsessing over foreign things and obsessing over foreign things. We just found something suitable for the public and China. Because the idea of benevolence originated in ancient China, it is inevitable that there will be some inconsistencies with reality, because the times are progressing and the society is developing. However, after so many years, it still maintains its tenacious vitality, and there are some reasonable reasons.
Benevolence emphasizes the perfection of personality and the cultivation of morality, which is actually a rational expression. But today's society is mostly emotional. People are pursuing some utilitarian things, and they must be rewarded. Even if I violate the standards of benevolence for myself, what benefits can I get from doing so? This is a very realistic and sad problem facing our society today.
If we all strive for benevolence, we are willing to really get rid of some bad habits. At the same time, we should inherit Confucianism, constantly enrich benevolence, and make it better adapt to social development and meet our spiritual pursuit. In fact, what we call noble personality cultivation is nothing more than meeting etiquette and standards. The key is whether you can really do it and stick to it. This is very beneficial to the development of our society. We should not only be economic giants, but also be political and ideological giants. A country, a society, has a centralized core values and a set of standards that meet the spiritual pursuit of the vast majority of people in this society, then this country and this nation are truly powerful. Otherwise, it's just a strong external force, and there is no pillar to support social progress and development.
A developed, leading, progressive and civilized society must have strong ideas. For our society, it is urgent to actively advocate the pursuit of benevolence and revive the benevolence that conforms to etiquette.
(C) the value of benevolence in governing the country
In governing the country, Confucius advocated "rule by virtue" and "rule by courtesy", which was fundamentally anti-authoritarian and played a great role in restraining autocratic dictatorship. However, in reality, Confucius' benevolence thought did not effectively prevent the expansion of autocracy. Is it worthwhile for us to discuss benevolence today? Not exactly. The value of an idea must be related to its historical background.
Contemporary China advocates the people-oriented concept of governing the country, pursuing equality, justice and the rule of law, and combining the rule of virtue with the rule of law. In Confucius' thought of benevolence, there is also a simple people-oriented thought. The "Great Harmony Society" conceived by Confucius is in line with the capitalist society we are pursuing in modern times in some places. Today, "Great Harmony Society" has become a reality to a certain extent, which makes us more confident to pursue a complete "Great Harmony Society".
At the same time, the concept advocated by a country must have its core values, and the concept of benevolence coincides with the socialist core values advocated in modern times. Today, we call for the revival of China's traditional culture, and Na Ren should be the most revived. Turn the kernel of benevolence into people's pursuit of * * * today, and become an idea of universal knowledge.
Benevolence also includes courtesy, which means that people should pay attention to and abide by courtesy in their communication. And diplomacy between countries should also be polite. Being polite is an equal attitude, a philosophy of life and a diplomatic connotation. Ceremony is something that a country, especially a big country, should respect. However, courtesy is not just humility, concession and patience, but a ritual system that should be based on basic principles.
Four. Concluding remarks
Benevolence is still inheriting and innovating after thousands of years, and its basic value core still has reasonable practical significance in contemporary China and even the world today. The value core of a kind of benevolence ideology we are pursuing is still that different people have different opinions, but what we are ultimately pursuing is to let benevolence continue to develop, let more people study and practice, enrich social thoughts, and make the country rise stronger.
I hope this discussion on benevolence can continue, gain new vitality, stand out in the ideological environment where a hundred schools of thought contend and play its due role.