Confucius said, "A gentleman likes virtue, but a villain likes earth. The gentleman is pregnant with punishment, and the villain is pregnant. "
Chapter purport: This chapter is Confucius' explanation of the distinction between a gentleman and a villain, and the difference lies in righteousness and benefit.
Note: Wilder: I miss the morality of being a man. Huaitu: I miss living in a happy place. Be pregnant with punishment: miss the criminal law. Huai Hui: I miss people's kindness to me. ?
Confucius said, "A gentleman only wants to preserve his inherent goodness, while a villain only wants to have fun. Gentlemen miss not doing illegal things, and villains often miss getting benefits. "
Explanation:
How to divide a gentleman from a villain? We can't distinguish them from their fame, gentlemen may be ordinary people, and villains may be incumbents, but from their virtue.
First of all, Confucius taught us to distinguish from the choice of residence. "A gentleman takes virtue and a villain takes soil." "Wilder" means that what he thinks in his heart is morality, so the place where he lives must be the place where people with kindness choose to live. As the saying goes, "1000 yuan to buy a house, 10 thousand yuan to buy a neighbor", neighbors are more important than houses. It's about the place where people with kindness live, and you can't buy all kinds of gold. Why? "Disciples Rules" says, "You can be kind, infinitely kind, advance with virtue and heaven, and live a few days less". It is very important for a gentleman who is really interested in Taoism to achieve his career and studies in this life, and to choose a virtuous person to be close to him. The so-called "close to good knowledge" is the key to success.
The villain's heart is full of interests and he doesn't care so much about virtue. Looking forward to the earth, the earth is the right place. Let's see if the real estate in this place will appreciate in the future and if there is any profit in this place. Huaitu, this is from the choice of residence. Of course, we can extend it to all levels of life. Gentlemen and villains often have different ideas when choosing and making decisions.
"A gentleman is pregnant with punishment, while a villain is pregnant with benefits", which is the behavior that Confucius taught us to distinguish between a gentleman and a villain. "Punishment" is a standard punishment, the so-called classic law. Book classics? Da Moyu said, "Hui Diji, don't be fierce." Di means Tao, "Hui Di Ji". If you say it smoothly, you will be lucky by the way, and you will die if you go against it.
To put it simply, virtue is good, and no virtue is fierce. This is about cause and effect. So jun
Zi Huai Tao, thinking about morality everywhere; The villain is pregnant with benefits and thinks about whether he can get benefits. "The Doctrine of the Mean" says: "Little people take risks in order to get lucky." The villain takes risks for his own benefit. He doesn't consider the consequences, only cares about the small favors in front of him.
Therefore, we can distinguish between a gentleman and a villain from the choice of residence and daily behavior. A gentleman has virtue in his heart and does not cling to things outside his body; The villain, in turn, thinks about things outside the body, and "soil" is things outside the body and things of interest. Gentlemen always think about what kind of example I want to set for the world, and "punishment" also has typical and exemplary significance; The villain thinks of kindness and always takes self-interest as the center. So judge who is a gentleman and who is a villain from these two aspects.
When we read the Analects of Confucius, we don't want to compare it with others one by one to see which one is a gentleman and which one is a villain. This is not good for ourselves. The key is to compare myself. I want to be a gentleman, not a villain, so reading of the analects of confucius is really good. In every chapter, we are seeking for ourselves, as if Confucius were telling me directly that Confucius taught me this, so that we can make progress.
Master You Yi's comments on The Analects of Confucius are the finishing touch and point out the meaning. He doesn't pay attention to textual criticism, that is, he doesn't pay attention to the interpretation of words. Because the ancient Confucian annotations are very satisfactory in the interpretation of word meaning, but the interpretation of word meaning is not necessarily satisfactory. Therefore, Ou Yi's annotation to The Analects of Confucius is to point out the meaning and make the finishing point. The meaning of this chapter, the master commented: "See virtue but not soil. He who sees the soil sees no virtue. He who sees the law sees no profit. See profit but not law. All this is a metaphor to me, and I can't tell anyone. For example, drink water and know yourself. "
Master, this points directly to the secrets of our hearts. Let's go back and think, observe and see what kind of person we are. If you are a gentleman, keep it; If you still smell like a villain, turn around and be a gentleman.
"Seeing virtue but not soil", we can only think of the difference at the moment. If this moment is good, there will be no evil thoughts. At this moment, I am thinking about how to benefit others and how to help others, so I won't think about myself. On the other hand, if all you think about is your own interests, you won't think about the persistence of morality, benevolence and righteousness and the distinction between right and wrong. This is also "seeing the soil and not seeing the virtue." The mind determines the realm of life. The gentleman chose the realm of life that does not leave benevolence and violate benevolence. The villain is obsessed with the realm of mercenary life.
Therefore, a gentleman sees it as virtue because there is virtue in his heart. The villain sees dirt, because there is dirt in his heart. "Earth" is my own interest. If your heart is full of virtue, you will see that virtue is not in the soil. If your heart is full of benefits, you will see soil instead of virtue.
And "those who see Buddhism see no benefits. Those who see the benefits do not see the law. " That's what it means. Law is law, rules and morality. Hui is a kind of favor, a kind of benefit. People who have the law in their hearts and see it in their hearts should first see this law and its significance when communicating and cooperating with others, rather than directly seeing this benefit. On the contrary, if you only think about interests and benefits, you won't think about law and justice. This is particularly evident in officialdom and business circles. If you pay too much attention to interests, then it will no longer be simple to communicate with people and there will be no bottom line for doing things. Profits intersect with profits, even bribing and colluding, and taking bribes perverts the law. "There are no eternal friends, only eternal interests", which is the value under "seeing profit but not law". ?
"This is a metaphor in the chest, and no one can say it." It means that whether we are pregnant with virtue or soil, whether we are pregnant with punishment or profit, only we know, "If we drink water, we will know it when we are warm and cold." And different hearts produce different behaviors, bring different results, form different life States and different life realms. ?
Wilder and those who are pregnant with punishment must adhere to the principles of moral righteousness, law and bottom line. Those who are pregnant with soil and interests have no faith, no persistence and no end. Although you can gain some benefits temporarily, if you violate morality and law, you will eventually lose them.
In Mencius? A word from Liang Zhang? In the eighth section, Mencius has a wonderful exposition on the gentleman's adherence to moral righteousness. Mencius said: "Only a gentleman can be competent if he has perseverance without constant production", which means that only a gentleman can stick to his own way without fixed industrial income. And ordinary people? If people, there is no constant production, because there is no perseverance. Without perseverance, you have done everything for yourself by letting go of evil. "It means that ordinary people, if they can't get material security and have no fixed industry, will have no perseverance in ethics. If you can't put your heart on the Tao, you will be dissolute and eccentric, and you can do anything to make a living.
Why can a gentleman persist without constant production? Because in their hearts, "seeing virtue but not soil", it really doesn't matter whether a gentleman has soil or not, but whether his heart is bright or not is the most important. A bright heart, a pure and kind heart, a kind heart, transcend everything.
Mencius said, "Life is what I want, and righteousness is what I want." . You can't have both, and you have to sacrifice your life for righteousness. "Life is what I want, and morality is what I want. If you can't have both at the same time, then I have to sacrifice my life and choose morality.
Mencius went on to say that life is what I want, but what I want is more important than life, so I don't do anything to drag out an ignoble existence. I hate it to death, but I hate things more than death, so I don't avoid disaster. If what people want is not as important as life, what means can be used to survive? If people hate nothing more than death, then what can't avoid disaster? You can survive by some means, but some people refuse to use it; Some methods can avoid disaster, but some people refuse to adopt them. So, what they want is something more precious than life (that is "righteousness"); What they hate is something more serious than death (that is "injustice"). Not only sages have this nature, everyone has it, but sages have not lost it.
A bowl of vegetables, a bowl of soup, you can live if you get it, or you will starve to death if you don't get it. Hungry pedestrians will not accept it if they give it to him domineering; Kicking others to eat, even beggars will refuse to accept it because of contempt. A high-ranking official, Hou Lu, accepted it without knowing whether it was polite or not. So, what's good for me? Is it because of the splendor of the house, the service of wives and concubines, and the poor people I know that I am grateful? In the past, some people would rather die than accept it for justice, but now they accept it for the splendor of the house; In the past, some people would rather die than accept it for righteousness, but now they accept it for wives and concubines; In the past, some people would rather die than accept justice, but now they accept it for the poor they know. Can't this behavior stop? This is called losing the inherent human nature.
This passage is really touching and embarrassing. Mencius spurs us and inspires us. Have we found something more precious than life? Have we found something more important than profit? Can we really use Wilder's punishment to give up some vested interests that violate morality?
Try to stick to it. When you really persist, I believe there will be a very beautiful and noble experience in your heart, which far exceeds the temporary satisfaction that material interests can bring you. And if you keep on, stick to your love for others, practice the truth and make contributions to the world, then everything outside will come naturally.
"The gentleman wilder, mean person bosom soil. The gentleman is pregnant with punishment, and the villain is pregnant. " Let's be a gentleman with punishment.