Mencius, surnamed Ke and Zou (now Zouxian County, Shandong Province), lived between 372 BC and 289 BC. He is a descendant of the nobility of Lu. After the decline of history, one family moved from Shandong to Zou, which is the ancestor of Mencius. Historical Records Biography of Mencius and Xun Qing says that Mencius is a disciple of karma (1); Perhaps his teacher is not a prestigious person, so Mencius didn't say his name, just said, "I have never been a disciple of Confucius, but I am a scholar in a private school." (2) Mencius has great respect for Confucius. In "On Ugly Sun", he said: "Born from the people, it is not filled with Confucius". You can learn from Confucius if you like.

Mencius traveled to Qi, Song, Teng, Wei and Lu for more than twenty years. The exact time when he traveled to other countries is not very accurate, and he can only explain the approximate time and situation according to the records in Mencius.

Mencius first went to Qi in Qi Weiwang (356 BC-320 BC). At that time, puffed up with the notoriety of "unfilial", Mencius was "drifting with the flow and being polite". He was very frustrated in Qi, and left Qi without accepting Wang Wei's "one hundred gold" gift. Around 329 BC, Song Gongzi proclaimed himself emperor, and Mencius arrived in the State of Song. In the Song Dynasty, Teng Wengong was still a prince, and he met Mencius when he went to Chu to pass by the Song Dynasty. "Mencius' Tao' is good, and his words will be called Yao and Shun. "He came back from Chu State and met Mencius in Song State. Mencius said, "Do you doubt my words? This is just the husband's way. " It means that as long as you study the "first king" well, you can govern Tengguo well. Soon, Mencius accepted a gift of 70 yuan, left Song State and returned to Zou State. According to records, Zou and Lu had a conflict. Zou Mugong asked Mencius: "I have thirty-three dead people, but the death of the people is also. "Punishment, invincible; If you don't punish him, you will see him die for a long time without saving him. If so, what can I do? " Mencius replied: "in the fierce year, the monarch and the people were old and weak, the strong were scattered everywhere, and thousands of people were absent;" And your warehouse is impregnable and the vault is full, so I can't tell you. It is slow and disabled. "He said, it's like Ceng Zi said: How do you treat others, others will repay you. Now, your people have a chance to get revenge. Don't blame them! " If you are kind, Simin will kiss you and die for a long time. Teng died, and sent friends to Zou Guolai twice to ask Mencius how to deal with the funeral. After Teng Wengong ascended the throne, Mencius came to Tengguo. Teng Wengong personally asked Mencius for advice on how to govern the country. Mencius said, "Civil affairs cannot be delayed. "He believes that only when people have a fixed industrial income can they have a stable ideological and moral and social order. After the people's lives are guaranteed, they must also be educated in "human relations." People are above and the king is below. " Teng Wengong sent his courtiers to inquire about the Jing Tian system. Mencius said: "Benevolence must go through first". Then I talked about the well field system. Finally, I said the general situation. You and your monarch should follow it.

Xu Xing, a farmer who has a word for Shennong, came to Tengguo from Chu. Xu Xing advocates that all the people should cultivate food and oppose exploitation and oppression in vain. Advocate physical transactions, where the quantity and weight of goods are equal and the price is the same. Sean's brothers are very much in favor of Xu Xing's idea of "abandoning school and studying". Xu Xing's thought of opposing exploitation is progressive. However, he denied the social division of labor by small-scale peasant egalitarianism, which violated the law of social and historical development. Mencius grasped this weakness of Xu Xing and talked about the truth of "uneven things". By dividing "labor" and "labor", he demonstrated the "rationality" of the exploitation system and class oppression.

Mencius saw clearly that Teng Guo's own life was at stake, and it was impossible to carry out his political ideas. In the fifteenth year of Liang Huiwang (320 BC), he left Tengguo for Wei. At this time, Mencius was 53 years old. King Hui met Mencius and asked, "Hey, is it good for the country to come from afar?" Mencius was most opposed to the monarch saying "profit", so he replied, "King, why talk about profit? Only benevolence and righteousness. " In 353 BC, Wei was defeated by Qi in the Battle of Guiling. In 34 1 year BC, Wang Wei Shen was captured by the Qi army and died in the Battle of Maling. In 340 BC, Qin Shangyang led an army to attack Wei and captured the son of Mao, a general of Wei. In 330 BC, Wei cut the land on the west of the river to Qin, and in 328 BC, he cut fifteen counties to Qin. In 323 BC, Zhao Yang, the State of Chu Lingzhu, led the troops to break Wei Jun in Xiangling and gain the land of Wei Bacheng. Therefore, King Hui of Liang said to Mencius, "The State of Jin and Mo Qiang know everything in the world. And my body, the East was defeated by Qi, and my eldest son died; West, lost seven hundred miles in Qin; The south is a disgrace to Chu. I'm ashamed of it, and I'm more willing to pour it than the dead. If so, what can I do? " Mencius told Liang a set of methods of benevolent governance for the people. In this way, he said, even with sticks, Qin Chu's army can fight with powerful soldiers. Liang asked how to retaliate against Chyi Chin Chu, and Mencius answered the vague truth, which was of course ignored by Liang. In the second year of Mencius' arrival in Wei, Liang died and his son Liang Xiang succeeded him. Mencius met King Liang Xiang and had a bad impression on him, saying that he didn't look like a monarch. At this time, he died and inherited the throne. Mencius left Wei for Qi.

In the second year of Qi Xuanwang (3 18 BC), Mencius visited Qi again and was treated with courtesy.

When Qi Xuanwang met Mencius, he asked, "Can you smell Qi Huan and Jin Wen?" Mencius replied, "Zhong Ni's followers don't know what to say or write, but those in the future don't know. If there is nothing, it is king! " (1) Qi Xuanwang wants to emulate Qi Huangong and Jin Wengong; Mencius' political proposition is to follow the example of the "former king" and implement "benevolent government". His principles of "protecting the people as kings" and "controlling people's property", although noting the long-term interests of the feudal landlord class, are not the top priority of "enriching Qiang Bing", so they are regarded as a "conservative and ignorant world".

The prince of Yan ceded the country to Yan Xiangzi, causing civil strife in Yan. In 3 14 BC, he took the opportunity to send troops to attack Yan state, and it took only 50 days to win a total victory. Qi Xuanwang said to Mencius, "Why should rulers be more kind to those who try to attack me?" Mencius said, "It is enough for you to make an order quickly, go against your way, stop your heavy weapons, seek for others, establish a monarch and then go." 2 don't listen, "Ren Yanpan". King Qi said, "I am single-minded about Mencius." (3) Mencius gave Qi Xuanwang many suggestions, but all of them were useless. He had intended to rely on Qi Xuanwang to carry out his political ideas, but Qi Xuanwang only respected him as a respected scholar, instead of trying to realize his political ideals. Mencius also saw this clearly and was ready to return to China. Qi Xuanwang sent someone to tell Mencius: "I want China (the capital of China) to give Mencius a room and raise 10,000 disciples, so that all doctors and China people are ashamed." This is actually taking Mencius as a signboard and winning the reputation of respecting the virtuous and valuing the people.

According to Sun Chou-xia, Mencius left Qi State and stayed at the border of Qi State for three nights. Someone asked him why he was so slow. He said, "It's too early to be out of the day for three nights. How can you change it? " ! If the king changes, he will give back. "If the king uses it, he will be a disciple of Qi Min and the people of the world will be safe. "Others said," I see Old Master Q Q, and you look unhappy. "Mencius said," Within 500 years, there will be kings and celebrities. He is over 700 years old since last week. In its number, it is too much; You can do it if you test it at the right time. Husbands don't want to rule the world; If you want to rule the world, who can you give me? Why am I not ready? " From the point of view of historical cycle theory, he thinks there will be a "king" to unify the world. He pinned his hopes on Qi Xuanwang, hoping to make a difference in Qi, but his hopes failed and he had to leave Qi.

Qi and Chu once had an alliance contract. Qin asked Zhang Yi to use the benefits of land to trick him into breaking up with Qi. When Chu broke off diplomatic relations, Chu also found himself being bullied. In 3 12 BC, Chu Da sent troops to fight against Qin State, and was defeated by Qin State twice. When Qin and Chu were going to war, Mencius went from Qi to Song and met Zhang Song in Shiqiu. In Gao Zi Xia, Song Ying heard that Qin Chu was going to fight, and he wanted to say that Qin Chu had stopped fighting. Mencius asked Zhang Song, what is the purpose of his talk about Qin and Chu? Zhang Song said, "I would sayno." Mencius opposed "profit" and advocated "benevolence and righteousness". He said: "Mr. Eli said that King Qin Chu and Qin Chu Wang Yue were beneficial to him, so as to stop the division of the three armies. It is the people of the three armed forces who enjoy it and enjoy it. " "Monarch, father and son, brother finally (completely) towards righteousness, they are interlinked. However, there will be nothing for the undead. " "This, father and son, brother Eli, also with kindness, rather than the king, not have also. Why bother to make a profit? " He said: "The ambition of the former king was great, but the title of Mr. Wang was not."

When Mencius visited Song again, Song was already king. In the summer, Mencius' disciple asked, "Song, a small country. I want to be king today, and I want to cut it. So what? " Mencius said that the conquest of Zheng of Tang and Wu was to save the people in from the mire and kill the cruel monarch, which won the support of the whole world and was "invincible in the world". "If you were a king, you would expect and want to be a king all over the world. Although Qi and Chu are big, how can they be? "

Soon, Mencius left Song State and came to Lu State. At this time, Lu (reigned from about 322 BC to 302 BC) was ready to put Mencius' disciple Le Zhengzi in power. Lu is going to visit Mencius because his favorite minister Zangcang spoke ill of Mencius and changed his mind. Le Zhengzi told Mencius this story. Mencius said with great emotion, "It's a pity that I didn't meet Lv Hou. How can Zang's son make it difficult for him? " Mencius was over sixty years old, so he returned to his hometown, Zouguo, and stopped traveling.

Mohism and Yang Zhu School are the most influential schools to contend with Confucianism. Mencius said: "Yang Zhu's words are all over the world, and the words of the world do not belong to Yang, but to Mo." (1) He also said, "Those who escape from ink must belong to Yang, and those who escape from Yang must belong to Confucianism." (2) Mencius denounced Yang and Mohism, saying that "Yang and Mohism have infinite ways, while Confucius' way is out of reach. Falsely accusing the people is heresy and full of benevolence and righteousness. Benevolence is full, animals eat people, and people eat people. I'm afraid of this. I'm idle (keep) the way of saints, stay away from Yang and Mo, and don't talk obscenity. " (3) He said that he severely refuted Yang and Mo's heresy, and he inherited the cause of Dayu, Duke Zhou and Confucius. If he wants to be upright, he must cultivate Yang and Mo. His disciple Gong Duzi told him that others said he was argumentative. He said, "Is it argumentative? I have to do this. He who can speak from the sun is also a saint. "

Mencius' life experience, much like Confucius's, led a long-term private lecture life, and traveled around the world with his students with political ambitions after middle age. At the peak of students' entourage, there are dozens of cars behind and hundreds of followers behind (4). He was also entertained by local authorities. Wherever he went, he criticized the monarch unscrupulously and even accused him of "taking care of him" (5), but his political views were not accepted. Mencius returned to his hometown in his later years and engaged in education and writing. He said: "it is the happiest thing to be educated by talents in the world." Mencius did not have as many disciples as Confucius, but he was a famous educator in the Warring States period. Historical Records Biography of Mencius and Xun Qing said that he "retired from Zhang Wan's disciple's preface to the poem book, stated Zhong Ni's meaning, and wrote seven pieces of Mencius." Ying Shao's "Customs Pass the Poor" and Ban Gu's "Records of Han Shu Literature and Art" all say that Mencius has eleven articles. Zhao Qi's Meng Ziming distinguishes between true and false: Mencius wrote seven books, including four books on sex, literature, filial piety and politics, which are not profound and similar to the internal ones, but they seem untrue to Mencius, and later generations rely on them. Today's Mencius is a fake of the Ming Dynasty.

Mencius recorded Mencius' political activities, political theory, idealistic philosophy and ethical education thoughts. There are many annotation books, including Mencius Zhang Sentence, Zhu's Notes on Mencius, Qing Dynasty Mencius Justice and Yang Bojun's Notes on Mencius Translation.