Being honest in thought is not deceiving yourself. It's like hating bad smells, like liking beautiful faces. Only in this way can you say that you feel at ease.

Therefore, people with high moral cultivation must be treated with caution when they are alone. A person without moral cultivation can do anything bad when he is alone. They meet people with moral cultivation, but they cover up their bad deeds. Show your virtue. Other people's eyes are sharp, just like seeing their own internal organs. What's the good of this?

In other words, people's integrity is in their hearts, and naturally it is revealed on their appearance. Therefore, people with moral cultivation must be cautious when they are alone.

Zeng Shen said: "If a person is stared at by many pairs of eyes and lit by many fingers, isn't it very serious!" Wealth can beautify the house, moral cultivation can enhance personality, and broad-minded people will be healthy. Therefore, people with high moral character must make their thoughts honest.

"The Book of Songs Feng Weiqiao" said: "Look at the curved shore of Qishui, green bamboo is lush. There are gentle gentlemen who study the knowledge of processing bone implements and learn from each other constantly; Self-cultivation is like polishing beautiful jade and pondering it over and over again. He is so rigorous, so broad-minded and so smart. Such a gentle gentleman is unforgettable!

original text

The so-called sincere person is not deceiving himself. If it stinks, if it's lewd, it's 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. When you see a gentleman, you get bored, cover up his incompetence and focus on his kindness. 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, virtuous, broad-minded and obese, so a gentleman must be sincere.

As the poem says, "If you look forward to the Olympic Games, there must be a Fijian gentleman, such as grinding, grinding, and making an article, there must be a Fijian gentleman. You can't make a fuss, such as grinding, and teach yourself."

From the seventh chapter of The Book of Rites University, it was never published separately before the Southern Song Dynasty, and it is said that it was written by Zeng Shen, a disciple of Confucius (505-434 BC). In the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu and Li Ao regarded Daxue and the Doctrine of the Mean as equally important classics as Mencius and Yijing. In Song Dynasty, Cheng Er and Zhu Xizu expounded this viewpoint and praised its position in Confucian classics, aiming at promoting Neo-Confucianism.

Extended data

"University" put forward the "eight items" of Confucian moral cultivation, that is, eight steps of integrity, namely, discipline, knowledge, honesty, honesty, self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world. In explaining the meaning of the word "sincerity", the above quotation is used. The general idea is that a gentleman is consistent inside and outside and does not deceive himself.

Get rid of bad things like you hate rancidity, and treat good things like you like beautiful colors. And the villain dares to do anything bad without supervision. Once you see a moral gentleman around you, immediately hide and pretend to be good. It's not good to be duplicitous.

People should be sincere both inside and outside, so a gentleman must always be cautious and strict with himself to form a conscious noble quality. This is probably what Confucius said, "Seventy people do whatever they want without overstepping the rules" and "The Analects of Confucius is the government", and consciously guides their behavior according to the requirements of propriety and righteousness.

Therefore, the Doctrine of the Mean emphasizes "cautious independence" and restrains improper behavior concepts through self-moral cultivation. In "University", the moral standard of "cautious independence" has been pushed to a higher level. It is not only able to restrain bad thoughts and behaviors without supervision, but also to purify one's thoughts to no evil thoughts, consciously and voluntarily do good things without doing bad things, so that thoughts, beliefs and behaviors can be purely integrated.

From the golden mean to the understanding of "cautious independence" in universities is a dialectical thinking and practical process from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom.

Baidu encyclopedia-a gentleman is cautious and independent

Baidu Encyclopedia-The Book of Rites is cautious and independent