Source: Pre-Qin Xunzi's "Persuading Learning"
Original text:
A gentleman knows that her husband is not perfect and can't think of beauty, so he recites it consistently and thinks it over, so as to treat others and educate people. Make eyes have no desire to see, ears have no desire to listen, mouth has nothing to say, and heart has nothing to worry about. When you are good at time, your eyes are good with five colors, your ears are good with five tones, your mouth is good with five flavors, and your heart benefits the world. Therefore, rights cannot be dumped, the masses cannot be moved, and the world cannot be shaken. Life depends on reason, death depends on reason, and husband is called virtue. Fuck, then you decide, then you decide, then you respond. If a husband can respond positively, he is an adult. Heaven sees its light, people see its light, and gentlemen value everything. Know and learn, and then you can be talented.
Translation:
A scholar can only be considered if he can master the knowledge he has learned comprehensively and thoroughly. A gentleman knows that learning is not perfect, so he reads a set of books to achieve mastery, understands through thinking and exploration, practices through imitating a tutor, and removes his wrong habitual temperament to maintain. I don't want to see if my eyes are wrong, I don't want to listen if my ears are wrong, I don't want to talk if my mouth is wrong, and I don't want to think if my heart is wrong. When you reach the ideal state of concentrating on your study, just like having good eyes, good ears and good mouth, you are psychologically eager to have this world.
If this is done, then there will be no evil thoughts in front of power and selfish desires, many people will not give in, and nothing in the world can shake their beliefs. Living is like this, and it will not change until death. This is called moral integrity. Only with virtue and integrity can we be firm, and only with perseverance can we improvise. If you can be firm and improvise, you are a mature and perfect person. At that time, the sky will be bright and the land will be wide, and the value of a gentleman lies in the perfection of virtue. Only when you understand, can you study hard and become a talent.
Extended data writing background:
"Encouraging Learning" is an essay written by Xunzi, a thinker and writer in the Warring States Period. It is Xunzi's first work. This paper systematically discusses the theory and method of learning, and comprehensively and profoundly discusses the problems related to learning from the aspects of the importance, attitude, content and method of learning. The full text can be divided into four paragraphs. The first paragraph clarifies the importance of learning, the second paragraph talks about the correct attitude towards learning, the third paragraph talks about the content of learning, and the fourth paragraph talks about learning from beginning to end. The full-text reasoning is profound and the structure is rigorous, which represents the level of the mature stage of pre-Qin essays.
During the Warring States period, slavery further collapsed, the feudal system gradually formed, and epoch-making changes took place in history. Many thinkers expressed their opinions on the social changes at that time from different positions and angles, and gradually formed different factions such as Mohism, Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism, which was called "a hundred schools of thought contend" in history.
A hundred schools of thought contend and wrote many books, publicizing their own views and criticizing others, resulting in a situation of "a hundred schools of thought contend". Xunzi was a representative figure of Confucianism in the late Warring States period. He believes that the existence of nature does not depend on human will, but people can use subjective efforts to understand it, adapt to it and use it. In order to reveal the significance of learning the day after tomorrow, he created the article "Encouraging Learning".
In the article, the author sometimes uses the method of contrast to organize two opposing situations together to form a sharp contrast to enhance the persuasiveness of the text. For example, when he stressed that learning must be persistent and single-minded, he not only used some parallel metaphors, but also used many metaphors that complement each other. He listed "one leap can't take ten steps" and "you can't give up your job even if you take ten steps"; "Perseverance, rotten wood cannot be carved";
Earthworms "have no advantages of claws and strong bones and muscles" and can come and go freely underground, while crabs with six knees and two claws can't even dig a small hole and live. This shows that the effects of "product" and "non-product" are completely opposite. In Xunzi's philosophy, the word "quality" is an important point. Xunzi believes that if you want to learn successfully, you must persist in accumulation. A person who tills the fields for a long time ("accumulated cultivation") will become a farmer, and a long-term cutting ("accumulated cultivation") will become a craftsman;
Selling goods for a long time ("accumulating goods") will become a merchant; Long-term study of etiquette ("accumulation of etiquette") will make you a gentleman; Saints are just "human products". Just like An Xia, a Xia (Central Plains) native, habit becomes nature. Knowing the significance of Xunzi's thought, it is not difficult to understand why he spent so much effort and chose so many metaphors to inculcate readers.