The so-called spiritual honesty means not deceiving yourself. Just like hating the foul smell, just like loving beauty, everything is true from the heart, so that you can be satisfied. Therefore, a gentleman should be cautious even when he is alone.

Villains do evil in peacetime, so when they meet a gentleman, they hide their evil deeds and show how kind they are. As we all know, others look at themselves as if they saw their own heart, lungs and liver. What's the good of covering it up? In other words, the inner truth will always show up outside, so a gentleman should be cautious even when he is alone.

Ceng Zi said, "It's terrible to look at you with ten eyes and point at you with ten fingers!" Wealth can decorate the house, but morality can decorate the body and mind, making Shu Tai broad-minded and comfortable. Therefore, a gentleman must make his ideas sincere.

Judging from The Book of Rites University, it is said that it was written by Ceng Zi, but it was actually a Confucian work in Qin and Han Dynasties.

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. Little people are not good at fooling around and do everything they can. When you meet a gentleman, you will hate his incompetence and focus on his kindness. If a person sees his lungs and liver, what good is it to see himself? This is called sincerity in the middle and tangible outside. Therefore, 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.

Extended data

Traditional Confucianism regards the sixth chapter of "University" as an explanation of honesty. The concept of "sincerity" put forward in the scripture is "don't deceive yourself", which boils down to the purity of one's motivation to do good.

The "Three Outlines" and "Eight Items" put forward in "University" emphasize that self-cultivation is the premise of governing people, and the purpose of self-cultivation is to govern the country and the world, which shows the consistency between governing the country and the world and personal moral cultivation.

His outlook on life is inextricably linked with Confucianism, which is basically a further expansion of Confucian outlook on life. This outlook on life requires paying attention to personal cultivation and embracing positive goals. This kind of cultivation and requirement is mainly based on Confucian morality.

The three cardinal guides and eight aims have class nature, and "virtue" and "supreme goodness" are the political requirements and ethical standards of feudalism for monarchs. Eight items, such as "discipline" and "knowledge", require the combination of political ideas and ethical thoughts in the three programs in terms of self-cultivation.

University also inherited Confucius' theory of benevolent government and Mencius' theory of people-oriented. The rulers in "University" all pretend to be "elders" and "people's parents", but in fact they still say so from the standpoint of exploiters.

Their so-called "love for the people" and "non-violence" are just to maintain the economic foundation of their superstructure-productivity. Only in this way can their unproductive and exploitative lives be consolidated.

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