Mencius' wife was sitting alone in the room, stretching her legs. Mencius entered the room and saw his wife like this. He said to his mother, "My wife is rude. Please allow me to divorce her. " Meng Mu said, "Why?" Mencius said, "She sat cross-legged." Meng Mu asked, "How do you know?" Mencius said, "I saw it with my own eyes." Meng Mu said, "This is your rudeness, not a woman's rudeness. Didn't it say in the book of rites? When you are about to enter the house, ask who is in the house first; When you are about to enter the hall, you should first announce it loudly (let the people inside know); When you enter the room, you must look down. In order not to catch people off guard. Now you go to your wife's resting place, and there is no sound when you enter the room. You can see her sitting with her legs stretched out. This is your rudeness, not your wife's rudeness! Mencius realized that he was wrong and dared not divorce his wife.

Source of works

Selected from Biography of Chinese Poetry.

original work

"Mencius' wife lives alone and lives in the first place. Mencius looked at her in the second place and said to her mother,' Woman is rude, please go to the third place.' Mother said, "Why?" Yue: "Ju." His mother said, "How do you know?" Mencius said, "I saw it with my own eyes." Mother said, "You are rude, not a woman." "Isn't there a cloud li? I will get started and ask which one to save. If you arrive at Class (4), your voice will improve. You will enter the house and you will see it. " Don't hide anything, you are unprepared. I went to Yan Temple (5) today, and there was no sound at home, so people were watching. It's your rudeness, not a woman's rudeness. "So Mencius blamed himself and dared not talk about his wife's return."

To annotate ...

(1) Sitting: sitting on a dustpan, with your legs spread apart like a dustpan, indicating that you are not sitting well.

② Household: This refers to the back room.

3 go: remove, remove. This refers to the man driving the woman home, which means divorcing his wife.

④ Hall: main hall and living room.

⑤ Yan Si: Have a rest.

6 pro: Personally, I think.

⑦ Preparation: Preparation.

8 responsibility: blame.

Please allow me.

Attending physician: Who?

Common sense of literature

(1) means ancient sitting posture:

China was very particular about etiquette in ancient times. Sit in a sitting position and stand in a standing position. The only formal sitting posture of the ancients was kneeling with the hips resting on the heels. Kneeling is a kind of sitting posture that shows respect for each other, also called sitting upright. The posture is sitting on the floor, hips on ankles, upper body straight, hands on knees regularly, dignified body, else. Sometimes in order to show the solemnity of speaking, the hips leave the heels, which is called long kneeling, also called standing up. That's how Le Yangzi's wife spoke when she advised her husband to pick up the money. As Mencius' wife said above, you are not allowed to sit in front of your family.

(2) Mencius:

Mencius (about 372 BC-about 289 BC), whose real name is Ke, is Zi (to be tested, Zi or Zi Ju). Zou Guo (now Zoucheng City, Shandong Province) was a great thinker, educator and politician during the Warring States Period. One of the main representatives of Confucianism. Some people think Zou is a vassal state of Lu, while others say Mencius is a native of Lu. This is a Confucian school. Politically, he advocated that the law precedes the king and is benevolent; In theory, Confucius was praised, while Yang Zhu and Mo Zhai were opposed.

Mencius is said to be a noble of Lu, named Shi.

Meng * * * Zhong (Meng) is a descendant of Zi Qingfu. Father's name is Ji and mother's name is Zhang. Mencius inherited and developed Confucius' thoughts, but compared with Confucius' thoughts, he added his own understanding of Confucianism, and some of his thoughts were also extreme. He was called Yasheng by the later Buddha. His disciples recorded Mencius' words and deeds as "Mencius", which is a collection of recorded prose and a compilation of Mencius' remarks, compiled by Mencius and his disciples. He advocated benevolent government, put forward the people-oriented thought of "valuing the people but neglecting the monarch", and traveled to Qi, Song, Teng, Wei, Lu and other countries, hoping to follow Confucius to carry out his own political ideas, which lasted for more than 20 years. However, Mencius' theory of benevolent governance is considered to be "circuitous and wider than things", but it has not been implemented. Finally, he retired to give lectures, and together with his students, he wrote seven pieces of Mencius in a preface poem and a book.

Main idea

First, an overview of ideas

According to historical records, Mencius has seven masterpieces handed down from generation to generation, while according to Han Art and literature, there are eleven. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhao Qi said that Mencius had four foreign books on sex, literature, filial piety and politics, and eleven books were added to seven books. Zhao Qi thinks that the contents of the four foreign books are superficial and inconsistent with the internal books, which should be written by future generations. Mencius, which has been handed down to this day, was said by Zhao Qi. Although this book was not written by Mencius, it was recorded by Mencius' disciples, and all this is undoubtedly Mencius' words and deeds. As can be seen from the book, Mencius has the following remarks and thoughts: in terms of human nature, he advocates the theory of goodness. I think people are born with four virtues: benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom. People can maintain and expand it through internal ellipsis, otherwise they will lose these good qualities. So he asked people to pay attention to the role of introspection. In terms of social and political views, Mencius highlighted the king of benevolent governance. Benevolence is to "save punishment and light taxes" for the people. He summed up from historical experience that "violence against its people leads to physical death", and said that all three generations won the world because of benevolence, and lost the world because of benevolence. He also put forward the view that the people are more valuable than the monarch, and that the monarch must attach importance to the people. "The treasures of princes are land, people and political affairs." If the monarch is serious, his deputies will admonish him. If he admonishes but doesn't listen, he can change his position. As for tyrants like Jie and Zhou, subjects can rise up and destroy them. He opposes hegemonism, that is, conquering other countries through merger wars; It is to be benevolent, win the obedience of the people's hearts, and defeat the soldiers without fighting, which is what he called "the benevolent is invincible", and the king can be invincible in the world.

Second, people-oriented thinking

Based on the experience of the Warring States period, Mencius summed up the laws governing the rise and fall of chaos in various countries and put forward a famous proposition with democratic essence: "People are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the least". People think that how to treat people is extremely important to the rise and fall of a country. Mencius attached great importance to the opposition between people's hearts, and repeatedly expounded through a large number of historical examples that this is a key issue related to winning or losing in the world.

"The people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the light." It means the people first, the country second, and the monarch last. Mencius believed that the monarch should take care of the people first, and politicians should protect the rights of the people. Mencius agreed that the monarch has no way and the people have the right to overthrow the regime. For this reason, Hanshu and Yiwenzhi only regard Mencius as a sub-book, without giving it its due status. In the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms of Houshu, Meng Changjun, the master of Houshu, ordered people to carve stones in eleven classics such as Mencius, which may be the beginning of Mencius' being included in the classics. By the time of filial piety in the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu called Mencius, the Analects of Confucius, the University and the Doctrine of the Mean as the "Four Books" and became one of the "Thirteen Classics", and Mencius' position was pushed to the peak. Legend has it that Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was dissatisfied with Mencius' people-oriented thought and ordered people to abridge the relevant contents in Mencius.

Third, the theory of benevolent governance.

Mencius inherited and developed Confucius' thought of ruling by virtue, and developed it into the theory of benevolent governance, which became the core of his political thought. Mencius' political theory is king with benevolent governance as its content, and its essence is to serve the feudal ruling class. He applied the principles of "pro" and "long" to politics, eased class contradictions and safeguarded the long-term interests of the feudal ruling class.

On the one hand, Mencius strictly distinguished the class status of the ruler and the ruled, and thought that "those who do things rule their people, and those who do things rule their people", and imitated the Zhou system to draw up a hierarchy from emperor to ruler; On the other hand, the relationship between the ruler and the ruled is compared to the relationship between parents and children, and it is advocated that the ruler should care about the sufferings of the people like parents, and the people should be close to and serve the ruler like parents.

Mencius believes that this is the most ideal politics, and the rulers can win the heartfelt support of the people if they implement benevolent policies; On the other hand, if people's lives are ignored, they will lose people's hearts, become solitary thieves and be overthrown by the people. The specific content of benevolent government is very extensive, including economy, politics, education and ways to unify the world, among which there is a clue of people-oriented thought. This thought developed from the idea of valuing the people over the gods in the Spring and Autumn Period.

Mencius said, "Benevolence must start from the boundary". The so-called "well boundary" means dividing and sorting out the field boundary and implementing the well field system. The well-field system conceived by Mencius is a feudal natural economy, which is based on small farmers of one household and takes the form of exploiting labor force for rent. Every farmer has a five-acre house and a hundred-acre field and is self-sufficient. Mencius believed that "people are the way, there is constancy and constancy, and there is no constancy and constancy". Only when people have "permanent property" and settle down on the land can they not violate the criminal law and do evil. Mencius believes that when people's material life is guaranteed, rulers can re-establish schools, educate them on the principle of filial piety and guide them to be kind, which can create a good moral trend of "kissing" and "growing up", that is, "everyone kisses and grows up, and the world is peaceful." Mencius believed that the benevolent government of the ruler could win the heartfelt support of the people all over the world, thus being invincible. Mencius' benevolent policy should be based on the ruler's "unbearable heart" Mencius said, "The late king had a heart and a plan to be unkind to others." "Unable to bear the heart of others" is a kind of compassion and kindness. However, this kind of sympathy and kindness is different from Mozi's "universal love", but is based on blood feelings. Mencius advocated that "Kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss is the political embodiment of this unbearable heart.

Benevolence, according to Mencius' explanation, is "human heart" What is benevolence?

According to Mencius, it can be summarized as follows:

First, be close to the people. Mencius advocated that rulers should "have fun with the people" and "have fun with the people".

Second, use virtuous people. "Those who win the world are called benevolence." ("On Teng Wengong") "Respect the sages and enable them, and Jie Jun is in office." ("Gong Sunchou") "When a saint is in office, an able person is in office; Clearly understand its political punishment. "

Third, respect human rights. Mencius publicly preached the slogan of "people value the monarch but despise him", and advocated reconciling the relationship between rulers and working people within a certain range.

Fourth, compassion. The rulers are required to govern the people with the method of "old people and old people, young people and young people". I believe that this will be welcomed and supported by the people, so as to achieve "invincible in the world."

Fifth, killing people who have no choice is also benevolence, which is the greatest benevolence. Mencius called for solemn condemnation of all tyrants and corrupt officials who were arrogant by the disabled people, trying to develop the real society into a political track of "protecting the people as kings".

Mencius took "benevolent government" as the fundamental starting point and created an ideal economic plan based on "mining field". Advocate the idea of "saving punishment, collecting thin taxes" and "not violating the farming season" It is required that feudal countries should attach importance to and develop production while collecting taxes, so as to make the people rich, so as to have sufficient sources of fiscal revenue. This kind of thinking should be affirmed. As a thinker of the new landlord class, Mencius also put forward the theory of emphasizing agriculture but not restraining commerce, which improved the traditional concept of "emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce", which was progressive at that time. Mencius' ideal of "well-field system" has far-reaching influence and guiding significance for later generations to establish a theory of governing the country to limit land annexation and ease class contradictions.

Exchange children for education.

Mencius' educational thought is also the inheritance and development of Confucius' educational thought of "teaching without class" (The Analects of Wei Linggong). They all regard education for all as the means and purpose of benevolent governance. On the one hand, it advocates "establishing schools to teach them" (Teng Wengong's chapter) and strengthens school education; On the other hand, those in power need to set an example. "Ren Jun, ruthless; Junyi, all righteousness; Jun Zheng, Zheng Mo. " Educate the people with the power of example. The purpose of enlightenment is to make people "understand human relations", so as to establish an ideal society with harmonious and orderly human relations, in which "human relations are above, and people are close to the bottom" (as Teng Wengong said).

Mencius has always regarded himself as the orthodox successor of Confucius, and his educational contribution is unparalleled. He not only taught and educated people, but also trained outstanding students such as Le Zhengzi, Gong Sunchou and Zhang Wan. He also wrote seven books with his disciples for future generations. Like a continuous spring rain, it falls in the long river of history and culture.

For the improvement of educational methods, Mencius highly praised the traditional educational method of "teaching by changing children". When his favorite pupil, Gong Sunchou, asked why some gentlemen didn't personally educate their sons, Mencius replied, "Impossible. Teachers must be honest; Whether you are doing it right or not is followed by being angry. If you continue to be angry, you will be defeated. ..... The ancients changed to teach it, and the father and son did not blame goodness. If you complain about goodness, you will leave, and if you leave, it will be ominous. " Because of the deep affection between father and son, the father's education for his son is often lax, and some mistakes and faults of his son are indulgent and arrogant, which makes the correct education unsustainable. Therefore, "father and son don't complain about others", Ziyi let others educate them, which can be strict and maintain the intimate relationship between father and son without hurting feelings.

Fourth, philosophical thought.

Mencius' thought is complex, which is mainly composed of materialism: the epistemological viewpoint reflected in Mencius contains many simple materialistic thoughts. There is a saying in Mencius: "... Heaven is about to demote to a great post, so we must first suffer from its mind, strain its bones and muscles, starve its body and skin, and confuse its actions." Therefore, he increased his endurance ... "(under Gao Zi) pointed out that many intellectuals had to experience difficulties, setbacks and failures. The objective world has its own laws, and people can't violate them.

The life of the character

life experience

Mencius was born about one hundred years before the death of Confucius (479 BC).

Mencius' life is very similar to that of Confucius. They are all descendants of aristocrats, born in common people, and lost their fathers when they were young.

The road I have taken all my life is to study, teach and travel around the world.

The font size of Mencius was not recorded in the ancient books before the Han Dynasty, but many different font sizes appeared after the Wei and Jin Dynasties, such as Ziche, Viscount and Yu Zi, which may be attached by future generations, but may not be credible.

When Confucius' grandson started his career, his surname was Zeng Mingshan (Confucius also had a disciple named Zeng Shen, that is), and later he was renamed Zou (now Zoucheng City, Shandong Province). Born in the fourth year of the reign of Zhou, he died in the twenty-sixth year. According to legend, Mencius is a descendant of Lu nobles. He lost his father when he was young, and his family was poor, so he studied in Kong Ji. After finishing his studies, he lobbied the governors as a scholar, trying to publicize his political opinions. He has been to Liang (Wei), Qi, Song, Teng and Lu. At that time, several great powers devoted themselves to strengthening this rich country and striving for reunification through violent means. Mencius' theory of benevolent governance is considered to be "circuitous and broader than things" and has no chance to be implemented. Finally, he retired to give lectures, and together with his students, he "wrote a poem as a preface, wrote a book, and described Zhong Ni's meaning as seven pieces of Mencius". Mencius

personal influence

I went to Qi when I was here. It seems that while he was going to Wei, he met He successively. I was here when I was in Qi Xuanwang. He has also been to Teng, Xue, Song, Zou, Liang and other countries. When Mencius was mentioned in Historical Records, Qin Qi used Shang Yang, Tian Ji and others to enrich Qiang Bing and attack Qiang Bing, but what Mencius said was "the virtue of Tang Yu's three generations", which was regarded as "far more extensive than things" and could not be reused, so Mencius and his disciple Zhang Wan and others wrote books. However, according to Mencius, when Mencius came to Wei, he was treated with courtesy and asked Mencius for advice on how to govern the country. Mencius was in Qi, and Wang Xuan appointed him as Shangqing. "There are dozens of cars and hundreds of attendants behind him in order to deliver food to the princes." Then Qi can adopt some of his theories and ideas.

"Han Shu Chu Yuan Wang Chuanzan" said: "Since the death of Confucius, many people have written essays." Only Monk ... is well informed, and his words are helpful to the world. "However, Mencius' position before the Song Dynasty was not very high, and there was even a limerick satirizing Mencius:" Why are there many chickens next door? " Have beggars ever had two wives? "There is a King of Zhou in the fashion world. Why do people talk about it?" . Its actual position is above the Five Classics.

Reading enlightenment

Meng Mu godson, persuasive; Mencius was taught to correct his mistakes. When you get along with others, you should be strict with yourself and be polite to others.