In the past, when Mencius was a child, his father died young, and his mother kept a festival and did not remarry. Mencius' mother attached great importance to Mencius' education and strictly controlled it, hoping that one day Mencius would become a useful person. At first, they lived next to the cemetery. Mencius and his neighbor's children learned to bow down and cry like adults and played a funeral game.
Mencius' mother looked at it and frowned: "No! I can't let my children live here! " Mencius' mother took Mencius to the fair, and when they arrived at the fair, Mencius and the children in the neighborhood began to learn the way businessmen did business and shouted. Mencius' mother said, "This place is not suitable for my children to live in!" "
Mencius' mother took Mencius to live near the place where pigs and sheep were slaughtered. Mencius learned to buy and sell slaughtered pigs and sheep. Mencius' mother knew this and frowned: "This place is still not suitable for my children to live in!" So they moved again. This time, they moved near the school.
At this time of the first day of the summer calendar every month, officials go to the Confucian Temple, bow down and treat each other politely. Mencius learned to remember what he saw. Mencius' mother nodded with satisfaction and said, "This is where my son should live!" " "So I live here.
Second, Mencius was educated.
Mencius' wife was alone in the house, squatting on the ground. When Mencius entered the room and saw his wife like this, he said to his mother, "This woman is rude. Please allow me to divorce her. " Meng Mu said, "What is the reason?" Mencius said, "She squatted on the ground." Meng Mu asked, "How do you know?" Mencius said, "I saw it with my own eyes."
Meng Mu said, "This is because you are impolite, not because women are impolite. The Book of Rites doesn't say that when you want to enter the door, you should first ask who is in the room; When you are about to enter the hall, you should first announce it loudly to let the people inside know; When you enter the room, you must look down.
"The Book of Rites" said this in order not to catch people off guard. Now you go to your wife's resting place, and there is no noise when you enter the house, and people don't know it, so you can see her squatting on the ground.
It is you who are rude, not your wife who is rude. "After listening to Meng Mu's teaching, Mencius realized that he was wrong, and never dared to talk about divorcing his wife again. Quoted from Biography of Korean Poetry.
Thirdly, the metaphor of broken weaving.
Mencius was interested in learning at first, but after a long time he got bored and often played truant. Meng Mu was very angry when he learned about it. He picked up a knife and cut the warp on the loom. He said, "You give up studying like I cut the thread on the loom. This cloth is woven bit by bit. Now, if the thread is cut, the cloth cannot be woven.
A gentleman studies to achieve fame, and he can increase his wisdom by asking questions. How can it be useful to play truant often? You don't study hard today, but you are lazy to cultivate yourself. You can't stay away from disaster in the future. Don't be a robber, but also a servant! "
Meng Mu used "breaking the weave" as a warning to "drop out of school", pointing out that you should be persistent in doing things, and once you have a clear goal, you will not be disturbed by the outside world. Giving up halfway will have serious consequences. The scene of "breaking the metaphor" left a distinct impression of surprise and fear in Mencius' mind. Since then, Mencius has been studying hard and finally became a master of Confucianism in the history of China.
Fourth, killing dolphins does not deceive children.
When the Meng family still lived next to the market in Miaohuying Village, Mencius saw his neighbor killing pigs and inexplicably asked his mother, "What is the neighbor killing pigs for?" Meng Mu was busy at that time, so he casually said, "I'll give you the meat when it's cooked!" Mencius was very happy, waiting for meat.
Meng Mu knows that honesty is the so-called "keep your word", and she knows that example is more important than words. In order not to break his promise to his son, despite the difficulties at home, Meng Mu took money to buy a piece of pork from his neighbor in the east and let his son have a good time.
The initiator of verb (abbreviation of verb)
This idiom comes from Mencius Hui Liang Wang Shang: "Zhong Ni (Confucius) said: The initiator has no future! It is also used by its image. " During the Warring States Period, Mencius and Liang talked about the way of governing the country. Mencius asked Liang, "Is there a difference between killing with a stick and killing with a knife?" ?
Liang replied, "There is no difference." Mencius asked again, "What is the difference between killing with a knife and killing with politics?" Liang said to him, "It's no different."
Mencius went on to say, "Now there is a lot of fat in Wang's kitchen, and there are strong horses in the stable, but the people are starving, and some people are lying in the wild." This is an organ that attracts animals to eat people! Think about it, king. Even if animals eat each other, it's disgusting. How can those in power lead wild animals to eat people be good parents of ordinary people?
Confucius once said that the first person to use figurines (the living) had no children and grandchildren! You see, it is impossible to be martyred with a humanoid clay doll. How can people starve to death alive? "
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