The fundamental purpose of this paper is to carry forward the aboveboard moral quality in nature, set an example, let ordinary people know the truth of decontamination, and take achieving perfection as the highest purpose of life. As long as the purpose of life is clear, you can be firm; As long as you make up your mind, you can take your time; Only when you are calm and not chaotic can you be calm; Only when you are calm can you think deeply; Thoughtful thinking is bound to benefit. Everything has branches and branches, and everything has a beginning and an end. Knowing the relationship between subject and object, the primary and secondary relationship, the temporal and spatial order and the interrelation of the development of all things is close to understanding the essence of Tao. In order to make the world aboveboard, sages of past dynasties often govern their own countries first; If you want to govern the country well, you will often govern the family first; If you want to run your family well, you must first strive to improve your character; The key to improving conduct is to correct thinking; If you want to correct your thoughts, you must show piety and sincerity; If you want to show piety and sincerity, you must acquire real knowledge; The way to gain true knowledge is to observe and study everything and summarize its laws; After knowing the law, you naturally gain the wisdom of how to face the pluralistic world; If you get wisdom, you will be more pious and sincere, and you will become a gentleman. Being a gentleman pays more attention to self-cultivation; Cultivation ennobles moral character; Noble morality naturally stabilizes the family; After the family is stable, it is easy to manage the country; Governing the country is easy, then governing the country will level the world, and the world will naturally be peaceful. From Tianzi to Shu Ren, self-cultivation is the foundation of life. Never heard of ignoring this and simply governing the world. The place we are trying to thicken is getting thinner and thinner, but the place we are trying to thicken is getting thicker and thicker. This has never happened. If you want to do good deeds, but put the cart before the horse, with a clear purpose but no priorities, the result can only be counterproductive.
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! Villains are not good at fooling around and can do anything. When you meet a gentleman, he will be disgusted, cover up his bad and focus on his good. 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. Therefore, a gentleman must be cautious and independent. .
The so-called pious sincerity, first of all, is not to deceive yourself. Just like hating stench and liking beauty, it is from the heart. Being able to do this is called "self-modesty". To be sincere, the most important thing is "caution"! A noble gentleman, even when he is alone, must be careful of other thoughts in his heart. In private, ordinary people at the bottom do everything for their own benefit. When they see a noble gentleman, they hide or cover up their evil deeds and brag. But I didn't know that when others look at you, they can see your heart, lungs and liver clearly. What's the use of covering it up? This is called inner truth, and it will be expressed in words. Therefore, a noble gentleman will be cautious even when he is alone.
The so-called self-cultivation is in the right heart, and it is wrong to be angry; If you are afraid, you may be wrong; What is fun can't be right; If you are worried, you may be wrong. Absent-minded, blind, deaf, eat without knowing its taste. This is called cultivating one's mind.
The key to improving one's personality is to keep a correct attitude, because it is difficult to keep a correct attitude under the circumstances of anger, fear, preference and worry. If you don't have a correct attitude, you will get married: although you are watching, you don't seem to see it; Although listening, I don't seem to hear it; Although I am eating, I don't know what it tastes like. Therefore, to cultivate self-cultivation, we must first correct our mentality.
The so-called family is cultivating, people are loving, people are despising, people are in awe, people are sad, and people are proud. Therefore, it is difficult to know that good is evil, and knowing evil is beautiful! Therefore, there is a saying: "People don't know the evil of children, and people don't know the size of seedlings." This means that you can't be at home without repairing your body.
The so-called good family management, first of all, to improve their own conduct, because ordinary people prefer close people; People who hate themselves will hate; People who fear themselves will be biased; People who sympathize with themselves will be eccentric; People who despise themselves will be biased. So few people can love a person and see his shortcomings, and hate a person to see his advantages. Therefore, there is a proverb that says, "No one knows the evil of children, and no one thinks about the strength of crops." This is why you can't run a good family without improving your character.
The so-called rule of the country must be based on the family, and the family cannot be taught, but there are no people who can teach. Therefore, a gentleman is a Buddhist without becoming a monk: he is filial, so he is a gentleman; Like, so long; Kindness, so make public also. ..... Family ties, a country prospers; A letter, a goodsky letter; One person is greedy, and one country is chaotic. Its machine is like this. This is a word, one person decides the country. Yao and Shun lead the world with benevolence, and the people follow it; Xie Shuai ordered the world to be violent and the people followed it. What it does is the opposite of what it wants, but the people don't follow it. Therefore, if a gentleman has himself, he will ask others, and if he does not have himself, he will not be others. Hidden things are unforgivable, but they can be used to describe people, but nothing is left. So the rule of the country lies in its own home.
It is said that if you want to govern the country well, you must first govern your family, because no one can govern his own family but others. Therefore, a gentleman is educated in governing the country at home: filial piety can be used to serve the monarch; Respecting the elderly can be used as an official; Good for children can be used to rule the people. ..... A benevolent country will also develop a benevolent atmosphere; The comity of a country will also lead to comity; One person is greedy and violent, and a country will be in chaos. The connection is so close. This is called a bad word, and one person can protect the country. Yao and Shun ruled the world with benevolence, and the people obeyed it. Jie fights violence with violence, and the people fight violence with violence. The ruler's orders are contrary to his actual thoughts, and the people will not obey them Therefore, a gentleman always does it himself before asking others to do it; Don't do it yourself first and then ask others not to do it. It is unrealistic to expect others to do what they want without such forgiveness. Therefore, if you want to govern the country, you must first manage your family.
The so-called "ruling the country by leveling the world" means that the old people are old and the people are filial; Grow in the world and flourish in the people; On T-shirts, people are not twice as lonely as people. It is also a way for a gentleman to have a good attitude. ..... Learn more from others and you will win the country; If you lose people, you will lose this country. Therefore, a gentleman must first be cautious. Some people have virtue, some people have soil, soil has wealth, and wealth is useful. Virtue is the foundation. Those rich people are not.
It is said that to make the world aboveboard, we must first manage our own country. People with high status respect the elderly, and the people will pay great attention to filial piety. The superior people respect their elders, and the people will pay attention to the road; People in the upper class sympathize with orphans and widows, and the people will do the same. Therefore, a gentleman always sets an example by pushing himself and others' "way of being a man". ..... win the hearts of the people, then win the country; If you lose people's hearts, you lose your country. Therefore, a gentleman must first carefully cultivate his own character. Only when there is virtue can someone raise it, and only when there is support can we keep the land. Only with land can we have wealth, and only with wealth can we meet our daily needs. Virtue is the backbone, and wealth is the tail.