Mencius was a famous political activist. In order to spread Confucianism and promote his "benevolence and righteousness" program, he took his students all over the world, including Zou, Teng, Wei, Qi, Song and Lu. In his later years, he retired to his hometown and wrote his own thoughts systematically with his disciples Zhang Wan and Gong Sunchou. The seven pieces of Mencius, which have been handed down to this day, are not only a Confucian classic, but also an excellent collection of ancient prose, which has a high position in the history of philosophy and literature.

"Zhouyi Kun" said: "The terrain is Kun, and a gentleman carries things with virtue." Confucius said, "State-owned Tao is not abolished; The state has no way to avoid punishment. " ("The Analects of Confucius Gongye Chang") Mencius further said: "If you are poor, you will be righteous, and if you leave, you will not leave the Tao ... If you succeed, you will benefit the people; If you don't succeed, cultivate your morality and see the world. If you are poor, you will be alone, and if you are good, you will help the world. " It can be seen that Mencius advocates that people should be responsible for the world on the one hand and have extensive achievements in their lives; On the other hand, it is necessary to cultivate one's self-cultivation and achieve perfection in life fame and mind cultivation. Mencius believes that the foundation of the world is the country, the foundation of the country is the home, and the foundation of the home is the people. A person must have good self-cultivation in order to keep the family in order; Only family harmony can govern the country; Governing the country can make the world peaceful. Mencius' exposition on the way of self-cultivation has imperceptibly influenced the national spirit of China people for thousands of years, and influenced the behavior and attitude of China people.

Pre-Qin Confucianism attached great importance to benevolence, righteousness and morality over life. Confucius said, "If you are benevolent, you will not harm benevolence, but kill yourself." Mencius also said that "sacrifice one's life for righteousness". This does not mean that they do not attach importance to life, but combine moral cultivation with health preservation, emphasizing that moral cultivation has practical health preservation function.

Mencius summarized moral norms into four categories, namely, benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom. He thinks that benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom are the most important among them. Benevolence is based on filial piety and filial piety, and it is the basic moral standard to deal with the blood relationship between father and son. In order to explain the origin of these moral norms, Mencius put forward the view that human nature is good. He encouraged people to be sincere and show goodwill with actions. If they only pay lip service to kindness, there is no fact that cannot be believed, so they are completely convinced. If we can put good into action and give benefits to others, then all the people in the world will believe in him.

Mencius believes that to correct others' words and deeds and virtues, we must first correct our own words and deeds and virtues; If you don't correct yourself, you can't correct others, even your relatives, let alone the whole world. To be a real gentleman, you must correct yourself before you can correct others. If you want to do it, you should first ask yourself if you are doing something wrong or thinking wrong when your words and deeds arouse others' opinions. When your words and deeds don't achieve the expected results, you should first ask yourself whether you have done anything wrong or not, keep asking yourself questions and try to be honest and error-free.

Mencius believes that the reason why a gentleman is different from others is that he can examine his own heart and whether he is kind to others and self-disciplined by courtesy. Only a benevolent person can care about others, and a polite person can respect others; People who can love others often love him; People who can respect others often respect them. Suppose someone is here, treat yourself rudely. A gentleman should first ask himself if there is anything unkind, rude and disloyal: I love someone, but others don't come near me, so I have to reflect on whether my conscience is not as good as loving someone; I control others, but others are not controlled by me, so I have to reflect on my wisdom, is it thoughtless; I treat people with courtesy, and others don't have to answer me politely. I should reflect on my manners, whether it is rude or not. When what you do doesn't get a good response, don't blame others lightly, but reflect on whether you have made a mistake.

Mencius taught people to judge and distinguish between righteousness and reason, and not to make the mistake of too little Otawa. Sometimes it seems desirable on the surface, but on second thought, I don't think it can be taken because it is against Lian De. Sometimes it seems that it can be given to people, but when I think about it, I think it is absolutely impossible to give it, because giving it will hurt Huide. Sometimes it seems that you can die, but after thinking about it, you feel that you must not die, because death and injury have killed your courage. It can be seen that things in the world, between life and death and giving up, must be in line with the mean. Mencius believed that being a man must be reasonable. If you only know how to eat well, wear warm clothes and live comfortably, and there is no lesson to restrain it, it is similar to the behavior of animals.

Mencius believes that the morality of benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom is innate, inherent in people's hearts, human's "conscience and virtue" and the essential feature that distinguishes people from animals. Everyone has a "good end", that is, compassion, shame, resignation and right and wrong, which is called "four ends"; Some people can expand and strengthen their moral cultivation, while others give up on themselves and are submerged by the environment, leading to personality differences. Mencius believes that there are many friends, and although he wants to be a gentleman, he can't get it. There are many gentlemen among friends. Although you don't want to be a gentleman, you can't get it. Therefore, if you can be close to the gentleman and be kind to others, you can study in Germany and make contributions in the future. Therefore, Mencius attached great importance to the consciousness of moral cultivation, and thought that no matter how bad the environment was, he should strive for progress and take the bad environment as a means to temper himself. You should be a real gentleman with "wealth can't be lewd, poverty can't be moved, and power can't be bent". In the face of severe tests, we must "sacrifice our lives for righteousness" and would rather sacrifice our lives than give up moral principles. Only when you have less desire can you live a poor and happy life and keep your heart. The true gentleman is "wealth can't be lewd, poverty can't be moved, and powerful people can't be bent" (Mencius Teng Wengong).

Mencius developed Confucius' thought of benevolence into the theory of "benevolent government", which had a great influence on later generations. 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. Compared with Confucius' theory of "gentleman", Mencius added a far-reaching concept-gentleman to China's traditional cultural personality. He believes that anger and fear of the whole world are not true courage, and those who are brave, ruthless, treacherous and cruel, and greedy for profit and forgetting righteousness are even more difficult to hope for courage. A true gentleman is an open and aboveboard person, a determined person, and a person with benevolence and righteousness and a broad mind. Mencius had a secret of acquiring a gentleman's personality: cultivating honesty. What is "aristocratic spirit"? This is a noble and strong sense of justice, an unyielding character, a kind of heroism, a fearless courage and firm ambition. Zhu, a philosopher in the Song Dynasty, said, "Mencius is somewhat heroic." Lin Yutang, a close friend, said, "We can learn from Mencius, who can make stubborn husbands upright and cowards firm."

To be upright, introspective, reflexive, sincere, noble and even free from selfish desires-"cultivating the mind is not good at lust" ("wholeheartedly"). Mencius' life spirit of self-cultivation is an important supplement to Mencius' life spirit of inheriting the sages as the world.