On the view of life and death in Mencius: The book Mencius contains Mencius' systematic view of life and death, which is manifested in the attitude of being kind to all life, the life values of sacrificing one's life for righteousness, and the life pursuit of "a gentleman's entrepreneurship will last forever". Keywords: Mencius; View of life and death; Be kind to life; Give up one's life for righteousness; Entrepreneurial Tradition China Library ClassificationNo.: B222.5 Document IdentificationNo.: A DocumentNo.:1002-2589 (2011)17-0039-02 Mencius is one of the four books, which embodies Confucianism intensively. Mencius inherited and carried forward Confucius' view of life and death. His attitude towards life is to be kind to all life, emphasizing giving up life for righteousness, pursuing entrepreneurship and transcending death. 1. Be kind to all life Mencius, as the most important representative of Confucius' post-learning, inherited Confucius' thought of respecting and cherishing life and developed to a new stage. Mencius' view of life and death is characterized by putting forward a broader concept of being kind to life. Mencius first put forward the specific proposition of being kind to himself, thinking that every part of the body should be cared for and maintained. He said: "People love their bodies as well as their bodies. If you love both, you will support both. Skin without size doesn't love it, so skin without size doesn't support it. " (Mencius Gao Zi) Caring for every part of the body is the embodiment of filial piety, and maintaining it on this basis is the treasure of life itself. Secondly, Mencius extended his kindness to life to all things in nature. When talking to Liang, he said, "It's harmless, but it's kind. When you see a cow, you can't see a sheep. A gentleman is to an animal, seeing its life, and can't bear to see its death; I can't bear to eat its meat when I hear its voice. Far cooking is also a gentleman. " Mencius' greatest contribution to the philosophy of life is to develop the idea of being kind to life into a theory of "benevolent government" that cares about the people. He believes that "benevolent governance" is to make the people of the world "like fire and water": "Change its territory, thin its taxes, and the people can make it rich. When eating, use it politely, not money. People can't live without fire and water. It's enough to knock on people's doors at dusk and ask for fire and water, and it's enough to enjoy it without happiness. Sages rule the world, making millet like fire and water. Millet is like fire and water, how can the people be inhuman? " Mencius believed that only when people have enough food and clothing can they realize the interpersonal relationship of mutual love and experience the joy of life. Along the same ideological logic, Mencius exposed the behavior of the ruling class that led to the destruction of the lives of ordinary people: "There is fat in the stables, fat horses in the wild, and hunger in the wild, which leads to the cannibalism of animals." (Mencius on Teng Wengong) To wage war is a fierce attack on the ruling class. He pointed out that "there was no righteous war in the Spring and Autumn Period." (Mencius) Liang drove the people and their beloved children to war, and Mencius cursed: "It's cruel to Liang!" (Same as above) Then tell Gong Sunchou: "King Hui of Liang fought against the people because of the land, and suffered a heavy defeat. He will be defeated again, fearing that he can't win, so he forced his beloved children to death. " (ditto) Liang actually put his life at risk for self-interest. In Mencius' view, there is no distinction between benevolence and righteousness. It is impossible for such people to unify the world. So when Liang asked him who could unify the world, he said without hesitation, "If you don't love killing, you can kill." People think that a monarch who is not good at killing people can rule the whole country. Mencius condemned those who like war as guilty: "I am good at fighting, and I am good at fighting", which is also a great sin. "("Mencius dedicated ")" This so-called rate and cannibalism, sin is not allowed to die. Therefore, those who are good at fighting are punished, followed by those who are even princes, followed by those who are willing to mow the grass and cultivate the land. " Mencius believed that the perpetrators should be punished in different degrees, especially those who killed for land and power. It can be seen that according to Mencius' ideological logic, life is higher than political needs. It is for the purpose of caring for life and being kind to life that Mencius is extremely opposed to war and put forward "the benevolent is invincible" (Mencius Hui Liang Wang Shang). He said: "the benevolent is invincible in the world, and even the benevolent has been cut to the point of inhumanity." How can there be blood? " ("Mencius") Mutual love and humility between countries will not harm life. It can be seen that in Mencius' view, there is "love" with "benevolence", "people" with "love" and "the world" with "people". Mencius put forward a series of measures to implement benevolent policies and protect people's lives while opposing the ruling class to harm people's lives. He said: "If you don't go against the farming season, the whole grain can't win the grain." Fish and turtles can't win food if they can't count in the pool; Axe gold gets into the mountain in time, and mywood can't be used. Valley and fish turtles can't be eaten, and wood and wood can't be used, which makes people die. "("Mencius Liang ") These thoughts of Mencius still have important enlightening significance today. Mencius, like Confucius, fully affirmed the importance of human natural life, but he also saw that there might be contradictions between the natural and social attributes of human life. Faced with this contradiction, like Confucius, he emphasized the priority of social morality. The difference is that Confucius focuses on "benevolence" and Mencius focuses on "righteousness", that is, the external expression of "benevolence" is appropriate, that is, it conforms to the behavior of benevolence. Confucius believes that "benevolence" is the highest value, while Mencius believes that "righteousness" is the highest value. According to Mencius' explanation: "Benevolence, people's homes are also safe; Righteousness, the right path of man is also. " ("Mencius Li Lou") "Benevolence, human heart is also; Righteousness, people are also on the road. " Mencius believed that benevolence refers to people's kind heart; Righteousness refers to the right path that people should take in action, that is, to practice good in action. Mencius advocated that between righteousness and benefit, sarira is righteousness. When Mencius saw Liang, Liang asked him, "Hey! Will it be good for our country to come all the way? Mencius said to him,' King! Why is it profitable? It's just benevolence. "("Mencius Hui Liang Wang Shang ") Facing the choice between life and death, Mencius clearly put forward the life values of giving up life for righteousness. He said, "Fish is what I want; Bear's paw is also what I want; You can't have your cake and eat it. You can't have your cake and eat it. Life is what I want; Righteousness is also what I want; You can't have both, and you have to sacrifice your life for righteousness. "In life, people often face the situation of choosing between the two. At this time, people often weigh the pros and cons and choose one. " "Fish and bear's paw" is obviously that bear's paw is even rarer. If you choose bear's paw instead of fish, you will lose a lot, so most people will choose bear's paw. In the choice between life and death, choosing life is more profitable than choosing death, because "life" means hope and "death" is the opposite. But in Mencius' view, when the existence of life violates the value of "righteousness", we should abandon "life" and adopt "righteousness". He said: "I want to live, I want more than the living, so I don't want it;" Death is also my evil, and it is worse than the dead, so I have nothing to lose. " (ditto) Mencius believes that in this case, we can't make a choice by how much we gain or lose. His so-called "desire is greater than life" is benevolence and righteousness, and "evil is greater than death" is words and deeds that betray benevolence and righteousness. This life value of "sacrificing one's life for righteousness" is obviously the development of Confucius' thought of "killing one's life to become a human being" and a different expression of the same problem. On the premise of life values of "respecting ambition", Mencius put forward the view of life and death of "sacrificing life for righteousness", and advocated taking benevolence as the ambition and benevolence as the value goal and survival significance of life. Mencius devoted himself to this: "You asked,' What is a scholar?' Mencius said,' Shangzhi.' Say,' What is Shangzhi?' Yue:' It's just benevolence and righteousness. It is unjust to kill an innocent person, and it is also unjust not to take it away. Living in evil? Renye; Where is path of evil? Yoshiya There is benevolence and righteousness, and adult affairs are ready. ""The so-called ambition is to do things in a noble and righteous way, not to kill an innocent person or take a piece of ill-gotten wealth, that is, to make one's motives and actions follow the principle of' righteousness'. Mencius believed that to achieve morality, cultivate self-cultivation and cultivate temperament, we must take "benevolence" as the foundation and live in it. A person should have "compassion", "shame" and "resignation", so as to behave and treat people with courtesy. In connection with "respecting ambition", Mencius put forward the theory of "nourishing qi", that is, strengthening one's own moral cultivation, and advocating that people should have ambition in life, "matching righteousness with Taoism" and "gathering righteousness" to cultivate noble spirit. The "noble spirit" refers to the will and strength with righteousness as the key link, is an indomitable righteousness, and is the willpower guarantee to realize "sacrifice one's life for righteousness". Mencius advocated sacrificing one's life for righteousness, but stressed not to make unnecessary sacrifices. He said, "You can die, you can die, you are brave." (Mencius Li Lou II) If you can or cannot die, if you choose to die, it will damage your courage. An example in the first chapter of Mencius Li Lou also reflects Mencius' attitude: "Chunyu Kun said:' Is it polite for men and women not to give and receive? Mencius said,' courtesy is also. Say,' If you drown your sister-in-law, how can you help her?' Yue:' Sister-in-law is a jackal if she drowns and doesn't save. Men and women are not close and polite; If my sister-in-law is saved from drowning, she has the right. "Although it is the code of conduct followed by Confucianism that men and women give and receive without kissing, sister-in-law should be flexible when her life is in danger, so Mencius thinks she should have the right to change her mind. It is impolite for men and women to give and receive kisses, but it is unkind to leave. He would rather be rude than ungrateful. Etiquette is very important in daily life, but in the case of saving a life, it is necessary to "take etiquette as life", which shows that Mencius is also cautious in the choice of life and death. He believes that benevolent people should not only make unnecessary sacrifices, but also cherish their own lives. He said: "People who know their own destiny will not stand under the rock wall." A man who knows his fate will not stand under a dangerous wall, and he will die worthless if he is crushed to death by a falling wall. If you want to die, you must "die in the Tao." This kind of death is a fair death. To this end, Mencius made a distinction between death: "Do your best, and it is also a positive life to die. Marrying a dead person is not the right life. " ("Mencius") Third, "gentlemen's entrepreneurship is to inherit the tradition and is also sustainable. "Mencius and Confucius come down in one continuous line, thinking that man can transcend death and realize immortal value, which is exactly what he worried about all his life. He said: "Therefore, a gentleman has a lifelong worry and never suffers from it once. If you are worried, you have it. Shun people, I am also a person; Shun is the law of the world, but it can be passed on to future generations. I'm not a countryman, but I can worry. What is there to worry about? This is too embarrassing. " (Mencius Li Lou) "Shun" can become a model for all people in the world, and its reputation will be passed down to future generations, which is "immortal"; The "worry" of a gentleman lies in whether he can complete his moral cultivation, make contributions to the people, and die immortal like Shun. How to eliminate this worry? Mencius believes that we can only learn from Shun and must innovate. "A gentleman's entrepreneurship is sustainable." (Mencius Hui Liang Wang Xia) Both Confucius and Mencius, after realizing that birth, aging, illness and death are inevitable processes, do not advocate natural inaction, but emphasize that people should strive to pursue their own ideals, create achievements and pass them on to future generations, so as to achieve immortality. This thought of Confucius and Mencius has a far-reaching influence on the younger generation. Mencius once praised Boyi's noble moral sentiments. He said, "Boyi, his eyes don't see evil colors, and his ears don't listen to evil sounds. It is not a king, it is nothing; Don't make it unless it is the person. Governance progress, chaos retrogression. What went wrong, what was stopped by the people, can't bear to live. Thinking of hometown is like sitting on charcoal in the palace. When the time comes, it lives on the shore of the North Sea, waiting for the world to be clear. Therefore, those who listen to the wind of bo yi are stubborn and loyal, cowards and perseverance. " (Mencius Zhang Wan) It can be seen that although Boyi is poor, he is "ambitious" and has never done anything against human nature. He reached the highest moral realm and set an example for future generations, so he lived in people's hearts and was praised by people after his death. In a word, Mencius' view of life and death mainly comes from Confucius' view of life and death, emphasizing "giving up life for righteousness" and paying special attention to people's livelihood. Mencius attached great importance to social life, advocated taking benevolence and righteousness as his ambition and cultivating lofty spirit, so he had a kind of heroism of "giving up who I am"; Mencius finally pursued the "entrepreneurial tradition" and died immortal. Source: learning theory, middle school