The Importance and Significance of Moving to Mount Tai

Mencius said, "Timing (1) is not as good as geographical location, and geographical location (2) is not as good as human harmony (3)."

The city of three miles (4), the country of seven miles (5) and the ring (6) are invincible. If the husband attacks it, he will get the right time; However, (2 1) is not the winner, but the weather is not as good as the geographical location.

The city is not too high, the pool is not too deep, the army is not very profitable, and the rice is not too much. Not as good as people and peace.

Therefore, the people in China do not take the frontier, the country does not take the risk of mountains and rivers, and the benefits of the world do not take the benefits of military revolution. Those who gain the Tao [13] help more, while those who lose the Tao [13] help less; Not helpful to ⒄, but to ⒅' s relatives; Help more, and the world will be at peace. Go with the flow, attack the pro-side, and the gentleman wins without fighting. "

Edit this paragraph

To annotate ...

(1) Time: refers to the season and climate suitable for combat.

(2) Geographical location: refers to the geographical situation suitable for combat.

(3) Harmony among people: win people's hearts and unite from top to bottom.

(4) The city of three miles, the country of seven miles: three miles in the inner city and seven miles in the outer city.

5] Guo: Outer City

[6] Ring: Surrounding

(7) Pool: moat.

(8) Military Revolution: generally refers to weapons and equipment; Soldiers, weapons; Leather, armor, armor for protection, etc.

(9) Committee: give up.

⑽ Go: Leave.

⑾ domain: used as a verb here, meaning to limit.

⑿ Seal: Delineated boundary line.

[13] merge: merge

[14] mountain stream: topography

⒂ Dao: A benevolent monarch.

[14] immoral: a monarch who does not practice benevolent government.

⒄ To: Pole

⒅ Bank: Through "rebellion" and betrayal.

Trick: So.

⒇ Yes: or (2 1) However: In this case, then

Edit this paragraph

translate

Mencius said: "The season and climate that are conducive to combat are not as important as the terrain that is conducive to combat. The terrain that is conducive to combat is not as important as the will of the people and the unity of mind (important). Surrounded by Three Mile City and a seven-mile-high wall, (the enemy) surrounded and attacked it but could not win. Since (the enemy) surrounded and attacked it, there must be conditions suitable for the season and climate; But we can't win yet. This is a season and climate conducive to combat, and the terrain conducive to combat is not as good as it is. The city wall is not high, the moat is not deep, the weapons are not sharp, the armor is not weak, and there is not much food; However, the defenders abandoned the city. This is because the terrain conducive to combat is not as good as the will of the people. Therefore, restricting people's movement cannot rely on the demarcated border, consolidating national defense cannot rely on mountains and rivers, and establishing prestige in the world cannot rely on the firmness and sharpness of weapons and equipment. A monarch who can practice benevolent government will have more people to help him; A monarch who cannot be benevolent will have fewer people to help him. Few people help him to the extreme, and even people inside and outside the family will betray him; Many people help him to the extreme, and everyone in the world will obey him. Attack those who are betrayed by their own families and others with the power that everyone in the world obeys. Therefore, a gentleman has learned the Tao, that is, not to fight. If he enters the war, he will surely win.

Edit this paragraph

source

Selected from Mencius, Gongsun Chou. Mencius, whose real name is Ke, was a disciple of the grandson of Confucius, a thinker, educator and politician in the Warring States period, and was honored as an "elegant saint". He put forward "enjoying the people", "enjoying the people's happiness and worrying about the people", and advocated that "the people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the light".

Edit this paragraph

Brief analysis

The central argument is the first two sentences of the article. Mencius put forward three concepts, namely, weather, geographical location, and human harmony, and compared these three concepts to promote them layer by layer. Emphasize the importance of "harmony between people" with two "not as good". The comparison between the three is essentially the comparison between the former and the latter, emphasizing that various objective and multifaceted factors are not as good as people's subjective conditions and the "harmony between people" in the war, and it is people rather than things that determine the outcome of the war. The comparative argument is extremely impressive. The sentence pattern is the same, the tone is very positive, no doubt.

Two or three paragraphs focus on the central argument and further demonstrate it with two arguments. In the second paragraph, examples of attack and war are selected to illustrate that "the weather is not as good as the geographical position". A small town is surrounded on all sides and can't be broken. Even people with "good weather" can't win, which aims to show that "good location" is more important than good weather; In the third paragraph, examples of attack and war are chosen to illustrate that even if the city is favorable-the pool is not high, the soldiers are not determined to make profits, and there are not many meters, some people abandon the city and flee, because the favorable position is hard to compare with the harmony between people. These two examples are not actual examples of war, but general, that is, except for special circumstances. Therefore, the debate has universal significance and certain persuasiveness.

The above syllogism proves the truth that "the weather is not as good as the geographical position, and the geographical position is not as good as human harmony". The function of the fourth paragraph is to further elaborate on the basis of the previous syllogism and push the scope of argument from war to governing the country, thus fully embodying Mencius' political views and making the article more universal. Secondly, "winning the Tao" can actually be understood as "winning people's hearts", that is, "harmony between people". Those who win the hearts of the people will submit to it, and they will be invincible wherever they go. Those who lose people's hearts will do the opposite and collapse without attack. Therefore, paragraph 4 is by no means redundant.

Edit this paragraph

analyse

We usually use the phrase "get more help from the Tao, get less help from the Tao" to explain that people who are in line with justice can get support and help from many sides, and those who violate justice will fall into isolation and helplessness. Here, we understand "Tao" as "righteousness". So, what is justice? Modern Chinese Dictionary says: "Justice" means "just truth that is beneficial to the people". This is a modern understanding, but it comes down in one continuous line with its original meaning.

"Tao helps more, Tao helps less" is a famous assertion of Mencius. Mencius Gong Sunchou said: "Those who gain the Tao will help more, while those who lose the Tao will help less. When there is little help, relatives will be there; Help more, and the world will be at peace. Take the world at will and attack the relatives, so the gentleman wins without fighting. " The word "pan" here means "rebellion", which means betrayal and opposition. This passage means that there are many people who help the right people; For those who have lost their way, fewer people help him. When there are few people to help, even relatives will oppose him; When so many people help, the whole world will obey him. Take the obedience of the whole world to attack those who even oppose their relatives, or win the first world war without fighting.

Mencius' "virtuous" and "immoral" people here do not refer to ordinary individuals, but to the king of a country. The king of a country is both the commander-in-chief of the war and the political leader. Mencius, by discussing the victory or defeat of the war, led to the view that "getting more help from the Tao and getting less help from the Tao". But in Mencius' view, "people's hearts turn back" is of fundamental significance to war and equally important to politics. Mencius said, "He who gets the people gets the world." There is a way to win the people: win their hearts and win the people. "Meaning, win the hearts of the people in the world, win the hearts of the people first. The so-called "winning the hearts of the people" means winning the support, support and help of the people. The so-called "winning the world" means "ruling the world" through benevolent government, rather than striving for the world by force alone. Benevolence is to convince people with virtue, make them convinced and join in automatically; Persuading people with strength can't convince people. In Mencius' view, the way to win the world is to implement benevolent government. Because benevolent governance is the policy of "winning its heart".

So, how to "win its heart", that is, how to conduct benevolent government? Mencius put forward the idea of "protecting the people". Protecting people means caring for and protecting people. It requires the monarch to "gather what he wants with them without doing evil", that is, to accumulate what the people want for them without imposing what the people hate on them. What do people want? A rich and happy life, of course. Mencius believes that this is the fundamental focus of benevolent governance. Having done this, no force can stop the submission of the people's hearts and the whole world.

The main reasons for "winning the war" are: "the weather is not as good as the geographical position, and the geographical position is not as good as people's peace" and "helping them as much as possible will make the world peaceful".

Edit this paragraph

Overall grasp

At the beginning of this essay, I put forward the view that "the weather is not as good as the geographical position, and the geographical position is not as good as harmony with people", and pointed out that "harmony with people" is the primary condition for defeating the enemy. "Harmony between people" means "helping more" and "obeying the world" mentioned below, that is, the support and support of the people, which embodies Mencius' political thought of "valuing the people but neglecting the monarch". Song Zhuxi's evaluation of this chapter is: "Yin Shi said: He who speaks the world wins the hearts of the people." Jiao Xun's annotation in the Qing Dynasty is: "Man is more important than heaven and earth, so Qiu Min is called the son of heaven." It can be seen that this chapter is not about war, but about people's hearts, and it is about the importance of "king" (that is, "benevolent government") by war. Therefore, the article first compares the harmony between weather and geographical location, geographical location and people step by step, and points out that these three factors play different roles in the war; Finally, the conclusion that "those who gain the Tao will help more, and those who lose the Tao will help less" is deduced from human harmony to complete the argument of this paper.

At the beginning of this chapter, the central argument is put forward and proved by a very general war example. Then, it is demonstrated theoretically, and the conclusion that "those who gain the Tao help more, those who lose the Tao help less" is drawn, and the essence of "human harmony" is clarified. At the end of the article, the "gentleman" who won "human harmony" and "victory in the war" is the conclusion, highlighting "human harmony" is the most important condition to determine the outcome of the war.

The sentences in this article are neat, fluent, coherent and convincing. For example, when the author demonstrates that geographical position is not as good as human harmony, he first uses four parallel double negatives to fully develop the favorable conditions of "geographical position" possessed by the defender, and then makes a sharp turn to tell the result of failure, which makes the conclusion that "geographical position is not as good as human harmony" very convincing. For another example, when the author expounds his "Tao helps more", he also uses three negative parallelism sentences first, and naturally draws a conclusion; Then, through the comparison between "more help" and "less help", it is natural to deduce that "a gentleman can defeat the enemy without fighting."

Edit this paragraph

Historical facts and modern examples

1. Shang Tang attacked Xia Jie, Xia Jie lost help, and Shang Tang got more help.

2. When Zhou Wuwang and Ji Fa attacked Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Shang Zhouwang lost his way and was helpless.

3. In 209 BC, Qin Ershi lost his way and lacked help, while Chen Sheng and Guangwu got more help.

4. At the end of Sui Dynasty, there was no way for Yang Guang, and there was a nationwide peasant uprising, and the Wagang Army got more help.

5. There is no way for Yuan Shundi, but the Red Scarf Army led by Zhu Yuanzhang is more helpful.

6. In the civil war, the * * production party received great help, while the Kuomintang received little help.

Extended reading:

1

There are fourteen chapters in Mencius' Gongsun Chou.

Open classification:

Literature, ancient prose, Chinese studies, history