Advocating morality and cultivating oneself.

Fan Chi swam under the dancers and said, "Dare you ask Zunde, Xiu De, and argue?" Confucius said, "Good question! Get first, then get, don't advocate morality and? It is not compulsory to attack his evil, not to attack his people without evil. The anger of the imperial dynasty, forgetting its body and forgetting its relatives, is it confusing? " -"The Analects of Confucius" Yan Yuan 12

Commentary: Fan Chi accompanied Confucius to walk under the stage. Fan Chi asked, "How can I improve my moral quality, clear my inner evil thoughts and distinguish chaos?" Confucius said, "Good question! Don't you just do things first and don't talk about income to improve your virtue? Criticizing your own mistakes rather than blaming others is to eliminate evil thoughts. I hate the grave for a while and forget my identity. I forget my loved ones and even my loved ones. Isn't it very confusing? "

In this passage, I talked about three aspects, namely, respecting morality, Xiu De and distinguishing confusion.

Chongde: that is, to do things with virtue. In life, when we want to do something, we usually consider the gains and losses, and what benefits and gains I will get if I do it. If I had, I would do it. If it is impossible, I won't do it. Even ask for something in return. But in this passage, Confucius told us that no matter what we do, we should do it well first, and don't ask about gains and losses. After a long time, your virtue will naturally improve. But in our daily life, there is another situation: we may do the same thing in front of acquaintances or people; But in the case of strangers or no one, they may not do this. Although this kind does not care about personal gains and losses on the surface, it is not really "respecting morality." This reminds me of a sentence in Zhu Zhijia's motto: if you want to be human, you must do it; Fear of being known is a great sin. In the self-cultivation chapter of Xunzi, there is such a passage: good farmers do not plow because of floods and droughts, good farmers do not neglect the market, and gentlemen do not neglect the road because of poverty. They are all paid regardless of the harvest.

Practice: it is to get rid of evil thoughts in your heart. This "evil thought" is not what we are talking about now, but all right and wrong. Confucius said: "see no evil", which means: only say your own faults, and don't blame others' faults. And our reality is often: everything we say and do is right and reasonable; When something goes wrong and something goes wrong, it's all the responsibility of others, and it's all their fault. Obviously, this is impossible. No one is perfect, and everyone can make mistakes. Then we should "repair", constantly reflect on our own speech acts, find our own shortcomings and faults, and constantly correct them, influence people around us with our own actions, and treat others' faults with forgiveness and reflection. "Disciples Rules" says, "Seeing people is evil? Introspection? Change it when you have it? No police. "

Confusion: it is to distinguish right from wrong. Then what is confusion? Confusion means forgetting one's identity, leaving one's relatives behind, saying some excessive words and doing some extreme things because of a moment of profound hatred. Finally, even relatives were involved. This is all because the heart is not clear enough-this is confusion! If you have enough knowledge in your heart, what can you go through? For example, in our community for a period of time, I have seen the same scene several times: because some roads in our community are one-way, the property will draw driving arrows on the roads. Sometimes people go retrograde for convenience. But when the two cars meet, they naturally can't get through. If the normal driver gets off slightly or changes direction slightly, the retrograde car can still pass. But at this time, he is not willing to give way to him in the opposite direction, but the retrograde car thinks that you can pass with a little concession. Why can't you make way? So the two sides were deadlocked there and even got off the bus and quarreled. Of course, I won't stand by and watch the fun, and I know that it was impossible to change them with my own ability. Of course, one party still has to make the final result. But if both sides can think of this from the beginning and take the initiative to make concessions, things can be solved in a few seconds. But both of them wanted each other to make way for themselves, so they both waited there and even quarreled. I think this should also be a kind of "confusion"! Let's not say that quarreling hurts the spirit and hurts the harmony of the neighborhood. The most basic thing is that both sides are wasting their own time, consuming others and themselves at the same time. As the saying goes, "it is convenient for others, but also for yourself", which should be the same!

Of course, Confucius also had other views on these three aspects. For example, in the Analects of Confucius, Confucius said to his students that "respecting morality" and "distinguishing confusion" are: "believing in, migrating and respecting morality. Love wants to live, and evil wants to die, which is confusing. " This requires us to keep learning and exploring.