The Meaning of Cultivating the Body

Meaning of cultivating one's body and mind: to cultivate the body and mind, to cultivate virtue, and to cultivate one's character.

Cultivating one's body is a concept in moral cultivation, which is very important in traditional Chinese culture. The meaning of cultivation is to perfect and improve one's body and mind through self-adjustment, self-education, and self-management. The core of the concept is to "rule oneself in order to rule others", i.e., to start with oneself, and through cultivation to influence and change the surroundings and interpersonal relationships.

Cultivation emphasizes the individual's inner moral consciousness and moral cultivation, including various qualities and habits such as prudence, indifference, modesty, honesty, tolerance and self-discipline. Cultivating one's moral character is not a one-time job, but a long-term process that requires serious study, deliberate practice and slow accumulation to realize one's own improvement and change.

In modern society, the idea of cultivating one's moral character has always had an important position in moral education and psychological guidance. Through in-depth understanding and study of the thought of cultivating one's own body, individuals can better develop their own potential, enhance their own moral concepts and strength of character, in order to better adapt to the complex and changing environments and relational needs of modern society.

From a social point of view, cultivating one's moral character is also of great significance. In today's society, where problems such as corruption and immoral behavior still exist, the idea of cultivating one's moral character serves an important social edification function. Through cultivating oneself to improve the moral consciousness and quality of each person, enhance the overall moral standard of society, promote the harmonious development of society, and provide the basis and guarantee for building a civilized, harmonious, rich and strong modern country.

Source of Cultivation of Virtue

The concept of cultivating one's moral character can be traced back to the two classic books, the University and the Meanwhile. In these two classics, there are ideas about personal cultivation of the body, cultivation of virtue, and governance of the country and the world, which express important thoughts about issues such as personal moral cultivation, popular moral construction and political governance. Specifically, the following are some of the classical references to "cultivating one's moral character":

1. The University: "The Way is in the Spirit". That is to say, only by working on spiritual creation and improving one's moral quality and cultivation level can one truly achieve the goal of governing the country and pacifying the world.

2. Zhongyong: "Cultivate one's body, unify one's family, rule the country and pacify the world". That is to say, starting from oneself, cultivating one's body and cultivating one's character, and harmonizing one's family, in order to govern the country and pacify the world.

3, Zhouyi: "Cultivate the body, qi family, rule the country, and pacify the world". That is, people need to start from the inside first to prevent some bad instinctive behaviors, so that they can establish a harmonious family, and eventually realize the desire to govern the country and reach the commonwealth of the world.