The Difference Between the Thought of Confucius and Mencius

Meng Zi's inheritance and development of Confucianism is a new interpretation of Confucius' thought from the characteristics of the times, and he endeavors to improve the spiritual character of Confucianism on the premise of basically following the exposition of Confucius, so as to develop the doctrines founded by Confucius. On the basis of the actual interpretation of Confucius' poems, he put forward the theory of "using one's thoughts against one's will", and gave a reasonable explanation of the beauty of Confucius' personality and the formation of the beauty of the personality based on the standard of "benevolence and righteousness", thus developing and perfecting the aesthetic thought of Confucius.

In the history of the development of Confucianism, Mencius had a special role and position. After the death of Confucius, Zeng Zi, a disciple of Confucius, and Zi Si, a direct grandson of Confucius, successively took up the important task of inheriting and spreading Confucian thought. If Confucius consolidated a set of concepts under the patriarchal system with the confidence of "I am no one else" in his time, it can also be said that from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, with the change and development of the social system, Confucianism needed to be adapted to the needs of the times and a new interpretation system was established. Mencius, who was in the Warring States period, took up the important task of developing Confucian thought in the history of Confucian thought.

Mengzi's inheritance and development of Confucianism was to make a new interpretation of Confucius' thought from the characteristics of the times, and on the premise of basically following Confucius' exposition, he endeavored to enhance the spiritual character of Confucianism so as to develop the doctrines founded by Confucius and to keep Confucianism alive in its own right. He boasted that "everything is ready for me, and there is no greater joy than to turn oneself to sincerity" ("Mengzi - Diligent Heart" (hereinafter only the title of the article)), and strengthened the ideological connotation of Confucius' theory of "benevolence" from the point of view of the human being as the subject of life and the significance of human existence, making it a kind of ideal with survival value and a kind of "humanism". It has strengthened the ideological connotation of Confucius' theory of "benevolence" from the perspective of man as the subject of life and the significance of man's existence, making it an ideal and belief with survival value. Therefore, although there are some differences between his theories and Confucius' thoughts in many aspects, they are inextricably linked with them, and objectively play a role in enriching, developing and deepening the theoretical insights of Confucianism. This paper focuses on the inheritance and creative development of the aesthetic thought of Confucius by Mencius to do some discussion, in order to teach the square family.

From Confucius to Mencius

In the Confucian tradition, the Book of Poetry is an important document, and it is rumored that Confucius had organized the Book of Poetry, which is described in the Historical Records of Confucius, which says, "The ancient Poetry is more than 3,000 pieces, and to Confucius, to go to the weight, and to take what can be applied to the rites and righteousness... ...Three hundred and five pieces were sung by Confucius in order to harmonize with the sounds of Shao, Wu, and YaSong. Rituals and music can be described from here on to prepare for the way of the king and to fulfill the six arts." He was using the Book of Songs as a teaching material in his teaching activities as a way to cultivate the personal cultivation of his students.

The use of the Book of Poetry as a teaching material to require students to learn and understand reflects the importance Confucius attached to the role of the Book of Poetry in social and political life. Generally speaking, later scholars put what Confucius said, "The 300 poems of the Poetry, in a nutshell, say: 'Si Wu Yi.'" (The Analects of Confucius - For Politics) as the program of Confucius on poetry, but there are in fact differences in the understanding of this sentence. Kuang Yamin, a recent writer, said, "'Si Wu Xie' is originally a description of the meaning of the poem 'Lu Song - 駉', which describes the shepherd yelling at his horse not to run amok ('Si' is an imaginary word for yelling, 'Xie' is the same as oblique, and 'Xie' is the same as oblique. ' is the same as oblique, which together means 'Vomit yo! Don't run wild!') Yet it is used as a metaphor for decent thinking." [1] The interpretation of "thinking without evil" as "sincerity of thought and feeling" can only be seen as a later scholar's own interpretation of Confucius' words in line with his own ideology, which will not be discussed in detail here. In the Analects, many places are devoted to the Poetry, which is divided into two kinds of cases: one is a comprehensive discussion of the socio-political and educational functions of the Poetry; the other is an understanding and elaboration of specific verses in the Poetry.

Confucius attached great importance to the role played by the Poetry in the socio-political sphere. One could almost say that he viewed the Poetry Scriptures as the foundation of his life. "Zi said: 'Rise in poetry, establish in ritual, and become in music.'" （He believed that the study of poetry was a necessary condition or prerequisite for a person to become a gentleman of benevolence, and that one should start with the study of Poetry (i.e., "Xing"), and only then could one further learn about Rites and Music. ". He said to his students, "Boy! Why don't you learn poetry? Poetry is a way of rising up, of watching, of being in a group, and of complaining. It can be used to serve one's father at a distance and one's ruler at a distance; it can be used to learn more about the names of birds, animals, grasses, and trees." ("Analects - Yangguo") is an elaboration of the specific role of learning Poetry. Zhu Xi's interpretation of "Xing" is "feeling the will", also from the "Poetry" on the formation of correct and healthy emotions and thoughts, inspire, induce, cultivate and so on to explain the role. He also taught his own son this way: "Chen Kuang asked Bo Yu, said: 'son also have different stories?' He said, 'Not yet.' I tasted independence, carp tend and cross the court. He said, 'Do you learn Poetry?' He said, 'Not yet.' He said: 'If you don't learn Poetry, you can't speak.' The carp retreated to learn the Poetry." (The Analects of Confucius - Ji Shi) He also said to his son, "Is the woman for the Zhou Nan and the Zhaonan? If a man is not a 'Zhou Nan' or a 'Zhaonan', he is like a man standing on a wall!" ("Analects - Yang Shou") Confucius is to maintain the "ritual" from the purpose to educate students and his own son, in his view, with the "Poetry" in the poem to restrain themselves, standardize their behavior, in terms of its personal qualities, "do not learn the "poetry", not to speak In terms of personal qualities, "no one can speak without learning the Poetry", which means that one can have a basis for one's speech when engaging in social and political activities, and demonstrate one's cultivation in accordance with "etiquette"; and the experience and principles provided in the Poetry can be used as a basis for decision-making in political activities, so as to increase one's experience in governance and enhance one's ability to govern, or otherwise. "If one recites the 300 Poems and teaches them to govern, but does not reach them; if one makes them in the four directions, but is unable to specialize in them; even though there are many of them, what do you think of them?" （Therefore, in Confucius' theory, the value of the Poetry Classic is very specific: "To serve one's father at a distance, and to serve one's ruler at a distance. "

Confucius was a great poet, a great poet, and a great poet, a great poet, and a great poet.

From this principle, Confucius was able to interpret many verses of the Poetry in terms of the ideology of "rites" and "benevolence", and he appreciated those students who were able to draw on the verses of the Poetry to understand them. "Zigong said: 'How is it to be poor without flattery and rich without pride?' Zi said, 'It is possible, but it is not as good as one who is poor and happy, rich and well-mannered.' Zi Gong said: 'The Poetry says, "Like cutting like polishing, like cutting like grinding", is it so?' Zi said: 'Give also, then you can talk with the "Poetry" has been carried on, tell to the past and know the coming.' " (Analects - Xue而)"""Zi Xia asked: '"Coquettish smile, beautiful eyes look forward to, so as to be gorgeous." What is also called?' Zi said: 'Painting after the vegetation.' Said: 'Ritual afterward?' Zi said: 'The one who starts to give, Shang also, can then speak with the "Poetry" already!" ("Analects - eight rows of rows of dancers") in the general view, "such as cut like a dagger, such as faceted like grinding" and "clever smile, beautiful eyes look forward to, so as to splendor", are just extremely ordinary description of daily life phenomena, but to the eyes of Confucius, are with a strong But in the eyes of Confucius, they were strongly colored by "propriety" and "benevolence", and those of his best disciples were actually able to follow his line of thought and find the colors of "propriety" and "benevolence" in the ordinary verses. The "benevolence" is a profound connotation of the "rites" and "benevolence" in ordinary verses.

This principle and method of interpreting poems can be a kind of theoretical presupposition for Confucians, who, on the premise of Confucius's idea of benevolence and with the help of the material of the Poetry, deduced the ubiquitous concepts of "propriety" and "benevolence", and strengthened the idea of "propriety" and "benevolence" by the fact that the Poetry is the most important element of the Confucian philosophy, and that it is the most important element of the Confucian philosophy. The concepts of "propriety" and "benevolence" were reinforced by the material of the Poetry. However, Confucius's fragmentary interpretations of the Poetry are just some improvisations, which sometimes inevitably appear to be far-fetched. For example, from Zigong's "being poor is not flattering, being rich is not arrogant" to "being poor is not as good as being happy, being rich is not as good as being courteous" and then to the "Poetry"'s "like cutting and polishing", what is the connection between the two? What is the connection? According to my understanding, Confucius explained the harmonious relationship between people from the principle that "harmony is the most important thing in the use of rites, and the way of the former kings is beautiful" (Analects - Xue而)，and "like cutting like dangling, like cutting like grinding" is exactly a way to achieve this kind of "harmony". and "like cutting like a dagger, like cutting like a grinding" is a way to achieve such a state of "harmony". Such a way of interpreting poetry, in the eyes of the general public, is indeed somewhat inconceivable, but it has its own rational side of the implicit thought.

And it was Mencius, who saw the flash of Confucian poetic insights in those words of Confucius, and raised it to general aesthetic principles to be deduced and summarized, forming an important poetic theory. We are no longer sure whether Mencius saw the essence of Confucianism in the insights of Zigong and Zixia, for he once said: "He who speaks near and points to the far is a good speaker; he who keeps the rules and applies them in a broad manner is a good Taoist. The words of a gentleman do not go down to the belt but the way exists." （Zigong's and Zixia's understanding of the Poetry shows that they have the wisdom to "speak near and point to the far" and "keep the rules and apply them in a broad manner. They were able to derive a deep understanding of "rites" and "benevolence" from the very trivial matters described in the Poetry, and in turn to understand the great and profound "Dao" contained therein.

To Confucius' method of interpreting the Poetry, Mencius made this theoretical summary:

Ham Qiu Meng said: "If Shun does not submit to Yao, then I have heard the order. The Poetry says: 'Under the whole heaven, there is no one who is not the king's land; and in the land of the rate, there is no one who is not the king's subject.' As Shun was the son of heaven, I dare to ask what about the non-subject of goze?" He said, "It's a poem, not a poem, but a poem about a man who labors in the king's affairs and is not allowed to support his parents. He said, 'There is nothing that is not the king's business, but I am the only one who labors in it'. Therefore, those who say poetry, do not use the text to harm the rhetoric, do not use the rhetoric to harm the will; to use the intention against the will, is to get it." ("On the Ten Thousand Chapters")

In Mencius' view, the understanding of a poem should not remain in the literal sense, and the meaning of the poem should not be jeopardized by a mechanical understanding based on a few words in the poem, looking at the text. Rather, one needs to use one's own understanding and perception to explore the true meaning of the poem in order to grasp the meaning of what the poet is trying to express. This understanding and comprehension of the person who reads and interprets the poem is from his own understanding, that is, what Zhu Xi said in his "Collected Notes on Mencius": "When you take your own 'intention' to meet the author's 'will', you can get it. "

This theoretical claim made by Mencius on the basis of Confucius' practice of interpreting the Poetry actually contains a basic principle of modern hermeneutics. Heidegger puts forward a theory of the "pre-structure" of understanding: "To interpret something as something is essentially to function by having, seeing and grasping it first. Interpretation is never a presuppositionless grasping of what is first given. The first 'canonical' thing at ...... is nothing more than the self-evident, incontrovertible presupposition of the interpreter, which, as something that is already 'set in place' with the interpretation is given in advance. That is to say, it is given in advance in having, seeing, and grasping in advance." [2] In terms of Zigong's and Zixia's understanding of the Poetry, both of them started from the "pre-structure" of "rites" and "benevolence," which is given in the Confucian It is premised on Confucianism's theory of "rites" and "benevolence", which is "first to have, first to see, and first to grasp". As for the conclusion they reached, it can be regarded as the fusion of two different horizons, namely, the specific horizon of the Poetry (i.e., "Zhi") and the specific horizon of the interpreter of the Poetry (i.e., "Yi").

Meng Zi's theory of interpreting the Poetry, which is based on the idea of "reversing the will with the will," has a special significance in the development of Confucian aesthetic thought. Instead of explaining the essence of poetry purely from the point of view of artistic appreciation of poetry, he understood the principle and method of Confucius' interpretation of poetry as a means of education, and used the Poetry as a kind of educational material to strengthen people's understanding of Confucius' "propriety" and "benevolence," showing the omnipresence of that ideological educational function. The poem was used as an educational material to strengthen people's understanding of Confucius' "rites" and "benevolence", showing the omnipresence of that kind of ideological education.

In fact, Mencius' interpretation of the Poetry is very similar to the approach taken by Confucius. For example, in a conversation with Gongsun Chou, he discusses his understanding of the Xiao Ya - Xiao Ben:

Gongsun Chou asked, "Gao Zi said, 'Xiao Ben,' the poem of the little man." Mencius said, "What do you mean by that?" Said: "Grievance." Said: "solid, high old man for the poem also! Someone here, the Vietnamese off the bow and shot, then I laugh and talk about it; no other, sparse also. His brother off the bow and shot, then I weeping and said; no other, also of the Chi. The grievances of "Little Bent" are also pro and pro; pro and pro are also benevolence. I am sure that Gaoxao's poems are also good." （

Legend has it that the poem Xiaoya Xiaoben (小弁) was written by the teacher of Yixu, the crown prince who was deposed by King Yu of Zhou, as a way of expressing Yixu's grief and resentment. What Mencius saw in Yisu's resentment was "kissing" (loving one's relatives), and since it was love for one's relatives, it was a manifestation of "benevolence". Why was Yisu's resentment motivated by his love for his relatives? It seems difficult to understand today, but from Confucius' viewpoint of "benevolence", it is because Yixu had a grudge against his father, King Yu, for his behavior that was not in accordance with the system of "propriety", and he expressed this grudge out of his love for his father. Wasn't Mencius also trying to figure out the author's "will" in a roundabout way, "with his own will"?