How the ancients practiced self-cultivation

Personal cultivation is a process of self-education, self-reflection, and self-improvement; it is a continuous refinement and cultivation of one's own character; it is a cyclical process of improving moral cognition, cultivating moral emotions, strengthening moral will, and practicing morality.

Traditional Chinese culture emphasizes the cultivation of one's moral character and the pursuit of an ideal personality. The term "cultivation" originates from "Mengzi", which means "to cultivate oneself" and "to nourish one's character". China's pre-Qin period of Confucianism is very much focused on moral cultivation, and later through successive generations of thinkers to inherit the play and continuous improvement, formed a long history, rich in content, self-contained system, unique cultivation theory. This theory guides the combination of personal moral cultivation and the cultivation of the family, the governance of the country and the pacification of the world, and everything starts from the cultivation of one's moral character, and only by cultivating one's moral character can one cultivate one's family, and only then can one achieve the purpose of governance of the country and pacification of the world. Confucianism believes that through cultivating one's character, one not only finds the proper way to conduct oneself in the world, but also reaps greater happiness and understands the value and meaning of life.

The Confucian classic The Great Learning quotes the eight words "like cutting and polishing, like cutting and polishing" to describe learning and being, arguing that character development and refinement require a process of cutting, polishing, polishing, and grinding similar to that of processing jade. The Chinese ancestors explored a lot of cultivation methods, which still shine today and deserve to be inherited critically and carried forward.

1, the will

Ancient Chinese thinkers attached great importance to the "will", the will as the first step in cultivation. The ancients said that the will, in terms of its content, mainly in the Tao (the highest truth of life), the will to benevolence and righteousness, the will to become a saint into a sage (saint, for the ideal of the highest personality). According to Confucianism, this is true for all people, rich or poor, noble or lowly, young or old. As long as a person strives to engage in the Way, he or she can become a saint and a sage, a person of high moral character.

The first thing to do is to be determined, that is to say, the will must be firm and not give up halfway. The second is to have a big ambition, small ambition is easy to be complacent, do not want to make progress, ambition is big, endless progress.

2, for learning

The ancients believed that for moral cultivation, for learning is an indispensable step. Confucius emphasized that a gentleman can "eat without seeking to be full, live without seeking to be at peace", but cannot forget to learn. The ancients emphasized the need for erudition, believing that erudition can broaden one's horizons, thus avoiding the danger of being ignorant and uninformed, and to do so in order to counter-argument. Counter-contact refers to the mastery of the essentials. The ancients also emphasized that learning should be combined with thinking. Zi Ri: "Learning without thinking is confusing, thinking without learning is dangerous". Recklessness, confusion without gain. Critical, dangerous, refers to the end and can not get something. Confucianism emphasizes that scholars should learn for themselves, that is, in order to improve themselves morally.

3. The doctrine of "keeping and nourishing"

The doctrine of "keeping and nourishing" first emerged from Mencius's "keeping one's heart and nourishing one's nature". Confucianism refers to the maintenance of one's own heart and nature, and the cultivation of one's own moral and spiritual character. The main methods of keeping and nourishing are:

(1) Keeping the heart and nourishing the nature, i.e., maintaining the good nature, which refers to the maintenance of one's moral consciousness. Mencius regarded the preservation of the heart as the essential characteristic of a gentleman. The heart that Mencius wants people to preserve is also called conscience, which is considered to be innate. Mencius emphasized the need to preserve and conserve this moral consciousness and not to lose it. According to Mencius, the loss of moral consciousness is also the loss of one's original heart (nature). He called this loss of the original heart "peace of mind". Mencius said, "There is no other way to learn, but to seek peace of mind." That is to say, the truth of learning lies in the ability to regain the lost heart, which is the important work of keeping the heart and cultivating the nature. Although Mencius was wrong in his view that moral conscience is innate, he was undoubtedly right in his view that moral consciousness needs to be preserved and conserved. From the point of view of modern psychology, the preservation of the mind is actually the internalization of external moral norms.

(2) Righting the heart and sincerity, i.e., correcting one's ideological understanding and cultivating a sincere character. To be right-minded is to correct one's thoughts. Sincerity is not to deceive oneself. Ancient people tend to associate the right mind with sincerity. The Song and Ming period rationalists attached great importance to the cultivation of correct mind and sincerity. According to Cheng Yi, "The way of learning is to correct one's heart and cultivate one's nature. If one is upright and sincere, one is holy."

(3) Nurture the qi, that is, to cultivate the positive qi endowment. Mencius said, "I am good at nurturing my vitality". The gas refers to the temperament, temperament or endowment, the gas refers to a noble moral sentiments, a kind of rich and noble can not be obscene, poor and lowly can not be moved, the mighty can not be yielded to the great man's temperament, temperament, endowment. The most fundamental way to cultivate qi is to keep cultivating and accumulating one's own moral consciousness, and to maintain this moral consciousness. The Confucians after the Song Dynasty further developed Mencius's theory of cultivating qi and raised the issue of qi and changing qi. They brought into play the ideas of Zhi and Qi put forward by Mencius, emphasizing the dominant role of Zhi over Qi and the importance of holding Zhi. By changing qi, they also meant overcoming the evil in qi and making it purely good. And the way to do this is to hold the will, to use the will to dominate the qi, so that the qi is fully in line with moral reason.

(4) Setting righteousness, i.e., holding on to goodness, accumulating goodness into virtue. Setting righteousness is a kind of cultivation effort proposed by Mencius when talking about cultivating qi. According to Mencius, the spirit of the vastness of Qi is born from the collection of righteousness. Zhu Xi said, "Collecting righteousness is like accumulating goodness, which means that you want everything to be in line with righteousness". Accumulated goodness means that noble moral character and state of mind cannot be cultivated overnight; it requires a long-term accumulation process, and we need to make efforts to persevere in moral cultivation and improve day by day. This approach emphasizes that the cultivation of moral qualities should start from the little things, not to do good things, not to do evil things, and to be persistent, not one day's sunshine. A person to do a few good deeds is not difficult to do a few good deeds does not mean that the moral character is noble. Only by insisting on doing good deeds continuously and insisting on never doing evil deeds can a person make his heart change continuously, improve his moral cultivation, and finally become a person of great virtue and a person of holy virtue.

(5) To hold reverence means to require a respectful and reverent mind. Confucius had already put forward the idea of cultivation with respect. He put forward the idea of "cultivating oneself with respect" and "acting with respect". The Yi Chuan puts forward the idea of "honoring the inner self" (honoring the inner self so that the inner self will be upright). In the Song Dynasty, Ercheng especially advocated the idea of mastering and holding respect. Scholars after the Song Dynasty often regarded honoring as a major method of cultivation. Zhu Xi said, "The work of respecting the word is the first meaning of the Sacred Sect," and "The word respecting the word is really the program of the Sect, and the key method of keeping and cultivating".

4, the restraint

Restraint and survival of complement each other. Cultivation is to cultivate and protect the good nature of the mind, while restraint is to strive to overcome and remove all kinds of evil in the nature of the mind. The Song Confucians said, "Keep heavenly principles, destroy human desires". If the cultivation of "keeping the principles of heaven" is the main cultivation, then the cultivation of "extinguishing human desires" is the main cultivation. To "preserve the Divine Principle and extinguish human desires" means to preserve one's own inner Divine Principle and conscience, to raise one's moral self-awareness, and to remove all kinds of desires that are contrary to morality and conscience. Therefore, the principle of "keeping the truth in heaven and putting an end to human desires" still has its reasonable elements today.

As early as in the Shangshu, the idea of "Ke Nian" was put forward, and Confucius explicitly proposed "Ke Ji". After the Song Dynasty, this aspect was collectively referred to as "Keji", which mainly refers to reform and self-restraint. To summarize, restraint refers to the constant vigilance in the heart of the incorrect ideology and concepts and emotions occur, once appeared, we must take the initiative to overcome.

The key to restraining is to restrain oneself and one's desires. Restraint is a very important idea in China's traditional morality. Spring and Autumn period Laozi has put forward the "less private desire" proposition, Confucius spoke of self-restraint, is to get rid of "self-private", that is, to get rid of the heart of the selfishness of the private desire. Mencius also puts forward the idea that there is no better way to nourish the heart than to reduce its desire.

To overcome selfishness is to use public interest to overcome private interest. Although the contents of "public" and "private" were understood differently in different times, the moral life throughout the ages has always been based on "public" and "private". But the moral life throughout the ages has been centered on the axis of "public" and "private". In history, public generally refers to public justice, and private generally refers to private interests. Public righteousness is in fact a universally applicable moral code that reflects the overall interests of a certain society. In ancient China, Confucianism and Legalism strongly advocated the use of the public to overcome the private, the public but forgetting the private, the selfless, and so on.

Abstinence refers to abstinence from desire, or widowhood. Confucian thinkers either believed that material desires could interfere with the activities of the conscience and were the root cause of immoral behavior; or that material desires would interfere with people's normal cognitive activities and lead to confusion, etc. They also believed that material desires could interfere with people's normal cognitive activities and lead to confusion. Therefore, they put forward the idea of abstinence, advocating the use of reason or rites to restrain the passions and desires, and some of them even put forward the idea of having no desires or extinguishing the desires and desires. They believe that abstinence is both a moral cultivation activity and a way of exercising one's will. Of course, some of these views over-exaggerate the harmfulness of material desires, and even negate the requirements of people's legitimate material desires, with a tendency of asceticism. However, from the perspective of moral cultivation, there are many reasonable elements in the ancient thought of abstinence, which are worth learning from today. A person with too strong a materialistic desire will not have a high moral cultivation.

5, prudence.

To be prudent is to pay careful attention to one's own heart and behavior even when one lives alone, to prevent thoughts that are contrary to morality or behaviors that do not meet the requirements of morality. The term "prudence" comes from the book "The Book of Rites - Zhongyong", which says: "A gentleman is prudent in what he does not see, and fearful in what he does not hear. There is nothing that can be seen that is hidden, and nothing that can be revealed that is subtle; therefore, the gentleman is prudent in his solitude."

In fact, the ancients had different interpretations of prudence and solitude, such as Zheng Xuan's "living in idleness", Zhu Xi's "the place where one does not know but knows alone", and the Five Elements, which enables the mind to function alone, unaffected by the five senses of the body, and so on.

What one thinks and does in any situation is in line with moral requirements, and is the essence of prudence and independence. Prudence is an important Confucian idea and an important Confucian method of self-cultivation, which embodies the spirit of moral self-discipline in strictly demanding oneself. This method has been well proven to be a proven method. The tradition of prudent cultivation has fostered the Chinese people's self-consciousness and initiative in practicing morality, and has created many gentlemanly personalities with noble qualities and firm integrity.

6, introspection

Introspection is self-reflection, self-examination, that is, to check one's own thoughts and behavior. Confucianism believes that the method of introspection is an important method of cultivation. Confucius put forward the "internal introspection" point of view, Zeng Sen put forward the "my day three times" thought, far-reaching influence. Mencius put forward the idea of "self-reflection" and "seeking the opposite of oneself", which also refers to reflecting on one's own words and deeds. The Book of Changes refers to this kind of self-reflection as "cultivation". Later thinkers developed this idea and put forward the idea of self-criticism, which is what we call self-criticism today. In a nutshell, self-examination is to reflect on one's own thoughts and behaviors, to examine the good and evil in thoughts, words and deeds, and to correct one's own mistakes in a timely manner through strict self-criticism. The "self-examination" method of cultivation is a very important method of cultivation advocated by Confucians, and still has a very important value today.

Self-examination of the key to do the opposite of themselves. The process of self-examination is essentially a self-criticism, the state of mind to know the shame of change, is to continue to promote the good and get rid of the evil, and gradually cultivate excellent ideological character, set up a process of noble sentiments.

7, know shame

Shame is shame, know shame that there is shame. Ancient Confucians regarded knowing shame as a sign of courage, and believed that shame is the basis of human moral behavior, and shamelessness is a great danger in life. The ancients paid special attention to the development of a sense of shame. From Confucius's "to act with shame" to Mencius's "one should not be without shame", the education of knowing shame has become an important starting point of traditional Chinese moral education. The ancients emphasized the need to be "ashamed of what one should be ashamed of", and to be ashamed of being inferior to others in terms of moral cultivation and moral quality.

8. Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation refers to correcting mistakes and faults. Confucius has talked many times about reforming one's faults as an embodiment of goodness, believing that it is the real fault if one has had a fault but does not change it. Taking Yan Hui as an example, Confucius pointed out that a moral person does not mean that he does not make mistakes, but that he corrects his mistakes and does not repeat them. Subsequent thinkers also proposed many specific ways to change one's faults, such as knowing one's faults, thinking about one's faults, mending one's faults, and rejoicing when one has heard of one's faults, and so on. It can be said that how to treat one's own mistakes and how to treat others' criticism of one's own faults has always been an issue to which ancient Chinese philosophers attached great importance. Have faults are not afraid to change, know faults will change, welcome others to criticize their faults, etc., not only is our tradition first of all an important method of cultivation, but also the Chinese people in the history of the formation of an important virtue.

9, forceful behavior

The question of knowledge and behavior is one of the important issues discussed in ancient Chinese philosophy. The practice of knowledge and action is the most basic way for a person to acquire moral knowledge, to form moral character, to realize ideal personality, and to reach the moral realm. Ancient people attached great importance to moral practice. Confucius advocated that "a gentleman should be prudent in his speech but sensitive in his behavior" and "listen to his words and observe his behavior", and in "The Meanwhile", he said, "Learn extensively, ask questions, think cautiously, argue clearly, and act conscientiously", which means that one should learn extensively, ask questions, think carefully, argue clearly, and act conscientiously. "That is to say, one should learn extensively, ask and argue cautiously, think prudently, and finally, practise faithfully. The forceful practice advocated by the ancients mainly consists of three aspects: first, to carry out the practice and to carry out the practice with certainty. The first one is to practice personally, and the second one is to realize the meaning of single-mindedly practicing. The second is to be prudent in one's speech and in one's actions. Be cautious in speech and action means to be cautious in speech and behavior, and not to be indulgent. Confucius took "prudence in speech but sensitivity in action" as an important mark of a benevolent person, opposing overstatement and even more opposing trickery to please others. The Yi Chuan (The Book of Changes) makes being careful with one's words and actions an important factor in the success or failure of an endeavor. The Song and Ming philosophies regarded speech and behavior as an important aspect of moral cultivation, and taught their disciples to exercise restraint in speech and behavior. Third, it is to be honed in deeds. Practicing on matters is an important part of practicing, which is a valuable cultivation method proposed by ancient thinkers. Confucius taught people to exercise their talents and hone their will in concrete affairs. Mencius believed that the training in practical affairs and even painful situations was a prerequisite for a person to assume great responsibilities. The Song and Ming philosophers advocated "the highest and the most brilliant but the most moderate", and regarded the training in affairs as the fundamental way of moral cultivation. Ancient thinkers generally believed that practical training is more real and deeper than what one learns from books. The practice of the matter is not only to do the actual thing, but also to experience life in it, and enhance the cultivation.

Knowledge can be acquired through study, but virtue can only be developed through practice. Moral cultivation comes from practice, into practice, in the practice of refining, is the fundamental way of moral cultivation.