Ancient China's clean thinking on our clean cultivation of what inspiration?

China's long history, ideological and cultural traditions are very rich, the best part, thousands of years to play a role in casting the soul of the nation, so far, although the time has changed, but some parts of the construction of modern society can still be absorbed into the service for us. For example, the theory of cultivating one's moral character is of modern significance. The so-called cultivation of one's moral character is to ask people to consciously cultivate their own good morals through study and introspection in order to adapt to the needs of the society. From there, they should first straighten up their own families, then go into politics to govern the country, and after they have governed their own country well, then they should pacify the world or make the world peaceful, i.e., to cultivate one's moral character, to straighten up one's own family, to govern the country, and to pacify the whole world. At that time, the so-called state referred to the feudal states of the vassals during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period; and the world referred to the whole of China under the rule of the Son of Heaven of the Zhou Dynasty, who had granted the vassalage. In this regard, the philosopher Zeng Sen (a student of Confucius) put forward a complete set of theories in his book The Great Learning: Three Outlines and Eight Objects. The three outlines are, "Ming de," "pro-people," and "stopping at the best." It means that human beings are endowed with a kind of goodness called "Ming De" and should consciously manifest it, i.e., "Ming Ming De"; this kind of Ming De is contaminated by all kinds of improper thoughts or temptations of materialistic desires in the social life, so it should be constantly renewed, i.e., "In Kindness to the People". This kind of Ming De is contaminated by all kinds of improper thoughts or materialistic temptations in social life, so it should be constantly renewed by itself, which is called "in pro-people". From this, we can extend it to others and achieve the best situation, which is called "stopping at the best". He said, "The way of the university is to be clear and virtuous, to be pro-people, and to stop at the highest good."

The university was then the study of adults over the age of 15. This is the purpose of the university, which lies in restoring bright virtue and accomplishing moral renewal of the people in order to reach the most perfect state.

The eight purposes are: to study material things, to realize knowledge, to be sincere, to correct the heart, to cultivate the body, to unify the family, to rule the country, and to pacify the world. Ge Shi is to inquire into the reasoning of things; Zhi Zhi is to seek knowledge, including the knowledge of one's innate morality; Cheng Yi is to be sincere in thought and intention, without falsehood; Zheng Xin is to be upright in mind, without evil thoughts; Cultivation of one's own body is to cultivate one's own morality; Qi Jia is to straighten out one's own family; Governance of the State is to govern the country; and Ping Zhong is to pacify the whole world. Its specific order is: "In ancient times, those who wished to make clear virtue in the world first ruled their country; those who wished to rule their country first aligned their families; those who wished to align their families first cultivated their bodies; those who wished to cultivate their bodies first rectified their minds; those who wished to rectify their minds first honored their intentions; those who wished to be sincere in their intentions first attained knowledge, and the attainment of knowledge is in the grasping of things." (The University, Chapter 11) Of these eight items, the cultivation of material things, the realization of knowledge, the sincerity of intention, and the correctness of heart belong to the cognitive aspect of thought, while the cultivation of one's own body, the alignment of one's family, the governance of the country, and the pacification of the world belong to the practical aspect, the most important of which is the cultivation of one's own body. He said that the cultivation of the body is the foundation of all people in the world, "from the son of heaven to the common people, one is all to cultivate the body as the basis." ("University" Chapter 1) The reason why Confucianism puts forward the principle of cultivating one's moral character is due to people-oriented, they believe that people are the root of society, everything in society should start from oneself first, and then push oneself to others. This is the case when Confucius put forward the idea of benevolence, saying, "He who is benevolent loves others." People should care and love one another. "Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you." (Analects - Yan Yuan) Do not inflict on others what you are not willing to do yourself. "If you want to establish yourself and establish others, and if you want to reach out and reach out to others, and if you are able to take the example of others, you can be said to be a party of benevolence." (The Analects of Confucius - Yongya) To establish oneself in society, and to enable others to establish themselves in society, to reach out to society, and to enable others to reach out to society, and to be able to understand others by oneself, this is the way of practicing benevolence. People's innate nature is the same or similar, people have the same heart, the same mind, so for those who are in politics and rule the country, no matter what they do, they should start from themselves first, and after they have taken the lead, then they can ask others to do the same. He should set an example as a model for people's behavior, and play the role of education of thought, so that it will be able to prohibit the implementation of orders, which is the Confucianism advocated the idea of moral governance, moral governance does not mean that we do not want the law, but rather, the main focus of moral indoctrination, supplemented by the law, the two complement each other, and should not be deviated from. In The Great Learning, they call this idea "the way of pros and cons". Jie, a measure, and Moment, a square-shaped ruler for measuring things, mean that one uses oneself as a yardstick to measure others, and uses this reasoning to understand others.

"What is evil to the top, do not make the bottom; what is evil to the bottom, do not serve the top; what is evil to the front, do not have to be successive; what is evil to the back, do not have to be the front; what is evil to the right, do not have to be handed over to the left; what is evil to the left, do not have to be handed over to the right. This is the way of the pros and cons." ("University" Chapter 1) for a ruler, if you hate the insolence of the person on top, you can not treat the person below with this attitude; if you hate some of the behavior of the person below, you can not treat the person on top with this; if you hate some of the behavior of the person in front of you, you can not impose this on the person behind you; if you hate some of the behavior of the person behind you, you can not treat the person in front of you with this and so on, and so on, which is to judge oneself against others in the way of the pros and cons. This is the way of rectitude. This means that no matter whether you are in a superior or inferior position, in front or behind? In front or behind? Left or right? Do not inflict on others any behavior that you do not want or detest.

While people are gifted with a good nature, in the reality of later life, they will produce all kinds of improper thoughts and desires, which will lead to many wrong or sinful behaviors, and the cultivation of the body is to make people realize the root of such wrong thoughts and the harmfulness of behaviors, and consciously overcome them to restore the nature of the human being. How to overcome it? Sincerity" is proposed, what is meant by "sincerity"? What does "sincerity" mean? It means truthfulness, i.e., truthfulness without falsehood. The philosopher Zi Si (grandson of Confucius), in his book "Zhongyong" (The Meanings), gave "sincerity" a universal meaning, believing that the society in which people live and all the things they see are true, that is, sincerity, the so-called "no sincerity, no matter" (Chapter 25 of "The Meanings"), without sincerity, there is no matter. Without sincerity there are no things, so people should also be sincere, and a person can only understand reason if he is sincere. "To be sincere and clear from oneself is called nature; to be clear and sincere from oneself is called teaching; to be sincere is to be clear, and to be clear is to be sincere." (Zhongyong, Chapter 21) To reach understanding of reason from honesty is human nature, and to reach sincerity from understanding of reason is due to indoctrination. When one is honest, one understands reason, and when one understands reason, one is honest. The function of sincerity is to be able to "fulfill one's nature," i.e., to give full play to one's nature, and if one can give full play to one's nature, one can also give full play to the nature of things. The nature of things can be played, will be able to participate in sponsoring the development and growth of all things in heaven and earth, and heaven and earth alongside the three.

"But the world is the most sincere, so that it can fulfill its nature. If you can fulfill your nature, then you can fulfill the nature of man; if you can fulfill the nature of man, then you can fulfill the nature of things; if you can fulfill the nature of things, then you can praise the transformation of heaven and earth; if you can praise the transformation of heaven and earth, then you can participate with heaven and earth." (Zhongyong, Chapter 22) This is to say that if one can bring one's nature into full play, one can govern people by bringing their nature into full play, and govern things by bringing their nature into full play, so that all things will be in their proper place.

"Sincerity", for objective things, it is a self-existing thing, lies in people to recognize, people are thinking, it is not easy for people to be sincere. The first is to be honest with others, not to say or do anything false; the second is to be honest with oneself, not to deceive oneself; only if one does not deceive oneself, one can be honest with others; in order not to deceive oneself, one must be careful with one's thoughts when one is alone, i.e., "prudent in one's solitude".

"The so-called sincerity of one's intention is not to deceive oneself, such as the evil odor, such as the good color, which is called self-effacement. Therefore, a gentleman must be prudent in his solitude." (The University, Chapter 7) Sincerity of intention, not self-deception, as if aversion to the stench of filth and preference for good colors, is sincerity from the heart, so the moral man must be prudent in his thoughts when he is alone. A person alone, what they think, always think that only they know and others do not know, in fact, others look at themselves "such as see the lungs and liver," see your internal organs, clear. He said, for example, the villain in the place where no one saw a lot of bad things, see the gentleman will cover up, hide the bad things, the good things to show people, but in the eyes of others, have seen your lungs and liver, cover up is useless. Because "sincerity in the form in the outside", you heart of the idea, necessarily to show, so the gentleman cultivation must pay attention to their own alone when the idea of sincerity, if there is a hint of bad ideas, should be immediately overcome, do not think that other people do not know and hide down, deceive themselves.

To achieve sincerity in one's thoughts, one must introspect where people's eyes have not yet seen and ears have not yet heard.

"Therefore, the gentleman cautions against what he does not see, fears what he does not hear, does not see what is hidden, and does not show what is subtle; therefore, the gentleman cautions against what he does not see." (Zhongyong, Chapter 1) To achieve sincerity, a moral person should be cautious and wary even when people do not see it, and panic and fear when they do not hear it; people's intentions are no more obvious than when they are in the shadows, and no more remarkable than when they are subtle; therefore, a gentleman should be prudent in his solitude.

This is the concept of "prudence in solitude," which emphasizes that one should not deceive oneself. People still have some fear when facing the crowd, but when dealing with themselves, they tend to go through the motions, forgiving themselves when they know they are wrong. Therefore, it is more difficult to overcome self-deception than to deceive others, and many people begin to go down the wrong path step by step because of self-deception, and then deceiving others.

The Confucian theory of cultivation, in modern terms, is how to improve one's own quality in order to adapt to the needs of society, including morality, culture, knowledge and skills. Morals need to be cultivated and intellectual skills need to be learned. Its positive significance is to realize that man is a member of social life, and that the individual cannot exist in isolation from the society, so all the life behaviors of the individual must take the society into consideration, and the individual and the society must be regarded as one, and what he or she should and should not do should be in accordance with the socially accepted code of conduct in order to be able to establish himself or herself in the society. From a high point of view, people should consciously abide by all kinds of social moral norms, and actively contribute to society with their own exemplary behavior; from a low point of view, people should have a moral bottom line of their own, what can be done, and what can never be done, and thus set up a life concept, "Da can help the whole world," when the cause of the prominent can serve the community; "Da can help the whole world" when the cause of the prominent can serve the community; "Da can help the whole world" when the cause of the prominent can serve the community. The first thing you need to do is to get a good deal of money to pay for the work you have done, and then you have to pay for the work that you have done.

People in the social life, will encounter a variety of problems, first of all, the integrity of the issue, people to people should be honest? That is, honesty and trustworthiness, no fraud, do what you say. In social life, people recognize that this is an interpersonal *** with the guidelines, but a considerable part of the people are in their own favor or compulsion to comply with this principle, that is to say, partially comply with this principle, complete and consciously comply with this principle, is not easy. Some people require others to their own integrity, but their own intentionally or unintentionally in the deception of others, deception of others, always think that the design is exquisite, only they know and others do not know, the result is to be dismantled have to pay a heavy price. So honesty, first of all, do not deceive themselves, to be honest with themselves, honest with themselves, to others naturally also honest. So whether or not people are honest with themselves, treating others with honesty, is a major principle of the people in the world.

Also, when people encounter difficulties, do they have the courage to overcome them? Do they have the courage to admit that they have done something wrong? They are self-reflective and will change when they know that they have done wrong. When there is a conflict between righteousness and self-interest, do they have the courage to remove self-interest and uphold righteousness? When faced with the temptation of wealth and profit, are you tempted? Can you be honest and disciplined and not take what is desirable or undesirable? In the face of the danger of evil forces, can one dare to fight and not fear sacrifice? And so on. People who have moral cultivation are very different from those who do not. People with moral cultivation, he has built a strong moral defense in the spirit, able to cope with all kinds of difficulties and obstacles; and no moral cultivation of people, may be in front of certain difficulties to shrink back, in some immediate interests of the temptation, deceived, complicity, and even lead to the destruction of his reputation.

Now we emphasize the rule of law, but not do not want morality, morality and law have different roles, the law is the bottom line of human behavior, there is mandatory, violation of which will be punished. And morality is to require people to consciously abide by the social behavior, it can play the role of the law can not play, the law only prohibits people from being evil, and morality is to persuade people to be good, in order to prevent the problem from occurring, it is the root cause of the problem. Therefore, a good society must be both a society of the rule of law and a moral society. For an individual, to be a moral person is to be a person who has truly gained freedom of thought, because he consciously abides by the laws of the society and consciously abides by the moral norms of the society, entirely out of his conscious realization, not by the compulsion of other people's orders. The more society develops, the deeper the capacity of human cognition becomes, and the greater the degree of people's freedom becomes. So for us today, in the process of rapid economic development and the gradual improvement of people's lives, the improvement of people's moral standards is also of vital importance.