Sentences about benevolence and love in The Analects of Confucius

Interpretation of Yu Dan's The Analects of Confucius: The Way of Kindness

Kindness is the core content of Confucianism, and Confucius believes that kindness is the foundation of being a man. Confucius is not only a propagandist of kindness, but also a practitioner of kindness. Confucius pointed out that as long as people can achieve the five points of courtesy, tolerance, faithfulness, sensitivity and benefit, they can be called people with lofty ideals. So, for us modern people, how should we understand benevolence? What advice will Professor Yu Dan give us?

Today, let's talk about benevolence in The Analects. In fact, if you turn over the Analects of Confucius with more than 20,000 words, there are 109 places around the word "benevolence". It can be said that the thought of benevolence is the cornerstone under the cornerstone of Confucian philosophy and the key point. So what is benevolence? Simply put, what is benevolence? The teacher only answered two words, lover. Being kind to people is a kind of kindness from the heart. But just these two words have profound and profound truth. There is a folk saying that two people die. What do you mean? It is kindness. The state of solitude is never the state of self. In this lonely and self-enclosed environment, kindness is out of the question. Kindness must be accompanied by others. In the relationship between them, we can see whether they are kind or not. Benevolence is the core content of Confucius' Confucianism, and it also runs through many aspects of his politics, education, ethics and culture, especially on the issue of being a man. In Confucius' view, benevolence is the foundation of being a man. So, what kind of people can be called people with lofty ideals? Professor Yu Dan believes that benevolence is not only a personality emotion, but also a very specific behavior. This generosity and wisdom are not innate, but the result of self-cultivation and self-denial. Then, how should we improve our self-cultivation and gradually improve our personality? Please listen to Professor Yu Dan from Beijing Normal University telling us the way of kindness.

Today we will talk about the way of benevolence in The Analects of Confucius. In the Analects of Confucius with more than 20,000 words, the word benevolence was mentioned 109 times.

Benevolence's thought is the cornerstone of Confucian philosophy and the key point. So, what is kindness?

What is benevolence? The teacher only answered two words: love. Being kind to people is a kind from the heart. But these two words have a deep meaning in my experience.

There is a folk saying that although the word benevolence has only four paintings, a single person has two, and two people are called benevolence. In other words, benevolence has never been an independent state of self. In a lonely, self-centered and closed environment, there is no kindness at all. Kindness must be accompanied by others. Together, we can see whether you are kind or not.

In a village, there was a blind man. As long as he goes out at night, he must light a lamp cage. When the villagers came out at night, the only place where they saw lanterns knew that the blind man had come out. When people in other places saw this, they all sighed and said that the blind people here are too good. He has no distinction between light and darkness. When he comes out in the middle of the night, he always worries about whether others can see the light and light a lantern for others. Just tell the blind man that you are amazing! The blind man said simply, because I am blind, I don't want others to hit me. I also light lanterns for myself.

Everybody think about it. In fact, this is why people walk in this world. Playing a lamp objectively illuminates the road for others and subjectively avoids many risks for yourself. In this boundless world, are we all discerning people? Can we know everything and avoid all risks? Sometimes for the convenience of others, playing lanterns for others can make others avoid you, and your own risk will be gone.

What is benevolence and love? Sometimes, kindness is a kind of practice and a bit of behavior around you. Benevolence is the core content of Confucius' Confucianism, and this thought runs through many aspects of his political, educational, ethical and cultural views, especially on the issue of being a man. In Confucius' view, benevolence is the foundation of being a man. So, what kind of talents can be called people with lofty ideals? Some of Confucius' explanations are very simple. He can tell you directly how to be kind.

Zhang Zi asked the teacher, how can you be kind?

Confucius said that there are five things to do in the world, five things for you to do, and the benevolent must do it. What five o'clock?

The teacher said: fairness, tolerance, faith, people and benefit.

The first is respect, and respect is not an insult. Translated, if a person maintains a respectful attitude towards the world and others, his life will not be easily insulted. Let's see if this is true. True respect is always associated with respect, that is, a person can respect others, which is a kind of relaxation and softness.

For example, if you go to a bow shop and buy a bow, someone will see the most beautiful bow in the window. The bow will always be open, beautiful, and will always stay there. Everything else is hung on the wall one by one, and it won't look good unless it is opened. Boss, I must buy the exhibits in the window. The boss said, you don't want that exhibition. That bow stretches every day. I really have to buy it before I pull it. It can shoot up to 40 meters. Those bows on the wall look relaxed, but you can shoot 90 meters with the same force because they are not stretched. Our lives are the same. Some people live for labels and hope to be respected by others. Sometimes they are aggressive and always show a perfect arrogance. Sometimes, such people can easily lead to some attacks and even humiliation.

Because we are too picky, needless to say, in a team, you go home. For example, after a hard day's work, you come to the house at night and your family is cooking in the kitchen. When you come back, you happily serve a dish for you to taste. You may be a very picky person. You are very unhappy after taking a bite. Why is it so salty? Did you kill the salt seller? Family members will beat their chests and feet, and others will endure not to say. The second course was served, and you took another bite. This dish is overcooked today! I'll fry it after I come in. The third course is coming up again, and you haven't taken the chopsticks yet. How do you mix these two dishes together? Did you fry it wrong? If you are so picky about every dish and have a good temper, then your relatives, in the end, you should throw away your apron and not eat this meal. Will such a nervous person gain respect for himself? What do you mean by courtesy? In this world, mortals always work hard and have no credit. Respecting the hard work of others is also an imperfect meal. If you come in and say hello to the old man happily, tell the children to wash their hands and say that they smell the fragrance, everyone can eat happily. In fact, this is our attitude towards the world, and it also forms the attitude of the world towards us. Other people's faces are always a mirror of our expressions. If you are pleasant, others will laugh, if you glare at each other, others will get angry. If we want to be treated in this world, we should respect others. If you want to be respected by others, you must treat others with respect.

Second, being lenient will win many people. Respect for nature will bring you a generous attitude. Forgiveness is not easy. There is a saying in Zen poetry that the eyes have dust and the three worlds are narrow, and nothing in the heart is wide. If your eyes are covered with a little dust, it will give you three realms. You all feel depressed, but if your heart is fine, sitting in your own bed will feel vast. Width and narrowness have little to do with whether you live in 60 square meters or 200 square meters now, and have a lot to do with how you look at this life.

In this world, the same life will have different explanations.

There is a small town, a respected wise man, sitting at the entrance of the village, watching people coming and going, asking him about it, trying to find the most suitable place to live in the world. First, a man said, I want to ask if your town is suitable for me to live in. The town where I used to live was not good. People in this town are selfish and narrow-minded. Everyone is a gossip. They are not perfect. Everyone has shortcomings. I have countless frustrations there, all of which are enemies. I am tired of living there. Therefore, I must find a particularly beautiful place. Everyone is a moral gentleman. Hearing this, the old man said, I'm sorry, but the people living in our town are the same as those in your old place. Please keep going and look for them again!

The second man came and said, I am also looking for the best town, because the town I used to live in was so good that I had to move out. I miss the people in the ancient town very much. They are gentle, kind and simple, very enthusiastic and have a good relationship with each other. I have always been very popular there, so I just want to find another place like that. The old man said to him, you have found the right person. Our place is the same as your old town, so you can live here! What does this story tell us? The old man guards the same town. He told the first person that all the people here had problems. He told the second person that the people in our town, as you expected, are modest gentlemen.

In fact, each of us, more or less, contains all kinds of superiority and inferiority, depending on what attitude you use to explain it. A broad-minded person must look at the world with different eyes.

I saw an article in a women's magazine with a very good title, calling God to open a beauty shop. Women are afraid of aging, want to be beautiful and want to stay young. The article tells you a secret, see if you have ever been to God's beauty shop. What does that beauty salon do? Whether this woman wears expensive clothes or not, she will make you dress very appropriately. Whether this woman is beautiful or not, she will make you smile. He doesn't care whether this woman is beautiful or not, he will ask this woman to be gentle, elegant and humble. This beauty shop not only gives people a sense of beauty, but also gives people manners. If you have been to this beauty shop, you will visit it more often. Over time, you will become a young woman.

This sentence confirms the truth that if you forgive others, you will get a feedback from the world.

What is this feedback? You will have friends everywhere and people will like you. This is called being lenient and winning more people.

When you treat others with a respectful heart and a tolerant attitude, you can not only get respect from others, but also get affirmation from others. This is Confucius' thought of benevolence, which promotes people's cultivation. But in today's increasingly fierce competition, opportunities are rare for everyone, and their self-cultivation is not competitive enough. So, what qualities and abilities should we have? Forgiveness means self-cultivation. Can people settle down in the world only by practicing? We still have a career, so the third point is called letter.

Confucius said, faith is responsible, that is, whoever has credit, there will be more people, and those who keep promises will be appointed. In today's words, your career is very broad, and people always give you opportunities.

I have been teaching in a university for more than ten years, and I am deeply touched. Students in previous years often come back to chat with teachers and talk about their development outside. I was surprised to find that the students with the best development and the greatest stamina are often not the top students in their major, nor the children who have been awarded scholarships and ranked first and second. The children ranked first and second are not integrated in the unit, which is very arrogant. They thought I was sent to graduate school in those years. Why am I assigned to do the same job as an undergraduate? If you don't value me, I'll jump ship. And some professional qualifications are mediocre, sincere and trustworthy. He can do it in one place and keep his reputation with his own name. Do one thing well, do it in a down-to-earth manner, step by step, and the leader will continue to give him opportunities. Along the way, you can't see it for three or two years, five or eight years, ten or twenty years. You will find that honesty and character are always much more important than professional skills. Because of this society, when we leave the university, some professional knowledge is out of date, and the major needs to be constantly updated. However, in a civilized society, character and credibility are always the cornerstones of personality. Character and credibility are always the cornerstones of personality.

Fourth, sensitivity is meritorious. Whoever is keen and agile can make contributions. All of us are working, but some of us are in vain. Who is keen and who is agile? Can you get the spark of inspiration inadvertently?

There was once a poor painter in America. When he was poorest, he had no money to buy paints, canvases or colored paints. He had to paint advertisements in the street, and then he went to Kansas to repair murals in a church. I can only live in a shabby garage at night, and the only life around me is a little mouse, which often squeaks with him. He felt lonely and became good friends with the mouse. By chance, Hollywood wanted to launch an animated film and find a creative designer. He just painted and painted, but he couldn't draw four or five drafts. At night, he sat alone in the garage, biting his brush and staring at the drawing paper, as if he had reached the end of the road. At this time, the little mouse was squatting on his painting, and his small eyes were shining at him. He looked at the mouse, too. Suddenly a shape jumped out of his mind and Mickey mouse landed on his pen. This man is the famous Mr. Disney. Mickey mouse suddenly realized. A little mouse in the garage made a master and a cartoon image.

What is Min? Sensitivity is to seize opportunities everywhere. Sensitivity is not only manifested in such keenness and agility, but also in the nerves that are often stretched in daily life, in the introspection of one's own life, in the observation of the environment and in the prevention of procrastination.

Cornell University in the United States has done an experiment, throwing frogs with extremely fast reaction into a boiling pot. This frog is very agile. It can quickly jump out of the oil pan and escape without being burned to death. But if you put it in a pot, fill it with cold water, then heat it under the bottom of the pot and gradually heat it up, the frog will stay in the pot, unconscious, and turn into a pot of hot water, and the frog will be limp and unable to act. Finally, the frog was scalded to death by this pot of boiling water.

What kind of experiment is this? It is human sensitivity, which is not only reflected in the instantaneous strain, but also in the prevention of micro-duration and the investigation of the whole process of daily life. Sensitivity is not only reflected in instantaneous strain, but also in preventing micro-duration. If a person can maintain this attitude all his life, that is, he can make achievements quickly and make contributions.

The fifth point is called Hui. Confucius said that benefits are enough to make people. A team leader, with kindness, is qualified to use others in front of all your subordinates.

Always affirm your subordinates in spiritual value and share them in material interests, then you can get loyal subjects and die without regret, and you can make good use of them. Sometimes, with this mentality, we can get the real respect and admiration of a team, that is, the benefits are enough for people. With kindness, he can drive this team.

Confucius said that if courtesy, tolerance, faithfulness, sensitivity and benefit are all achieved, benevolence will basically be achieved. Ren, is it really difficult? Sometimes, it is a kind of behavior, and this kind of behavior will bring some changes to our lives. A truly caring person can make a living by it. With kindness, you know how to get along with others. Only the benevolent can distinguish good from evil. When a person is kind, it is not to be a good gentleman, but to really distinguish what is a real good person and what is a real bad person. The judgment of right and wrong in his mind is actually clear.

Confucius said, in my hometown, there are thieves of virtue. What's hometown? It means Mr. Nice guy who doesn't offend anyone. Do you think this kind of person is good? Confucius said that this is a thief of virtue. You often muddle along, there is no standard of right and wrong, and you will indulge in bad things. Don't think that Confucius advocates loyalty, tolerance and kindness, so there is no restraint. True love must have rules. True love must be able to distinguish right from wrong. Therefore, people who take evil as their enemies are people with great love in their hearts. If there is anything wrong, it means that they can distinguish between good and evil. People who are kind at heart will not be blinded by superficial phenomena. They are the fundamental support for the construction and expansion of personality and life. So, how did you get such a thing?

There is a truth in Confucian classics, which not only gives you a broad realm, but also gives you a feasible way to achieve it. Everything is a bit by bit. The Analects of Confucius is a class note. It has many questions and answers, and it presents the confusion of all students.

Fan Chi never swam under a dancer, saying, dare to ask respect, repair shackles, and distinguish confusion. Fan Chi and his teacher swam around the stage, and everyone was talking about how to improve their moral cultivation. Fan Chi asked the teacher three things. The first is to respect morality. How can a person improve his moral cultivation? The second is called cultivation. How can a person correct his evil heart? The third thing is called confusion. Give me a pair of eyes. How can we get rid of the false and keep the true? Distinguish between confusion. These three things are difficult, the teacher sighed with emotion. Good question. First, you can get disrespect for morality and attack its evil afterwards. There is no evil to attack others. If you don't talk about peace, you will be angry at the same time, forget your body and your loved ones, so you won't be confused. First, you should be immoral afterwards.

When a person encounters anything, he must first do it well, properly, thoroughly and perfectly, and then care about fame and reward. It's called getting what you want first. Do everything wholeheartedly first, then consider your own income, so don't you improve your moral realm?

Confucius put forward the second rule, how to correct his own shortcomings? Attack its evil, attack its people without evil, and not repair its people.

You have seriously corrected those shortcomings yourself. In the process of correction, only look at yourself, don't always look at other people's mistakes, and don't point fingers that he is not as good as me. When leaders criticize, there will always be people there. Why are you punishing me? Someone is not as good as me. Confucius said, don't look at his shortcomings first, correct yourself first. This is called seeing the sage Si Qi, and you should also reflect on yourself if you don't see the sage. If you can do this, isn't this a correction, and isn't it a correction?

The third point is confusion. Why are people confused? This has something to do with people being angry and irrational. When you get angry, you forget your body and your loved ones. It's not chaotic at all. He didn't tell you how to distinguish confusion. He tells you first: What is confusion? It's when people are angry for a while and suddenly fly into a rage. People are irrational at this time. He even forgot himself and his body. He will fight for a misunderstanding, even his life. According to the folk saying, this is called losing your head and getting lost. He doesn't want to think about his family. He has a high school mother and underage children, which will not only forget his body, but also bring trouble to his relatives. Isn't this confusing? If people always have a rational judgment in their hearts, they will not have this impulse.

Look at Confucius, who vowed to write a book and say that there are four religions. He answers students' questions with the principle of being a man at ordinary times, and subtly tells you how to cultivate the virtue of a gentleman. Confucius is not only a propagandist of kindness, but also a practitioner of kindness.

After all, Confucius lived more than 2,000 years ago, but today's society is an era when personality is fully displayed, and modern people's value judgments are also changing. So, what enlightenment does Confucius' theory of benevolence bring to us modern people? Will eventually bring us a state of life.

Every one of us, throughout his life, has traveled bit by bit, and his own evaluation is what kind of state I am in. A true man with lofty ideals is not the kind of person who always looks at the world from his study to his office with a grim face and wears professional clothes. A person with true love in his heart must have his relatives and friends. He loves mountains and rivers, the scenery of the four seasons, and the happy time spent with others. His warmth can infect everyone anywhere, which is a real kindness. Kindness is an expression of attitude. Under the influence of streamer, everyone is inevitably sentimental, as Li Bai said, because I had to leave Bolt and me yesterday, and today it hurts my heart even more. We always greet and send each other like this, living in the streamer. What kind of attitude are we facing?

Confucius has a saying, knowing is not as good as being good, and being good is not as good as being happy.

In this life, we will always choose to do something, but there are three different levels, depending on which level you are at. First of all, it's easy to know your occupation and industry. Now, studying for a major, getting a diploma and taking a qualification examination are all called knowing. This is the first level.

A higher level than this is clapping people, that is, you really love it, are willing to put your life into it, are willing to forget about eating and sleeping, and even put yourself into your leisure time outside of work. Such people can completely realize themselves in this profession, but this kind of life is heavy. You may forget the vicissitudes of this world, and you can sacrifice a lot of leisure time with your family because you are too knowledgeable. However, this realm is not the highest, and people who applaud the highest realm are not as good as those who enjoy it. In the process of such a career investment, you feel the great joy of being promoted in life. In this, your experience has been stretched, you have been enriched, and you have enjoyed this process, creating not only your career, but also yourself. Between dribs and drabs, you can feel the goodwill of the world to you every day, and your jubilant heart will bring you to a pleasant realm.

In fact, the benevolent has never been that we always die, or in extreme circumstances.

People in this world, if suffering does not come, there is no need for people to look for it deliberately. But when suffering comes, people can be calm and not afraid. In our normal life, kindness is to maintain such a relationship with the world, which is neither a complete confrontation nor a complete compromise, but a harmonious relationship with the world with our own attitude. Kindness is to create a kind of harmony with the world with your own attitude.

The same pot of boiling water, throwing in three things, will produce three different results. Throw in a raw egg. The egg is liquid, and it is boiled. Finally, the raw egg becomes a hard boiled egg. This is a state in which a soft heart is honed by the world and finally becomes dull and unconscious.

Add a hard carrot, boil it, and finally take it out soft and crisp. This is the second attitude. The human heart is strong, young and dreamy, and finally compromised and lost itself.

Third, you put in tea leaves, which are boiled and boiled in boiling water. After all, water is not water, and dry tea is not tea, but a pot of tea. Create new value between you and the world.

What is kindness? Kindness means changing our living conditions, facing the world with joy and faith, and establishing a harmonious relationship between the world and ourselves. When it is necessary to undertake the mission for the society and the country, we should keep our happiness in a normal life without losing money. I think everyone can do this attitude.

Confucius once said, benevolence is far from zai? I want to be kind. I am so kind. Is jen far from us? When I want to be kind, my thoughts move, kindness comes to my heart, and my life is full of kindness.

I hope this sentence was said by Confucius to all our descendants for more than two thousand years. Just today, at this moment, every heart of us is saying to itself: Is benevolence still far away? I want to be kind. I am so kind. When you really trust this matter, kindness comes into our life at this moment. We are full of goodwill, and we and the world will become better.