Caring about oneself and others

Actually, I didn’t plan to talk about Mencius with you... It turned out that I was planning to get into the magical encounter between Xiao Ming and Miusi that night~
Or talk about your favorite songs since childhood.
Or introduce a song to Ah Mao that is suitable for Ah Mao, and then we can form a jumping duo.
But….it’s all @qianwen !
Today is a day to talk about Mencius 0.0

Before I talk about it, let me first explain to you one of the Mohist ideas: universal love.
The Mohist universal love is different from the Confucian benevolence based on blood affinity and the fraternity advocated by Christianity.
The Mohist universal love means that everyone must love to be a true lover. As long as one person does not love, it means that we do not love others. The advantage is that we are also human beings, so we are included in it.

Although the problem itself is included in it, if sacrificing oneself will benefit the world, then sacrifice oneself.

And because Mohism advocates universal love, so if I want others to love my parents, I must love other people’s parents first, so that other people’s children will come back to love my parents... Xiaolu doesn’t quite understand... why not Is it enough for everyone to love their parents well?

For example, suppose I have a child, and instead of helping my own child pay the school fees, I go to help my neighbor’s children pay the school fees, and then my neighbor pays the school fees for my child…. Wouldn’t my neighbor and my own child find it strange?
After hearing this, Mencius felt that this method was not feasible. In fact, even the Mohists themselves could not do such a thing.
Why do you say that? Let’s take a look at the example of Mohist Yizi:

Yi Zhi, a Mohist believer, explained to Xu Pi, a student of Mencius, that he wanted to see Mencius.
Mencius said: "It's OK to meet him, but I'm not feeling well now. I can just go see him when I get better. There's no need to trouble Yizi to come over."

A few days later, Yizi said that he wanted to see Mencius again.
Mencius said: "There is no problem today. After all, if we don't explain clearly why Mohist thought is difficult to promote, the real truth will not appear. I have heard before that Yizi believes in Mohism. Mohism believes that it is necessary to hold a funeral and give it a light burial." Okay; if Yizi wants to use Mohist ideas to change customs, he should abide by the Mohist idea of ​​a thin burial. Then why does Yizi use a rich burial method for his family members' funerals? Isn't this a despicable way to treat his relatives? "

Xu Pi told Yi Zi these words. Yizi did not directly answer Mencius's words, but used Confucian ideas to excuse himself.

Let me first briefly explain the Mohist method of thin burial, which is also the term for festival burial. This is not to say that the Mohist method is wrong, but this practice is a bit unhuman.
The Mohists believe that the coffin only needs to be three inches thick so that the body can rot inside, and three pieces of mourning clothes can be worn to cover up the rot. The burial does not need to be too deep and the place should not be too wide so that the stench does not spread out. The deceased has been buried. There is no need for those who are alive to cry, and they should go to work and produce as soon as possible. This is the way of a holy king.
It’s not wrong, but is this something that can be stipulated? There is no way, because even the Yizi of the Mo family can't do it.
Because it was impossible to have a thin burial, Yizi did not answer directly. Yizi asked: Confucianism said that ancient emperors treated the people as if they were caring for babies. Does this mean that there are no different levels of love, but that it starts with relatives when it is implemented? .
(Yi Zi means that there is no contradiction between Mohism’s universal love and Confucianism, so there is nothing wrong with me burying my parents generously)

Xu Pi told Mencius these words.
Mencius said: Does Yizi really think that people care for their own nephews the same way they care for their neighbor’s children? He just grasped one point and talked about it. A baby is crawling on the ground and about to fall into a well. No matter whose child it is, no matter who sees this scene, he will save it. This is compassion. All things born have only one origin, but Yizi thinks there are two origins? Let’s take the matter of funerals as an example. Let’s think about the origin of funerals. In ancient times, people at that time may not have had the idea of ​​having a funeral when a relative died. When someone died, he would put the corpse He picked it up and threw it into the ravine. Later, when passing through a ravine, I saw wild animals gnawing at the corpse, and flies and mosquitoes gathered to bite me. The man became sad when he saw it, and even though he was sweating, he could not look directly at the corpse of his relative. His sadness was the result of pouring out of his heart and showing on his face. The man quickly buried the corpse with vines and shrubs. There is a reason for burying relatives, and there is also a reason why filial sons and compassionate people who have feelings for their relatives perform funerals.
(I can’t express my sadness without burying it. Now I have the ability but I can’t express my love without burying it properly. I’m so sad that I can’t work or get married because I’m really sad)

Xu Pi told Yi Zi these words. Yi Zi felt disappointed and paused for a while before saying, "That's it."

Xiaolu would like to tell Mencius again because he recently read a story.
This is what a Chinese author saw one day:

A brother and sister were playing ball on the roadside. A group of ants crawled out of the tree hole nearby. The brother found it interesting and poked them with branches. The ants fled in panic.
Seeing more and more ants running out, the brother ignored his sister's objection and stepped on the ants with his feet. Seeing more and more ants being trampled to death by his brother, the sister cried anxiously and pulled her brother to ask him not to step on them.

The elder brother said impatiently: It’s none of your business? What does it matter if there are so many ants and a few are trampled to death? No one will care?
The brother said to his sister angrily.
My sister cried and said: Who said no one cares? The ant’s parents care, and so do the ants’ brothers and sisters!

One of Mencius's works is what he said later in the "Zhenxin" chapter: "Be kind to relatives and benevolent to the people, benevolent to the people and love things."
That's what the sister said, Ant's parents care, Ant's brothers and sisters care.

The first word "qin" in "Kisqin" is a verb, meaning love; the second word "qin" is a noun, meaning relatives. "Benevolence" is a verb to treat others with kindness. "Love" means to cherish and cherish.

The meaning of the whole sentence is: to love one's relatives, and then treat ordinary people kindly, and by extension, to finally love and care for all things in the world. All this is very natural, from closeness to distance, from oneself to others, and from others to things.

Yizi was reluctant to give a scanty burial to her relatives. It was natural that she would not be sad to go to work without finishing the funeral. If Yizi had buried the family of her next door neighbor today, would she be so sad and unable to give a scanty burial? Won't.
Therefore, the Mohist approach is inherently against human nature. Love cannot be without distinction, so why can love be promoted?
Xiaolu didn’t want to say more, because everyone knew the truth. Xiaolu ended with the words of his mother.

Mother Deer said to Xiaolu one day: Don't be so cruel to your colleagues. When I see you being cruel to him, I will wonder if someone will be so cruel to you one day when I can't see it.

Parents care about their children, so they cannot bear to see their children being aggressive to other people's children.
The younger sister cares about her brother being bullied, so she thinks Ant's parents and older siblings care.
Be kind to relatives and benevolent to the people, benevolent to the people and love things.