Chapter 26 sex and life

sex and life Confucianism transcends religious beliefs, and at the same time fulfills the functions of religion.Viewed from the outside, religion has its own system, organization, and rituals. Confucianism replaces it with the ideal ritual and music.Viewed from the inside, religion is also a more important aspect of religious spirit, which is the inner emotions of believers and the real experience of religion in each person's heart.The meaning of sex and fate in Confucianism is very close to it. The most important thing in the inner experience of various religions is the existence of an external sacred realm or divine power.It is a common prayer of all religions that people can go beyond the limited and lower self-mind of the ego, and believe in an external, infinite, high-level sacred heart, and be in contact with it. Realm, a power of common refuge.As far as religion is concerned, religion should be above morality.Morality is only a matter in the world, and all morality in the world can only sink our finite self into one or more other finite selves, and cannot make the self and the infinite one.Whether it is loyalty, filial piety, love, or all other sacrifices, all moral objects belong to the human world, are still partial, incomplete, and limited, and will inevitably disappear and cannot exist for a long time.Therefore, all human morality is always biased, relative, and limited.Only God and the Holy Spirit are perfect and infinite, eternal and immortal.Only when people come into contact with this divine infinite life can they participate in the infinite and obtain eternal life, but this is not the case in Confucianism.

Confucianism does not look for another god outside of the human mind. Confucianism only recognizes an infinity within the human mind itself, which is the so-called nature of Confucianism.The human mind is individual, therefore it is also biased, incomplete but has birth and death, relative and limited.But the human heart also has its common part.These common parts are neither individual nor partial, but completely unique, without origin and destruction, and absolutely eternal.The so-called nature of Confucianism refers to this statement.Therefore, Confucianism seeks the supreme good of nature within one's own mind, just as all religious scholars seek the supreme good of God outside one's own mind.Sex is human, and human nature is still limited.Goodness also belongs to people, so goodness is also limited.But as far as the person is concerned, the best of human nature is already a kind of infinite.Confucianism in the Song Dynasty changed the logic, and the logic is universal to all things in the universe and human beings, and it is even more infinite.The supreme goodness of reason is just like the supreme goodness of God, so Zhu Zi said that heaven is reason, and this view is God and cannot be outside of reason.It is also said that nature is reason, so the ultimate good is infinite, but it falls on the finite body of man.Infinity must have existed before humans, so human perception and endowment of this nature must have existed before.Therefore, the ultimate goodness of nature is sufficient in life, and there is nothing left to owe.But although Yao and Shun still have regrets, because of the infinite possibilities, they can only develop and complete in the limited.And the finite is always different from the infinite.Western religionists only hope that God will descend into my heart, which means the infinite transcends the limited.Chinese Confucianism advocates understanding one's nature with one's heart, seeing one's nature clearly, and discovering the goodness inherent in one's nature.Since nature and goodness belong to the infinite, the infinite is within the finite.Therefore, when Confucianism discusses morality, it advocates doing one's own heart and practicing one's own nature, which itself is a kind of infinite and perfect good.

Religionists only believe that there is a God that transcends the finiteness of their own ego, and how this limited heart communicates with this supreme and infinite God is a common and necessary procedure that must be prayed.Prayer then becomes the essence and soul of religion.Prayer is a necessary procedure and practice in religion.Confucianism recognizes that the ultimate goodness of nature lies in the heart, so Confucian teachings do not require prayer.But this nature of supreme goodness, after all, is also a higher and deeper part of my heart. Although it is within my heart, it penetrates between hearts, but if it is beyond my heart, my heart is limited, but The nature of my heart is infinite.An infinite sex that transcends me, compared with a limited heart that exists only for me, naturally has a sense of descending and high pressure.This kind of feeling is called fate in Confucianism.In Confucianism, the most important thing is to work on one's intellect and one's fate.Although sex and life are one thing, there are two kinds of feelings.One is to feel that it is within me and belong to me, and the other is to feel that it is outside of me and not all belong to me.Since it is outside of me and not entirely owned by me, it has a kind of coercive or high-pressure, normative or leading power over me.If we talk about the human mind as a whole, it is only when we have a mind that we begin to see our nature.If one heart is concerned, then sex comes before and after the heart.If there is no self-consciousness, then there is sex. After the self-consciousness is gone, the sex is still there.In other words, the mind is individual but limited, while the nature is common and infinite.Mind has birth and death, but nature has no birth and death.And this non-birth and death grows within the birth and death, but at the same time, it is magnificent outside of the birth and death, and it regulates and guides it.Sexuality refers to what is in me and belongs to me, while fate refers to what is not completely in me and not entirely for me.How to completely hand over my individual heart to this common heart, to be regulated by it, and to be led by it, requires a state of entrustment.Religious commitment is conversion, and the commitment of the Ru family is peace of mind.You can start with peace of mind, and you must give up something if you commit to peace of mind.Give up this part and get that part. This kind of psychological state of giving up is just like the prayer of a religious man.The most important thing in the attitude of prayer is complete renunciation.Give up everything you have to obey God, trust God, and pray to God.The Confucian idea of ​​knowing one's fate and one's fate also has this state, calming down all activities of one's mind, and only obeying one's orders.Fate is outside of me.Life can be divided into negative and positive.Positive command is a kind of leadership, negative command is a kind of norm, a kind of restraint.The human heart must have these two functions. On the one hand, norms restrain you, forbid you to do this, not to allow you to be like that, and on the other hand, guide you, so that you should be like that, and you should be like that.Song Confucianism said that nature is reason, and this word for reason is fate.Song Confucians often talked about the principles of heaven, which is just like the pre-Qin Confucians who said the destiny of heaven.But although reason is outside, it is also inside, because since I am within reason, reason should also belong to me.Therefore, King Lu wants to say that the heart is reason, and reason rules everything.Therefore, Lu Wang said that conscience is your master, which means that the master is also within me, not outside me.The most important point of Confucian theory is to recognize that what is not mine is actually mine.But this state cannot be obtained through prayer.This is another key to the difference between Confucianism and religion.

In Zhuangzi's book, there is one of the most thorough theories that overthrows the concept of God and the existence of God.But in Zhuangzi's book, there is also the most profound and wonderful rationale of entrusting one's destiny to one's fate.If you can experience this side of Chuang Tzu, you will naturally have peace of mind, peace of mind, letting go of everything, relaxed and peaceful, and reach a state of great ease and fearlessness.It is also the arrival of the Jewish religious spirit in prayer.However, the fate mentioned in Zhuangzi's book is only to passively ask you to give up, but not to actively encourage you to work hard. This is the fault of Zhuangzi who knows fate but does not know nature.The Qingtan scholars in the Wei and Jin Dynasties all valued Zhuangzi, but they did not talk about safety and self-will.Guo Xiang Zhuang Zhuang is one example.In this way, they only know willfulness and do not know how to live in peace. They have no restraint on the negative side and no leadership on the positive side.Sex is an inevitability, but the self-willedness of the talkers is to let it be natural and not to admit that it is inevitable.Only Confucianism can be said to cultivate both life and soul.

Confucianism is most different from all religions. All religions are all individualistic, while Confucianism is the least fond of thinking about oneself.All religions have a God who transcends individuals, and all individuals pray to this God. Although the object of prayer is common, the Lord of this prayer is personal.Therefore, the gift obtained by praying is also personal.In Confucianism, what transcends the individual is destiny, and destiny leads and regulates each person. Therefore, destiny is individual, but knowing one's destiny and one's destiny is one's willfulness, but one's nature is common and belongs to a large group.Therefore, what is led and regulated is the individual, and the leader who regulates the leadership starts from the masses and returns to the masses.

"The Doctrine of the Mean" says: "Heaven's destiny is nature, and willfulness is Tao." Just put the word "Tian Tian" lightly, not seriously attaching importance to the existence of a God, but the important thing is in the characters of fate and nature. within the identity.Mencius said: "Know one's nature with one's heart, and one's nature with one's heart." Here it can also be said that one knows one's destiny with one's nature. Heaven is only a synonym for destiny, and it does not seriously value the existence of a God. . ” Therefore, to know heaven with one’s nature is still only focused on the identity of a person.The word Dao comes from life, so it is obviously a group, not an individual.Confucius also said: "Man can expand Tao, but Tao cannot expand people." This does not necessarily mean that there must be Tao first before there are people.In short, the weight of making a statement still lies in the person.Western religionists must believe that there is a God and God before man, and they must lower the status of man below God and God. Such beliefs and theories seem to have been diluted in Chinese Confucianism.But Confucians have not neglected the function of encouraging people's upward emotions and encouraging people to expand their hearts, and they can fully grasp it. This is the brilliance of Confucianism.It is also the connection between Confucianism and all religious spirits.