Chapter 30 Scholars cannot be without perseverance, heavy responsibilities and a long way to go

Zeng Zi said: "Scholars can't be resolute. The responsibilities are heavy and the road is long. Ren takes it as his own responsibility, isn't it too heavy? Isn't it too far away after death?" ——"The Analects of Confucius Taber" (excerpt) On the morning of June 24, 2005, the swearing-in ceremony of Hong Kong's new Chief Executive Donald Tsang was held in the Great Hall of the People.After the ceremony, Premier Wen Jiabao met with Donald Tsang in the reception hall.After taking his seat, Premier Wen said: "I firmly believe that Mr. Zeng will faithfully fulfill his oath, conscientiously implement the Basic Law, lead the Special Administrative Region government to govern in accordance with the law, unite the general public of Hong Kong, and make new contributions to the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong." The Prime Minister went on to say, "At last, I would like to borrow a sentence as an encouragement to Mr. Zeng: 'Scholars must be ambitious, and there is a long way to go.'"

The "scholar" mentioned in the book is a special class with a certain social identity and status in feudal society, and is the head of the four people (four people, namely scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants).After the Song Dynasty, scholar gradually became a general term for ordinary scholars.But before the Spring and Autumn Period, Shi was only the name of a rank (that is, the rank sequence of Zhou Wang, princes, Qing, doctor, and scholar), which was relatively stable.In the Warring States period, although the scholars still had the characteristics of hierarchy, they gradually evolved into a social class.During the Warring States Period, wars of hegemony and mergers were frequent, and most countries were proud of winning soldiers."Scholar" has been mentioned many times in Confucian classics. For example, Zi Gong and Zi Lu, disciples of Confucianism, both asked the question "How can you be called a scholar?"When Confucius answered Zigong’s question, he regarded “be ashamed to behave oneself, to spread it all over the world, and not disgrace the king’s life, you can be called a scholar” as the highest standard for a scholar. Yes" to encourage him.As a disciple of Confucianism and the most effective inheritor and disseminator of Confucianism, Zeng Zi put forward the standard of being a scholar is the most praised by later generations, that is, "a scholar must be ambitious, and the task is heavy. After that, isn’t it far away?” It can be seen that in the eyes of Confucianism, scholars are typical models of ideal personality and firm implementers of Confucian social ideals.

Zeng Zi believed that in order to become a scholar, one must have two kinds of self-cultivation, namely "Hong" and "Yi".Regarding the interpretation of these two characters, Zhu Xi said in "Four Books Chapters and Sentences Collection": "Hong, broadness. Yi, forbearance." Zhu Xi also said in "Zhu Zi Yu Lei": "The so-called 'Hong' is not But letting go is fair and lenient, to be tolerated by others, one must tolerate a lot of reasons. If one is obsessed with seeing one, one is self-righteous, and if one says that one cannot enter further, one is stuck in a corner. To get all the principles is to get it.” “Perseverance is to be firm and strong in the foothold, and to be able to bear the bottom of the heart.” That is to say, as a scholar, one should be broad-minded, have the capacity to accommodate others, and have the capacity to accommodate things; Paranoid, not self-righteous, far-sighted, and knowledgeable.This is what Hiroshi means.But this alone is not enough. You should also be firm, courageous and have super endurance, which is what Su Shi said in "Chao Cuo Lun": "Those who can achieve great things in ancient times are not only talents who transcend the world, but also have perseverance. Pull out the ambition." "Hong" and "Yi" cannot be biased, they are mutually unified and indispensable.Zhu Xi said that "the weight cannot be overcome without greatness, and the distance cannot be achieved without perseverance", and he quoted Cheng Zi's words to explain: "If you are big without perseverance, you will have no rules and it will be difficult to establish; if you are not strong, you will be narrow and incapable Live here." ("Four Books Chapters and Sentences Collection")

So, as a scholar, why do you need to have these two qualities?This is determined by the historical mission and social responsibility shouldered by scholars.The main body of Confucianism is "benevolence". The most recorded in the Confucian classics is the discussion about "benevolence". The realization of the goal is really difficult to achieve if it is not a person of great determination. "The Annotation of the Four Books of Chapters and Sentences" states: "The benevolent man is the virtue of the human heart, and he must do it with his body. That is to say, when there is a sense of responsibility that "the internal affairs of the universe are the internal affairs of oneself, and the internal affairs of the self are the internal affairs of the universe" (Lu Jiuyuan's "Xiangshan Collection"), do not take refuge when there is something, "don't take it when the big festival is approaching", and even "see the danger" Fatal", "kill one's life for benevolence", and "death after death" religious devotion.These fully embody Confucianism's strong sense of social and historical responsibility, and demonstrate unswerving values ​​and beliefs, persevering personality and perseverance, and rational self-consciousness that does not change one's will.Confucianism's vigorous, promising, and endlessly active subject spirit makes Chinese scholars sing the hymn of life that takes the world as their own responsibility all the time in the depths of their lives.They worry about the world, if they are poor, they will take care of themselves alone, if they are rich, they will help the world at the same time, and they write songs of praises of humanity with their lives.Zhuge Liang "dedicated himself to death and then died", Gu Yanwu loudly shouted "the rise and fall of the world, everyone is responsible" in the decaying and apocalyptic world, Lin Zexu reminded himself at the critical moment of the country, "If the country lives and dies for the benefit of the country, don't avoid it because of misfortunes and blessings"...

According to the investigation of Zengzi Research Association in Jiaxiang County, Jining, Shandong, the Zeng family was originally a descendant of Zeng Shen. According to the genealogy, Zeng Yinquan is the 74th descendant of Zengzi.Zeng Temple is located in Jiaxiang County near Jining City, Shandong Province. Zeng Yinquan, his wife and children once went there to worship their ancestors. In 2005, Donald Tsang was elected as the chief executive of Hong Kong. Premier Wen Jiabao kindly quoted the famous words of his ancestor, Zeng Zi, to encourage him that "a scholar must be ambitious, and the responsibilities are heavy and the road is long." Isn’t it too heavy? After death, it’s not too far away?” to encourage him.What Premier Wen meant was that Tsang Yam-kuen has a very heavy responsibility to seek the interests of Hong Kong people. He will dedicate himself to the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong until the last moment of his life. This road is very far away.