It means: If there are no ministers who uphold the law and wise men to assist the monarch at home, and there are no hostile countries and foreign troubles abroad, it will often lead to destruction.
From "Mencius Two Chapters" by Mencius.
The original text is as follows:
Shun was raised among the acres of land, Fu Shuo was raised among the boards, Jiao Ge was raised among the fish and salt, Guan Yi was raised among the scholars, Sun Shu'ao was raised among the officials. Lift it in the sea, and lift it in the city for hundreds of miles.
Therefore, when Heaven is about to entrust a person with a great responsibility, he must first strain his mind, strain his muscles and bones, starve his body and skin, deplete his body, and mess up his actions. Therefore, tempting his heart and forbearance has benefited him. Can't.
People always make mistakes and then they can change; they are stuck in the balance of mind and worry and then act; signs are manifested in color and then expressed in sound. If you enter, you will be unable to control the people at home, if you leave, you will be invincible to foreign patients, and the country will be permanently destroyed. Then I know that I was born in sorrow and died in happiness.
Shun was raised from the fields, Fu Yüeh was raised from among the wall-builders, Jiao Ke was raised from among the fish and salt sellers, Guan Yiwu was raised from the hands of the prison officer and made Prime Minister. Sun Shuao was appointed as a doctor from the seclusion of the seaside, and Baili Xi was selected as a doctor from the slave trading place. ?
So when God assigns a great responsibility to such a person, he must first make his heart suffer, make his muscles and bones tired, make him suffer from hunger, and make him suffer from poverty. When doing things, make sure that every action he takes does not go as he wishes. Use these methods to make his heart fluctuate, make his character tough, and increase his talents that he did not have in the past.
A person often makes mistakes and can (pay attention to) correct them later; he is confused and blocked in his heart before he can rise up and make a difference; he is haggard and withered, which is reflected on his face, and the breath of chanting and sighing comes from his voice. , (seeing his face, hearing his voice) then people understood him. ?
If there are no ministers who abide by the law and wise men who can assist the monarch at home, and if there are no hostile countries and the danger of foreign aggression abroad, the country will always be in danger of destruction. Only in this way will people understand that they can survive in sorrow and die in happiness.
Extended information:
Mencius’ Thoughts
“The people are the most important, the country is second, and the king is the least important.” This means that the people are the first priority. , the country comes second, the king comes last. Mencius believed that a monarch should care for the people first, and that politicians should protect the people's rights. Mencius agreed that if the monarch is immoral, the people have the right to overthrow the regime. For this reason, "Hanshu" and "Yiwenzhi" only placed "Mencius" among the scholars, as a book of Confucius, and did not get its due status. ?
At the time of Later Shu in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Meng Chang, the Lord of Later Shu, ordered eleven classics to be carved on stone in regular script, including "Mencius". This may be the "Mencius" included in the "Book of Classics" start.
At the time of Emperor Xiaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi combined "Mencius" with "The Analects of Confucius", "The Great Learning" and "The Doctrine of the Mean" and called it the "Four Books" and became one of the "Thirteen Classics". "Mencius" 》The status was pushed to its peak. It is said that Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang ordered people to delete relevant content in "Mencius" because he was dissatisfied with Mencius' people-oriented thinking.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Chapter 2 of Mencius