What are they?
He was a literary master in the pre-Qin period. When reading the book "Mencius", he was always attracted and moved by his stand-to-the-end, impassioned and majestic debates. He was an absolute master of words, creating common idioms that we are still familiar with today. In addition, many of Mencius' famous sayings are as catchy and beautiful as poetry, and are often quoted by future generations.
Mencius
Mencius was very good at using parallelism, because in his debates, he first had to overwhelm the opponent in terms of momentum. For example, he said, "Wealth cannot be fornicated, poverty cannot be moved, and power cannot be surrendered." "The weather is not as good as the right place, and the right place is not as good as the people." Then I will treat you as a Chinese; treat you like dirt and treat you like an enemy.” etc., all very powerful.
At the same time, he is also very good at using contrast, believing that "the Tao will help you more, and the Tao will help you less", "the people are the most valuable, the country is the second, the king is the least", "the old are old and the young are young." ", "If you are poor, you can take care of yourself, if you are rich, you can help the world", etc. They have become famous sayings for later generations and are often quoted by people. Although Mencius was not a poet in the true sense, since poetry had not yet formed an independent literary genre in the pre-Qin era, Mencius' extensive use of rhetorical techniques in debates made his academic papers lively and interesting, and many of his short stories would not disappoint. When people find it boring and obscure, they often can't help but clap their hands and applaud. This is Mencius's skill. Mencius is the best example of "reviewing the past and learning the new". In his articles, he often picks up sentences from the Book of Songs, the Book of Rites, and the Spring and Autumn Annals. It can be seen that they are all good at reading and can be used innovatively by him. Only by learning and applying it can we produce so many classic poems.
Introduction to Mencius’ philosophical thought
Mencius was never considered a philosopher in the strict sense in ancient times. This is the common weakness of Confucianism, that is, it pays attention to ideology, but is not good at discussing human development and the relationship between man and nature. This achievement is not as good as that of Taoism, whose representatives are all famous philosophers, and is not inferior to ancient Greece and Aristotle of the same period in the West.
Mencius’ philosophical thoughts
Mencius only occasionally talked about his philosophical views in his remarks.
Mencius believed that human nature is inherently good, and that everyone has a heart of compassion, a heart of intolerance, a heart of right and wrong, and a heart of resignation. This is the theoretical basis of his Four Origins theory. But this point of view of Mencius is not to discuss why human nature is good, but to prepare the theory for his view of benevolent government and serve politics. Therefore, the philosophical nature of Mencius’ thoughts is much weaker.
Mencius is also China’s earliest people-oriented thinker. He said, "The people are the most important, the king is second, and the country is second." This is a great idea, but it is not a very rigorous logical point of view. Mencius often directly stated what his point of view was without explaining why it is like this or why it is not like that, and philosophy is the most logical.
Mencius was good at debating and often easily refuted the other party's views. He can quickly find loopholes in the opponent's thinking and start a debate. However, careful reading of "Mencius" is often achieved through fables or strong rhetorical techniques, and there is rarely rigorous argumentation. Even sophistry like the famous Huishi's is rare. This seems to be something Mencius deliberately ignored, or it was his weakness, so he deliberately avoided it. So scholars laid the philosophical foundation of ancient Chinese society, but Confucianism was superior in education and thought.
What stories does Mencius have?
The name Mencius has extraordinary significance in the history of China. His most prominent influence is his thoughts of benevolence, righteousness and kindness. Mencius was a great man of his generation, and many extraordinary stories happened in his life. Of course, the most familiar story that comes to mind is the "Three Movements", which is also a story that has profound significance for Mencius's later achievements.
Portrait of Mencius
Meng Mu’s "Three Movements" is one
There are also other stories, such as Mencius’ education. Its central idea is that Professor Meng Mu told Mencius that people must have the most basic etiquette in doing things, and they must show basic etiquette to outsiders and family members. There are also stories and allusions about the metaphor of rags, which mainly tell the story of perseverance in reading and not giving up halfway. This story of the rag metaphor had an important influence on Mencius becoming a master of Confucianism.