complete translation
The so-called sincere person should not deceive himself. Such as evil stench, such as good lust 4; This is called modesty. Therefore, a gentleman must be cautious about being alone.
To make your thoughts honest means not to deceive yourself. I hate evil as much as I hate the smell of filth, and I love goodness as much as I love beautiful women. Only in this way can we say that our thoughts are honest and feel at ease. Therefore, people with high moral cultivation must be cautious when they are alone, so that they can behave themselves.
it's bad for a villain to stay idle and do anything. When you see a gentleman, you are tired of it, slap him for being bad, and focus on his goodness. It's no good for a man to see himself, if he sees his lungs and liver. This is called sincerity in the middle and shape in the outside. Therefore, a gentleman must be cautious and independent.
Those people who have no moral cultivation can do anything bad when they live in solitude. When they meet people with moral cultivation, they hide and try to cover up the bad things they have done. And pretend to have done something good and try to show your virtue. In fact, other people's eyes are discerning. Seeing through these bad guys is like seeing their insides. So what good is this practice of concealing evil and promoting good? That is to say, what kind of actual virtue there is in people's hearts, what kind of words and deeds there will be in appearance. Therefore, people with moral cultivation must be cautious when they are alone, and even when they are alone, they should behave themselves.
Zeng Zi said, "What ten eyes see and what ten hands point to is strict!" Rich house, virtuous body, broad-minded and fat, so a gentleman must be sincere.
Zeng Shen said: "If a person is watched by many pairs of eyes and lit by many fingers, isn't it serious and terrible!" Wealth can decorate houses and make them gorgeous; Morality can cultivate people's body and mind and make people's thoughts noble. Broad-minded and cheerful, the body is naturally comfortable and comfortable, so people with moral cultivation must make their ideas honest.
traditional explanation
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This explanation is widely accepted by the society, and it is literally easier to be accepted by the world.
Zhu Xi explained that "the so-called sincere person: don't deceive yourself, such as bad smell, such as good lust, which is called self-modesty, so a gentleman must be cautious about being alone" and said: "Being alone is a place that people don't know but only know." He who wants to practice himself knows that he is good to get rid of his evil, so he should use his strength and forbid him to deceive himself. If you make it evil, it will stink like evil, and if you are good, it will be lewd. You must go and seek what you will get, so that you can be satisfied with yourself quickly, and you can't be a martyr. However, the truth and falsehood are covered by people who are not known by others, so we must be careful to judge them. "
" Cautious independence "means that when people live alone, they can consciously be strict with themselves, treat their thoughts and actions cautiously, and prevent immoral desires and behaviors from happening, so that morality can always accompany the main body.
Liu Shaoqi gave a more popular explanation of being cautious and independent. When a person works independently and is unsupervised, it is possible to do all kinds of bad things instead of doing bad things. Whether we can be "cautious and independent" and the extent to which we can persist in "cautious and independent" are important yardsticks to measure whether people insist on self-cultivation and the size of their achievements in self-cultivation. As a method of self-cultivation, "cautious independence" not only played an important role in ancient moral practice, but also has important practical value for today's socialist moral construction.
A relatively new explanation
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This explanation is the opinion of some scholars who specialize in China's ancient philosophy and Confucianism. The so-called "cautious independence" or "cautious independence" means holding or firmly maintaining the moral nature and original heart of the self. From the perspective of kung fu, "cautious independence" means how to "govern your body with your heart" in the face of your own body and mind; Facing the outside world, how to keep moral consciousness without being influenced by foreign things. From a negative point of view, "cautious independence" is a process of preventing and restraining the emergence and appearance of "self-immorality"; From a positive point of view, "being cautious and independent" is a process of maintaining and guarding the moral nature of "self"
Qing people advocated that the "prudence" of "being cautious and independent" should be interpreted as "honesty", and accordingly some people interpreted "independence" as "body", for example, Chen Shuofu said, "Being cautious and independent in The Doctrine of the Mean means being sincere." (See Wang Xianqian's Xun Zi Ji Jie Yan Pian, Zhonghua Book Company, 1997)
Unique explanation:
The "theory" in the Five Elements explains the relationship between the mourning system and the inner sadness, and explains that the son of Shi Gao Feng Yan Yan is returned to the wild. The poem "Looking forward to Fu and weeping like rain" says: "You can miss your feathers and then you can feel sad. Words come true. If you make a mistake, you don't say it. If you don't die, then you can grieve. When a husband loses his life, he is mourning and killing while repairing his collar, and what he says is not outside. Yes, it is called independence. If you are alone, you will give up your body. " In addition, there are also sayings that "giving up the body and being alone" and "giving up the husband and being cautious about the heart is called independence". Clearly define "heart" as "independence" or take "heart" as "independence".
Xunzi is not careful: "A gentleman is not good at honesty in raising his heart, and sincerity is nothing else. Only benevolence is the defense, but righteousness is the change and prosperity, which is called Tiande. The sky is silent and people push it high, the earth is silent and people push it thick, and the people are silent at four o'clock. ..... The husband is obedient, and he is cautious about the only one. Those who are good are the Tao, and those who are not sincere are not alone. If they are not alone, they will be shapeless ... Those who are sincere are also guarded by gentlemen, and the foundation of political affairs is also based on their residence. "
Among Confucianism in the Ming Dynasty, there are:
Liu Zongzhou: "Sages say that when they talk about noumenon, they always leave the word" cautious independence ",which means the essence of destiny, and cautious independence means the study of sex." ("Liu Ziquan's Book", Volume 5, "What are the sacred schools?" 6? 1 Prince Yangming)
"There is no noumenon except independence, and there is no effort except cautious independence." (Book of Liu Ziquan, Volume 8, The First Chapter of the Doctrine of the Mean)
"The power of being cautious and independent is only recognized everywhere when it is revealed to the true heart, which makes the whole people shine and be in harmony with heaven and earth." (Liu Ziquan's Book, Volume 6, Miscellaneous Explanations of Syndromes)
Shen's explanation:
Zuo Zhuan: "Be cautious about one"
Zhou Shu: "Be cautious, be virtuous." Guard the ultimate purity and solidity "
The Three Virtues in the last edition of Bo Bamboo Slips:" A gentleman is careless about his virtue ","Be cautious about his virtue ","Be careful not to lose his way "
The article" Be cautious about keeping it, and the person who belongs to it will enter "and" Be cautious about asking for it from himself, so that it can go smoothly. ..... therefore, a gentleman should be cautious about six people, so as to worship heaven. "
" Everything is done by Han Feizi to get rid of the old ":"Today, we should treat the body and external things, and we should not disturb its spirit. True, cautious and solid. The virtue of cultivating the body is true. "
The Way of Being an Official in the Qin Bamboo Slips of Sleeping Tiger Land: "All the ways of being an official must be honest, prudent and firm, and selfless in judging"
From some of the above use cases of "prudence", we can draw several important views: First, "prudence" and "defense" are directly used, and "prudence" can be interpreted as "defense" Second, "prudence" is used together with "solidity" and "firmness", and its "prudence" means firm maintenance; Third, according to the meaning of the sentence, "caution" can be interpreted as "keeping"; Fourth, "prudence" focuses on people's "inner heart" and "internality". According to these points, the "prudence" of "cautious independence" can be completely defined from the similar meanings of "keeping", "respecting", "respecting", "focusing", "holding" and "sticking to", which should be the exact meaning of "cautious independence".