"Hengqu" has four sentences, based on heaven and earth, born for the people, accomplished before, eternal peace.

Translated into modern Chinese, this sentence means:

Rebuild the spiritual value for the society, establish the meaning of life for the people, inherit the lost academic system for the former saints, and open up the foundation of peace for all generations.

First of all, a detailed analysis:

1, "represents heaven and earth"

The more popular explanation is that heaven and earth are unintentional, people have hearts, and people's hearts are also "the hearts of heaven and earth"; "Keeping a heart of heaven and earth" means developing people's thinking ability and understanding natural things and laws. There is also a saying that "building a heart for heaven and earth" refers to establishing a spiritual value system centered on morality and ethics such as benevolence and filial piety for the society.

2. "Make a living for the people"

"Destiny" refers to people, and "destiny" refers to people's fate. This involves the problem of "settling down" that Confucianism has been paying attention to. It has long been popular in history that people can only resign themselves to fate. However, Zhang Zai believes that as long as people make their own moral efforts, they can control their own destiny in spiritual value and give meaning to life. Therefore, "making a living for the people" means choosing the right destiny direction for the people and establishing the meaning of life.

3. "Learn from the past"

"Most Holy" refers to the saints in history. The so-called saints in Confucianism actually refer to personality models and spiritual leaders. "Juexue" refers to the interrupted academic tradition. Neo-Confucianism generally believes that the Confucian learning system has been extinct since Mencius and should be restored. Zhang Zai inherited "Juexue", but he did not copy his predecessors, but tried to innovate. There are many contents in his theory that are not found in the Six Classics, which were not mentioned by the former sanctuary.

4. "Building peace for the world"

Since Duke Zhou and Confucius, "peace" and "great harmony" have been social and political ideals. In the Northern Song Dynasty, politicians and thinkers represented by Fan Zhongyan and Li Gou all put forward the idea of "harmony". Zhang Zai is not limited to the current "Taiping" order, but looks forward to the "Taiping" inheritance of "eternal life" with a far-reaching vision.

Second, the source

Zhang Zai's famous sentence "For Everyone" in the Northern Song Dynasty was summarized as "four sentences in a horizontal canal" by the contemporary philosopher Feng Youlan.

Third, the theme of the novel.

The four sentences of "four sentences in a horizontal canal" can best express a person's responsibility and mission to the country and society. The novel should not only have broad feelings of caring for the world and caring for others, but also have a sense of mission and responsibility based on one's own heart and life, caring for poor countries, being diligent and loving the people, and caring for people's livelihood.

Extended data

1, Ye Cai explained four sentences of Hengqu

"Heaven and earth take life as their heart, and sage counselors educate them, so that everything has its life, and it is also the heart of heaven and earth; Clarifying justice and principles and cultivating principles are also the way for the people; Following Juexue means to describe orthodoxy; When peace is achieved, it is said that if there is a king, it will take Fallise, and it will last forever. "

2. Background

At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China in the early Song Dynasty, the rulers of Zhao and Song Dynasties summed up the experience and lessons of the long-term division of the country and established the national policy of "building the country with Confucianism" in order to rebuild social order. In this policy environment, Neo-Confucianism in the Northern Song Dynasty, represented by Zhang Zai and others, is most concerned with laying an eternal spiritual foundation for the ideal order pursued by Confucianism, rather than understanding the "law of nature".

3. Original text

The origin of these four sentences is generally based on the examples of Song and Yuan Dynasties compiled by Huang Zongxi and Huang Baijia. Hundreds of schools wrote in the annotation of Volume 17 of "Cross Canal Learning Examples":

"Mr Less like talking about soldiers, this kuai ChiHaoZong also. At first, he was laid off in Fan Wenzheng, but later he realized the needs of his life, so he has been in and out of the Buddha for many years. After learning from Er Chengzi, I found the right method. He thought hard and practiced, and resolutely took the way of saints as a necessity, and the rule of three generations as a necessity. As the saying goes,' make a heart for heaven and earth, make a life for the people, link the past with the future, and live in peace forever'. Self-esteem "

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Four Sentences in Hengqu