Confucius takes "benevolence" as the core of his thought, which means "love". Put forward the arguments of "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you" and "stand if you want, and reach if you want", advocate the principle of "loyalty and forgiveness", and think that the implementation of "benevolent policy" should be based on "courtesy": "self-denial, courtesy is benevolence". He is skeptical about the religious superstition of ghosts and gods since the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, and thinks that "you can't be a ghost if you don't know his life" and "you can't be a gentleman if you don't know his life". It also pays attention to the combination of "learning" and "thinking", and puts forward the viewpoints of "learning without thinking is useless, thinking without learning is dangerous" and "reviewing the old and learning the new". Advocate the atmosphere of teaching in private schools, advocate teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, "teach without distinction", "never tire of learning, never tire of teaching", and emphasize that "a gentleman learns to love others, while a villain learns to learn easily". Politically, he put forward the idea of "correcting the name", thinking that "Jun Jun, minister, father and son" should be worthy of the name, and put forward the view of "not suffering from poverty, suffering from inequality". Since the Western Han Dynasty, Confucius' theory has become the cultural orthodoxy of feudal society for more than two thousand years, with far-reaching influence.
When it comes to governing the country, Confucius attaches importance to the sufferings of people's livelihood, calls for benevolent governance, and hopes that rulers will treat people with benevolence and righteousness. He said that "tyranny is fiercer than tigers", and he also stressed that no matter what laws and regulations, rulers must first set an example. "They are upright and have no orders to do things; Its body is not right, although it cannot be done. " In interpersonal communication, Confucius emphasized loyalty and forgiveness. "Loyalty" means being loyal to others and working hard; "Forgiveness" means putting yourself in others' shoes, "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you", and "the beauty of a gentleman is not the evil of an adult". In dealing with people and things, Confucius advocated self-love and love. Confucius was cautious about fate, and he believed in man's own strength. He believes that "sex is similar, learning from each other is far away", and everything depends on personal efforts. Of course, there are also some thoughts in The Analects that deviate from the historical trend, such as his political retro tendency, over-emphasis on hierarchical order, introverted personality value orientation, etc., which have undeniably brought negative effects on the development of China society and need us to correct them with modern consciousness. However, we can't hide our shortcomings. In the pre-Qin era when human civilization was just dawning, our ancestors had such profound wisdom in life that our descendants could be proud of it.
Educational contribution
Confucius, a cultural giant, has been teaching with poems, books, rituals and music since his birth, and has been teaching by example in his great personality. It was he who initiated private lectures in the history of our country and transplanted the phenomenon that cultural knowledge was the patent of nobles to the people. He first put forward the policy of "no class for all", and everyone, whether poor, humble or rich, can be educated there. Disciples are as poor as Yan Hui, as rich as Zigong and as expensive as Meng. However, most of them are children of ordinary people, and some of them have come to defend their country, such as Qi, Chen and Wu, which are really full of peaches and plums. Its teaching purpose is to spread his humanitarian theory. That is, self-denial and courtesy are benevolence, changing students' temperament, achieving personality, improving the realm of life, and finally achieving things. In other words, it is necessary to build a pillar of a country and the world. Teaching students in accordance with their aptitude and heuristic methods should be adopted to cultivate students' demeanor of "learning without tiredness", "learning without thinking", "thinking without learning is useless", "knowing what they know, not knowing what they don't know", "having a teacher for three people" and "not ashamed to ask questions". What's more, he is a tireless teacher, caring for students like a loving mother, guiding students like strict father, and learning from each other like friends, all of which are due to his talent. Such as Zi Xiao's stupidity, Lu Zeng's participation, Zhang Zi's extreme, and Lutz's vulgarity ... all became great events. Ceng Zi, in particular, was given the responsibility of preaching and became a saint. There are even outstanding people who divide Germany: Yan Hui, Min Zikai, Ran Boniu and Zhong Gong. Language: Kill me, Zigong. Politics: Ran Qiu, Luz. Literature: Ziyou, Xia Zi, ten people. Confucius has three thousand disciples. Two out of seventy people are proficient in six arts. Therefore, the vast traditional culture can be popularized and passed down.
Because Confucius made great efforts in giving lectures, all the disciples felt that the teacher had worked hard. Therefore, all disciples sincerely admire them. They followed him, served him and defended him. They traveled around the world with him, enduring hardships and hunger without complaining. When someone slanders Confucius, they accuse him of "not measuring himself". When in danger, give your life to guard. After the death of Master, the disciples mourned for three years. Zigong lived alone for six years. His spirit of respecting teachers and valuing Taoism is still a much-told story. It is well-deserved for future generations to respect Confucius as the "most holy teacher". Many of his educational theories and methods are inexhaustible resources for today's educators. As we all know, there are 3,000 disciples of Mr. Kong Qiu, 70 of whom are proficient in the Six Arts. At that time, it seemed that there was no student status management system, so it was impossible to verify the names of these 3 thousand disciples. As for the seventy-two disciples who enjoyed the Confucius Temple, however, these gentlemen are all ancient figures. We look at them from a distance through thousands of years of history, just like looking at the immortals in the fairy fog, we can only look at them roughly and can't see the details. However, our ancient publishing industry was surprisingly backward. All documents are carved with a knife, and all kinds of efforts will inevitably lead to mistakes and even misinformation; What's more, there are so-called masters, who love to be far-fetched. They make mistakes, explain at random, even explain infinite meanings, and even regard them as irreparable classics. So it's ridiculous that three jackals commit suicide. If, unfortunately, there are two or more experts, each with a different version, then things will be even bigger and we must strive for each other. So ancient things are obviously the same thing, but we can see different or even opposite appellations and statements. For example, the name of the seventy-two saints of Confucius. Biographies of Zhong Ni and Seventy-two Biographies of Confucius' Family Words in Historical Records are authoritative materials, but they are quite different. For example, Zi Sheng is called Le Ke in Historical Records and Le Xin in family language. Disciple's name was Zheng in historical records, but it was renamed Xue Bang in ethnic languages. Confucius, for example, was good at flattery and married his brother's daughter to his son Rong. It is called Nangong Shu in The Analects of Confucius, Nangong Kuo in Historical Records and Nangong Tao in the family language. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Almost all these phenomena are attributed to the mistakes in transmission and carving. Moreover, the lists in Historical Records and Family Language are not no less than 72 people. The history books list 77 people, and solemnly quote Confucius' words, "Seven people out of seventy are connected". Who knows if Confucius ever said this sentence? "Family talk" is even more ridiculous. The title clearly says "Interpretation by Seventy-two Disciples", but there are 76 people listed in it. Finally, it concludes: "More than 72 disciples of Confucius are all scholars." Lying with your eyes open, can't even count? Sima Qian said that "China storytellers compromised with Confucius", but this roster of Confucius disciples didn't know who to compromise with. Compared with the two, Historical Records went to Kong Qiu relatively recently, and it is famous for its true history. Confucius Family is a famous book named Confucius Family, but it has always been regarded as a fake book. When it was regarded as the Three Kingdoms, Wang Su revised it by copying previous letters and bamboo slips. Relatively speaking, it seems not as good as historical records. The two are relative, take the one closest to the truth.
Among the sages at home and abroad, Sakyamuni Buddha has the deepest and widest influence. The monk group he founded faithfully spread his legacy and expanded the field of Buddhist education day by day. In its most prosperous period, Buddhism spread westward to almost the whole Middle East and reached Egypt and Europe. Eastward all over Southeast Asia and Indonesia; Spread southward through Ceylon; It spread northward to China, Han, Tibet, Mongolia, Korea and Japan. In the long historical period of the development of human civilization, Buddhism, as the mainstream culture, has even been honored as the state religion, and has played a very important role in spreading the politics, economy and culture in the region. Since modern times, Buddhism has spread to Europe, America, Australia and Africa, and more than 400 million modern people believe in it. Buddhism spread in different regions and times, although it changed with the times and formed many sects with different styles, but all of them worshipped Sakyamuni as the founder and "teacher", and all of them took Sakyamuni's four truths, twelve karma, three dharma seals and three studies and six degrees as their basic teachings. The theme of Sakyamuni's thought is an eternal problem, which has connotation beyond time domain. From the perspective of modern culture, although Sakyamuni's words and sentences are simple, his inner wisdom still shines, which has the valuable value of keeping pace with the times and provides many profound inspirations to modern people.
The essence of Sakyamuni's Buddhist theory and its enlightenment to modern culture can be summarized as follows:
First, a clear sense of civilization.
As the creator of civilization, human beings can be said to live alone on the small earth in the vast universe, and are still in the semi-ignorant stage of blind creation. Only pay attention to the immediate utility, pay little attention to their own position in the universe, the exact purpose of creating civilization and the ultimate destination and other directional fundamental issues, and lack a clear sense of civilization. Lack of civilization consciousness will inevitably make it difficult to control the activities of civilization creation and the results of independent civilization creation, which will lead to the alienation of civilization created by oneself and become a powerful alien force harmful to oneself, bound and driven by the alien force created by oneself. Desperately developing the economy, I turned myself into an economic animal, and everything was restrained by economic forces; Everyone lives and struggles for himself, and as a result, he loses himself in the big industrial machine; I tried to conquer nature and serve me, but I was ruthlessly retaliated by nature such as environmental pollution and ecological balance. The greatness of Sakyamuni Buddha lies in his sober examination of human existence, his calm reflection on human situation and human position in the universe with the whole universe as the coordinate, his undisguised revelation of human birth, illness, death, suffering and various social ills, pointing out the fundamental problems of human existence and arousing the concern and solution of this problem. No matter what the answer is, only this kind of awareness of one's own civilization, this kind of concern for life and the exposure of life defects will always be worthy of human cherish.
The second is the moral education of "doing all evil and pursuing all good"
Compared with other religions in India at the same time, Buddhism attached great importance to moral education. Forty-nine years after becoming a monk, Sakyamuni Buddha ran around and earnestly preached to many ethnic groups in the society at that time, all in order to persuade people to abandon evil for good, control their words and deeds according to reasonable moral norms, and at least be a moral good person. Buddhism's origin theory, karma theory and cultivation theory all boil down to ethical practice, which can be summarized by four words: "All evils should be avoided and all good should be pursued". The moral education of Sakyamuni Buddha is based on the theory of "origin law" and "karma", not on the basis of providence and social contract, but on a person's present life, future generations and future. Therefore, it has good social and educational benefits, and has played a long-term role in improving people's moral level, harmonious interpersonal relationship and promoting social stability, and it still has a huge positive role.
Third, the cold wisdom view of honesty and integrity.
It is the secret of life and death emphasized by Sakyamuni, and the essence of Sakyamuni's teachings that he is not confused by any illusion, subjective prejudice, bound by any theory or authority, or influenced by any emotion, and "truly sees" the true face of cosmic life with an extremely pure and clear heart. Sakyamuni Buddha is different from most religions and philosophies in the world. It does not presuppose an ontology, the origin or Brahma and God are the first. Instead, starting from rational speculation, we generalize the universal law-the method of origin, apply the method of origin, treat people and the universe truthfully, analyze the basic structure of the world, and come to the conclusion that "all behaviors are impermanent" and "all laws have no self", thus making all beings live and die. Seeing through the impermanence of all behaviors and the truth that there is no self in all laws is the secret of transcending life and death and enjoying nirvana forever. Sakyamuni used the method of origin to examine people's cognition calmly, pointing out that cognition is born from the combination of root, context and knowledge, and consists of two symbols: phase and name. Xiang and Ming, as well as their logical thinking and rational cognition, are limited and relative. At most, they can only explore the road of absolute truth, but they can't see the true face of absolute truth with their own eyes.
However, all living beings can witness the absolutely true "natural wisdom". Starting from rationality and looking at the impermanence of selflessness truthfully, we can transcend rationality, show our natural wisdom and witness the true nature ("introspection"). This can be described as stepping on the bridge of rationality and reaching the other side of super-rationality. Seeing the truth with one's own eyes (see the Tao), that is, seeing nirvana, is the main way to transcend the impermanence of life and death and enter the nirvana of eternal bliss. This wisdom thought of Sakyamuni has solved some important problems such as ontology, epistemology and rational limit that have been difficult to solve for a long time, and affirmed our intuitive potential. Sakyamuni Buddha's insight into real methods, approaches and conclusions is of profound significance to today's philosophy and many frontier sciences, and may promote the leap of science and the integration of natural science, humanities and humanities.
Fourth, the gist of "knowing his heart" and "purifying his heart"
Unlike modern human culture, which attaches great importance to material things, Sakyamuni Buddha attaches great importance to people's hearts. He attributed all evils, old age, diseases and other sufferings to his inner pollution and ignorance, and took "purifying his heart" as a prescription to eradicate all evils and treat all diseases, which was the road beyond life and death. Take "knowing one's heart" as the absolute truth, as the master key to open the secret machine of the universe, and even as a shortcut to solve the fundamental problems of human civilization; The most powerful "men" and "macho men" are self-restraint and self-determination. Sakyamuni made a careful observation of the human heart, analyzed the structure, hierarchy and multiple functions of the human heart in detail, revealed the incredible potential of the human heart, put forward a series of operating techniques to know, purify and develop its own potential, and described the wonderful functions of the human heart after its potential was fully developed. Sakyamuni Buddha's profound understanding of human heart has inspired many disciplines such as contemporary psychology.
Five, the spirit of compassion and diligence
Advocating compassion and encouraging people to engage in the world and the world with diligence and courage is an important aspect of Sakyamuni's thought. Compassion and diligence are the two most important spiritual beauty, which can solemn human nature and beautify the world. Compassion is a negative function, which broadens sympathy, enhances people's affinity, adds warmth to the world, and eliminates anger, hatred and jealousy that are harmful to individuals' body and mind and can breed crimes such as fighting, revenge, jealousy and murder. Diligence is a positive function and a necessary driving force for all undertakings. Advocating diligence can inspire people to keep forging ahead and strive to create the value of life. Sakyamuni Buddhism guides mankind to expand compassion and diligence infinitely. Compassion unconditionally covers all beings in the universe, and diligence is endless and self-improvement. This spirit helps to cultivate a noble personality with strong appeal.
In the final analysis, the activity of Sakyamuni's becoming a monk and creating religion comes from his great wish of "solemn land and happy family". He called on people to take this goal as their life orientation, devote themselves to this ideal, and show the value of life in realizing this ideal.
Sakyamuni Buddha is not only the spiritual mentor of hundreds of millions of Buddhists, but also a saint worthy of respect from all mankind. His legacy is the spiritual wealth of all mankind, and it should play its due role in enlightening wisdom, purifying people's hearts and stately land in the cultural construction of all mankind.