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daizhicheng1
  • 2025/7/15
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00:00Have you ever wondered what kind of existence we, as human beings, really are?
00:05Are we born selfish and self-interested, or do we harbor a goodness deep inside?
00:10Today, we are going to enter the world of a wise man of more than 2,000 years ago, Mencius,
00:16to hear his unique insights into human nature.
00:19Mencius was an important representative of Confucianism during the Warring States period,
00:24second only to Confucius in terms of influence, and so he was honored as the Sage of Asia.
00:30His thoughts were organized into a book called, Mencius, which contains many chapters,
00:35from ancient times to the Qin dynasty, where required reading for the imperial examinations,
00:41so it can be seen how important his thoughts are.
00:43The core of Mencius' thought is what we are going to talk about today,
00:47asterisk asterisk, the theory of the goodness of nature.
00:51Simply put, Mencius believed that people are good by nature.
00:55He felt that we are born with something called, intolerance, asterisk asterisk.
01:00Sounds a bit awkward, doesn't it?
01:03In fact, it is a kind of compassion and sympathy for others.
01:08This kind of compassion, Mencius also called it, compassion.
01:12He added, compassion, to, shame, the heart that knows shame and detests badness,
01:18resignation, the heart that knows modesty, and, right and wrong, the heart that knows right and wrong.
01:24The heart of right and wrong, the heart that can distinguish between right and wrong,
01:29known as the, four hearts, of man, or the, four ends, asterisk asterisk.
01:35Mencius said that the reason why a person is a human being is that he has these, four hearts.
01:40Without them, he would be no different from a beast.
01:43So the question is, if people are good by nature, why do people still do bad things?
01:50Mencius believes that it is not a problem of human nature itself, but people, give up,
01:55the nature, or, in other words, the good nature to, lose.
01:59Therefore, people need to constantly reflect on themselves, to find, to restore the original
02:05goodness.
02:07This is like what Mencius said, seek peace of mind, that is, to find the lost heart back.
02:13When this is done, and the heart is open, that is the greatest joy, to be honest with
02:18oneself, there is no greater joy, asterisk asterisk.
02:23Mencius' thought is not only about personal cultivation, but also goes into the governance
02:27of the country.
02:29He put forward the people-oriented ideology of, the people are more important than the
02:34ruler.
02:35He believed that the people were the most important thing, followed by the state, and the monarch
02:40came last.
02:41The first responsibility of the monarch was to protect the interests of the people and
02:45to love them.
02:47Mencius also said that the power of the monarch must be legitimate and agreed upon by the people.
02:52If the monarch's character and governance do not win the hearts of the people, the people
02:57have the right to overthrow him.
02:59The phrase, heaven sees what the people see, and heaven hears what the people hear, is a
03:04reminder to the monarch that heaven sees through the eyes of the people and hears through the
03:08ears of the people.
03:10Unfortunately, this ahead-of-the-curve people-oriented thinking of Mencius was not really adopted and
03:15practiced during most of the feudal dynasties.
03:19Mencius also advocated that monarchs should practice, benevolent government, and, the way of
03:24the king.
03:26This required monarchs to follow the theory of goodness of nature, in governing the country,
03:31and to use benevolence and virtue to govern the country.
03:34He hoped that monarchs would extend their love for their own elderly to the elderly of others,
03:39and their love for their own children to the children of others.
03:43In this way, the society can be full of benevolence and love, and the country can be rich, strong,
03:49and stable. Why did Mencius emphasize the, goodness of nature, so much? He believed that
03:56human beings are born with a kind of, conscience, and, good ability. Conscience, is the moral truth
04:02that we can understand without learning, and, good ability, asterisk, asterisk, is the good deeds
04:07that we can do without thinking. For example, when a child is born knowing how to love his parents,
04:14and when he grows up knowing how to respect his brothers and sisters, this is the embodiment of
04:19what Mencius called, benevolence, and, righteousness. These essences of goodness,
04:24these moral capacities, are what distinguish human beings from animals, and they are also
04:29their noblest values. Mencius criticized those who regarded human desires as their nature and the
04:36pursuit of gain, as the goal of life. He argued that if people acted only on the basis of desires
04:42and external rules, they would not be truly wise and their nature would be distorted.
04:47He emphasized that morality is the most special part of human beings, something we are born with
04:52and cannot be changed by the outside world. It is like water, which by nature flows downward,
04:59but if you use a pump, you can also make it go upward, even to high mountains. This is not the nature of
05:05water, but the action of external forces. According to Mencius, when people do bad things,
05:11just like water being forcibly led upward, it is not a matter of human nature,
05:16but of being influenced by external circumstances and going against one's good nature.
05:22Therefore, Mencius taught us that we should always reflect inwardly to realize the
05:26compassion, shame, and resignation that we already have in our hearts, the four hearts of compassion,
05:33shame, hatred, resignation, and right and wrong, and constantly expand and practice the
05:38virtues of benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, and wisdom. Don't be a self-thief, that is,
05:46don't harm your own goodness, don't let yourself do bad things. We must guard the
05:51heart of benevolence and righteousness, or conscience, asterisk, asterisk.
05:56Mencius even believed that the reason why we human beings are different from everything else is that
06:01we have a special chi in our hearts, which is called the spirit of greatness. He said,
06:07I am good at cultivating my vastness of chi. This kind of chi is the most powerful and strongest chi
06:14in heaven and earth, which is accumulated by the righteousness of little by little, and is
06:19compatible with the way. This shows that Mencius, goodness of nature, is not only a kind of morality,
06:26but also a kind of powerful inner strength. Of course, Mencius' theory of the goodness of nature
06:32has some room for logical discussion, such as how he distinguishes between human desires and nature,
06:38and the criteria for judging a gentleman, etc. But it is undeniable that Mencius' theory of the
06:44goodness of nature is not only a morality, but also a powerful inner force. However, it is undeniable
06:51that Mencius' theory of the goodness of nature provides a very important perspective for us to
06:56understand human nature. It emphasizes the power of the goodness of man's heart and encourages us to
07:01actively guard and develop our conscience. This kind of thinking still has far-reaching
07:06revelations for us today in building a harmonious society and enhancing our personal moral cultivation.