5.3 Confucius said that Zi was humble: "A gentleman is just like a human being! If there are no gentlemen in Lu, how can we choose this?"

Confucius said that Zi was humble, a gentleman is just like a human being! A gentleman is someone like Zi Jian! It is a gentleman to say that a child is cheap.

Then he said, "There are no gentlemen in Lu, how can we choose Si?" The first "Si" refers to Si people, who are despicable; the latter "Si" refers to Si's virtue, so The virtue of a gentleman. The reason why a humble person can become a gentleman is because there are so many gentlemen in our country of Lu! Otherwise, where did he learn it?

This is the Confucian study theory. Confucian scholars of all ages have said this again and again. For example, Zeng Guofan said that the most important things in study are reading and making friends. Reading books by sages, making good teachers and friends, making bad friends, being able to Encourage each other, criticize each other, point out each other's shortcomings, only in this way can we make progress.

Making friends is actually more important than studying, because friends are living role models. Each of us has experienced that friends have a greater influence on us than anything else. If your friends always read, you will read more; if your friends run, you will also run with them. Interpretation of the King of Empowerment?

Today we will continue to study the third chapter of "The Long Chapter of Gongye" in the Analects of Confucius. Confucius said to Zi Jian: "A gentleman is like a human being! There are no gentlemen in Lu, how can we choose this?"

Let me first introduce Zi Jian. He is also a student of Confucius. His surname is Mifu, and his given name is not Qi. , the word is cheap.

Confucius commented that Zi is a mean person, but a gentleman is as good as a human being! A gentleman is someone like Zi Jian! It is a gentleman to say that a child is cheap.

Then another explanation was given. There is no gentleman in Lu, so he can take this.

Just as an analogy, who said there are no gentlemen in the state of Lu! If there are no gentlemen in the State of Lu, how did he come to be a gentleman?

The former "Si" refers to Si people, a despicable person; the latter "Si" refers to Si's virtue, such a gentleman's virtue. The reason why a humble person can become a gentleman is because there are so many gentlemen in our country of Lu! We have such an environment, otherwise, where would he learn it?

From here we can see that, first, Confucius gave a very high evaluation to Zi Jian, and in the entire Analects of Confucius, there are not many people who can really be called gentlemen by him. This shows his high recognition of Zi Jian.

Including Zigong, who will be discussed in the next chapter, Confucius did not say that he was a gentleman. Why? A gentleman has no weapons, but Zigong is a hu (hú) Lian (liǎn). We will talk about it in detail in the next chapter.

Some people say that this was what Confucius said when he was a little drunk after drinking a little wine.

Why do you say this? Because there was a chapter that said that Confucius would drink a little wine every night, and never excessively, and he could control the amount. In this relatively tipsy state, I said this sentence very proudly. It not only praised Zi Jian, but also talked about the environment in which gentlemen grew up, because there are many gentlemen in our country of Lu.

This sentence is not without reason, because Lu is our Shandong and it is a cultural country.

The sage of the Zhou Dynasty in China is Zhou Gong, a saint in the heart of Confucius. His fiefdom is in the State of Lu. Therefore, the State of Lu is the inheritance place of the entire Chinese culture. Shandong has always been a cultural state. Many cultural celebrities, including Confucius and Mencius, were born in Shandong.

This is actually the Confucian study theory. Confucian scholars of all ages have said this over and over again. For example, Zeng Guofan once said: The two most important things in learning are reading and making friends, reading books by sages and learning from books.

In addition, make friends with mentors and critics, that is, friends who can tell you the truth, encourage each other, criticize each other, and point out shortcomings, so that you can make progress.

Speaking of which, let me tell you a story about Zi Jian.

Because the history is too long and there are not enough records, we actually know very little about Zi Jian’s story, but two things happened to him, which are enough to prove his excellence.

The first one is an allusion about constraints.

The king of Lu appointed Mi Zijian, who had been an official in the imperial court, to manage Shan's father, which is now Shan County.

But Zijian was very uneasy because many of his advice when he was in the court were destroyed by the villains around him. Now that he was leaving the court, he was worried that someone would slander him in front of the king, so he asked to bring two people with him. Two deputies took office, and both deputies were Lu Jun's cronies.

When Shanfu arrived, the local magistrate went to visit Zigui. He asked his deputies to write a list of people visiting him, and when they were writing, he deliberately touched them so that they could not write well. Then he scolded them for their messy writing. The two people could not bear the humiliation and returned to the court. , report this detail to Lu Jun. As a result, the king of Lu understood Zi Jian's intention after hearing this, and sent someone to tell Zi Jian, allowing him to have full power over Shan's father without any interference from the court.

From this story, can you see Zi Jian’s wisdom?

The second thing is that after Zi Jian became a single father, he played the piano and had fun all day long, being leisurely and carefree, and seemed not to care about political affairs at all.

But what surprised everyone was that Shanfu's area gradually prospered, and within a few years, it became peaceful and economically prosperous. His predecessor and others were very puzzled by this. , wondering what's going on?

He explained that when you manage a single father, you rely on the strength of one person, and you have to do everything by yourself, which will not only make you exhausted, but may also lead to chaos in the midst of busy work.

And I mobilized everyone's strength and relied on everyone's strength to complete the governance. Only in this way can I be able to avoid omissions and easily grasp the overall situation.

Through these two stories, can you see that Zijian is a wise man and a sage. He has enough wisdom, enough moral character, and enough ability to govern the country well. In fact, Confucius's evaluation of him as a gentleman is not in vain.

Do you still remember this sentence?

People who are close to red are red, and those who are close to ink are black. It refers to a person's moral character cultivation, which is closely related to his growth environment.

There is a saying in "Yan Zi Chun Qiu" that oranges grown in Huainan become oranges, and oranges grown in Huaibei become oranges.

The quality of the environment can affect every growing person. Only a good humanistic environment can cultivate positive and healthy offspring.

Having said that, think about it, everyone, Confucius was a saint, so he had three thousand disciples. Those who studied with him all wanted to become gentlemen, right?

So Confucius created a very good environment. He was a saint, and many people who followed him also wanted to become saints. In such an environment, in an environment where there are many gentlemen, there will definitely be many, many gentlemen. This is what Confucius is proud of.

Think of us here. Since everyone comes here for the speech, they are all very interested in the speech. Here they can learn from each other, compare with each other, and confirm each other.

Naturally, as I said, we all have the potential to become super speakers, we can all study the Analects of Confucius seriously, and we can seriously study Teacher Li Xiaolai’s column on the road to wealth and freedom. Listen, read and give feedback, keep outputting, keep inputting, input first for output, and then think about it. If we dare to speak, we will get better and better.

In our Super Speaker, it’s all about making friends. Hua Shan said that making friends is actually more important than studying because friends are living role models.

Then I also think that at least this level is no less than reading. Reading is for us to read quietly alone. We don’t know how much we can absorb, and there is no feedback.

But making friends is different. If we exchange what we have learned with each other and verify it, we can rectify the gains and losses. We can point out any problems.

Just like yesterday, I said that my weight had increased. As a result, our comrade Liu Xiufeng called me specifically to inquire and guide me: Brother, look, here you are. There is a lot of oil in the diet, and the structure of what you eat at night is wrong. You can eat a little beef, but don't eat aspic, whatever.

In fact, I know now that I should do this. The role of friends is obvious.

When we see others reading books, we also want to read them. When we see others watching speeches, we also want to read them. When we see others running, we also want to run. When we see others losing weight, we also want to. Thinness has a subtle impact on us.

Therefore, if a person wants to make progress, it is crucial to be in a good environment. So where does a good environment come from?

One is that we are very lucky to be in such an environment. Another one is that we should take the initiative to find such an environment and integrate into it.

Let’s take the example of a super speaker. Since you are here, this is the result of your active search. I rarely directly persuade you to come in one by one. You all come because of this need. Then when you come here, the environment is already there, and you have to take the initiative to integrate into it.

Only by integrating and getting involved can you have the most profound experience and make real progress, instead of simply staying here.

The so-called learning is actually imitation.

Mentors and friends are the foundation of virtue. Choosing friends is the key to learning.

It is very important to find good teachers and make good friends, friends who are easy to learn and have good moral character.

If you make friends with a bunch of gentlemen all day long, you will inevitably become a gentleman.

So through this chapter, I would like to call on all our comrades to learn from our very active comrades and actively integrate in.

If an environment like Confucius made everyone become a gentleman, then the environment here allows us to at least become a super speaker.

The interpretation will continue at 6:30 tomorrow morning.

Zigong asked: "How about a gift?"

Confucius said: "Female, a vessel."

He said: "What vessel?"

Said: "Hulian."