The Sigh Of Confucius And Its Educational Significance

Confucius is a great philosopher,statesman,and educator in Chinese history.The Confucianism he founded not only had a profound impact on the etiquette and culture of ancient China,but also affected the national spirit and character of the Chinese people.In recent years,as the Chinese government attaches great importance to excellent traditional culture,more and more researches on Confucian thought have emerged.In particular,the multi-angle analysis of Confucius' educational thoughts is an important path for scholars to study.However,as far as I can see,the systematic study of Confucian thought from the perspective of "the Sigh of Confucius" is still lacking.Therefore,this article starts from the perspective of "the Sigh of Confucius" and deeply analyzes the educational thoughts contained in it,in order to provide some suggestions for the reform and development of modern education.“The Sigh of Confucius" is the interjections made by Confucius in his life.These interjections appear in many classics such as "The Analects","Book of Rites",“Confucius Homely Talks” and so on.According to the different ways of expressing emotions,these interjections are divided into three types: exclaim,admiration and regret.The emergence of "Confucius' Sigh" is related to the specific history and culture of the Spring and Autumn Period.In terms of economy,that era has formed an agricultural production pattern that mainly planted German millet and yellow broomcorn millet,with multiple crops coexisting.The technology of "Plows oxen-led" has been promoted,and the development of productivity has broken the original public-private boundaries of the "well-field system".The old relations of production also collapsed.In terms of politics,the clan system and enfeoffment system of the Zhou Dynasty gradually weakened.The relationship between the emperor of Zhou and the princes changed from the reliable father-son relationship and brother relationship in the early Zhou Dynasty to the relationship of interests between the countries,and the hierarchical order between large and small clans had also existing in name only,and different countries have merged the lands of other countries through war.In terms of etiquette and music culture,the etiquette and music culture of the Zhou Dynasty gradually weakened its control over the princes and nobles,and the social ethical order became chaotic,facing the situation of "the Falling of Ceremony and Propriety".In terms of Lu's international and domestic situation,Lu was reduced to a second-rate country in the military at that time.It was split between Qi,Jin,Wu and other large countries,maintaining a relatively peaceful environment,and the domestic military and political power was controlled by the three nobles,especially the Ji Sun family.Lived in such a spring and autumn era,Confucius' political thoughts were difficult to be recognized and promoted.Therefore,there are many interjections in his life.According to the different themes,we divided"the Sigh of Confucius" into the sigh of learning,the sigh of being an official,the sigh of teaching and the sigh of Taoism,and then we explored its connotation and educational implications."Learning" is the most important thing in Confucian moral education.From the perspective of "the Sigh of Learning",Confucius praised the learning purpose of "Tao" and "Benevolence"."Tao" refers to the norms of human behavior.It originates from the laws of heaven and is the fundamental difference between humans and animals.Its core content is the "benevolence" that promotes morality and establishes good interpersonal relationships.The connotation of "benevolence" can be summarized as "love everyone",which is the sum of various virtues,with ritual and music as its external manifestation."Tao" and "Benevolence" are different aspects of the same thing in different situations.In most cases,"Aspiration to Tao" means "Aspiration to benevolence".In terms of learning models,Confucius believes that scholars should take the ancient emperors Yao,Shun,and Yu as examples,the Zhou Dynasty's King Wen,Wu,and Zhou Gong as their examples,and the contemporary sages Zi Chan,Yan Ying,and Qu Boyu as their examples.According to Confucius,Scholars should learn Confucianism with a positive attitude of "eager to learn" and "like to learn so as to forget their sorrow",and consciously avoid the influence of negative attitudes.These ideas have certain value for contemporary scholars to determine the status,model and attitude of learning."If you learn well,you can become an official." Pre-Qin Confucianism believed that after scholars were successful in their studies,they should become officials and benefit the people in this way.But it was in the Spring and Autumn Period when there were many wars and the ethical order was destroyed.Confucius had been around for more than ten years and still did not get the opportunity to be an official.Therefore,he has a lot of sighs about "the Falling of Ceremony and Propriety" and "there is no wise monarch in power".But in this process,by observing the political situation of different countries and the quality of different officials,he established a set of rules for governing the country with the purpose of "morality".He believes that politicians should start from their own morals,through the principle of "make yourself better before asking others to be better",and use etiquette and music to regulate people's behavior.Politicians should have a huge inspiring effect on the moral development of the people,and promote the stability of social order and the formation of good customs.In terms of political order,it should be based on "correct naming",focusing on "integrity",and in the order of "prosperity,wealth,and education",and finally achieve the goal of "no dispute" as a political goal.These contents are of great significance to the cultivation of the students' sense of responsibility centered on "benevolence",the cultivation of the "reluctant" spirit of the world,the model of moral education and the establishment of "non-controversial" social ideals,etc."If the monarch is wise,go to be an official,if the monarch is mediocre,go to teach." Confucius believes that if a person's path to becoming an official is not clear,he can realize his life value by teaching students.From the perspective of Confucius' "the Sigh of Teaching",his teaching methods include the question-and-answer method of "knocking and ringing",the discussion method of "getting together and discussing aspirations",the visiting method of "learning in travel",the practice method of "teaching in practice".The teaching content of Confucianism takes "Book of Songs","Shangshu","Ritual" and "Yue" as basic subjects,"Book Of Changes" and "Spring and Autumn Annals" as high-level subjects.In addition,he also admired the disciple's "virtual ability",lamented the disciple's "Inappropriate" behavior,and lamented the disciple's "early death".These contents have a great enlightening effect on the selection of teachers' teaching methods,the determination of educational content,and the relationship between teachers and students.The process of learning,governing,and teaching is ultimately the process of Tao.In Confucius' thought of "the Sigh of Taoism",we can see that gentlemen should be aware of the necessity of "learning Taoism".In the learning process,he should follow the principle of "seeking to understand the truth instead of getting food".He needs to achieve the goal of understanding "Tao" through the path of "using an inductive way to traverse what he has learned"."Tao" can be divided into two dimensions: "make one's own virtue reach the realm of a saint" and "make the country well governed".The former,whose goal is to achieve ideal personality,has a higher priority than the latter,whose goal is to achieve social ideals.Therefore,a gentleman can "enjoy the joy of the Tao" even when he is in poverty;he can "be faithful to the Tao" even when he is displaced.Confucius went through a mental journey from "actively being an official" to "reluctantly implementing Tao",then "difficult to implement Tao",and finally to "the Tao has not been successfully implemented but he is old".This journey shows his perseverance in pursuing Dao to benefit the people.These contents have important reference significance for the construction of contemporary educational metaphysical system,the formation of students' ideals and beliefs,and the cultivation of students' benevolent spirit.