Mencius Internal Sage And External Emperor And Its Practical Significance

In order to solve the overall social crises in metaphase of the Warring States Periods and the severe challenges encountered in the Confucian benevolence, Mencius developed Confucius"inner sage, outer king"thoughts. he demonstrated the possibility and necessity of practicing benevolence, building up his proposition under the theory of the Dao of heaven,the Confucius "Xin Xing theory", the public opinion, political tradition and realistic request. He believed that every person is coequally endowed with benevolent disposition by the Heaven and has the mind of compassion, shame and aversion, modesty and yielding , right and wrong. The mind is the"Four Buddings"of four virtues——humanity, righteousness, propriety and wisdom. and one can realize the four virtues through extending the mind . The mind is the source of the creation of moral values and the essential difference between man and beast, therefore, cultivation of the mind is the responsibility and mission of each person. He put forward the theory of deliberately cultivation and preserving mental constitution, through understanding the value of goodness, Establishing moral beliefs, introspection, reminding of moral cultivation ever and again, few desire and extending affection and cultivating qi, and so on, one can preserve and extend the mind and become the sage. After being a saint, the inner benevolence asks for extension virtue to outside world. the benevolence extending to parents is called filial piety Filial ,to common people is called benevolent government, to all things is called"thrift and care of things".Mencius principle of saint inside and king appearance had a profound influence in history .His "internal holy" had a far-reaching influence in Neo-Confucianism: the theory of mind and nature became the theoretical cornerstone of Neo-Confucianism's ontology; Confucian orthodoxy leaded to different self-cultivation channel between the neo-confucianism and mind study; his advocation of"being an inner sage so as to rule the outer world" became the ideal personality of neo-confucianist ; His"external king"thoughts also played important role in history :the policy of benevolence became Confucius political ideals and basic political stand; cultivation proposition played a direct role in the ethical tendency of Chinese society; people-based thought also had bigger influence on Chinese ancient politics and Chinese academics. confucian orthodoxy aroused Confucius scholars'strong sense of social responsibility and took the role of criticism and supervise power; his idea of "all over the world "maintained the unity of Chinese nation and shaped China the image of Riting Nation.Mencius principle of saint inside and king appearance still has great realistic meaning in today: "internal holy" h elps people to build up ethical subjective awareness and sense of social responsibility, to make self-confidence and self-reliance, to improve man's intrinsic value, and to realize the settlement of life. it also takes benefit of guiding people developing the common social value, to fight the nihility of value, spiritual emptiness and social blundering. His"External Emperor"thoughts help to attach importance to and to improve people's livelihood and to improve civil livelihood . to advance the reform of political system and to promote the Rational function of politics. It also helps To promote the international peace and security, and to enhance the Communication and Dialogue between cultures ,and to deal well with relations between man and nature.