A Comparative Study Of Mencius And Xunsheng's Views On Sages

Mencius took the psychological phenomenon of "all human beings have the heart of compassion" as the logical starting point of the view of sages.Through the logical inference of "all human beings are the same",he drew the conclusion that "all human beings are the same as nature and are good",and found the internal root of "all human beings can be Yao and Shun".And its heaven Taoist concept of the unity of man and nature provides an inevitable guarantee for the theory of good nature.Because everyone is endowed with a kind heart,it is not necessary to seek for perfection.Instead,it is only necessary to seek for perfection from within.The view of the sage of Mencius not only remained on personal cultivation,but also tried to expand the "heart of compassion"("can not bear the heart of people")to the family,the country and even the world,to govern the country with "benevolence",to create "health maintenance,death and no regrets" kingship politics.Xunzi absorbed the natural and human nature theory of Guanzi,Taoism and Taoism,and advocated evil nature in human nature.The good and evil of human life are no longer guaranteed by heaven.Morality is no longer the mission of human heart or talent,but comes from the practical need to prevent the harm caused by indulgence.Because people have no innate good heart and moral mission,Xunzi advocated the sanctification time is also very different from Mencius,he emphasized that people through learning the first sacredness created the rules of propriety,righteousness and law to "turn the nature into false",through continuous learning and accumulation to achieve the purpose of "good accumulation into virtue".In addition,the study and practice of rites can not only improve personal moral cultivation,but also regulate people's words and deeds,"distinguish clearly to make the group",so that people have their own points,social order stability and unity,the unity of the world.Mencius,Xun saint view of common lies in:first,Mencius and Xun zi,although claims on human nature of good and evil,but Mencius "similar" saint and people and Xunzi "saint and the gay" idea is a kind of active eliminate the saint and the huge gap between ordinary people,this fully inspired people to their own virtue to achieve the confidence of the sage realm.Second,Mencius' sages are the "origin of human relations" and Xunzi's sages are the "end of the tao".Although there are some differences in connotation,they both emphasize the importance of sages in the field of social life.For individuals,a saint is the highest moral standard for personal morality and cultivation,as well as the highest standard for conduct and judgment of right and wrong.For the society,the most common ethical and moral principle represented by the sage is the golden rule for people in political life to interact with each other,and the realization of the rule of the sage can bring long-term stability and peace to the society.Third,from the view of saint eventually point of view,both Mencius "everyone can rao",or "tu man can Yu" of Xunzi did not stay on the pursuit of perfect moral cultivation,but to highlight the noble moral accomplishment is not only a kind of state,should also be implemented to the reality of social life,especially in the political life play a proper value,this is the unity of moral field.There are also great differences between Mencius and Xunzi's views on human nature.Mencius holds that human nature is good,while Xunzi holds that human nature is evil.Mencius believed that human beings have the "heart of compassion",the inherent source of this good nature is innate,human nature is a good end,to be carefully cultivated seeds;Xunzi believes that the origin of morality is out of the acquired need of,mingfen makes the group",and the role of morality emphasizes the maintenance of social order.The difference between human beings and birds is not that people have morality at all,but that they have a cognitive heart of "discrimination".Although human nature is evil,people's cognitive heart can process the malignancy through learning propriety and righteousness,and realize "the nature of the false".Second,it is precisely because of their different human nature bases that Mencius and Xun sages' views,that Mencius and Xun sages also opened different modes in their paths of sanctification.Mencius' model of "self-reflection and sincerity" is a kind of internal seeking path,which reflects Mencius' theoretical confidence and optimistic attitude that "everything is prepared in me".Xunzi's mode of "transforming the nature into the false" is a way of seeking external things,and his attitude of emphasizing kindness and diligence reflects Xunzi's deep insight into human nature and real life.Third,although both Mencius and Xun have the tendency of pushing the inner saint to the outer king in their theoretical framework,they are different in their practices.Mencius to "bear the heart of the people" to persuade the monarch to "bear the government of the people",the implementation of the king,emphasizing the monarch in the political life of the moral appeal of the people to maintain the stability of the world significance;Xunzi,on the other hand,advocated the importance of both wang and ba and emphasized the importance of social norms in maintaining social order.