A Study On Mencius Thought Of Cultivating Virtuous People

During the Warring States Period,Mencius enriched and deepened Confucianism and had a profound impact on later generations.Regarding the cultivation and appointment of talents,Mencius,based on the Confucian tradition,put forward the idea of cultivating the virtuous on the basis of the original idea of recommending the virtuous.This proposition is not only a promotion of Confucian talent thought,but also an integration and innovation.It is not only a demonstration of the style of the virtuous and corporal during the Warring States Period,but also the theoretical connotation of Confucian meritocracy.Mencius’ thought of raising the virtuous is an important part of Confucian political thought,and it is also the theoretical extension of his thought of benevolent government.On the basis of existing research,Mencius’s thought of raising the virtuous is an in-depth promotion of the study of Mencius’ thought,and it also enriches the connotation of Confucian political thought,and has very important theoretical value.Confucianism put forward its own political propositions under the background of Yao and Shun’s ideal of renunciation and the tradition of emphasizing virtue in three generations.This political proposition can be called political meritocracy.However,this move also took different forms within Confucianism.At the time of Confucius,it was "to raise worthy talents",and at the time of Mencius,it was deepened to cultivate virtuous talents.Mencius’s thought of cultivating virtuous people is embodied in two aspects: political cultivating virtuousness and ritual system cultivating virtuous men.Among them,the political cultivation of the virtuous is further divided into the respect of the virtuous and the use of the virtuous,which is the institutional guarantee of Mencius’s thought of cultivating the virtuous.The ritual system of raising the virtuous is further divided into ritual and nurturing,which is an important method of Mencius’s thought of raising sages.Mencius,by expounding the theory of the monarch raising the virtuous,profoundly expresses the theoretical point of view that morality is higher than the superiority in dealing with the relationship between the monarch and the minister,the theoretical design of attaching importance to virtuous talents in national governance,and the theoretical orientation of cultivating virtuous men in educational thought.Mencius’ thought of raising the virtuous constitutes a complete theoretical system,which runs through all aspects of Mencius’ thought.Mencius’s thought of raising the virtuous has important theoretical implications for later generations.First,it highlights the important role of talents in the national system.Mencius highlights the virtuous intellectuals who possess the personality of a Confucian gentleman.They stick to the Confucian spirit of benevolence and Taoism,choose the former in terms of virtue and position,righteousness and profit,king and hegemony,etc.,and always stand on the side of morality.Their personalities have a profound influence on the scholars and officials of later generations,and to a certain extent they have also constructed the great national spirit of Chinese civilization.Second,Mencius’s thought of raising the wise inherits the political concept of Confucian sage politics.In Confucianism,when the wise are in power,they implement a benevolent government,put the people first,and implement the policy of raising the people of the country,which is rich and educated,so as to achieve the goal of a strong and prosperous country.This political concept has influenced China’s governance pattern for two thousand years.Thirdly,Mencius’s thought of raising the virtuous has given important enlightenment to later generations in cultivating and selecting virtuous talents.In the selection of talents in the past dynasties in China,there have been the inspection system,the nine-rank Zhongzheng system and the imperial examination system.In fact,it is the further advancement and concrete practice of Mencius’s theory of raising the virtuous.Mencius’s thought of raising the virtuous contains a series of Mencius’ ideological propositions on the political,educational and even philosophical levels.The propositions in these aspects will further give people new inspirations in modern society,and will have an important role in the modern transformation of Confucianism.