Where does a gentleman come from?

Original text] Zi said: "A gentleman seeks a way but does not seek food." Ploughing is also in it; Learning is also one of them.

A gentleman is not worried about poverty. 【Notes】 馁 (něi): Hungry.

Confucius said, "A gentleman seeks the Tao with his heart and does not bother to ask for food and clothing." Even if you go to plough the fields yourself, you can't guarantee that you won't go hungry; If you work hard to learn the Tao, you can get a good fortune.

Therefore, the gentleman is only worried about not being able to learn the Tao, and he is not worried about poverty. Reading comprehension] Not seeking food and clothing does not really mean not wanting food and clothing, but obtaining food and clothing through seeking a way to get food and clothing. In the chapter "Zi Lu", we have seen the student Fan Chi go to Confucius to learn to cultivate the fields and be scolded by Confucius.

Here is a positive exposition of the truth that "a gentleman seeks the way and does not look for food". In fact, from the perspective of the social division of labor, there is indeed a certain truth in Confucius's words. In our current situation, many scholars, including university professors, cultural experts, and high-level intellectuals, are not as well-paid as a rickshaw puller or vegetable farmer, let alone a self-employed businessman.

But do our university professors, experts and scholars want to give up teaching and scientific research to pull rickshaws, grow vegetables, or do business in order to "earn food"? At this time, we can use the phrase "a gentleman seeks to make progress but not to eat". After all, there are differences in the division of labor in society, and the nature of the occupations engaged in is different.

In this sense, "a gentleman seeks the right and does not seek food" also includes a kind of professional dedication. Although there are still some irrational phenomena in our material living conditions, after all, we are gentlemen, and what we are engaged in is, after all, a noble cause for the building of spiritual civilization. Unreasonable phenomena need to be solved and changed, but "a gentleman is not worried about poverty", and his own pursuit still cannot be abandoned.

Can this also be regarded as an understanding of "a gentleman seeking the right but not food" and "a gentleman is worried about the way but not about poverty"?

From the fifteenth chapter of the Analects of Wei Ling

The gentleman seeks the Tao but not food, and the cultivation is also frustrated, which means that the gentleman seeks the Tao and does not seek food and clothing. farming, often with hunger; Learning, often get a good fortune. The gentleman worries about whether he can learn the Tao and does not worry about poverty.

The ultimate goal of life, whether to seek a way or a food, is an unavoidable choice. Life is different if you choose it. Confucius.

The Lord celebrates Zhang's "way", which refers to the way of standing up and doing things, governing the country and securing the country. Confucius once said: "When you hear the Tao, you can die at night."

It means that if he can appreciate the beauty of the Tao, he will have no regrets even if he dies immediately, which shows the importance of the Tao in his mind. In Confucius's view, what should be pursued in life is the Tao. Only by pursuing benevolence can we embody the meaning of life.

with value. Food, on the other hand, refers to food that can meet people's basic physiological needs, as well as other material materials that people rely on for survival.

The gentleman seeks the Tao and does not seek food and clothing, and the gentleman worries about whether he can learn the Tao and does not worry about poverty.

1. Source. From "The Analects of Wei Linggong".

2. Original text. Zi said: "The bridge is noisy, and the gentleman seeks the way but not the food." Ploughing is also in it; Learning is also one of them. A gentleman is not worried about poverty. ”

3. Interpretation. Confucius said, "A gentleman seeks the Tao and does not seek food and clothing." farming, often with hunger; Learning, often get sticks. The gentleman worries about whether he can learn the Tao and does not worry about poverty. ”

A gentleman seeks the way but does not seek food, and a gentleman worries about the road and does not worry about poverty"。The original text is what Confucius said. said that a gentleman who is truly learned and takes the world and the country as his own responsibility only worries about the way and does not consider the problems of life; For example, when cultivating a field, you only ask about the hard work and not about the harvest.

He is only worried about his own person, not about whether he is poor or not.

Confucius said, "A gentleman seeks the Tao with his heart and does not bother to ask for food and clothing." That is, tear down the side so that you will personally go to your brother to plough the field and cultivate the land, and it is difficult to ensure that you will not go hungry; If you work hard to learn the Tao, you can get a good fortune. Therefore, the gentleman is only worried about not being able to learn the Tao and envy the royal balance, and is not worried about poverty. ”

Reading comprehension] Not seeking food and clothing does not really mean not wanting food and clothing, but obtaining food and clothing through seeking a way to get food and clothing.

The phrase "A gentleman who seeks the way but not food, and a gentleman who worries about the Tao does not worry about poverty" was said by Confucius, which means that a truly knowledgeable person will only pursue the truth and will not pursue the material, and will only worry about whether the truth he has will not be enough but will not worry about whether the money he has will not be enough.

The so-called "gentleman seeks the way but not food", it is said that the gentleman desires things, among which the "gentleman" in Confucius's thought often refers to the person who talks about benevolence and righteousness and knows etiquette, this kind of person is very similar to the Western "philosopher", they "love wisdom", but do not think that they have mastered wisdom, and they often pay more attention to their spiritual realm, rather than caring very much about their material life, the same famous saying "the morning hears the Tao, then you can die at night", so "seeking the way but not seeking food" is to say that the gentleman's desire is different from ordinary peopleThe "food" here does not exactly mean "food", but refers to all external things that are material and money, that is, the gentleman does not live for the external material, but for the truth.

In Confucian thought, "poverty" and "disease" are different, "poverty" refers more to the exhaustion of external materials, and "illness" is the difficulty of people's own state, so the gentleman is not afraid of the loss of external materials, nor is he worried that he is in a state of no more money, but the gentleman will only worry about whether he has a new understanding of the "Tao" and whether the "Tao" he understands is correct.

The "Dao" in the "Tao of Worries" here is not the "Dao" itself, this sentence does not mean that the gentleman is worried about the "Dao", but refers to the gentleman's worry about whether he has mastered the "Dao", because the "Dao" itself does not need to worry, only the gentleman himself needs to worry, Confucianism emphasizes "learning", and pays attention to using his own efforts and knowledge to change his own destiny, so the gentleman should always be alert to himself, whether he has a new understanding of the "Dao" through "learning".