Who said, "Establish a heart for heaven and earth, establish a destiny for the livelihood of the people, carry on the unique knowledge for the saints, and create peace for all generations."
"Establish a mind for the heaven and earth, establish a destiny for the living and the people, carry on the unique knowledge for the saints, and create peace for all generations." The meaning of this sentence is: to establish the mind of birth and birth for the world, to point out a road for the common people to follow, to inherit the knowledge that Confucius and Mencius and other previous saints did not pass on, and to create a foundation of eternal peace for future generations of the world.
This is a famous saying by Zhang Zai, a great master of the Northern Song Dynasty, from "Hengqu Quotations":
These four sentences are the destination of Zhang Zai's lifelong study in the Northern Song Dynasty and the essence of his thoughts. . Contemporary philosopher Feng Youlan calls it the "Four Sentences of Hengqu". Because of its simplicity and grandeur, it has always been praised by people. It means that scholars should set their hearts for the world, their destiny should be for all peoples, they should inherit and carry forward the unique knowledge of the saints, and they should create a foundation of peace for all generations. It states the aspirations and pursuits that scholars should have: the world, all peoples, and the sages. Tao and Taiping foundation.
Zhang Zai (1020-1077), courtesy name Zihou, was a native of Hengqu Town, Meixian County, Shaanxi Province. He was a famous thinker and educator in the Northern Song Dynasty, one of the founders of Neo-Confucianism, and the founder of Guanxue. Called "Mr. Hengqu".
Come with me to understand the ideal pursuit represented by these four sentences.
"Establish a heart for heaven and earth." Cheng Mingdao said: "Heaven and earth have no heart, and living things are the heart." He also said: "Heaven and earth are formed without a heart." Heaven and earth have no heart, but people have hearts. The heart is the heart of a benevolent person that enables a person to be philanthropic and help others, and the heart of a sage who is impartial and impartial. In fact, the heart of compassion is the heart of being intolerant of others, which is Confucius's "Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you," which is the starting point of benevolence. Mr. Ma Yifu summed it up by saying: "As a scholar, one must not seek benevolence but love benevolence and not be benevolent. Being able to do this is to establish a heart for the world."?
"To establish a destiny for the livelihood of the people." , directly derived from Mencius’ thought of “establishing destiny”. "Mencius. There is a saying in "Exerting the Heart": "Those who have exhausted their hearts know their nature. If they know their nature, they know the heaven. Keep their hearts and nourish their nature, so they serve heaven. When you are young and have a long life, you must cultivate your body in time, so "Establishing a life." Through self-cultivation and teaching, if a person can finally reach a state where he can maintain his integrity regardless of whether his life span is long or short, then this individual can be said to have settled down and established a life. . Zhang Zai's statement of "establishing a destiny for the sake of the people" actually means "establishing a destiny" for the "people and our compatriots". The purpose of establishing a destiny lies in teaching. "Cultivating the Tao is called teaching", and this is what it means.
? "To carry on the unique learning for the saints", so the "going to the saints" are the ancient Confucian scholars represented by Confucius and Mencius; As far as Confucianism is concerned, Confucius is certainly the master of all, but the masters of Lian, Luo, Guan, and Fujian in the Song Dynasty elevated Confucianism to a whole new stage. The only ones who can truly carry forward the legacy of Confucius and Mencius are the Confucians of the Song Dynasty.
"To create peace for all generations" expresses the eternal political ideal of the Confucians of the Song Dynasty and also of the Confucians of the Song Dynasty. "Open" is called expectation.
To "create peace for all generations" and realize the cultural ideal described in Zhang Zai's "Xi Ming", the people should be harmonious and all should be benevolent, so that modern people who are confused and ignorant can return to being straightforward and honest. the spiritual home of mankind.