to believe everything in books is worse than to have no books at all(jìn xìn shū bù rú wú shū)

It is better to believe in books than not to have them

The Chinese idiom, Pinyin is j ì nx ì NSH ū B ù R ú w ú sh ū, which means that reading should not be confined to books or superstitious books. It comes from Mencius heart down.

Word information

[phonetic notation] J ì nx ì NSH ū B ù R ú w ú sh ū [explanation] generally refers to reading without sticking to books or superstitious books. [from] it is said in Mencius heart down: "believe in the book.". It is better to have no book. If I succeed in martial arts, I'll just take two or three strategies. " Lu Jiuyuan, Song Dynasty, wrote in his book on the first principle of leniency and ferocity in politics: "Wuhu, it's better to believe in books than to have no books." Is history credible? We can only say: generally credible. If it's totally untrustworthy, it's nihilism. But the old adage of ~. My history book by Sun Li

About the author

Mencius (372-289 BC), known as Ke and Ziyu (to be tested, Ziche or Ziju), was honored as "Yasheng". During the Warring States period, people from the state of Lu were descended from the father of Lu Guoqing. He is a famous thinker, statesman, educator in ancient China and a representative of Confucianism in the Warring States period. He is the author of Mencius. Mencius inherited and carried forward Confucius' thoughts, and became a generation of Confucian masters next only to Confucius, known as "Yasheng", and together with Confucius as "Confucius and Mencius". Mencius' essays are eloquent, energetic, eloquent, logical, sharp and witty, representing the peak of traditional prose writing. Mencius put forward the theory of good nature on the issue of human nature, that is, "human nature is good at the beginning."

Source of works

"It's better to believe in books than to have no books" comes from Mencius.

On Mencius

Mencius is a collection of Mencius' opinions, which is compiled by Mencius and his disciples. It records Mencius' language, political views (benevolent government, the distinction between the king and the overlord, people-oriented, the difference between the king's heart and the people's respect and contempt) and political actions. Mencius once imitated Confucius and led his disciples around the world. But it was not accepted by other countries at that time. He retired and wrote books with his disciples. Mencius has seven chapters handed down from generation to generation: King Hui of Liang, Gongsun Chou, Teng Wengong, Lilou, wanzhang, Gaozi and Jinxin. The starting point of his theory is the theory of good nature, which puts forward "benevolent government" and "kingly way", and advocates the rule of virtue. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi combined Mencius with the Analects of Confucius, the great learning, and the doctrine of the mean, and called them "four books". Mencius was the largest and heaviest of the four books, with more than 35000 words. From then on until the end of the Qing Dynasty, "four books" had always been the compulsory content of the imperial examination.

original text

Mencius said, "it is better to believe in the book than not to have it.". I just chose two or three strategies in Wucheng. Benevolent people are invincible in the world, and even benevolent people are not benevolent. How can the blood flow

translation

Mencius said, "it's better to believe in Shangshu than not have it.". I only believe two or three pages of Wucheng. Benevolent people have no enemies in the world. How can a man as benevolent as King Wu of Zhou fight against a man as benevolent as Zhou of Shang Dynasty

notes

① Wucheng: the title of Shangshu. The existing chapter of Wucheng is a pseudo ancient prose. Strategy: bamboo slips. In ancient times, bamboo slips were used for writing. One strategy is equivalent to one page we talk about today. Zhiren: a person of extreme benevolence refers to King Wu of Zhou Dynasty. Chu: a wooden stick used to pound rice or clothes.

Appreciative Remarks

"It's better to believe in the book than not to have it." This is a penetrating reading method, which requires readers to be good at thinking independently. since ancient times, people have not known how many compliments about books. Indeed, books are our patented benefactor. For many people, they are sacred objects they worship. However, if we fully believe in books and only follow books, it will make individuals become nerds, or it will lead to the formation of the so-called "Ben Ben Ben ism", "dogmatism" and "book only" style, which will cause endless harm to our children. Today, we emphasize that "practice is the only criterion for testing truth". When we say "it's better to believe in books than not to have them", it seems to be a simple and easy enlightenment. But in Mencius' time, I'm afraid it's still empty. In fact, we don't need to push so far. We just need to think about the times of "only books" and "only top". Mencius's words can't be quoted casually. Finally someone said: "not only books, not only books." Therefore, we can all say that it is better to believe in books than to have no books. What is particularly noteworthy is that when Mencius talked about "it is better to believe in books than to have no books", he cited the content of Wucheng in Shangshu. As we know, Shangshu, as one of the Confucian classics, also had an extremely authoritative position in the era of Confucius and Mencius. Therefore, Mencius's spirit of independent thinking and skepticism towards authoritative works and classics is particularly valuable, reflecting the scholarly style of sages. Even for us more than 2000 years later, it is worth learning. What's more, today's publishing industry has developed greatly. There are many publishers of sunrise, and there are a lot of books. The negative effect of sunrise is "no mistakes, no books", which has become a social problem increasingly aroused people's appeal. Under such circumstances, the spirit of "it's better to believe in books than to have no books" is particularly necessary. Otherwise, there will be a big problem.

Chinese PinYin : jìn xìn shū bù rú wú shū