Believe what you say and do what you do(yán bì xìn，xíng bì guǒ)

Believe what you say and do what you do

Words must be believed and deeds must be done is a Chinese idiom. Pinyin is y á Nb ì x ì n, X í NGB ì Gu ǒ, which means that words must be trusted and actions must have results.

Idiom explanation

Faithfulness: keep your word. Fruit: there are results. What you say must be trustworthy and what you do must have results.

source

"The Analects of Confucius · Zilu:" words must be true, deeds must be fruity, but you are a villain The original sentence comes from the dialogue between Zi Gong and Confucius in the 13th Analects of Confucius. The original text is as follows: Zigong asked: "what is so called a scholar?" Confucius said, "it's a shame to do one's own thing. It's a scholar to do it in all directions without humiliating your life." "I dare to ask second," he said He said: "the clan is called Xiaoyan, and the township party is called Diyan." "I dare to ask second," he said Said: "words must be true, deeds must be fruitful, but you are a villain! It can be a second He said, "what about the people who are in power today?" Confucius said, "Gee! How can you be a doushau

Research on the dispute

This strange saying has always been controversial, and it is also puzzling for future generations of Confucian scholars. First of all, the villains here are denied. "The Analects of Confucius" repeatedly stressed that villain is a negative teaching material: "Confucius said: you are a gentleman Confucian, Wuwei villain Confucian! Zi RI: it's hard to raise villains and women. They are not inferior near, but angry far away. Confucius said, "a gentleman is not good at comparison, and a villain is not good at comparison." Confucius said, "a gentleman cherishes virtue and a villain cherishes earth; a gentleman cherishes punishment and a villain cherishes benefit." Confucius said, "a gentleman is a metaphor for righteousness, and a villain is a metaphor for profit." Confucius said, "a gentleman is honest, and a villain is sad." Confucius said, "a gentleman's beauty is not a man's evil. The villain is Fan Chi, please learn. Confucius said, "I am not as good as the old farmer." Please learn to be a nursery. He said, "I'm not as good as laopu." Fan Chi Chu. Confucius said: "villain, fan Xu! If you are good at propriety, you must not be disrespectful; if you are good at righteousness, you must not refuse; if you are good at faith, you must not be affectionate. If the husband is like this, then the people of the four sides will come here bearing their sons. How can they use the grain? " Confucius said, "the gentleman is harmonious but different, and the villain is the same but not the same." Confucius said, "it's easy to be a gentleman, but it's hard to say. It's not the way to talk about it, it's not the way to talk about it; and it's the way to make people feel. It's easy to say that a villain is difficult. Although it is not said in terms of Tao, it is also said; if it is said to make people also, it is necessary to be prepared. " Confucius said, "a gentleman is peaceful but not arrogant; a villain is arrogant but not peaceful." Confucius said, "a gentleman is not good at comparison, and a villain is not good at comparison." As far as I know, the later Confucianists are the Neo Confucianists represented by Cheng and Zhu Xi since Song Dynasty. Their explanation is as follows: Shi, Qusheng. In this way, those who are not willing to do something, but have enough material to do something. Zi Gong was able to speak, so he told him about it. It's more difficult to cover than to speak. Go away, brother. This is the second place. OK, go away. Hard work is the opposite. If there is any result, it will be done. He is the firm of a small stone. A villain's knowledge is shallow and narrow. There is no sufficient view of the essence and the end of it, but it does not harm its self-defense. Therefore, the sage still has his own choice. If he goes down here, he can no longer be a scholar. Shau, the exchange is reversed. It's also a kind of work, but it's also a kind of work. Today's politicians are like the three families of Lu. Oh, my heart is not calm. Dou, measure name, capacity ten Sheng. Shau, bamboo ware, Rong Dou, er Sheng. A man who fights with Shau is mean. Count, count. Every time Zi Gong asked him, he warned him. Cheng Zi said, "the meaning of Zi Gong is to cover Jiao Jiao's journey, which is heard by people. The teacher told them that they were all complacent. " Zhu Xi said: villain is a person who will do what he says and do what he does. He does not harm others or himself. Therefore, the sage still has his choice. Zhu Xi's misguidance led all subsequent explanations to believe that Confucius meant that a villain can also say that he will do what he says and that he will do what he does. If Confucius lived to Zhu Xi's time, Zhu Xi should be punished. as a result, later it became more and more mysterious. Today, it is said that Confucius means that honest and straightforward people are "people who recognize death reason and are inferior talents". speak separately, understand the rules, and depend on the situation. People can't always tell the truth. Zixia said: "the villain's fault must be written." This kind of behavior happens to be said, but from the perspective of motivation, whitewashing the passage is mostly out of "taboo for the respected, taboo for the relatives, taboo for the sages", which is a kind of national self-esteem and loyalty to Confucianism, and a reflection of good side and enterprising psychology. First of all, let's see how the Mohist school understands this sentence: Mozi · universal love II: "words must be believed, deeds must be fruit, so that the combination of words and deeds is still in line with the stanza." Fu Jie is a kind of evidence for the ancient Chinese court to convey orders, recruit soldiers and use them in various affairs. Each party holds half of the time, which is used to verify the authenticity. Here, Mohism has understood that words must be believed and deeds must be fruited as faith, trust and fruition. In Mozi's time, this view may have been the mainstream, or it may have been Mozi's original creation. He thought it was the consistency of words and deeds. Words are bound to do, words and deeds are consistent, this kind of person, consistent with the outside is integrity. Looking back at the basic meaning of Confucius' speech, Zi Gong asked Confucius, "how can I be called a sergeant?" Confucius replied: "words must be true, deeds must be fruitful, this kind of person is completely inadequate, next to the next person again" only compared to "doushau people, what is it?" Like dust, people who are too small are a little bit stronger. What does it mean to believe what you say and do what you do? What do you mean? Zi Gong once said to the king of Wu: "the brave do not seek refuge, the benevolent do not make poor promises, the wise do not lose their time, and the king is not peerless, so as to establish their righteousness.". ——Shiji and biography of Zhongni disciples it turns out that in the spring and Autumn period, scholars were the middle class who practiced martial arts. Words and deeds are a requirement for this class. words must be believed, especially means that benevolent people do not make promises, but deeds must be fruitful, and specifically means that the brave do not seek refuge; this is a common moral principle for a belligerent nation. it is said in the book of Songs: "dare not storm the tiger, dare not storm the Fenghe river. No one knows one, no one else. Trembling, like walking on thin ice. " it gives a very vivid and vivid description of the brave governance of the country rather than the brave fighting of wild animals. why did Confucius say this? The focus is on xingbiguo. Confucius said to Yan Yuan, "with me, I will do it; without me, I will hide. You and I are the only ones who can do this "Who are you going to be with, teacher?" Zilu asked Confucius said, "I'm not with people who fight Tigers with their bare hands, wade across rivers and die without regret. I'm only with people who are cautious, good at planning and can accomplish things." Zi Lu was brave, but Confucius said, "if you are free, you can't die." just like Zi Lu, I'm afraid you can't die well. Zi said Nanrong: "if there is a way in the state, you can't abolish it. If there is no way in the state, you can't get rid of it." Confucius said: "ningwuzi, if there is a way in a country, then he is wise; if there is no way in a country, then he is stupid. It can be seen from this that Confucius may not think honesty is undesirable. When he came to Mencius, Mencius said, "if you are an adult, you don't have to believe what you say, you don't have to bear fruit when you do it, but what you do is righteousness."

translation

Mencius said: "an understanding person doesn't have to keep his word. He doesn't have to have a result when he does things. He just needs to be moral."

Interpretation

In the Analects of Confucius · Zilu, when Confucius and Zigong discussed the standard of scholars, they already said: "words must be true, deeds must be fruitful, but you are a villain!" This is a negation of "words must be true and deeds must be fruitful" from the negative side. Mencius here is from the positive to tell us that "words do not have to believe, deeds do not have to fruit." It can be seen that the theory of Mencius in many ways is indeed in line with Confucius. that's orthodox. This is the beginning of honesty. Maybe Mencius loves Confucius too much. Therefore, in order to sanctify the perfect image in my heart, I take Confucius' shortcomings as my advantages. Later generations, between the authority of Mencius Yasheng and Sima Qian's praise of Ji Bu, never broke away from this strange circle. Whether we understand Confucius' meaning or not, we are observing from the wrong angle. As a result, Neo Confucianism and Xinxue in song and Ming Dynasties were systematically woven on the basis of wrong understanding. Weaving something that doesn't exist needs to cover the real thing. What Confucius really means is: don't be brave, copy two paragraphs as evidence. for multiple-choice questions, if the examinee does not see the question clearly, he will "step on the land mine", and the result will be deducted a few points. It's not worth it. Later generations say yes, don't be honest. for uncertain judgment questions, candidates can either adhere to the "cautious principle" or choose "risk-taking". one is due to personal quality and personality. The other is due to conduct and morality.

notes

① Shame: Kong said, "those who have shame will not do something. (Kng): superficial and stubborn. (3) people of doushau: "refers to people with small capacity. Dou, the ancient measure name; Shao, the bamboo basket, the capacity is not big; Dou, Shao, the degree of narrow. the so-called "gentleman" and "villain" are actually two concepts with various meanings. First, it refers to the grade, and then it refers to the grade. "Junzi" is actually "Junzi". A monarch can be a monarch or a family monarch. According to the patriarchal system, only the legitimate son, or even the eldest son, can become the "King". Your son is a gentleman. "Jun" and "Junzi" (the son of Jun) belong to "Dixi", so they are also called "Dixi" and "Dafang". Those who are not directly related are called Xiaozong. "Da Da" is the king, and his son is the gentleman; while "Xiao Zong" is the minister, and he is the villain. Therefore, villains are not bad people, they are just people of lower social status. This is the grade. Confucian

Chinese PinYin : yán bì xìn，xíng bì guǒ