A Study Of The Thoughts On Morality Self-cultivation In Zhouyi Zhiyao

In modern history,China has been struggling to stand erect in the world community under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.In an era when human beings pursuit of peace,and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is taking place,the traditional culture of China which will bring harmony to all needs Chinese people in the true sense to carry forward to the future.Thoughts on morality cultivation has always been the axis of Chinese traditional ethics,whose core is the education of enlightening the bright virtue in human nature,turn everyone into saints and sages,and bring concord to families,countries and the world accordingly.It is why China has made the transformation of turning foes into friends all around during thousands of years.Qunshu Zhiyao is an essential collection of Chinese traditional culture which brought the Zhenguan Period to China.At its beginning,Zhouyi presents the guiding principle.Today,we study Zhouyi Zhiyao to find the way pervading all things in traditional Chinese culture,in order to offer a few commonplace remarks for you.The first chapter outlines the main idea of Zhouyi Zhiyao.The book is found in Qunshu Zhiyao and has its source in Zhouyi.Fu Xi,King Wen of Zhou and Confucius inherited traditional culture of ancient times in the way of Yi,presenting the truth that the whole world is one through emblematic lines and the simulation of the changing and transformation,which all turned into Zhouyi.After that,Wang Bi,Han Kangbo and Wei Zheng made further explanation,selected and pointed out the truth in human nature is the virtue of heavenly benevolence and earthlike righteousness which is born with us.So Zhouyi Zhiyao mainly shows us the value of life is to follow the example of heaven and earth and find out who we are and what we can do.The second chapter is a discussion on the foundational concept of Zhouyi Zhiyao,that "Heaven,Earth and Human are one".The reason why we are human and why we should cultivate our morality as the virtue of heaven and earth is because benevolence and righteousness exist in heaven,earth and human nature at first.We love all beings instinctly as heaven covers all things unselfishly.We take care of everything to their growth unconsciously just like earth save life without selection originally.However,we are dyed in different conditions so that habituated to diverse likes and dislikes.Thus the harmonious one produced Two elementary Forms,the Four emblematic Symbols,and the Eight Trigrams.That's where the potential of opposites between good and evil happens,which leads to good luck or bad luck,and numerous and complicated situation.Human have the virtue and ability turn the woe into weal,we just need to know the great virtue of ourselves.So saints and sages made the establishment of education to meet the need in order to bring everyone back to the harmony one.The third chapter is a discussion on the self-cultivation of sages,the men of virtue and talent and the superior men.Thoughts of self-cultivation in Zhouyi Zhiyao is mainly demonstrated by Sages.They discover the principle beneath all kinds of phenomena in nature and human so that they can always deal with any course in correct way.Beginning from cultivate themselves,thus they set example for family members,become leaders in the state,and finally,the great peace builder of the whole world.Men of virtue and talents are those who assist sages to nourish and educate people in the way of Yi.They cultivate themselves with six kinds of virtue at first,assist the upper leaders to create a happy life for the people,provide all kinds of resources to collect the multitudes,and give settlement of interpersonal relationships as follows.Finally,they cooperate with each other to bring happiness to the myriads of people by great nourishment and education.The superior men are students of both above.They follow their guide to get the virtue of nature,the seven hexagrams giving instruction to achieve those virtue and finally cultivate themselves into sages.Everyone can become sages only if we discover inner benevolence and righteousness of our own.The fourth chapter is a discussion on the self-cultivation of benevolence and righteousness during different periods and positions accordingly.At the first level,we should cautiously cherish our beginner's mind,follow parents' and teachers' guidance to nourish the correct nature and learn from the words and deeds of former men to advance in virtue and cultivates all the sphere of our duty.At the second level,we should take the correct place in our family to build a harmonious household.Husbands are responsible for economic basis,and wives for home attendant.Fathers should set up examples for family members and mothers take care of the old and educate the young.Sisters and brothers should help each other and show filial piety to their parents.At the third level,being at the top of lower part and under the upper part,we should work hard,serve the people modestly and resolve the dispute between us,so that we can build the prestige to unite people as one.At the forth level,when our position is near the core leadership of a nation,we should try to maintain our territories,build public welfare,and frame measures according to regulations to benefit all people.At the fifth level,when we in the core leadership of a nation,we should cultivate the wisdom to select proper people with virtue and talents to undertake all kinds of affairs,observe the condition of the people meticulously and behave in impeccable manners to influence the people.At the top level,when the cause come to an end,we should finish it according to the will of the people and guard against arrogance in order to find successors to renew the cause to the next life cycle,and so on.The fifth chapter is a discussion on the example of modern time.General Secretary Xi Jinping is just a superior man who enlightens his benevolence and righteousness all the way from the lower level to the top level.He serves the people heart and soul just like the ceaseless rotation and revolution of heavenly body.He adjusts measures to local conditions to solve concrete issues just like the earth give birth to all kinds of life according to their feature.So that he becomes the core leadership of China and lead us towards to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the peace of whole world.In conclusion,Chinese saints and sages passed the tradition of Yi down on to us showing the truth of human nature.The way of Yi never changed and will never change.So we study Zhouyi Zhiyao can also discover the great benevolence and righteousness inside of our heart and bring harmony to our family,our country and our world.