Mencius’ "Not Moving The Heart" Thought Analysis

Mencius’s "Zhiyan Yangqi Chapter" is an extremely important and indispensable chapter in Mencius’s thought,and it is also an important part of pre-Qin Confucian thought.In this chapter,Mencius describes his theory of "not moving the heart" in detail and proposes two major works of his ability to not move the heart,"knowing the words" and "nourishing the gas",which presents a complex appearance of its integration of the theory of mentality,the relationship between body and mind,the theory of gas,and the theory of work.This article will deeply study Mencius’s "not moving the heart" theory from five parts,compare and appreciate the ideological connotations of Mencius and other thinkers,and understand the core spirit and cultural vitality of Mencius’s thought.The first part expounds the ideological and historical background of Mencius’s theory of mind from the ideological origin of Mencius’s theory of mind and the background of mencius’ era.The heart of Mencius inherits the tradition of the humanistic spirit since the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty and the subjective characteristics of the heart of Confucius.In the background of the times,Mencius was influenced by the Confucius Thought in his youth,and further matured and developed by traveling to various countries in middle age,facing the fierce social turmoil of the Warring States period,he formed his own unique theory of mind.The second part expounds the ideological connotation of Mencius’s theory of mind from the two aspects of the connotation and characteristics of the mind,I think that Mencius’s mind has three outstanding characteristics:the morality of being good,the universality and nature of transcendental eternity,and the universal nature of commonality with heaven.The third part,focusing on the original text of Mencius,discusses in detail the origins,main contents,and problems solved by Mencius’ theory of "not moving the heart".Mencius’s theory of "not moving the heart"originated from the thinking of "courage",but behind the courage is actually the adherence to benevolence and righteousness.Therefore,the realization of the "not moving the heart" must start from the core of Mencius’s benevolence and righteousness,and strengthen the heart through the recognition of the goodness of the heart.In addition,Mencius also affirmed the two-way relationship between word,heart,and gas in the theory of "not moving the heart"through a comparison with the "not moving the heart" of the philosopher Gao,and refuted the defects of thought such as the philosopher Gao that put righteousness outside the mind.The fourth part deeply understands the meaning and relationship between "knowing the word" and"nourishing gas" by analyzing the meaning of word and gas,and analyzes the connection and integrity of the cultivation of the theory of "not moving the heart" and its realization path.The fifth part reflects on the academic influence of the immovable mind from the ideological content of Mencius’ post-study and Zhu Xi’s commentary on this chapter,and points out that the theory of the "not moving the heart" has unique practical significance compared with other ideas.