Class requirement 4

The Confucian teaching of becoming a chun tzu explicitly speaks of a man who has known humanity. This covers the understanding of the self and understanding the things around him. The path in becoming a chun tzu basically speaks of self-cultivation through seeking the principle of the world that will enable him to deal with life with much meaning.

In the book of Mencius 7A:5, it speaks of a man who generally goes on with life passively.  He is the one who is just accepted what life has placed upon him. It speaks of following the same thing every day without having to know the principle behind the things that one does. Mencius further speaks of a non-superior man’s passivity in living life when one doesn’t stop and think if there is even a value in the things that he does.

This is contrary to the character of a superior man (chun tzu). A superior man is the one who voluntarily involves himself with that of the affairs of the world. And at the same time, he reflects on the events that has taken place in his life. Mencius then tells us that the multitude have failed in achieving the prime of becoming a chun tzu. The passivity of action and thinking of the multitude do not constitute the self-cultivation that Confucius teaches. The cultivation to becoming a chun tzu lies in pursuing of what the multitude has not done. This is self-cultivation which starts from recognizing ones knowledge and expanding it through pursuing studies and deepening ones understanding until one reaches the perfection of knowledge (Great Learning ch.5). Thus, he becomes a man of great learning and his actions are now subject to prudence for he examines himself and does his duty without foolishness. The superior man now ‘acts with understanding’.

Mencius is showing what the multitude lacks in pursuance of what is important: the importance of being able to be a person of a keen mind and a sure heart in acting. If the lack is filled, then one can be at ease with the world as he is following the Way and thus achieved harmony.