Decoration, that means that the essence of human nature is bad, so it needs to be decorated to cover up its stains, so that people think it is good, but it is not.

Now everyone understands why Lin Mu has to lead to Confucian classics at the beginning.

In this way, it is tantamount to picking up the stick of Confucianism and knocking it on the head of Confucianism, and such a counterattack is a fatal blow to Confucianism.

Doesn't it mean that the more Confucianism tries to maintain the system of etiquette and music, it shows that human nature is evil.

"Meng Fan's theory, Cai!"

Brush it, the hall is full of applause, especially the soldiers, Mohists and other schools that have been arguing with Confucianism just "lying on the gun" are all applauding, seeing that Confucianism has planted a big heel here in Legalism, there are many happy people.

Among the hundreds of schools of thought here, the people of the Confucian faction are all discolored, and if Mengfuzi can't refute it, the reputation of Confucianism will inevitably be hit hard? However, Meng Ke is known as eloquent in the world, and few people can talk about it, so naturally it is impossible to lose so easily.

There is no vanity under the fame.

But Mencius just had a bad temper.

Syllable!

Meng Fuzi on the seat suddenly made a big deal of the case, and said with a slightly angry face: "Isn't it a joke in the world to talk about such a statement that still distinguishes between truth and falsehood, reversing right and wrong, and putting the cart before the horse?" ”

The Confucian view is exactly the opposite of Lin Mu's rebuttal. The Confucian point of view is that it is precisely because he is a gentleman that he has literary talents, so he will talk about benevolence, righteousness and etiquette, will the villain tell you this?

Apparently not!

It is contradictory in the eyes of Legalism, but in Confucianism it is the opposite.

All of a sudden, the debate between Confucianism and law was against each other.

Between the two sides, it has reached the point where the public says that the public is reasonable, and the mother-in-law says that the mother-in-law is reasonable.

There is still no result of who is right and who is wrong, the winner is still undecided, and the debate and contention will certainly continue.

It is impossible for Mencius to convince the public with a single scolding, and he has to refute Lin Mu's claim to make his claim stand up. Therefore, the current Mencius has been "forced to go to Liangshan" and must fight!

In the final analysis, this debate is the question of good and evil in human nature, which is the basis of everything.

Kindness is virtue, and with virtue it can be practiced to educate with etiquette and music, so that the Confucian proposition can stand on its feet in the world and resolve this crisis.

Finally.

The school palace argues for the hall, but Mencius said leisurely: "The old man also disagrees with the remarks. The goodness of human nature is also like the water that goes down, and it can be good, which is the so-called good! It is to flow water to a low place, and people to go to a high place, and to consolidate the essence of human nature to be good. However, the flow of water can also go upward, why not? It is man-made to build an embankment to prevent its water from flowing downstream, so the water can also go up. In the same way, human nature tends to be evil, which is evil! ”

Mencius meant that human nature can be good, but if someone forces him to do evil, he will do evil, just as water originally flows downward, which is a matter of common sense, and if a dam is built to block the water, the water will also go up.

Therefore, it is necessary to use benevolence, righteousness, etiquette and music to educate people to do virtue and goodness, rather than evil, so it is necessary to govern the country with virtue.

"Human nature is good, Meng Fuzi said, color!"

As soon as Mencius's rebuttal came out, cheers suddenly sounded in the debate hall, especially the disciples of Confucianism, who were excited by the melon-eating masses, and had a feeling of turning defeat into victory.

Mencius was unmoved on the surface, but in his heart he couldn't help but be slightly happy to get back a game, in order not to give Lin Mu room to refute, so he said: "How can people be good? ”

Why is human nature good? One by one, their eyes turned to Meng Ke on the seat.

"Dare to ask Meng Fuzi for advice!" Lin Muxing, who was sitting on the contention platform, bowed slightly, and said humbly, but he also seemed neither humble nor arrogant, calm and calm.

However, Mencius said leisurely: "Everyone has compassion; Everyone has a heart of shame; Respectful heart is shared by everyone; Everyone has the heart of right and wrong. compassion, benevolence; The heart of shame is also righteousness; Respectful heart, courtesy; The heart of right and wrong, wisdom also. Benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom are not imposed on me from the outside, but also by my inherentness. Therefore, if you ask, you will get it, and if you give it, you will lose it. That's it! ”

Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom are compassion, shame, respect, and right and wrong, and everyone has them, and these are not imposed on me by external factors, but are inherent in me, and I don't think about it so I don't notice it, so I can get it when I seek it, and I lose it when I give it up.

Obviously, the implication of Mencius's four-end theory is that it is precisely because people have the heart of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom that human nature is good, so the Zhou rites are feasible, and the Zhou rites are carried out, the world is stable, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and there is no war in the world; It is precisely because of the abandonment of the Zhou Rite that it has led to today's chaos, turmoil and endless disasters.

As soon as these words came out, there was a burst of applause, especially the disciples of Confucianism, who were all excited.

Now you Meng Fan should be speechless, right? Isn't it the absurd argument that you, a Legalist, still want to say that people in the world do not have benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom?

But that's just the beginning!

……

The Confucian disciples above the hall of contention all looked at Lin Mu with the eyes of a victor, and the eyes that looked at Mencius were all fiery and worshipful.

Meng Fuzi's counterattack directly pushed the Confucianism controversy to a new peak. All the sons and hundreds of schools looked at Lin Mu, who was speechless on the Zhengming pedestal, with curious eyes, and didn't know if he would be speechless or would make a surprise remark to fight back against Meng Ke? Ju Xin, who was sitting in the representative office of the Fa family, also sweated for Lin Mu, whether he could save face for the Fa family, Ju Xin also felt very hanging.

This Meng Fuzi is known as "talented and eloquent, there is no right in the world", just a few words are exported, and he is really a man under the fame, although he is very unhappy with Meng Ke's "spraying people" at every turn, but his talent is beyond doubt.

Lin Mu was silent for a long time without responding, and finally, under everyone's gaze, he saluted Mencius on the seat of the head of the school palace again, and said without humility or arrogance: "Master Meng's writing is brilliant, Meng Fan admires it to the fullest, and Meng Fan thinks so!" ”

Hearing this, Ji Xin finally sighed, shook his head and smiled bitterly, and just when everyone thought that he was going to admit defeat and walked off the stage, Lin Mu suddenly asked: "It's just that Meng Fan has a puzzle that he can't solve, and he dares to give advice to Meng Fuzi!" ”

"I want to hear about it!" Mencius said flatly, sat on the ground and closed his eyes and answered, as if he was calm and calm as a victor.

Lin Mu smiled when he saw this situation, so he saluted again: "Meng Fan's confusion is the source of his master's four-end theory, the master's four-end theory, people are inherent, Meng Fan's confusion lies in who is inherent?" ”

"This ......" When Mencius heard this, he immediately hesitated, and Ji Xin, who had originally shook his head and sighed to himself, suddenly his eyes lit up, and he immediately raised his eyes to look at Lin Mu.

That's right!

This question simply hit the nail on the head, and all the sons and hundreds of schools suddenly realized.

That's right, why is there any? Why do people have compassion, shame, respect, and right and wrong? You can't be born with it, right? If it is, it is nature, but in this way, it is not Confucianism.

The predicate of life is nature, that is, human nature. This is the view of the confession, Mencius once had a debate with the confession when he was in the palace, the confession believes that human nature is nature, just like the nature of water, water is impermanent, to the east or to the west, from the north can also face south, people have good people and evil people, so human nature is also impermanent, is unfounded, and Mencius and Confucianism view is that human nature is good, obviously impossible to admit the theory of nature, which is contradictory to Confucianism.

Then this question is a big problem, what should Lin Mu answer to Mencius's question? Since Mencius did not agree that human nature is nature, then why do people have the four ends of the heart of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom? Where is the source? If these four ends of the mind are attributed to human nature, then Mencius will be defeated, not only because he will lose this polemic, but also because Confucianism will inevitably suffer a fatal blow.

Now, Mencius realized the seriousness of the problem, if Lin Mu's question can't be answered, the problem will be a big problem, if you Confucianism has not even solved the fundamental problem, then Confucianism is not empty talk about benevolence and righteousness? I can't even explain the fundamental reason why I advocate a ritual system, how to govern the country?