"The Words of a Dying Man Are Good":The View of Death and the Theory of Human Nature in Pre-Qin Confucianism
According to the Analects of Confucius,when Zengzi was seriously ill,he said,"As a man is a-bout to die,his words are good."This sentence is widely spread because of its practical significance.Com-bined with Zengzi's personality and thought,it reflects the subtle relationship between the view of death and the theory of human nature from the Pre-Qin Confucianism represented by Zengzi.In Confucianism,there is a moral view of death.Because of the ethical significance of death and its influence on the judg-ment of good and evil,confucians can take a strong stand in their own virtue.In addition,the presence of death influences the priori component of the Confucian theory of human nature with the moral guiding prin-ciples of the reality,generating the consciousness of goodness and driving good deeds.In this case,the dy-ing person can follow the good path,which exerts the ethical value of education.This serves as a philo-sophical explanation of the saying,"As a man is about to die,his words are good."It embodies the Confu-cian ethical spirit of establishing goodness through death(yi si li shan),continuing Tao through words(yi yan xu dao),and taking goodness as the ultimate pursuit(yi shan wei zhong).
ZengziConfucianismview of deaththeory of human naturelife and death