"A Spring of Water Gushing out"and"Filling up Holes and then Advancing":The Development of Confucianism's"Comparing Virtue with Water"in Men-cius
Mencius inherited and carried forward the Confucian tradition of"comparing virtue with water"created by Confucius.Mencius used the two coherent water images,"a spring of water gushing out"and"fill-ing up holes and then advancing"to elucidate his thoughts of superior man's personality cultivation in the two articles Mencius Li Lou Xia and Mencius Jin Xin Shang."A spring of water gushing out"emphasizes the cultiva-tion of moral subject consciousness of superior man's personality through the insight and recognition of his own inherent virtue."Filling up holes and then advancing"emphasizes the cultivation of moral rational spirit and moral practical ability of superior man's personality through the way of learning.Mencius believed that a superior man should"root in the basis"and"aim at the Dao"with abundant inner virtues and constantly striv-ing to learn,in order to cultivate a perfect ideal personality for a superior man.
Menciussuperior manwater imagecomparing virtue with water
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