Be careful!
This explanation is widely accepted in society, and it is also an explanation that is easier for the world to accept literally.
Zhu Zi explained "The so-called sincerity of one's intention in "The Great Learning": Don't deceive yourself, like hating bad smells or liking lust. This is called self-effacing, so a gentleman must be careful about his own actions." He said: " It is a place that is unknown to others but only known to oneself. Those who wish to practice good deeds should use their own strength to avoid deceiving themselves. If you are lustful, you must definitely get rid of it, and you will get it if you want it, and you will be satisfied with yourself, and you can't just be willing to sacrifice for others. However, the truth and untruth are covered by things that others cannot know and you only know, so you must know it. Let’s take this as a precaution.”
“Be cautious in being alone” means that when people live alone, they can consciously be strict with themselves and be cautious about what they think and do. Prevent the occurrence of unethical desires and behaviors, so that morality will accompany the subject at all times.
Liu Shaoqi gave a more popular explanation of Shendu. When a person works independently without supervision, he may do all kinds of bad things, but he will not do bad things. Whether people can be "cautious about independence" and the extent to which they can persist in "being cautious about independence" are important yardsticks for measuring whether people persist in self-cultivation and the extent of their achievements in self-cultivation. As a method of self-cultivation, "Be cautious about independence" not only played an important role in ancient moral practice, but also has important practical value for today's socialist moral construction.
Newer explanation
This explanation is the opinion held by some scholars who specialize in ancient Chinese philosophy and Confucianism. The so-called "be cautious of independence" or "be careful of one's independence" means to uphold or firmly maintain one's moral nature and original intention. From the perspective of Kung Fu theory, "being cautious about independence" means how to "treat the body with the mind" when facing one's own body and mind; facing the external world, how to not be influenced by external things and maintain moral consciousness. From a negative perspective, "Being cautious about independence" is a process of preventing and restraining the emergence and emergence of "self-immorality"; from a positive perspective, "Being cautious about being independent" is a process of maintaining and protecting the moral nature of "self"
The Qing Dynasty people advocated the interpretation of "Shen" in "Shen Du" as "sincerity". Correspondingly, some people interpreted "Shen" as "body". For example, Chen Shuofu said: ""The Doctrine of the Mean" speaks of "Shen Du", which means sincerity. "(See Wang Xianqian's "Explanation of Xunzi's Collection: Bu Gou Chapter", Zhonghua Book Company, 1997)
The unique explanation:
The "said" in "Five Elements" comes from the mourning system. The relationship with inner sorrow explains the poem "Poetry·Beifeng·Yanyan": "The son returns home and sends him far away into the wild. He looks beyond his reach and weeps like rain": "If you can spread the feathers in the pond, you can express your sorrow." To the person who is in trouble, it is not to be in decline, and then to mourn the death of the husband, and to be in mourning, and to be alone is to say that he is alone. "It means giving up the body." There are also sayings of "giving up the body and being careful about the mind" and "giving up the five things but being careful about the mind." Clearly define "heart" as "alone", or use "heart" as "alone".
"Xunzi: Being Strict": "A gentleman should cultivate his heart without being good at sincerity. If he becomes sincere, there is nothing else to do. Only benevolence is maintained, and righteousness is changed and promoted. This is called heavenly virtue. Heaven does not If you speak, people will praise you; if the earth does not speak, people will praise you; if you do not speak at all times, the people will praise you... If you are obedient to your destiny, you must be cautious about being alone. If you are not sincere, you will not be alone. , If you are not alone, you will not be visible... A gentleman is honest, and the foundation of political affairs is to live in the same kind."
Among the Ming Confucians, there are:
Liu Zongzhou: "Sages and sages have said thousands of words about the essence and Kung Fu, but they are always inseparable from the word shendu. Du is the essence of the nature of destiny, and shendu is the study of exhausting nature." (Volume 5 of "Liu Zi Quan Shu" "Sheng Du") "Xue Zong Yao? Prince Yangming")
"There is no essence other than independence, and there is no skill other than caution in independence." ("The First Chapter of the Doctrine of the Mean" in Volume 8 of "The Complete Book of Liu Zi")
"The power of being cautious and independent is to be recognized everywhere when it is revealed to the original heart, so that the whole body becomes enlightened and harmonious with heaven and earth." (Liu Zi Quan Shu, Volume 6, "Miscellaneous Explanations of Zheng Xue")
Explanation of Shen:
"Zuo Zhuan": "Be cautious and guard one of them"
"Book of Zhou": "Be careful, the guard of virtue. Keep it pure and solid to the end"< /p>
"Three Virtues" on Shangbo Slips: "A gentleman is not careful about his virtues", "Be careful to observe his own virtues", "Everyone is careful about his own measures and does not lose his way"
"Chengzhi" Chapter "Wen Zhi": "Respect and be careful to guard it, and the place where it is will enter", "Speak carefully and seek it from yourself, and you can follow the heaven and the eternal. ... Therefore, the gentleman is careful about the six positions, in order to worship the heaven and the eternal"
"Han Feizi·Jie Lao": "Today, when you treat the body, you should not deal with external things, and you cannot disturb its spirit. The real thing is to be cautious and solid. If you cultivate the body, your virtue will be true."
Qin Dynasty, Sleeping Tiger Land "The Way of Being an Official": "The way to be an official must be clear and upright, prudent and firm, and selfless."
From the above use cases of "cautious", we can draw several important points Opinions: First, "scrupulous" and "shou" are directly used together, and "scrupulous" can be interpreted as "persistence" (or "concentration"); second, "scrupulous" is used together with "solid" and "firm", "Shen" means to maintain firmly; thirdly, according to the meaning of the sentence, "Shen" can be interpreted as "keeping"; fourthly, "Shen" focuses on people's "heart" and "inner nature".
Based on these points, the "Shen" of "Shendu" can be defined in similar senses such as "maintain", "respect", "respect", "focus", "persistence" and "stick to", which should It is the exact meaning of "caution" in "caution alone".