How to understand "ancient scholars are for themselves, and today's scholars are human beings"

The meaning of this sentence is that the ancients read for their own moral cultivation, but today people read only to show off others.

Said by: Xunzi, a thinker and writer in the Warring States Period, wrote an essay "Encouraging Learning", the original text is as follows:

Ancient scholars were themselves, and today's scholars are people. The study of a gentleman is also for beauty; Little people learn that birds are calves.

Ancient people read for their own moral cultivation, while modern people read only to show off others. Gentlemen learn to improve themselves, while villains learn to show off and grandstanding, and take knowledge as gifts such as poultry and calves to win praise.

This paper analyzes two completely different learning attitudes of "gentleman" and "villain", and points out that students should be educated by choice. The method of education is not to be a teacher or impose on others, but to behave appropriately. The author especially emphasizes that "a gentleman learns to cultivate self-cultivation, while a villain learns to please others", aiming at explaining that the ultimate goal of "persuasion" is "to stop at ceremony".

Extended data:

"Encouraging Learning" is an essay written by Xunzi, a thinker and writer in the Warring States Period. It is Xunzi's first work. This paper systematically discusses the theory and method of learning, and comprehensively and profoundly discusses the problems related to learning from the aspects of the importance, attitude, content and method of learning.

Xunzi was a representative figure of Confucianism in the late Warring States period. He believes that the existence of nature does not depend on human will, but people can use subjective efforts to understand it, adapt to it and use it. In order to reveal the significance of learning the day after tomorrow, he created the article "Encouraging Learning".

Xunzi was a native of Zhao at the end of the Warring States Period. A famous thinker, writer and politician, he is called "Xun Qing". Xunzi developed Confucianism. On the issue of human nature, he advocated the theory of evil nature, advocated that human nature was evil, denied the innate moral concept, and emphasized the influence of acquired environment and education on people. His theory is often compared with Mencius' theory of good nature by later generations, and Xunzi has also made considerable contributions to sorting out Confucian classics.

References:

Baidu encyclopedia-persuasion