What does it mean to be cautious and independent?

It means that when the joys and sorrows are not exhausted, it is called the bell; After it is shown, it conforms to the festival and is called harmony.

This sentence comes from the first chapter of Zi Si's The Doctrine of the Mean during the Warring States Period. The original excerpt is as follows:

The nature of fate; Those who are honest are the way to say it; Cultivation is teaching. If you are a Taoist, you can't leave for a moment; You can stay, but you can't. So a gentleman is wary of what he can't see, and fear is almost unheard of. Don't be invisible, don't be insignificant. Therefore, a gentleman is cautious and independent. Happiness, anger, sadness, and joy are not sent, which means that it is right. All the hair is in the middle section, called and. If you are in the middle, you will be the foundation of the world. He who is in harmony is also in the world. Neutrality, the position of heaven, the education of all things.

Explain in the vernacular: the natural endowment of human beings is called "nature", the behavior according to nature is called "Tao", and the practice according to the principle of "Tao" is called "teaching". Tao can't leave for a moment. Walking is not the way. Therefore, people with high moral character are cautious where no one sees them and afraid where no one hears them.

The more hidden the place, the more obvious it is, and the more hidden it is. Therefore, virtuous people are also cautious when they are alone. When the joys and sorrows are not obvious, it is called the clock; After it is shown, it conforms to the festival and is called harmony. Is everyone's nature; Harmony is the principle that everyone follows. In the realm of neutralization, heaven and earth are in their proper places, and everything grows and multiplies.

Extended data

The Doctrine of the Mean was first written by Zi Si, a descendant of Confucius, and was revised by scholars in the Qin Dynasty. The doctrine of the mean was highlighted by scholars in the Song Dynasty. There are more than 100 articles discussing the golden mean in the Song Dynasty, and Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi in the Northern Song Dynasty highly praised them. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu wrote The Doctrine of the Mean, which is called the "Four Books" together with The University, The Analects of Confucius and Mencius.

After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, The Doctrine of the Mean became an official textbook and a must-read in the imperial examination, which had a great influence on ancient education. The doctrine of the mean is human nature, neither good nor evil. From the perspective of human nature, it is the origin of human nature and the essence of human fundamental wisdom. In essence, it is a "critical point" expressed in modern words and a "golden mean" that is difficult to grasp.

This paper mainly expounds the Confucian concepts of Taoism, honesty and the mean, and describes the ideological quality and spiritual realm of Confucian ideal personality. His learning and research methods of "erudition, interrogation, deliberation, discernment and perseverance" greatly promoted the development of China's traditional scholarship, and still have guiding significance today. The doctrine of the mean focuses on the words "mean" and "mediocrity", and the middle is in the middle, and it is both right and left, and it does not go to extremes. Treat people fairly and compromise.