Fang Yun continued, "Among the foreign races I have heard of, there is a group called Greece that is the most peculiar. This group also appears in "Politics". In the beginning, their group had no saints or saint ancestors, but like the previous group, they created many saints and saints in the form of stories. The difference from the previous group is that the saints of this group are exactly the same as themselves, either greedy, lustful, jealous, vicious, vain, or proud. Of course, in addition to these vices, there are also virtues. They believe that saints and saints are just powerful people, not perfect beings."
"This great Greek race, because they can ridicule and even vilify the saints in their hearts, that is, they can 'belittle' those saints, so a powerful force was born in their race, that is, they are never bound! They can fail, but nothing can imprison the soul that pursues freedom!"
"Indeed, this kind of philosophy would make their society relatively chaotic and difficult to stabilize, and eventually they would be defeated by foreign races. However, it is precisely because of this philosophy that they have something in common with our Chinese civilization, that is, even if they are defeated in a war, they can in turn influence and even assimilate the victors. This is one of the signs that a civilization can be called great."
"In fact, this Greek group that despises the gods has undergone some changes in their bloodline, but their spirit has not been erased and has been passed down. They did not completely succumb to the false saint ancestor, nor did they allow themselves to become slaves of the saint ancestor. They were humble but not lowly. Under the influence of this spirit, even if their descendants were conquered, they could break through the blockade of powerful ethnic groups and make the powerful civilizations of later generations willing to be their successors. This makes me admire them."
"They have their brilliance, and we have our greatness, and neither can overshadow the other's brilliance. However, if we want to be greater, we must recognize the brilliance of others and humbly learn everything that can make us greater! Even if it means learning how to avoid their failures."
Duke Yansheng said, "Then I understand. Other races always regard their imaginary ancestors as powerful, great, and worthy of respect. However, although we humans also imagine some gods and ancestors, since Confucianism, what we have truly inherited and promoted is to learn from saints, predecessors, those who have achieved real success, and those who are truly correct."
Fang Yun nodded and said, "Good. So, Confucianism, since Confucius, has paved a path of enlightenment for mankind that will never change, and let us understand that learning, change and progress are more important than anything else. However, the path of enlightenment, the way of Confucius, has been misinterpreted by the crooked scholar!"
"Why?" asked Duke Yansheng.
Fang Yun said: "Confucius once said, 'When you see a virtuous person, you should think about how to be like him; when you see an unvirtuous person, you should reflect on yourself.' Almost all Confucian disciples are stuck in the four words 'When you see a virtuous person, you should think about how to be like him', just like a cricket in a cage, unable to jump out of this circle in their entire lives! Everyone has forgotten another more important saying, 'When you see an unvirtuous person, you should reflect on yourself!'"
"Please give me some advice, Mr. Fang." Duke Yansheng's eyes lit up slightly, and he felt something vaguely, but he still stood straight and lowered his head slightly, like a child.
Fang Yun said: "Before the canonization, I believed, like everyone else, that the 'virtuous' in this sentence refers to virtuous people, while the 'unvirtuous' refers to other unvirtuous villains. The meaning of this sentence is that when you see a virtuous person, you should learn from him, and when you see an unvirtuous person, you should also reflect on whether you have made the same mistakes as him. There is no controversy about this statement. After all, in the Analects, the previous paragraph of this sentence is 'The gentleman is concerned with righteousness, while the villain is concerned with profit'. The two are related, with 'virtuous' corresponding to the gentleman and 'unvirtuous' corresponding to the villain. But after the canonization, I realized that the scale we used to look at the Analects was too small."
"Scale?" Duke Yansheng keenly discovered the crux of the problem.
Fang Yun smiled and said, "Yes, that's the scale. If we use the smallest scale to measure, the context of this sentence is just the few people we see in front of us, some are talented, and some are villains. But if we use a larger scale to measure, such as extending the scale of time and space, we will find two different people in history who have never met each other to compare. For example, me and Confucius, Confucius is a virtuous person, and I am not. Even so, the difference is not big."
Duke Yansheng nodded slightly.
Fang Yun continued, "Then, let's expand the scale for measuring this sentence and increase the number! We must include all the wise and unwise people from all races throughout the ages and in all the worlds! What will we find? We can't actually accurately label everyone, so what should we do? What we want to learn is not a certain wise man, but the excellent talents shared by all people. We are not going to look for a villain to reflect on ourselves, we are going to look for the mistakes of all people to reflect on ourselves."
"This is called..." Duke Yansheng felt that he understood something, but he didn't know how to put it into words.
"Extracting common and essential things from phenomena is also called abstraction," Fang Yundao said.
"It's wonderful!" Duke Yansheng clapped his hands in praise.
Fang Yun continued, "When we ignore Confucius as an individual and analyze the wise men of that era or even those of different eras, we will find that most of the wise men are learning, either from books or from personal experience, and that they are constantly improving as they learn. Therefore, we conclude that Confucius's teachings and learning methods are eternal and unchanging, and are the dignified foundation for all ages."
Duke Yansheng nodded heavily.
Fang Yun added: "But if we compare Confucius and Mencius with those wise rulers, ministers and officials who have truly achieved success in governing the country, and put them together for comparison, what do we find? Those officials did not govern the country according to the benevolent government, rites and music of Confucius and Mencius, and they all had considerable success. Then, how can I believe that Confucius's philosophy of governing the country is correct?"
Duke Yansheng said: "Sir, you have overlooked that Confucius also used your... abstraction to abstract rituals, music and benevolent government from the Zhou Dynasty."
There was a gleam of childish clarity and cunning in Duke Yansheng's eyes.
Fang Yun laughed and said, "Because what he extracted may not be the essence, and he only used the Zhou Dynasty and a few other dynasties as samples. The scale is too small. Lord Yansheng, if we summarize the reasons for the victory of the Zhou Dynasty and analyze the system of the Zhou Dynasty, should we still use the method left by Confucius, from Confucius' perspective, according to Confucius' context, and according to the scale of the Spring and Autumn Period?"
Duke Yansheng was silent for a long time, then slowly said, "Before your Political Science appeared, I would have completely followed the methods of my ancestors. But now, I can't do that. Especially after listening to your words, I can't go back at all."