推恩 – Chinese philosophy and culture

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tuī’ēn 推恩

Extend Benevolence and Love

推广仁爱之心。“推恩”是孟子(前372—前289)提出的一项对执政者的要求。孟子认为,每个人天生都具有对他者的仁爱之心。但仁爱之心需要不断扩充,才能成就现实的仁德。仁心的扩充是由近及远、由亲至疏的。对执政者而言,即是要发挥天生的仁爱之心,将自己对父母、子女的关爱,推及治下的百姓,这即是“推恩”。“推恩”是实现仁政的基本方式。

Mencius (372-289BC) advocated that those in power should govern with love and benevolence. He believed that humans by nature have love for their fellows, but that this needs to be widely inclusive in order to constitute a true rule with benevolence. Love and benevolence begin with close family and relatives but then should spread to embrace all the people under his rule. This is the way to achieve rule with benevolence.

引例 Citation:

◎故推恩足以保四海,不推恩无以保妻子。古之人所以大过人者,无他焉,善推其所为而已矣。(《孟子·梁惠王上》)

(因此推广仁爱之心,足以能够保有天下。不推广仁爱之心,不能保护自己的妻子和子女。古代的圣贤之所以能够在很大程度上超越常人,没有别的原因,只是善于推广他们的德行罢了。)

Therefore, extending love and benevolence will be able to maintain the rule of the whole country; without them even one’s wife and children cannot be protected. The only reason ancient sages were able to surpass ordinary people was because they were able to expand the influence of their moral principles and conduct far and wide. (Mencius)

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