修身处世

修身处世

修身处世，即修养好自身的德行，处理好与他者的关系，这一理念集中体现在儒家经典《大学》中。关于“修身”，《大学》强调，上自国家元首，下至平民百姓，人人都要以修养品性为根本。要做到修身，需要首先做好格物、致知、诚意、正心，就是要尽可能地研究清楚万事万物的道理，拓展自身的认知，进而让自己的意念真诚笃实、心思端正无邪。关于“处世”，《大学》提出了齐家、治国、平天下的次第，就是要为管理好家族、治理好国家、把和平与秩序带给天下作出应有的贡献。总体而言，修身是处世的根本和基础，一个人如果德行不好，很难处理好与他者的关系；处世也是修身的重要方法，一个人如果离群索居、远离他者， 很难谈得上有意义的修身。

修身处世是中国人如何要求自己、对待他人的基本态度。在历史上，中国人积累了大量修身处世的智慧，赋予中华文明独特的自信、耐力与定力。

Cultivate Moral Integrity and Good Conduct

This means that one should cultivate him/herself and manage interpersonal relations well. The idea is fully expressed in The Great Learning (Da Xue), a Confucian classic. According to the book, everyone from the ruler of a state to ordinary people should cultivate morality first by studying things, then acquiring knowledge, being sincere in thought, and rectifying one's heart. This empowers people to identify the principles of all things, expand knowledge, and then cultivate virtues such as uprightness and good faith. Then, the book offers the three steps to conduct oneself in society after achieving self-cultivation: manage one's family well, govern the state properly, and bring peace to all under heaven. In short, self-cultivation is the prerequisite and foundation for participation in society, and an important way to realize self-cultivation is by participating in society. A person lacking moral integrity cannot easily manage relations with others, and a person living in isolation can hardly achieve meaningful self-cultivation.

The concept reflects the general attitude of the Chinese towards self-cultivation and interpersonal relations. In history, the Chinese have accumulated considerable wisdom on how to cultivate moral integrity and conduct oneself in society, which injects confidence, endurance, and strength into Chinese culture.