"Eat, sex, sex" refers to: eating, drinking, men and women, this is nature.

Original text:

Gaozi said: "Food, color, nature. Benevolence is internal, not external; righteousness is external, not internal."

Mencius said: "What is the meaning of benevolence on the inside and righteousness on the outside?"

Said: "He is long and I am good at it, it does not mean that he is better than me. Just as he is white and I am white, then It is white on the outside, so it is called outside. "

Said: "It is different from the whiteness of a white horse, and it is not different from the whiteness of a white man. It is not different from the whiteness of a long horse. What is the meaning of being elder?"

He said: "My younger brother loves him, but the younger brother of the Qin people does not love him. The person who is happy is also called the inside. The person who is long for the Chu people is also the person who is the person for me. It is the person who is happy for the long term, so it is called the outside. Zhizhi is no different from Qiwu Zhi, and the same thing happens with things. But Qi Zhi also has external Zhi? "

Vernacular translation:

Gaozi said: " Men and women eat and drink, this is nature. Benevolence is an internal thing, not an external thing, and righteousness is an external thing, not an internal thing." Mencius said: "What is benevolence is an internal thing. Is it an external thing?"

Gaozi said: "I respect him when he is older. Respect for the elderly is not inherent in me; it is just like if an external object is white, I regard it as white. It is white because the whiteness of external objects is recognized by me, so it is said to be an external thing." Mencius said: "The whiteness of a white horse may be the same as the whiteness of a white-skinned person. , but I wonder if there is any difference between compassion for Lao Ma and respect for the elderly? And, tell me, does the so-called justice lie in the old man, or in the person who respects the old man?”

Gaozi replied: "I love my younger brother, but I don't love my younger brother who is from Qin. This is because I like him. Therefore, benevolence is an inner thing. Respect the elders of Chu and respect me." One's own old age is like this because of the external old age, so righteousness is an external thing." Mencius said: "There is no difference between liking to eat Qin people's barbecue and liking to eat one's own barbecue. This is also true for various things. So, is the desire to eat barbecue also an external thing? (Doesn’t this contradict your argument that eating and drinking is human nature?)”

This article comes from the extended information of "Mencius Gaozi" written by Mencius during the Warring States Period

Writing background:

"Mencius Gaozi" records Mencius and his students The discussion about human nature and morality between Gaozi (someone said to be a student of Mozi) is similar to the Analects of Confucius; it is a relatively complete embodiment of Mencius's "Theory of Good Nature". Related are issues of benevolence, morality and personal cultivation. Issues such as spirit and matter, sensibility and rationality, human nature and animality are also covered. The whole story has 20 chapters.

A book of seven chapters is a compilation of Mencius’ remarks during the Warring States Period. It records Mencius’ debates with other schools of thought, his words and deeds to his disciples, his lobbying with princes, etc. It was compiled by Mencius and his disciples (Wan Zhang, etc.) ) ***compiled together.

"Mencius" records Mencius's thoughts on governing the country, political views (benevolent government, the distinction between kings and hegemons, people-centeredness, caring about the king's wrong intentions, and the people are noble and the country is inferior to the king) and political actions. It was written around the middle of the Warring States Period and is a Confucian classic.

The starting point of his theory is the theory of human nature and goodness, and he advocates the rule of virtue. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi combined "Mencius", "The Analects of Confucius", "The Great Learning" and "The Doctrine of the Mean" together as the "Four Books". Since the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, it has been regarded as a book that has been passed down from family to family. Just like today's textbooks.

"Mencius" is the largest and heaviest of the Four Books, with more than 35,000 words. From then until the end of the Qing Dynasty, the "Four Books" had been a required part of the imperial examination. The theory of the book "Mencius" is not only pure and profound, but the articles are also extremely powerful and beautiful.

About the author:

Mencius (approximately 372 BC - 289 BC), surnamed Ji, Meng family, given name Ke, unknown trade name, was a scholar in the state of Zou (now Zou, Jining, Shandong) during the Warring States Period city) people.

During the Warring States Period, his status was second only to Confucius, and he was also called "Confucius and Mencius" together with Confucius. He promoted "benevolent government" and was the first to put forward the idea of ??"the people are more important than the monarch".

Mencius is a famous thinker, politician, educator, successor of Confucius' theory, and an important representative of Confucianism. According to legend, Mencius was a descendant of the Meng Sun family, a nobleman of the Lu State. He lost his father when he was young and his family was poor. He was once a student of Zisi.

After completing his studies, he lobbied the princes as a scholar in an attempt to promote his political ideas and went to Liang (Wei), Qi, Song, Teng and Lu.