"Initiator, no afterthought" refers to people who began to use figurines (ancient puppets or clay figurines that buried the dead). He has no children and no descendants. Mencius is warning Liang that it is abhorrent to be buried together in the form of human beings, and that human beings should be considerate.

In the slave society, "human martyrdom" prevailed in the Shang Dynasty in ancient China, where people were buried with the living, rich and powerful people were buried with the living, and slaves or civilians who had no power or influence were "sokcho as a man", and people who tied grass were used instead of the living. After the Zhou Dynasty, benevolent government was implemented and clay figurines were used instead. The tyrant Qin Shihuang also replaced the living with clay figurines.

Many people misunderstand Confucius that this is a curse. Among them, in the Song Dynasty, Zhu Youzhu wrote: "The ancient burial man, sokcho, was regarded as a guardian, and he was humble, just like a human figure. In the middle ages, it was easy to use figurines, but they were as big as people. Therefore, Confucius is evil and ruthless, but as far as it is concerned, there will be no afterlife. " Confucius advocated "sokcho as a man" and disapproved of the use of figurines, because once this began, it was possible to bury him with the living.

Confucius often curses in The Analects of Confucius, such as "You can't carve rotten wood, and you can't carve the wall of dung!" "I can't bear it, I can't bear it!" There are many names, but none of them end with "Hu", but there are many sentences with "Hu", such as "Isn't it a pleasure to have friends from afar?" This is a rhetorical question, which means yes.

This can understand what Confucius said, "What happened to the initiator?" This is an affirmation of the first person buried with pottery figurines. Confucius thought it was right to replace the living with pottery figurines, and the people buried with the living should be childless.