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战国战国 · 文 Prose

生于忧患·版本二

Born of Suffering (Version Two)

孟轲

Meng Ke

说理Argumentation 儒家Confucian 名篇Celebrated Masterpiece

故天将降大任于是人也，必先苦其心志，劳其筋骨，饿其体肤，空乏其身，行拂乱其所为，所以动心忍性，曾益其所不能。

Therefore, when Heaven is about to place a great responsibility upon a man, it must first make his heart and will suffer, make his bones and sinews toil, make his body and skin go hungry, leave his body drained of every ease, and turn his courses into confusion and ruin,
only by these means is his heart stirred to resolve and his nature made enduring, and only thus is he increased in what he could not previously do.

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Meaning

Mengzi argues that difficulty is the mechanism by which a great career is prepared, not the obstacle to it. Before Heaven entrusts a person with a heavy task, it first exhausts them, body, will and conduct, so that the shock of that exhaustion wakes the heart, hardens the character, and adds capacities the person did not have. Suffering is therefore instrumental rather than punitive, and the whole logic of the passage rests on this reversal.

所以上天要把重大的使命降临到这个人身上，必定先要使他的心志受苦，使他的筋骨劳累，使他的身体挨饿，使他身受贫困之苦，使他所做的事情颠倒错乱，用这些来使他的内心受到震动、性格变得坚韧，增加他所不具备的才干。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The passage states its theorem in one sentence, that when Heaven is about to give a man a great charge it must first afflict him, then lists the afflictions, and finally says what they are for. [Structure] The argument is a closed chain of three moves: a premise introduced by therefore, which sums up the six biographies above it; a list of five afflictions introduced by must first; and a conclusion of benefit introduced by by these means. Each move depends on the one before, and the result is an argument from which no link can be removed. [Rhetoric] The five clauses are parallel, all built on the same pattern of verb plus its mark of the possessive plus noun, and all with the same subject, Heaven. The effect is like a mechanism seen in slow section, since nothing varies and each clause arrives on the same beat as the last, which is why the list feels unavoidable rather than merely long. [Argument] The pair of must first and by these means is the hinge. Everything in the list is a means, and nothing in it is an end; the passage's force comes from making the reader accept that a deliberately inflicted hardship can have a purpose. The final clause, increased in what he could not do, converts suffering into instruction, and the passage ends on improvement rather than on pain.

【白话串讲】孟子写《生于忧患》：“天将降大任于是人也，必先苦其心志，劳其筋骨，饿其体肤，空乏其身，行拂乱其所为”——上天要把重任交给一个人，先要磨炼他。“所以动心忍性，曾益其所不能”——“生于忧患而死于安乐也”——苦难使人成长。【意象与手法】此为孟子雄辩式说理散文：五个「其」字句排比推进，音节铿锵、语势如潮；「苦、劳、饿、空乏、拂乱」五动词连用，从心志到筋骨、从身体到行为，逻辑严密而无懈可击；末句「所以」二字一转，由磨难转本领，收束有力。排比之壮、层递之密、结句之重，皆孟子文章「气盛言宜」的典范。【情感与主旨】阐发「生于忧患」的逆境成才观：磨难不是惩罚而是磨炼，是上天造就大任之人的必经之路。这种「以苦为梯」的信念，张扬了儒家自强不息、积极入世的精神，是中华民族面对苦难的核心态度。【名句点睛】常考「天将降大任于是人也」的立论与「苦其心志，劳其筋骨」的排比——一为全篇之纲，一为论证之骨，合观方见孟子「逆境成就人才」思想的完整逻辑。

Background

The passage is the hinge of the chapter 'Gaozi xia' in the Mengzi, the section known by its closing words, born of suffering and perishing of ease. Meng Ke, c. 372 to 289 BC, styled Ziyu, was from Zou in what is now Shandong, and is the great continuer of Confucius, an honour later fixed as the Second Sage. The Mengzi records his conversations with rulers and disciples and is famous for its combative intelligence, and this chapter is where it is most systematically argumentative. Its evidence is six men who rose from the lowest conditions, Shun from the fields, Fu Yue from thrown-up earth, Jiaoge from the fishing and salt trade, Guan Zhong from prison, Sunshu Ao from the sea and Bo Li Xi from the marketplace, which is exactly the induction the therefore above draws on. That the argument was made in a time of ceaseless war, when rulers wanted results and nothing else, explains its urgency.

本篇节选自《孟子·告子下》中的名段「生于忧患，死于安乐」。孟子（约前372—前289），名轲，字子舆，战国时邹（今山东邹城）人，孔子学说的继承者与发扬者，被后世尊为「亚圣」，与孔子并称「孔孟」。《孟子》七篇由其与弟子万章等编撰，记录孟子与诸侯、弟子的对话，以雄辩善辩著称，是先秦儒家最重要的经典之一。战国之世，诸侯争霸、列国纷争，孟子游说齐、梁等国，力倡仁政王道，主张「民贵君轻」；然而时君世主皆务富强之术，孟子之说「迂远而阔于事情」，终不见用。《生于忧患，死于安乐》正是这种政治处境下的哲思结晶：文章先举舜发于畎亩、傅说举于版筑、胶鬲举于鱼盐、管夷吾举于士、孙叔敖举于海、百里奚举于市六人起于微贱的史例，证明成就大业者多经磨难；本节选即紧承此例，由事实归纳出「天将降大任于是人也，必先苦其心志……」的著名论断，阐明逆境与成才的关系；文末更以「入则无法家拂士，出则无敌国外患者，国恒亡」推及国家存亡，提出「生于忧患，死于安乐」的千古名言。此节选正是全篇由例入理、由人及国的枢纽。

Art

The passage's power is built almost entirely from syntax. Five clauses follow the identical scheme of a causative verb followed by its possessive mark and its object, so the reader hears the same shape five times and stops hearing it at all, which is the condition that lets a list of afflictions pass as a routine. The verbs themselves rise in scale: the first two are inner, the next two bodily, and the last is the wrecking of conduct, so the sequence advances from the mind to the world of action. Two particles carry the logic. Must first makes the afflictions a precondition, unchosen and unconditional; by these means then converts the whole list into a means and opens the counter-image of what those means achieve. The final clause is deliberately the longest of the passage, longer than any of the clauses it answers, and the extra syllables give the conclusion a weight the burden it describes does not have.

本篇节选为孟子说理散文的典范，艺术上最突出的是「排比的张力与论证的严密」。结构上，以「故」字承上启下——前文六人起于微贱的史例在此收敛为「天将降大任于是人也」的立论，由事例而原理，归纳法严谨；继而铺开五重磨难：「苦其心志，劳其筋骨，饿其体肤，空乏其身，行拂乱其所为」，五个「其」字句排比推进，由内而外（心志、筋骨、体肤）、由身及事（其身、其所为），从精神到肉体、从生存到事业，层层递进，把「磨难」写成一个完整的系统；末以「所以动心忍性，曾益其所不能」收束，「所以」二字点明磨难之目的——动其心（触动心灵）、忍其性（坚韧性情）、曾益其所不能（增加能力），三事皆「所以」所指向的正面结果，与前文五重「必先」的负面磨难形成强烈的反差与因果照应，论证环环相扣、无懈可击。手法上，「苦、劳、饿、空乏、拂乱」五动词皆为使动用法，句式齐整而语义层递，读来如连珠炮发；「必先」「所以」等虚词勾连，使全段一气贯通。此段是孟子散文「气盛言宜」的浓缩：文气之盛在于排比之壮，说理之密在于因果之严，二者相济，遂成千古名段。

Allusions

Three layers of reference are packed into so few words. The first is the mandate of Heaven in the Confucian tradition, since Heaven here is not blind nature but a source with a purpose and a great responsibility is a commission from it; the passage's originality lies in claiming that such a commission is always preceded by affliction, which turns suffering into procedure. The second is the education of the self in the Confucian canon, for the heart must be moved and the nature made enduring, which is the work the Daxue calls cultivating the self and the same tempering that the Analects demands when it says that in cold weather one learns which trees are evergreen. The third is the biographical material already stated, the six men raised from the mean, which turns individual anecdote into a general law. Together these let a short passage stand for a whole tradition of thought about fate, self-cultivation and hard times.

此段凝聚着先秦儒家「天命」「修身」「逆境」三大核心观念。其一，「天将降大任」的天命观——儒家认为「天」有意志、有赏罚，使命（大任）之降自有天意；而天命并非凭空而来，须以磨难为考验，故「天」先「苦其心志」以验其成。这种「天将降大任」的信念，把个人的苦难纳入天命的宏大叙事，使逆境成为天意的磨刀石，为「生于忧患」提供了形而上依据。其二，修身思想——「动心忍性」即《大学》「修身」的功夫：心志需在磨难中「动」（触动、警醒），性情需在磨难中「忍」（坚韧），能力需在磨难中「曾益」，这正是儒家「故天将降大任」与《论语》「岁寒，然后知松柏之后凋也」一脉相承的修养论。其三，逆境观——前文舜、傅说、胶鬲、管夷吾、孙叔敖、百里奚六人，或起于畎亩，或举于版筑鱼盐，皆是「逆境成才」的史证，本节选将其抽象为「天将降大任」的普遍法则，遂使个案上升为哲理。后世「天将降大任于斯人也」成为中国人面对挫折时最常引用的精神支柱，其文化内涵正是儒家「以苦为梯、自强不息」的人生态度。

Commentary

Few passages in the Chinese tradition have been quoted as often or with as much consequence. Its thought is a distinctly Confucian one, since adversity is not a test that happens to fall on the loyal but the appointed preparation for anyone whom Heaven intends to use, and the whole value of the suffering is that it produces capacity. The view contrasts sharply with the escapism of the Daoists and with the Buddhist vision of suffering asillusion, and it is the reason the passage has served as a morale for writers and statesmen, from Sima Qian finishing his history in punishment to revolutionaries in prison writing its lines. Its literary influence is parallel, because the must first and by these means frame became a model for expository writing, echoed in the Han fu and in the argumentative prose of Jia Yi and of later writers.

「故天将降大任于是人也」一段，是《孟子》乃至整个中国思想史上影响最深远的励志名句之一，其价值可从三方面看。就思想言，它确立了「逆境成才」的经典范式：磨难非祸而是福，是上天造就大任之人的必要环节——这种积极的苦难观，与老庄的避世、佛家的苦空迥异，体现了儒家入世担当、自强不息的精神，千百年来激励无数志士仁人在困厄中奋起，从「文王拘而演周易」到近代志士的狱中吟咏，皆可闻此回响。就文学言，此段排比之壮、层递之密、结句之重，是孟子雄辩文风的标本——宋人评孟子之文「其锋不可犯」，正指此类段落；其「必先……所以……」的因果框架，也成为后世论说文「先抑后扬、欲擒故纵」的经典范式，影响及于贾谊《过秦论》、韩愈《进学解》等历代名文。就影响言，「天将降大任于斯人也」已凝为民族性的精神格言，从科举时代的座右铭到当代的励志话语，其生命力历两千三百年而不衰；「生于忧患，死于安乐」更成为治国与处世的普遍智慧。此段虽短，却是中华文明「苦难哲学」的最凝练表达。

Prosody

Form Pre-Qin Confucian expository prose (the argumentative manner of the Mengzi, with parallel and cumulative rhythm)先秦儒家论说散文（《孟子》雄辩之体，排比层递）

Rhyme There is no rhyme, since this is prose; the sound is made by the list. The five parallel clauses all close on a different noun, and the effect of the growing line lengths, four four four four then six characters, is that the reader feels the mechanism accelerating. The final clause, the longest of the passage, brings the cadence down onto a single long note, and the whole reads like machinery described by someone watching it run.本篇为散文，不押韵，以排比句法制造声韵之美：「苦其心志，劳其筋骨，饿其体肤，空乏其身，行拂乱其所为」五句齐整，皆以「其」字为眼，音节铿锵、一气贯注，读来如连珠炮发；「必先」「所以」等虚词勾连因果，使全段语势起伏有致，如潮起潮落。

Tone pattern The passage reads in two movements carried by the particles. The opening sentence is calm and declarative, a thesis stated in the measured voice of a man about to prove something. The list that follows is rapid and hard, each clause on the same beat, so the voice changes character from judge to engineer. The close, after by these means, is the only place the passage relaxes, and it is where the argument's optimism appears. Read aloud with attention to must first and by these means, one hears that this prose has a shape that verse would only have ruined.句式以五至七字排比为主，语气先抑后扬：「故天将降大任于是人也」从容立纲，语气庄重；五句「必先」排比如万弩齐发，语气紧促激越；「所以动心忍性，曾益其所不能」以「所以」转折，由抑转扬，语气坚定高昂，收束如金石掷地。

Reading note This kind of prose, though it is not verse, is built with the same devices as the poetry around it, repetition for weight, a rising line for momentum and a long final clause for resolution. What to watch for in reading is the function of the particles, since therefore introduces, must first conditions and by these means concludes, and each of them tells the reader how to take the sentence that follows. The passage is also a good demonstration of the saying that when the breath is right the words are fitting, because the rhythm here is not decoration laid over the argument but the argument itself, as the insistence of the five clauses is what persuades the reader that the hardship is systematic.此段是先秦散文「以排比造势、以节奏传情」的典范，其声情之美在于「齐整与层递的共振」。五句排比「苦其心志，劳其筋骨，饿其体肤，空乏其身，行拂乱其所为」，句式完全齐整（动词+其+名词），音节长短相间（四字、四字、四字、四字、六字），读来如行军列阵、步步进逼；「必先」二字领起，为全段定下不容置疑的语气，五句一气呵成，无一处停顿，把「天降大任」的考验写得雷霆万钧。而「所以动心忍性，曾益其所不能」以「所以」陡然转折，如急流遇闸、千军勒马，由狂风暴雨转为云开日出，语气由紧促变坚定，「动心忍性」四字短促有力，「曾益其所不能」六字悠长开阔，一短一长，收束如钟磬长鸣。这种「先抑后扬、先急后缓」的节奏设计，使短短数十字读来波澜壮阔、荡气回肠；它承《尚书》诰命之排比、《论语》语录之凝练，而开后世论说文（贾谊、韩愈）以气势取胜的先河。诵读此段，当以首句庄重、中段激越、末句高昂出之，方见孟子文章「其锋不可犯」的声情之妙。

Line by line

故天将降大任于是人也，

Therefore, when Heaven is about to place a great responsibility upon a man,

所以上天要把重大的使命降临到这个人身上，

Therefore, when Heaven is about to lay a great mission on this man,

此句是全段的立论之纲，一个「故」字承上启下，举重若轻。「故」承接上文舜发于畎亩、傅说举于版筑等六人起于微贱的史例，由事实归纳出原理——六人的具体经历在此收敛为「天将降大任于是人也」的普遍命题，归纳论证严密有力；「天」字把个人的命运纳入天命的宏大叙事，赋予苦难以超越性的意义——不是命运不公，而是天意考验；「大任」二字分量极重，指重大的使命、非凡的事业，为后文五重磨难预设了崇高的目的；「于是人也」之「是」字，指代前文六人乃至一切「受大任者」，把个例推广为类，语气肯定而从容。此句以单句立纲，气势已足，其后的五重磨难皆为此句之「必先」张目，是全段「卒章显志」之前的最高纲领，也是中国人面对苦难时最常引用的精神支点。

This line is the passage's thesis framework, the word 'therefore' bridging above and below, lifting a weight lightly. 'Therefore' takes up the six historical examples above - Shun rising from the fields, Fu Yue from the wall-building, and the rest rising from lowliness - inducting a principle from the facts: the six men's具体经历收敛为 'Heaven is about to lay a great burden on this man' the universal proposition, the inductive argument tight and forceful; the word 'Heaven' taking personal fate into the grand narrative of the heavenly mandate, giving suffering a transcendent meaning - not fate's injustice, but Heaven's trial; 'a great burden' two words most weighty, the great mission, the extraordinary cause, priming the fivefold trials below with a lofty end; 'on this man' the word 'this' referring to the six men above and all 'bearing a great burden,' extending the single case to the class, the tone assured and unhurried. The line raising the framework in a single sentence, the force already enough; the fivefold trials below all serving this line's 'first must,' the highest framework before the passage's 'closing reveal,' and the spiritual fulcrum Chinese men most often cite in the face of suffering.

必先苦其心志，劳其筋骨，饿其体肤，空乏其身，行拂乱其所为，

it must first make his heart and will suffer, make his bones and sinews toil, make his body and skin go hungry, leave his body drained of every ease, and turn his courses into confusion and ruin,

必定先要使他的心志受苦，使他的筋骨劳累，使他的身体挨饿，使他身受贫困之苦，使他所做的事情颠倒错乱，

It must first bitter his heart and will, toil his sinews and bones, starve his body, strip him of his livelihood, and confound all his doings.

五句排比是全段的论证之骨，也是孟子文章气势的巅峰。「必先」二字承接「天将降大任」，表明磨难是天意之程序、不可避免；五句皆为使动用法（苦之、劳之、饿之、空乏之、拂乱之），句式齐整而语义层递：心志、筋骨、体肤，由内而外、由精神到肉体；其身、其所为，由身体到事业——五重磨难覆盖了人的全部存在，把「苦难」写成一个无微不至的系统。其中「行拂乱其所为」最见深意：不仅饥寒交迫，连所做的事情也颠倒错乱、屡遭挫败，这是比肉体之苦更深的精神折磨。五句连读，音节铿锵，如连珠炮发、如潮水叠涌，把「天将降大任」的考验写得既残酷又庄严——愈残酷，愈见后文「动心忍性」之可贵。此排比是「生于忧患」论的实证展开，也是孟子「气盛言宜」的最典型注脚。

The five parallel sentences are the passage's argumentative bone, and the peak of Mencius' prose force. 'It must first' two words taking up 'Heaven is about to lay a great burden,' showing the trials are Heaven's program, unavoidable; the five sentences all causative (make his heart bitter, his bones toil, his body starve, his being stripped, his doings confounded), the order even, the meaning layered: heart and will, sinews and bones, body and flesh, from within to without, from spirit to flesh; his being, his doings, from body to cause - the fivefold trials covering man's whole existence, writing 'suffering' as an all-pervading system. Of them 'derange all that he undertakes' deepest: not only hunger and cold, but the things he does thrown into disorder, baffled again and again, a spiritual torment deeper than the flesh's. The five sentences read together, the cadence ringing, like a string of shells fired, like a tide rising, writing Heaven's trial as both cruel and solemn - the crueler, the more precious the later 'stirring the heart and strengthening the nature.' This parallel is the concrete unfolding of the 'born in sorrow' argument, and the typical note of Mencius' 'rich force, fit words.'

所以动心忍性，曾益其所不能。

only by these means is his heart stirred to resolve and his nature made enduring, and only thus is he increased in what he could not previously do.

用这些来使他的内心受到震动、性格变得坚韧，增加他所不具备的才干。

By these means it stirs his heart, hardens his nature, and increases what he was not able to do.

此句是全段的点睛之笔，一个「所以」把五重磨难与三重收获因果相连，收束如万川归海。「所以」训「用这些来」，点明磨难之目的——此前的一切苦、劳、饿、空乏、拂乱，皆非目的而是手段；「动心忍性」四字，是儒家修身的核心功夫：「动心」即使心灵受到震动、警醒奋发，不至于麻木消沉，「忍性」即使性情坚韧不拔，经得起反复挫败——一「动」一「忍」，由内而外完成人格的锻造；「曾益其所不能」之「曾」通「增」，「其所不能」即其原先所不具备的才干——磨难不是摧残，而是补足人的短板、增益人的能力。此句与前文五重「必先」的负面磨难形成强烈的反差与照应：苦、劳、饿、空乏、拂乱是「必先」之因，动心、忍性、曾益是「所以」之果，因果相衔、环环相扣，把「生于忧患」的哲理推到逻辑的顶点，读来荡气回肠，是全段乃至全篇最富感染力的收束。

This line is the passage's finishing stroke, the words 'by these' linking the five trials and the three fruits in cause and effect, closing as ten thousand rivers return to the sea. 'By these' meaning 'using these to,' naming the purpose of the trials - all the bitter, toil, starve, strip, confound before are not ends but means; 'stirs his heart, toughens his nature' four words, the core of Confucian self-cultivation: 'stirs the heart' making the mind shaken, awakened, aroused, not numb and sunk; 'toughens the nature' making the temper unyielding, standing repeated bafflement - one 'stir' one 'toughen,' from within to without completing the forging of character; 'adds to what he cannot do,' the word 'adds' borrowed from 'increase,' 'what he cannot do' the abilities he lacked before - the trials are not destruction, but filling man's shortcomings, adding to his powers. The line set against the five negative 'first must' above in strong contrast and answer: bitter, toil, starve, strip, confound the 'first must' cause, stir, toughen, add the 'by these' fruit, cause and effect linked, ring on ring, pushing the philosophy of 'born in sorrow' to the logical peak, the reading sweeping the breast, the most moving close of the passage and the whole.

Study

Word focus

苦其心志 苦其心志 means to make his heart and will suffer; the first character is causative, its mark of the possessive attaches to the object, and heart and will stand for mind together with purpose. It heads the list because the Confucian order puts the heart first, since bodily hardship can be borne while a slack will is the real danger, and the passage treats the mind as the thing to be worked on while the body is only the instrument. 「苦其心志」是五重磨难之首，也是全段立论的起点。「苦」在此为使动用法，训「使……受苦」，不是被动地受苦，而是天意主动地「使」其受苦——一个使动用法，把苦难的主体（天）与目的（炼人）都写了出来；「心志」指意志与志向，置于五重磨难之首，见儒家「心」为本的修身次序——肉体之苦难可忍，意志之消沉最可畏，故先炼其心志。此词还暗含一种悖论式的深意：天要降「大任」，却先以「苦」相待，苦竟是任的前奏——这正是一切励志哲学的核心张力：以苦为梯、以痛为门。后世「苦其心志，劳其筋骨」并称，几成「艰苦奋斗」的代名词，其文化辐射力正在于：把「吃苦」从被动的厄运改写为主动的修炼，赋予苦难以意义与尊严。

拂乱拂乱 combines to go against or obstruct with to be thrown into confusion, so the phrase means to turn a man's affairs upside down. It is the last and severest of the five afflictions because it attacks conduct rather than body, since a man can endure hunger and fatigue but the repeated wrecking of what he attempts is what actually tests whether he can be trusted with a great charge. 「行拂乱其所为」之「拂乱」二字，是五重磨难中最具深意的一组词。「拂」训违背、阻挠，「乱」训扰乱——「拂乱其所为」即使他所做的事情颠倒错乱、屡遭挫败。与「苦其心志」等四重肉体磨难不同，「拂乱」写的是事业层面的挫折：不仅身心受苦，连做事的道路也处处受阻，这是比饥寒更深的精神试炼——一个人可以忍受贫穷劳苦，却最难忍受「努力而失败」的反复打击。孟子把「拂乱」列入天降大任的必修课，正见其洞察之深：真正的栋梁之材，不仅要耐得住苦，更要经得起败；「拂乱」正是对「大任」者最残酷也最有效的筛选。此词与「动心忍性」遥相呼应——拂乱是外，动心忍性是内，外有挫折、内有韧性，方成「曾益其所不能」的蜕变。

曾益曾益 means to increase, since the first character here reads as increase and the second likewise means to add, so the two reinforce each other. Its object, what he could not do before, is precisely what he lacked, and the clause as a whole therefore claims that affliction produces new capacity rather than merely causing wear. It is the passage's payoff, as the suffering is revalued as the source of the ability later needed. 「曾益其所不能」之「曾益」二字，是全段由苦转甜的枢纽。「曾」通「增」，训增加；「益」亦训增加，二字同义连用，语气加重，强调「增益」之充分——天所降之磨难，最终都转化为能力的增量。「其所不能」即其原先所不具备的才能——此四字最为关键：磨难不是要人忍受已有的不足，而是要补足「其所不能」，把短板炼成长板。这体现了孟子对「苦难」的独特理解：苦难不是惩罚，而是「补课」——上天的每一次「必先」，都是为「所以」储备资本；人经受的每一重磨难，都在悄悄增益着未来的能力。此词与「动心忍性」并列，构成「内修心性、外增才干」的完整成才观，把「生于忧患」从消极的承受升华为积极的修炼，正是儒家自强不息精神最凝练的表达。