愛惜生命，愛護(hù)百姓。中國古人認(rèn)為，使萬物生生不息，是天地的美德；喜愛生存，厭惡死亡，是人之常情。因此，執(zhí)政者對百姓的生命要多加愛惜，如：不輕易動用極刑，不輕易發(fā)動戰(zhàn)爭，為百姓興利除害，使百姓安居樂業(yè)，等等。“好生之德”是執(zhí)政者應(yīng)該具有的美德，也是執(zhí)政者應(yīng)該堅(jiān)守的原則。這一理念與“愛民”“愛人為大”相通，但更進(jìn)一層，它為治國理政提供了生命哲學(xué)基礎(chǔ)，它也是人們力行“恕”道、寬以待人的基礎(chǔ)理念，中醫(yī)的人文理論也常以此為基點(diǎn)。

This term means to cherish life and people. The ancient Chinese believed that the beauty of the natural world lies in its enabling all living creatures to perpetuate themselves, and the universal sentiment of human beings is to cherish life and abhor death. Therefore, those who govern must make special efforts to cherish people's lives. For example, they must not readily resort to the death penalty or start wars; they should eliminate things which harm the people and enable people to lead settled lives. The "virtue of cherishing life" is one which those who govern ought to have, and it is also a principle which they should strictly abide by. This concept is consistent with the ideas of "cherishing the people" and that "the greatest good is to cherish others," but it goes a step further. It offers a philosophy of life as a foundation for governance; it is the basic concept explaining why people should be empathetic and accommodating to others; it is also often cited as the starting point for the humanist theories of Chinese medicine.

引例 Citations：

◎天地之大德曰生。（《周易·系辭下》）

天地的最大德行是使萬物生生不息。

The greatest good in the world is to enable all living things to perpetuate themselves. (The Book of Changes)

◎與其殺不辜，寧失不經(jīng)。好生之德，洽于民心，茲用不犯于有司。（《尚書·大禹謨》）

與其誤殺無罪的人，寧可放過不守常法的人。這種愛惜生命的美德，可以使民心和洽，因此民眾就不會觸犯刑律了。

It is better to spare an unruly person than to kill an innocent one. This virtue of cherishing life will set the people's hearts at ease; hence they will no longer break the law. (The Book of History)

◎臣聞天地之于萬物也好生，帝王之于萬人也慈愛。（《后漢書·寇恂傳附曾孫榮》）

我聽說天地對于萬物的盛德是好生，帝王對于萬民的盛德是慈愛。

I hear that heaven and earth display goodness to all living things by cherishing life, and kings display goodness to all people through their benevolence. (History of the Later Han Dynasty)

推薦：教育部 國家語委

供稿：北京外國語大學(xué) 外語教學(xué)與研究出版社

責(zé)任編輯：錢耐安