孟子一生以私淑孔子自许。通过受业于子思之门人,青年时期的孟子就开始治孔子之道。孟子精通“六经”之学,打开了通向孔子之道的大门,奠定晚年“述仲尼之意”的基石;中年时期的孟子仿效孔子周游列国,寻求施展孔子之道及其仁政蓝图的历史舞台;晚年时期的孟子则退自齐、梁,仿效孔子专心讲学与整理典籍文献,并与弟子万章等人序《诗》《书》,作《孟子》七篇。这“七篇”则成为后世公认的“述仲尼之意”的经典之作。

Mencius was proud to be the successor of Confucius all his life. By studying with a hanger-on of an aristocrat of Zisi (The grandson of Confucius), Mencius began to study the knowledge of Confucius in his youth. Mencius was well versed in the six classics, which served as the beginning for him to accept Confucius' knowledge and it also laid a solid foundation for him to inherit Confucius thoughts in his later years. Mencius, in his middle age, followed the example of Confucius and traveled to various countries in search of opportunities to practice his teaching and political ideals. In his later years, Mencius retired from Qi and Liang (two states in the Warring States period of China), followed the example of Confucius and devoted himself to teaching and sorting out classics and documents, and wrote seven chapters of Mengzi with disciples Wanzhang and others in preface to Poems and Books. This “seven chapters” has been acknowledged by the later generations as the classical interpretation of the academic thoughts of Confucius.