Chapter 27 Chapter 24 The Transformation of Chinese Culture in the Tang and Song Dynasties

The competition between the two nations is not just a political matter.Although the competition of previous generations was not like the mobilization of manpower and material resources of the whole country in modern times, the political trend of a country is always guided by the entire social culture invisibly.Therefore, whether a certain nation is suitable for competition in a certain era depends on the cultural trend of this nation and in this era. In history, it was the Bei people who threatened China the most.Their contact with the Chinese began in the 4th century BC when the Qin, Zhao, and Yan kingdoms met the cavalry bandits in the north, and ended when the Wuhu were assimilated by China at the end of the 6th century, which lasted about a thousand years.Its second batch of negotiations with China started from Tiele's invasion of the north and south of the desert in the second half of the 4th century, and lasted about 600 years until Shatuo lost its power in China in the first half of the 10th century.From then on, the air transport developed outside the Great Wall temporarily moved to the northeast, and Liao, Jin, Yuan, and Qing prospered one after another.It started from the prosperity of Khitan in the early 10th century and ended with the Chinese revolution in 1911.Future historians may wish to count it until the present Northeast issue is actually resolved, but the period will not be far away.Finally, this period lasted for more than a thousand years.These three large groups of northern ethnic groups, which gradually moved into China and were assimilated by the Chinese, are the same from front to back.However, in the first and second period, it was transferred in the form of being conquered, and in the third period, it was invaded in the form of conquest.

After the rebellion of Wuhu and Shatuo, China can be said to have suffered quite a lot.But given the size of China, can An not regard this as a big problem?In the eyes of the Chinese at that time, the invasion of the northern people was just a defect in governance. As long as China was fundamentally rectified, the so-called barbarians and di tribes would naturally not be a problem.The vision of the prophets in this era still focuses entirely on the interior, and although it cannot be said that there is no sense of national conflicts of interest, nationalism has not yet flourished because of this.

Even so, there was indeed a change in Chinese culture between the Tang and Song Dynasties.What is this transformation? Chinese culture, before it was influenced by Western culture in modern times, can be divided into three periods: the first period is the study of the philosophers in the pre-Qin and Han dynasties.The second period is about metaphysics and Buddhism in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang dynasties.The third period is Neo Confucianism in Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties.These three issues are just a positive, negative and combined. How can we say that the culture of these three periods is a dialectical evolution?It turns out that the academics in the pre-Qin period focused on correcting the sickness of society. The so-called "putting out the troubled times and making the opposite right" is not only Confucianism, but a common thought among all schools of thought.See Chapters 41 and 53 for self-explanation.After the failure of Wang Mang's reform, everyone thought that this way was not feasible, and such discussions gradually became depressed.After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, culture gradually shifted, seeking solutions not from the whole but from the molecular aspect.What they are discussing is not how the society is organized so that people can live in it, gain benefits, and be a good person, but what is human nature?It is good?it is bad?How can we turn bad people into good people, gather many good people, and realize a good society?This motivation is indeed consistent with Buddhism.In the past thousand years, traditional Confucianism has only been engaged in writing and writing, and more thoughtful people have gone all the way to metaphysics and Buddhism, which is the proof.But what was the result?Obviously, from the perspective of individuals, only a very small part can be improved, and it is still useless to look at the whole.As for the method of improving the individual, if it is pushed to the deepest point, it must focus on the heart.More time is spent on inner affairs, and less time is spent on external affairs.They regard society as composed of various elements, the good or bad of society is due to the good or bad of individuals, and the good or bad of individuals comes from the good or bad of their hearts; thus, all problems in society are naturally not fundamental.But their so-called goodness is actually incompatible with life in this world, so their most thorough thought is to destroy this world.Knowing that this road is not going to work, he changed again and thought that the current world is a Buddhist country; as long as he is enlightened in his heart, even though all behaviors are the same as ordinary people, he is still a saint.In this way, society is already good, and there is no need for improvement at all.Both views are incompatible with common sense and inconsistent with life.Anything that doesn't fit with life, no matter how fancy you say, is always just what they call "joking theory", and it will always be opposed by most people who live in common sense, and when things come to contradict most people's lives , is its fatal wound.When things are extreme, they must be reversed. When Buddhism was at its peak in the Tang Dynasty, this contradiction began to develop, so there was Han Yu's evasion of Buddhism.His arguments are very superficial, but he only criticizes Buddhism within the scope of common sense. It was not until Song Confucianism that he gained a foothold in philosophy.This was also said in Chapter 53.From the middle of the eleventh century to the middle of the seventeenth century, Song studies dominated China's intellectual circles for about six hundred years.They still regard the society as composed of various elements, and still regard improving the individual as the foundation of improving the society; to improve the individual, they still focus on the heart, which is no doubt different from Buddhism.The difference is that Buddhism recognizes that the status quo of the world is fundamentally bad. If the so-called good world is realized, the existing social organization will be completely destroyed. Song studies recognize that the current social organization is fundamentally reasonable It is only because people cannot take their proper positions in this organization and perform their due responsibilities, which is not good.The organization it considered reasonable was a set of moral, ethical, and political systems in feudal and agricultural societies.With the rise of commerce, the vast division of labor and cooperation is expanding day by day, the scale of self-sufficiency in each place has been completely destroyed, and the large family with self-sufficiency has ceased to exist, and it is no longer appropriate.Confucians of the Song Dynasty had to make slight modifications based on the moral, ethical, and political systems of this era to formulate a plan, and to force others to implement it.Isn't it waiting for human nature to be compared with Qiliu, and want to think it's a cup?Therefore, Song Confucianism's method of governing the mind is of great value, but its method of governing the world is not applicable at all.However, at that time, China's ideological circles could only choose between the pre-Qin philosophers, metaphysics, and Buddhism, and choose to adopt, melt and transform. guide.Under the autocratic monarchy, the political discipline is maintained by the so-called righteousness of the monarch and his ministers.This kind of discipline can only be maintained if there is order and stability, and the people's hearts will also be stable.When the war is raging and horses are chaotic, when everyone is used to tearing their crowns and clothes, they will inevitably be shaken.In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, because the king was not enough to be the king, the nobles who had "the feeling of dying for the country has no reason, and the desire to protect the family is appropriate", as mentioned in Chapter 15.In the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, this style prevailed again.Therefore, there are Feng Dao who has lived in the Five Dynasties and claims to be the old man of Changle to make himself proud, and there are many Du Chongwei who want to borrow money from foreigners for their own purposes.From today's way, without changing the customs of today, how can we live in one dynasty?Therefore, Song Confucianism should try its best to promote integrity.After being advocated by Confucianism in the Song Dynasty, the integrity of scholar-officials is indeed far better than that of the previous generation.But Confucianism in Song Dynasty (1) because of his self-cultivation, he tended to be inward, and he was careless in dealing with things. (2) He is too strict in bowing, and he wants to be a law to others. Therefore, he is too strict in selecting people, and all talented people are rejected by him. (3) It is also too exaggerated, often impractical. (4) If you are too ambitious, you will easily fall into party disputes.Party struggles are the easiest to move people's emotions and lose their rationality. Even if they want to be fair, there will inevitably be abuses. What's more, since the faction has started, how can anyone think of justice?Naturally, there is a group of hypocrites who have a good reputation and profit, and cover up in many ways, and real villains who don't care about breaking up have mixed in.When the dispute expands beyond control, and right and wrong become confused and it is impossible to distinguish, there are people who really care about justice and take the overall situation into account, and they also suffer from being helpless.So Song Confucianism is not suitable for political career at all.If it is said to do some self-government in society, Song Confucianism seems to be very suitable.Song Confucianism has an advantage. They knew that in society, all wastes should be eliminated, and they should do their best to support each other, so that they can live and die without regret, so that everyone can get what they want.They deny the simplistic mentality that "it is better to govern the world than to secure the world, and it is better to be with the world than to secure the world." This is indeed their strength.But the reason why they can do this is because they read the scriptures.What the scriptures describe is the remnant of an ancient self-sufficient society with mutual assistance and no contradictions. When the feudal forces gradually developed, such organizations were gradually destroyed.Song Confucians did not know that the morality, ethics, and political system they advocated were the opposite of this kind of regulation, but they wanted to use the power of the morality, ethics, and political system they advocated to achieve this goal.In extreme cases, it was necessary to restore the feudalism of the well field.Those who are more easygoing also regard the wise, foolish, virtuous and unworthy as a class that cannot be obliterated naturally.All complicated social systems still need to be implemented under the guidance of scholar-bureaucrats, and the so-called organization is still inseparable from class antagonisms.Therefore, in the end, the local tyrants and evil gentry were still unable to be defeated, and the Song scholars, especially the Guan Xue school, drafted extremely detailed plans and implemented them with great enthusiasm, and finally realized them like a morning star, and it was only a flash in the pan.At this time, there was oppression by powerful enemies from outside, and the most important thing was to enrich the country and strengthen the army, but Song Confucianists could not concentrate on this with all their strength.What is most needed is serious bureaucratic politics, and Song scholars tend to criticize their minds, but ignore their behavior; and because of party disputes, they confuse right and wrong, which is the opposite.Song studies are not suitable for competition, but since the eleventh century, Chinese culture has been guided by it, so it is no wonder that it has repeatedly provoked foreign insults.