Chapter 16 2. Virtue without virtue

The rule of law in the empire is not the rule of law, and the rule of virtue in the empire is not the rule of virtue. The rule of virtue was originally the management method of primitive society.At that time, there were not many resources and wealth, and the ethnic group was very small. The limited means of production and subsistence naturally might as well implement "public ownership within the tribe".Within tribes and clans, all things are shared by all the people, and they are controlled and distributed according to primitive morality (de) and customs (li).This is the earliest rule of virtue and rule of law.It should be said that this system used to be very good.The old without children and the children who have lost their parents can be supported and provided for (the old and the old and the old, the young and the young and the young), there is no room for domination and slavery, and there is no difference in rights and obligations (different As far as possible, according to need), the division of labor is completely out of nature (men farm and women weave).The basis that governs people's behavior, apart from the needs of survival, is primitive and simple morality.Leaders don't need to expend much effort to "govern with clothes".This is the "Age of Yao and Shun" that has always been worshiped and yearned for by people.

Such an era may indeed have existed.Engels once described and praised that era and that system in his book "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State".Engels said: "What a beautiful system this simple and simple clan system is! There is no army, gendarmerie and police, no nobles, kings, governors, magistrates and judges, no prisons, no lawsuits, and everything is established. It's in order." Why is it "in order"?There is "Germany"! However, even in this era, there is not only tenderness but also brutal violence.It was this brutal violence that led to a series of wars that followed.Including Jiuli's battle against Zhuolu, Yanhuang's battle against Banquan, as well as the five princes' struggle for hegemony and the seven kingdoms' struggle for hegemony.So we can't imagine that era too beautifully, not to mention it is gone forever.The clan society is over, the tribal era is over, and even the state era is over.The simple and barbaric primitive society has been irreversibly replaced by the ancient society with supremacy of power.At this time, if we continue to advocate primitive and simple morality, and advocate the so-called "rule of Yao and Shun", even if it is not fraudulent, it is also ignorance.In fact, as Engels said, it was only "misused to justify violent plundering of wealth" (The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State).Therefore, the "rule of virtue" that Confucianism and imperial rulers have repeatedly advocated, flaunted, and advocated is extremely deceptive. 》).On the contrary, some other thinkers are much clearer.For example, Laozi, with his unique wisdom and sternness, once expressed the facts and truths that many people are unwilling to face up to and accept-"When the Dao is abolished, there is benevolence and righteousness; when wisdom comes out, there is great hypocrisy; There is filial piety and kindness; the country is in chaos, but there are loyal ministers" (Chapter 18 of Laozi).In other words, if a society vigorously flaunts and advocates morality, there must be something wrong with this society.

Indeed, the transition from tribe to state is a "fall from the simple moral heights of ancient clan society"; while the curtain of "a new, civilized class society" is drawn by "the basest interests - vulgar greed". , rough lust, base material desire, and selfish plunder of public property" (Engels (((Family, Private Property and the Origin of the State) ). This depravity even has rules, which is what Laozi said "If you lose morality, you will gain virtue, if you lose virtue, you will be benevolent, if you lose benevolence, you will be righteous, and if you lose righteousness, you will be righteous" (Chapter 38 of Laozi). From the Three Emperors and Five Emperors to the feudalism of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and then to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States, this is exactly the way .

The first is "going out of morality and then gaining virtue".Tao is the social system and the spirit of the times in clan society.It is characterized by public ownership of property, public election of chiefs, and a society that emphasizes justice, faith, and peace, which is what is called in "Book of Rites · Li Yun" "The journey of the great way, the world is public, the selection of talents and abilities, and the trustworthiness and harmony."The result is that the door is not closed at night, and the road is not picked up.All people are relatives, or are regarded as relatives, and they can also receive due care, maintenance and love.This is called "Datong".Later, the primitive clan society was disintegrated (the Dao was hidden), the tribal public ownership became the family private ownership (the world is a family), and all people only cared about their own families and families (each relative to his relatives, each son to his son), productive labor It is only for oneself (goods and power are for oneself), and public power has become hereditary (adults and generations), and the saints have no choice but to come out to formulate etiquette as a norm.This is called "well-off".The abdication of Qifei was the beginning of "well-off society", and the feudalism of the Western Zhou Dynasty was the completion of "well-off society".At this time, since the original and simple morality has been lost (the Dao has been hidden), it is no longer possible to talk about "Tao", but to talk about "Virtue".

In fact, the thinkers of the Western Zhou Dynasty also emphasized "morality".From the Duke of Zhou to Confucius (Confucius is the successor and proponent of Western Zhou thought), there are endless sayings such as "bright virtue", "work morality", "respect virtue", "love virtue" and "have virtue".This is actually a kind of helplessness.Zhuangzi said that when the river dries up (the spring dries up), the fish come to the land (the fish are on the land) and rescue each other by blowing moisture and spitting on each other (呴xu to wet, each other to spittle), which is of course very Morality is very touching, but how can it compare to the "forgetting each other in the rivers and lakes" (( (Zhuangzi·The Great Master) )? It can be seen that people advocate morality just because this society is already immoral. Now, the ancient The simple morality of the clan society has been irretrievably degraded, and the only way is to hold high the banner of morality. What's more, Zhou won the Yin people's world, and if he didn't flaunt his own virtue and preached that "virtue is the only auxiliary", there was no way to maintain it. The legitimacy of one's own regime. This is the reason why the "rule of virtue" was born.

However, the "rule of virtue" of the Western Zhou Dynasty not only talked about "virtue", but also "ritual" and "music".Because morality, as a norm for the inner world, is invisible.What is used to govern the country must be tangible.Therefore, there must be "rituals".Ritual, including etiquette, etiquette, politeness, etiquette, and etiquette, is actually a series of behavioral norms.Its role is to put "virtue" into practice.So, why is there still "joy"?Because "ritual" is a kind of order, and it is the suppression of barbarism by civilization.This requires the use of "music" to adjust and balance.Music refers to both music and happiness, which means that "ruling the country with virtue" must be as harmonious as music, so that the upper and lower levels are orderly (ritual), and everyone feels comfortable (music).According to Zhou Gong's design of this system, virtue is the foundation (fundamental) of propriety, propriety is the expression (expression) of virtue, and music is the supplement (auxiliary) of propriety, that is, "one center, two basic points".One center is virtue; two basic points are ritual and music.Ceremony distinguishes differences, music unifies, etiquette emphasizes order, and music emphasizes harmony. They all serve the rule of virtue.The rule of virtue focuses on the fundamentals and implements rituals and music, so it is also called "the system of rituals and music".

This is a system that must be practiced consistently and conscientiously.Otherwise, "if you don't practice rituals for three years, the rituals will be ruined; if you don't enjoy them for three years, the music will collapse" ("The Analects of Confucius·Yanghuo").It's a pity that the situation in the Spring and Autumn Period was precisely "the rituals are broken and the music is broken."At this time, it is useless to talk about "virtue" and ritual music.So Confucius talked about "benevolence".Benevolence is the core category of Confucianism. "The Analects of Confucius·Yanghuo" records what Confucius said, "Rite, is it the sacrificial etiquette?"Music, is it just music and dance (Leyun, Leyun, Zhongguyunhuzai)?of course not.what is it then?It is "benevolence"!If you are not benevolent, what rituals and music do you want, and how do you treat rituals and music?As the saying goes, "People who are not benevolent are like etiquette, and people who are not benevolent are like joy" ("The Analects of Confucius·Yanghuo").Obviously, benevolence is more important than ritual and music.Now, the rituals are broken, the music is broken, and the morality is lost. Only "benevolence" can save it, and only "benevolence" can redeem it.This is called "benevolence after losing morality".

The situation in the Warring States Period was even worse.It is not only "the rituals are broken and the music collapses", but also "killing people like hemp".It would be ridiculous to talk about "benevolence" at this time.So Mencius talked about "righteousness".Righteousness is something with the nature of killing.Therefore, there is "righteousness destroys relatives", but there is no "great benevolence destroys relatives";Benevolence must be looked back on, and it cannot destroy kin, because the essence of benevolence is "kissing" (loving one's relatives).At best, it can only sacrifice itself (kill one's life to become benevolent), and cannot deal with others (don't do to others what you don't want); in the Warring States Period, it was others (including one's own immoral behavior) that had to be dealt with.So we can no longer talk about "benevolence" but "righteousness".This is called "benevolence followed by righteousness".

In the era of Xunzi, even "righteousness" could not be discussed, so we had to go back and talk about rituals and music. This is the reason why there are both "Li Lun" and "Yue Lun" in "Xunzi".This is called "the injustice and then the courtesy".As a result, an opposition to Confucianism—Legalism (Han Fei and Li Si were both students of Xunzi) was revealed.Legalism does not talk about benevolence and righteousness, nor does it talk about rituals and music, but about criminal laws.Therefore, after "lose morality and then follow virtue, lose virtue and then follow benevolence, lose benevolence and then follow righteousness, lose righteousness and then follow propriety", we should also add a sentence "after losing propriety, follow law".And at this time, it happened to be the eve of the empire.

Qin was the first and only dynasty to fully experiment with the "Legalist rule of law".The term "legalist rule of law" is used to strictly distinguish it from "rule of law" in its original and modern sense.Facts have proved that this brutal so-called "rule of law" does not work at all.It is even used as a synonym for "tyranny".Not only are the ruled intolerable, but even the ruling group themselves don't think so.Helpless, the rulers of the empire had no choice but to implement the "rule of virtue" advocated by Confucianism. This is one of the reasons why "respecting Confucianism alone" will replace "burning books and burying Confucianism".

However, the situation at this moment is not the same as that of Zhou Gong's era; and what the dynasties of the past dynasties practiced is not so much "rule of virtue" (rule of morality) as "rule of ritual" (rule of ethics).The rule of virtue and the rule of ritual are both different and related.The rule of virtue emphasizes moral self-consciousness, while the rule of rites pays more attention to etiquette, system and external behavioral norms.Obviously, the rule of ritual is more operable than the rule of virtue, and it is also more superficial.Therefore, in the late period of rule of virtue, what people barely maintained was not "virtue" but "rituality".Even Confucius believed that if he really couldn't keep his morality, it would be good to keep his etiquette.According to "The Analects of Confucius Bayi", Zigong (Duanmuci), a student of Confucius, once suggested to his husband that the princes used to kill a sheep to sacrifice to the ancestral temple on the first day of every month, called "Gaoshuo", and then returned to the court to listen to the government. It is called "Shishuo".Now they don't offer sacrifices to temples, and they don't listen to court, only sheep are killed.That being the case, it is better to leave out the sheep as well.Confucius said, Ah Ci, you love the sheep, but I feel sorry for the gift (you love the sheep, I love the gift)!It can be seen that etiquette is the last line of defense and the bottom line of the rule of virtue. In fact, the rulers of the empire want only this bottom line.For them, whether they use "law" to govern the country or "rituals" to govern the country are essentially the same, and they are nothing more than "the practicality of a sage king", it just depends on which one is used smoothly.After comparison, it was found that ritual healing is still useful.Because the core of "rituals" is to distinguish between inside and outside, to determine relatives and estrangements, to order elders and younger ones, and to distinguish between high and low; and the order required by the empire is also the distinction between inside and outside, relatives and estrangements, senior and young in order, and high and low.Don't distinguish between Huayi and Barbarians inside and outside, love your family when you are close to each other, be filial if you order the elders and children, and be loyal when you know the noble and the humble.The requirements of the empire were originally low, and it did not require everyone to be a modest gentleman.As long as officials can be loyal to the emperor and love the people, and the common people can keep themselves safe, the world will be peaceful. What's the use of it? Thus, just as Zhou Gongdan turned morality into ethics, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also turned ethics into politics.In the Han Dynasty and the dynasties after the Han Dynasty, "rule of virtue" was actually defined as a hierarchical system of "junjun, ministers, father and son, son and son", and it was stipulated that "the monarch is the guide for the minister, the father is the guide for the son, and the husband is the guide for the son." Ethical norms for wives.These levels and norms later became the basis for the legislation of successive dynasties. The laws of the Tang Dynasty are famous for emphasizing education, public power, hierarchy, and ethics. It is "replacing the legal system with morality"; and in my opinion, it is still "replacing morality with ethics".Therefore, just as the law of the empire is illegal, so the virtue of the empire is also immoral.The laws of the empire are not laws, but rules, also called laws and regulations.The morality of the empire is not morality, but ethics, also called ethics and principles.In this sense, it can also be said that the imperial system is "ethical governance". The basic principles of ethical governance can be summed up in four sentences: villains obey adults, women obey men, folks obey officials, and the whole country obeys the emperor.This is quite in line with the nature of the centralized society of the empire.However, because this kind of centralization is said to be virtue and propriety, it is also covered with a veil of tenderness and tenderness, and becomes a kind of "atypical violence".Unconditional obedience to the ruler is said to be a kind of love (respect and love), and unlimited possession of subjects is also said to be a kind of love (love), as if the entire empire has become a "paradise of love".However, the rulers themselves knew it well.Liu Xun, Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, once said to his son Liu Xun (later Emperor Han Yuan): "The Han family has its own system, which is originally based on the overlord's way, but why is it purely taught by virtue?" This is the truth.It turns out that their morality is designed to deal with subjects, but they themselves can not talk about it, or talk about it when they want to, and not talk about it when they don't want to.Even if they talk about "the way of kings", they are just blinding people's eyes and ears, and they are still "overbearing" in their bones.Correspondingly, those powerful figures in the local area are called "bully bullies", that is, "local snakes".There are "good bullies" on the top and "bully bullies" on the bottom;The so-called "paradise of kingship" is nothing more than that. The rule of law is illegal, the rule of virtue is not, the rule of rites is self-deceiving, and the rule of man is short-lived. This is the real situation of the empire. The question is, why?