Chapter 22 Chapter 22: Confucius Being Utilized

When the epic movie directed by the famous director Hu Mei and starring the international movie star Chow Yun-fat was released, the author thought of such a question: Why is Confucius great?Among the hundreds of schools of thought in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, why is he the only one who stands out from the crowd? The thought of Confucius is naturally one of the reasons for his greatness, but I am afraid that Confucianism is not much richer or deeper than the thoughts of Taoism, Mohism, and Legalism. The reason why he is great may be more because of a person who is not glorious to say the least. Fact—he was used by the feudal emperors who had held the right to speak for a long time.

Why do you say that? Confucius taught people that "the king is the king, the minister is the father, the father is the son, and the son is the son", "the king is the guide for the ministers, the father is the guide for the son, and the husband is the guide for the wife", which is an important content of his thinking.Although we denounce it as feudal dross, Confucius’ original intention is actually good—he requires ministers, sons, and wives to be absolutely obedient to the king, father, and husband, and at the same time requires the king, father, and husband to be ministers He, his son, and his wife set an example, hoping to educate the world through the above-mentioned names and identities, so as to maintain the social ethics and political system.

The feudal emperors used outlines to make demands on the common people and civil and military officials, but most of them often jumped out of this circle and indulged their tempers, making their emperors not like emperors, their fathers like their fathers, and their husbands like their husbands. Tang Xuanzong, the so-called Ming emperor who created the "Kaiyuan Prosperous Age", could not escape this example-he trusted the treacherous villains Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong, and he lost the emperor's wisdom; He accepted his daughter-in-law as his concubine, and combined the "three thousand loves" in Concubine Yang, which violated the virtue of a husband.

Confucius asked people to regard "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness" as an important principle of life. This is of course very correct, and as the "five constants", it has been officially recognized by the emperors, but the problem is that the emperors have been taking the lead in challenging "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness" . In the more than 2,000-year history of feudal society, although there were a few truly "benevolent" emperors, they were insignificant minority compared with the non-"benevolent" emperors. The word "righteousness" can't be seen at all on the emperors. What we see is the bleak blood of Weiyang Palace and the bloody cases in the stone city.The Han and Tang dynasties can be regarded as the two greatest dynasties in Chinese history, and their harems were still dubbed "dirty Tang stinky men". It is self-evident whether "rituals" were seriously implemented among the emperors. "Wisdom" is something that the emperors were really willing to pursue, especially what they dreamed of obtaining, but how many outrageous, crazy and brutal behaviors occurred in the bloody struggle for imperial power?As for "faith", let alone hope that the emperors will lead by example.The intrigues and intrigues of small and medium local official circles are already appalling, not to mention the big official circles of the imperial court, which represent the highest power and the greatest interests.

Although Gang Chang couldn't hold back the emperors who are high above and powerful in the world, he was able to firmly control the powerless and timid ordinary people. The emperors were very satisfied with this result. Once they were satisfied, Confucius' status rose On the first floor, his old man became a great saint step by step. No matter how great and holy Confucius is, he was still used by the feudal rulers represented by the emperor, and these tragic colors on him cannot be erased anyway.