Chapter 10 Section 2 Confucianism in the Han Dynasty - Confucianism in the Han Dynasty
One of the characteristics of Confucianism is to elucidate the classics "Yi", "Poetry", "Li", "Yue", and "Spring and Autumn" it respects.It was originally the Six Classics, but later became the Five Classics due to the loss of "Yue".Confucian Confucian classics existed in all dynasties, but in the era of active thinking such as the pre-Qin and Song dynasties, it appeared in the form of Zixue and Neo-Confucianism, while in the era of inactive thinking it appeared in the form of Confucian classics, such as the Han and Qing dynasties.
At the beginning of the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, after years of wars, the economy was in decline, the people were poor, and the society could not afford many non-productive personnel. On the other hand, the establishment of a unified political situation restricted people's free thinking. In the end, only a small number of Confucian classics teachers spread among the people the knowledge about the Six Classics that was more in tune with the political situation at that time.In the process of dissemination, two different schools of thought gradually formed.One school is called Jinwen Confucianism, and the classics taught are written in the official script prevailing in the Han Dynasty. The explanations of exegesis and allusions are not related to the actual situation at that time.
At the beginning of the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, the rulers were exploring to find the most suitable ideology. At first they found the art of Huang Lao and the study of criminal names, but gradually discovered that Confucianism was more effective in consolidating the patriarchal system of the centralized monarchy.So he began to pay attention to Confucianism.Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing established a doctor of poetry, and Emperor Wu established a doctor of five classics, all of which belonged to Jinwen Jingxue.The study of ancient Chinese classics has not been taken seriously and can only be taught among the people.
Dong Zhongshu (179-104 BC), the most important representative of Jinwen Confucianism, was an expert in the study of Spring and Autumn Gongyang Studies.The so-called Gongyangology refers to the academic views contained in the biography and annotations ("Chunqiu Gongyang Zhuan") written by Gongyang Gao and Gongyang Shou for "Spring and Autumn".With the Spring and Autumn Gongyang School as the backbone, he integrated the ideas of Yin-Yang School, Huang-Lao School, and Legalism School, and established a teleological ideological system of "interaction between heaven and man".In the first year of Yuanguang (134 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty proposed virtuous countermeasures. Dong Zhongshu published three countermeasures, proposing "remove a hundred schools of thought and respect Confucianism alone", which was adopted by Emperor Wu.Since then, his theory has become the official thought of the Han Dynasty.
Dong Zhongshuo responded to the needs of the unified political situation in the Han Dynasty, and proposed the "Three Cardinal Guidelines" on the basis of the original Confucian rule of law.In his view, the relationship between the monarch and his ministers no longer has the mutual respect of Confucius and Mencius, but unilaterally requires the ministers to make sacrifices for the emperor, emphasizing that the ministers must "commit themselves to death" to the emperor, "all goodness belongs to the king, and all evil belongs to the minister" ( "Spring and Autumn Fanlu · Yang is superior to Yin and inferior").There is also a corresponding strengthening of patriarchal and husbandly power.However, Dong Zhongshu is a Confucianist rather than a Legalist after all. In view of the lessons of the death of Qin Dynasty, he reiterated the thought of emphasizing the people. "Furthermore, the people of heaven are not kings, but the kings of heaven are regarded as people. Therefore, those whose virtues are enough to comfort the people are given by heaven; those whose evils are enough to thieve and harm the people are taken away by heaven." "Yao and Shun are not good at moving, Tang and Wu are not dedicated to killing") That is to say, Heaven sets up a monarch for the well-being of the people; if it can make the people happy, Heaven will give him the throne.If he harms the people, Heaven will take away his throne.On the one hand, he wanted to strengthen the autocracy of the monarchy, and on the other hand, he wanted to emphasize the people, so he put forward the idea of "let morality not punishment" in the ruling method.Ren De's non-punishment does not mean that he does not use punishment, but that punishment and morality are used together, with virtue as the main factor.From an economic point of view, it is necessary to prevent the serious confrontation between the rich and the poor. "The rich lead to arrogance, and the great poor lead to worry. Worry leads to robbery, and arrogance leads to violence." This is not conducive to social stability and tranquility.Therefore, the rich and the poor should be adjusted and restricted to a certain extent, which is to enable the rich to show their nobility but not to be arrogant, and the poor to maintain their health without worrying about it.For this reason, he proposed specific measures to ease conflicts, such as "restricting people's famous land" (restricting mergers), "removing slaves and maidservants, eliminating the power of killing" (liberating slaves and maidservants, and not allowing masters to have the right to kill without authorization).In terms of politics, he advocated the use of less punishment and more use of enlightenment, advocating that "education is established and all evildoers are stopped" ("Hanshu·Dong Zhongshu Biography").
After the Han Dynasty, Confucianism's ethical standard concept has not changed, but with the change of conditions, the way of elaboration and the emphasis are different.But its philosophical theory has undergone great changes.Dong Zhongshu's ideological system is characterized by his theological teleology characterized by the interaction between heaven and man.Heaven has several meanings, one of which is the supreme god: "Heaven, the king of all gods." ("Chunqiu Fanlu·Jiaoyi") It is a god with consciousness and will, which arranges order for the world and serves the people. Establish a monarch.Heaven is very concerned about the affairs of the earth. If the country's politics is clear and the people live and work in peace and contentment, it will send down auspicious signs (a special natural phenomenon that shows auspiciousness) to commend them; If he is reprimanded and does not think about changing, the heavens will send weird things to intimidate him; if he is intimidated and still does not change his course, the genius will really put the blame on him.In short, the Supreme God is very kind to people, especially the king, and tries every means to make them realize their mistakes and do good.
In addition, heaven has moral significance.The sky has the Qi of Yin and Yang and the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire, and earth), and the five elements of Yin and Yang all have moral attributes.Yang is virtue, yin is punishment, wood is benevolence, metal is righteousness, fire is propriety, water is wisdom, and earth is faith.If the behavior of the ruler is in line with Confucian ethics, then the operation of yin and yang and the five elements are normal. If the behavior of the ruler is immoral, such as the lack of benevolence, which makes the people's lives difficult, this will cause abnormal phenomena and spring withering Qiu Rong.When a gentleman sees this situation, he should treat it with his own virtue.If he "saves corvees, pays less money, leaves barns and grains, and relieves the poor" ("Chunqiu Fanlu Five Elements Transformation Rescue"), then he can feel that he has returned to normal.This is the mysterious induction of morality between heaven and man mediated by Qi.
Generally speaking, religious or mystical concepts always make people submit to heaven and gods, and limit people's subjective initiative.However, Dong Zhongshu's theory of interaction between heaven and man is different. In his view, although heaven determines man, man also affects heaven.Heaven and man are in a mysterious system, influencing and interacting with each other.People, especially the monarch, through their thoughts, words and deeds, can not only determine personal moral cultivation and political clarity, but can even participate in determining the normality or abnormality of natural movements.Just as Dong Zhongshu said, "The greatness of the master of man is the part of the heaven and the earth"; "It's just a matter of forcing. If you force yourself to learn, you will learn a lot and know better; if you force yourself to practice the Tao, your virtue will rise and you will make great achievements. All these can be returned to the end and are effective." ("Han Shu · "Biography of Dong Zhongshu") We know that Confucius didn't talk about strange powers and chaos, but Dong Zhongshu talked about these things.Confucius regarded himself as an ordinary person, but Dong Zhongshu regarded him as a god-man who had known for hundreds of years.Dong Zhongshu was born in an era when the theory of yin and yang and five elements and superstition of ghosts and gods were very prevalent. It is not surprising that he accepted these ideas. His ideas would not be accepted by people without absorbing these contents. However, he has never left the Confucian tradition of emphasizing personnel. The "forced learning" and "forced practice" created an ideal political situation combining benevolence and courtesy.
In order to highlight the enlightenment of the sage king, Dong Zhongshu put forward his own theory of human nature.He believes that human nature can be divided into three types. One is the nature of a sage, which is inherently good and not evil.There is also the so-called "shaoshao" nature, which is a person who is born with evil but not good, and cannot be educated.Between the two is the nature of the common people, which is the human nature of most people. Its own characteristic is simplicity, which can lead him up or down.He believes that only the nature of the Chinese people can be called sex, because the so-called sex is just an unformed rough, a possible good, not a real good. "Nature is the simplicity of nature. Goodness is the transformation of Wangjiao. Without its quality, Wangjiao cannot be transformed. Without its Wangjiao, simplicity cannot be good." "Chunqiu Fanlu · Reality") is heaven What makes the people unkind is also what the heavens let the king educate the people and make them good.Therefore, Dong Zhongshu disagreed with Mencius' theory of the goodness of nature, and believed that if it is affirmed that the people's livelihood is inherently good, it would negate the enlightenment function of the king. Where is the greatness of the king?
Dong Zhongshu did not fully agree with the superstition of ghosts and gods at that time, but his system was based on the concept of the gods and the mysterious heaven, so he persistently believed in many mysterious things.He himself often speculated about the meaning of "Heavenly Scourge", and prayed for rain and stopped rain like a wizard, which made Confucianism at that time quite demonic.Once, Dong Zhongshu wrote a draft memorial for several disasters, trying to draw some political conclusions and criticize current events, but he hesitated to submit it.After seeing it, the minister who hated him thought that the memorial might arouse the emperor's anger, so he stole it and handed it to the emperor.The emperor found Zhu Confucianism, concealed the name of the author of the memorial, and asked them to read and express their opinions.Lu Bushu, Dong Zhongshu's disciple, didn't know it was written by his mentor, and said that the memorial was all nonsense and downright stupid.So Dong Zhongshu was caught in prison and sentenced to death.Although the emperor later pardoned him for his meritorious service in lecturing in the past.But he was so frightened that he never talked about disasters again.In the late Western Han Dynasty, the prophecy (chen lining) superstition was very rampant, and the whole country was full of evil spirits. This should be mainly blamed on the big aristocrats and bureaucrats, but Dong Zhongshu could not be completely divorced.
Dong Zhongshu emphasized the development of human subjective initiative, but his metaphysical system greatly restricted its development.Based on the principle that the five elements generate and restrain each other, he put forward the theory of historical cycle that the three systems of black, white and red take turns in power to explain the phenomenon of dynasty change.For example, the Qin Dynasty belonged to the Baitong, and Liu Bang was the "Children of the Red Emperor". It is a historical necessity that he killed the White Snake Uprising and replaced the Baitong with the Red Tong.Each order has a corresponding Zhengshuo (the first day of the first lunar month) kimono color (the color of clothing), so after Liu Bang built the Han Dynasty, the Zhengshuo clothing color of the Qin Dynasty should be changed. One is the first day of the first lunar month, and the clothes are still red.He believes that this is what people can and should change. As for the Confucian Way, it cannot be changed at all. "If the husband's outline, human ethics, political education, customs and literary meanings are all the same, how can they be changed!" ("Chunqiu Fanlu King Zhuang of Chu") What is the reason?Man must obey heaven, and Confucianism comes from heaven, so it cannot be changed.He said: "The great origin of Tao comes from the sky, and if the sky does not change, so will the Tao." ("Hanshu Dong Zhongshu Biography") Dong Zhongshu delineated the boundaries of human activities in the name of heaven: abide by Confucian ethics and political principles, Can not be violated, can not be sublated.
A very prominent feature of Dong Zhongshu's ethical thoughts is the emphasis on "the distinction between righteousness and benefit".Confucius and Mencius advocated emphasizing righteousness and despising profit, not that they don’t care about profit or don’t talk about profit.Advantages come first, we must first weigh whether it is in line with the righteousness, and if we confirm that it is in line with the righteousness, we can choose it.Dong Zhongshu developed the thought of Confucius and Mencius to the extreme, thinking that one can only talk about righteousness, not profit, and advocated that "to correct one's friendship (righteousness) is not to seek one's own profit, and to understand one's way is not to be counted on one's merit." ("Hanshu·Dong Zhongshu Biography") is Only pursue morality, not utilitarianism.He wants people to erase the word utilitarianism from their hearts, not because they really don't want utilitarianism.Just imagine if everyone only pursues morality, is loyal to the emperor and filial piety, and fully abides by the three cardinal principles and five constant principles (benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness), wouldn't this be the country that is most beneficial to the father and the feudal patriarchal monarchy?Therefore, Dong Zhongshu regards righteousness as profit, and seeks the great benefit of the feudal country with righteousness.His view of righteousness and benefit had a great influence on Confucians in the Song and Ming Dynasties. They praised Dong Zhongshu and put forward the slogans of "suffocating desires" and "preserving the principles of nature and destroying human desires".Dong Zhongshu's thoughts were not reasonable during the rising period of feudal society (wouldn't it be better to coordinate the interests of the monarch and his ministers, the country and the individual?), but in the era of feudal society's decline, it showed the tendency of suppressing the development of industry and commerce and liberating individuality. reactionary effect.
Taking a comprehensive look at Dong Zhongshu’s theoretical system, we can see that the political principles and moral principles he put forward were precisely the long-sought strategy for building a country in the Han Dynasty, the first feudal patriarchal autocratic monarchy in Chinese history.He combined the national organization with the family organization, combined the benevolence and ritual of Confucianism with the criminal administration of Legalism, avoided the pedantry of Confucius and Mencius and the widowhood of Han Feizi, and established the feudal state on a solid foundation.This system made sense for the entire feudal society.The far-reaching influence can only be compared with the system of very few people.Some people think that Dong Zhongshu distorted the principles of Confucius. Without Dong Zhongshu, the principles of Confucius would have prevailed in the world.This is a very naive view.It is undeniable that the basic principles of Confucian thought were also applicable to the Han Dynasty, but it was a product of the Spring and Autumn Period after all. Without Dong Zhongshu's reinterpretation based on hundreds of years of historical experience and the actual situation of the Han Dynasty, it would not have worked in the Han Dynasty.From the founding of the Western Han Dynasty to Dong Zhongshu's answer to Emperor Wu's policy questions, there have been more than 60 years of experience, and thousands of people have read it. Why did no one regard the dedication to Emperor Gao, Emperor Hui, Emperor Wen, and Emperor Jing as the fundamental guiding ideology of the country?Just because the simple and unexplained ones don't work, the ones explained by Dong Zhongshu live and work.Because of explanations, traditions can exist, and only when there are changes, traditions can continue.Dong Zhongshu is a figure of great merit in the history of the development of Confucianism.
Emperor Wu's "exclusive respect for Confucianism" was just pointing out the direction, and Confucianism was actually respected in the period of Emperor Xuan and Emperor Yuan.Especially after the Shiquge Conference, the status of Confucian classics reached its peak, and Jinwen Confucian classics became the state religion, and no doubts were allowed.When a science develops to this extent, its life stops.In the late Western Han Dynasty, Chenwei Confucianism, a crude variant of Jinwen Confucianism, appeared.This kind of thing is actually shamans and alchemists who use religious prophecies and talismans to attach Confucian classics, alluding to changes in the political situation, the rise and fall of dynasties, the fate of powerful people, etc. It is a naked theological superstition.The rulers advocate divination, showing their spiritual emptiness and corruption.In this way, Confucian classics formed three schools: Jinwen Confucianism, Ancient Chinese Confucianism, and Chenwei Confucianism.In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the rulers saw that there were differences of opinion within Confucian classics, which affected people's hearts and political stability, so Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty convened a meeting of the White Tiger Temple to rule on the authentic theory of Confucian classics.However, this meeting failed to achieve the unification of Confucian classics, and the imperial authority accelerated the collapse of Confucian classics.
The decline of official Confucianism-theology and Confucianism does not mean the decline of Confucianism as a whole. On the contrary, it sprouts vitality outside of theology and Confucianism.At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Yang Xiong was dissatisfied with the absurdity of Divination and theological Confucianism, and tried to restore orthodox Confucianism in addition to Confucianism.He absorbed Huang Lao's thoughts, imitated the model of Zhouyi, and deduced the "Taixuan" philosophical system, criticizing theism, criticizing the tyranny, luxury, and the dictatorship of foreign relatives and eunuchs at that time.
Yang Xiong believed that the study of Confucian classics in the Han Dynasty had gone astray, and it no longer had the essence of Confucianism, but only a superficial appearance.It's like a sheep wearing a tiger's skin, but it's still a sheep and not a tiger.It is happy when it sees grass, trembles when it sees jackals, and forgets that it has a tiger skin.He was also dissatisfied with Taoism, Taoism, and other schools that were active at that time, and criticized a lot.In his opinion, only the way of Confucius and Mencius is correct, so he wants to learn from Mencius, to sweep away the heresies at that time, and make the true Confucianism prevail in the world.However, he did not advocate copying all the things of pre-Qin Confucianism. He himself created a new situation of Confucianism with reasons (inheritance) and reforms (changes).He insisted on benevolence and righteousness as the moral ideal, etiquette as the code of conduct, filial piety as the foundation of life, self-cultivation and education as the foundation of government, and Confucianism as the foundation of learning and practicing the way of sages and sages for a gentleman.He disagrees with Confucius and Mencius on the issue of the mandate of heaven, especially against Dong Zhongshu's teleological thinking, and believes that the way of heaven is natural and inaction, and all things develop and change by themselves, and heaven does nothing here.On the theory of human nature, he neither agreed with Dong Zhongshu's theory of the three qualities of nature, nor Mencius' theory of the goodness of nature, but put forward his own idea of "mixing good and evil".In his view, there are both good and evil in human nature, and the two aspects are mixed together. A person who strives to promote the good in nature is a good person, and a person who intends to perform evil in nature is a wicked person.Compared with Mencius' theory of good nature and Xunzi's theory of nature's evil, this theory has its own strengths, but it negates hierarchy, recognizes the universality of human nature, and admits that everyone can be good, which is obviously better than Dong Zhongshu's theory of human nature.In addition, the depth of Yang Xiong's philosophical speculation is obviously higher than that of Confucius, Mencius, Xun, and Dong. The ontological thought put forward in his "Taixuan Jing" is an important ideological resource of metaphysics in the Wei and Jin Dynasties.
In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wang Chong inherited Yang Xiong's career, held high the banner of opposing falsehood, criticized theological teleology with the theory of vitality, and launched a tit-for-tat struggle against the superstition of the induction between heaven and man and the superstition of prophecy.For him, the sky is not a god, it is a natural object like the earth.The weather goes down and the earth's air goes up. They meet in the two spaces, and people and everything are produced naturally and accidentally. There is no divine intention here.Heaven and earth can neither do anything consciously nor check human affairs. The so-called auspiciousness and condemnation are purely accidental phenomena and are by no means the result of induction.He actively advocated atheism, pointing out that the human spirit is not mysterious, it is the result of the activity of a special substance - spirit.Essence is attached to blood vessels and body.After death, when the blood vessels are exhausted and the body decays, the essence and energy will no longer exist, just as fire depends on the salary, and the fire will go out when the salary is exhausted.The body decays and the spirit dies, so when a person dies ignorant, he cannot be a ghost, let alone harm others.Wang Chong respected Confucius and other Confucian sages, but believed that they were human beings rather than gods, and resolutely opposed the deification and demonization of them by theology and classics.He wrote "Ask Confucius" and "Cimeng", pointing out that although sages are higher than ordinary people, they will inevitably make mistakes, and it is beneficial to point out their mistakes.All of these reflect the brilliance of Confucianism's realistic and rationalist thoughts.
In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, theology and classics became increasingly absurd and cumbersome, especially the emperor, foreign relatives, eunuchs, and other dignitaries used their own fatuous, extravagant and extravagant actions to completely destroy Confucian ethics and morality, so most intellectuals Disgusted with theology.They opened up a new path and treated Confucian classics from the perspective of academic research. They did not want to be officials, they would rather be in the field, and they set up private schools to teach their views.In this objective situation and ideological atmosphere, a powerful trend of social criticism emerged as the times require.Representatives of this trend of thought are Wang Fu, Cui Shi [shi Shi], and Zhong Changtong.They grasp the basic views of Confucianism on social politics and ethics, and make realistic and rational analysis of the social status quo at that time and the history since the Spring and Autumn Period. They are completely different from theologians, even those who want to cure social diseases.Wang Fu believed that the serious social problem in the Eastern Han Dynasty was the abnormal development of luxury industry and commerce.Powerful landlords merged the land and accumulated huge fortunes. Their pursuit of pleasure in life stimulated the development of luxury industry and commerce, and attracted many people to abandon farming and mulberry to join this industry. As a result, they lost their main industry—agriculture, resulting in "one-man farming" , a hundred people eat it, one woman mulberry, and a hundred people clothe it", so various social diseases followed one after another: poverty, theft, repression... In order to save the crisis, he advocated "respecting the root and suppressing the end", emphasizing agriculture and mulberry, and curbing tourism. Industry.Cui Shi saw the seriousness of land annexation. The rich had billions of dollars in wealth and a farmer with acres of land, like a prince. On the other hand, the poor had no place to stand, and the whole family had to serve the rich.Their treatment plan is to restore the well fields so that everyone has land.They all believe that the biggest root cause of the disease lies in the corruption of the emperor, relatives, eunuchs, and big bureaucrats, who violated public law for their own self-interest, undermined Confucian ethics and morality, and fundamentally shook the foundation of the dynasty.The emperor played a very bad role, extravagant and extravagant, resulting in huge waste; cronyism, reuse of eunuchs, favoring relatives, forming two extremely greedy and evil forces.The entire bureaucratic system has cultivated treacherous and fatuous bureaucrats, large and small.Wang Fu and others saw the scourge of royal power, but they could not develop a sense of democracy due to traditional concepts. They believed that royal power was necessary, but it should be supplemented by the idea of emphasizing the people.But how can the problems of the whole system be solved by one thought?Although they prescribe many medicines, in the end they can only see the Eastern Han regime heading towards the abyss of destruction.Zhong Changtong summed up the development trend of various dynasties since the Spring and Autumn Period, and believed that there are generally three stages. The first is the rising stage. The third stage is the stage of collapse, when the rulers superstitiously believe in their own regime and think that it will never collapse, so they become corrupt, destroy morality and laws, and brutally oppress the people, which breeds new social turmoil .His discoveries are profound and can be applied to the entire feudal era, but there is no real prescription. Facing the various phenomena before the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there is only lamentation.
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