In his later years, Chairman Mao talked to Mao Yuanxin about reading and studying.
When Mao Yuanxin talked about having finished reading Twenty-four Histories and History as a Mirror, and was reading Li Si's On the Unification Book and You're Done, Chairman Mao said:
Chairman Mao is reading historical records? Notes on Lao Zi's Biographies of Han Fei;
What kind of book is Han Feizi? How many times attracted Chairman Mao when he was young?
As Chairman Mao said, both Han Feizi and Li Si are students of Xunzi. From the end of the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, a hundred schools of thought contended. Before Han Feizi, Guan Zhong, Shang Yang, Shen Buhai, Wu Qi, Shen Dao and others, whose political opinions and ruling policies were closest to Legalists, failed to establish a complete and systematic theory of governing the country according to law, so they can only be regarded as legal scholars.
Starting from Xunzi's hegemonic thought and the theory of rule by courtesy, Han Feizi absorbed the essence of the previous generation of jurists' thought and practice and established a complete and systematic legalist theory.
The main contents of Han Feizi's theory include the following points:
First, the progressive view of history.
Han Feizi said in Wu Zhu: It was easier to make a fire in Dayu period, and anyone who dug wood to make a fire would be laughed at; In the era of Shang Tang, cities with a certain scale had been built. Whoever digs a ditch to defend his home again will be laughed at. "Ancient saints don't follow, illegal. On the affairs of the world, it is prepared. " Resolutely refute the theory of "taking law first"
Second, put forward a clear proposition of the rule of law.
Han Fei believes that the rule of law is the most reliable. The Confucian idea of rule by man is too fragile, which leads to "the people save the government and the people perish" and there is no institutional guarantee. Han Fei believes that the rule of man is far less than the rule of law. He said in the article "employing people": "Yao put a spell and let it be ruled by his heart, not for the country. Xi Zhong violates the rules, and if he thinks too much, he can't become a circle. ..... The Lord keeps the spell, and the clumsy craftsman keeps the rules, and there is no loss. " The reason is concise and thorough.
Third, the monarch is mainly in charge of power, with absolute authority and strict reward and punishment system.
Did everything wrong? The second handle said:
In this way, if we want to change the political system according to the development of history, we don't have to respect the law in front of the king and establish a complete system of rule of law. The king firmly grasps the power and the "second handle", that is, the right to reward and punish, so the world can be firmly in his hands.
Therefore, Han Fei's legalist thought is an organic combination of "law", "technique" and "potential", which is a complete and systematic theory of governing the country.
There are two famous allusions in Everything is Wrong, one is "self-contradiction" and the other is "medical taboo", which Chairman Mao quoted in his talks and articles.
In the command and conversation of the Southern Anhui Incident, Chairman Mao said:
The allusion of "self-contradiction" comes from "What's wrong? Difficult articles. " With this allusion, Chairman Mao suddenly exposed the chaotic logic of the spokesmen of Kuomintang reactionaries, thus fully exposing their ugly faces as national scum who betrayed the motherland for glory and "faithfully served Japanese imperialism" to the people of the whole country.
In the article "Rectifying the Party's Style", Chairman Mao wrote:
The allusion of "medical taboo" comes from "What's wrong?" Yu Laozhang. " In his article, Chairman Mao quoted the allusion of "avoiding illness and avoiding medical treatment" used by China people, and gave it a new meaning, so as to warn comrades who made mistakes to treat their mistakes with a correct attitude; On the other hand, we ask everyone to adopt a welcome and helpful attitude towards comrades who have made mistakes and are willing to correct them.