Keywords: the decline of Confucianism
Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties is a turbulent era in Chinese history, with frequent wars, frequent generations and extremely dark politics. But in sharp contrast to its political haze, it is its ideological liberation. Confucianism dominated the whole country in Han Dynasty, and its exclusive position was broken. With the rise of Taoism and the introduction and popularity of Buddhism, the development of Confucianism has been severely challenged. Some people think that Confucianism has been replaced by metaphysics in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Buddhism dominated in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and Confucianism has been in decline. What are the reasons and effects? This article is about this problem.
First, the reasons for the decline of Confucianism in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties
(1) The decline of Confucianism in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was closely related to the historical background at that time and had profound social roots.
During the Han Dynasty, due to the consolidation of the central government, social and political stability and relative economic prosperity, Confucianism, as the ruling ideology, also flourished. However, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, with social unrest and frequent wars, the refugees who fled their household registration became part of the landlords of aristocratic families, and adopting the tenancy system of "farming" and "changing households" to improve the life of the landlords of military commanders became the basis for the rulers of Wei and Jin Dynasties to maintain their rule. Since the Han dynasty, the relatively fixed political system and exploitation mode of compiling families and people have gone bankrupt with the social turmoil and the attack of peasant war, and the ideological field has also changed from the exegesis of Confucian scholars in the Han dynasty to the metaphysical words of Wei and Jin scholars. Moreover, with the gradual establishment of the nine-grade system, an official must be a member of the aristocratic family, and learning Confucian classics has lost its political significance, providing conditions for metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties to replace Confucian classics in Han Dynasty. For the clans in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, what they care about is not so much the interests of the country as the interests of their own families. As long as it doesn't affect the interests of one's family, it doesn't matter even if it is "moving the world and destroying the monarch". Mr. Wang cited many examples in the history of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to illustrate this point: they "either didn't know in advance or helped usurp the throne, all of which focused on the interests of their own families." At the same time, due to the replacement; Political turmoil is frequent, and literati feel that their benevolence and righteousness are not enough to help the world and defend themselves. Their outlook on life and values have to change greatly. They are either informal or presumptuous. Either retire to the countryside, or some will pursue metaphysics. In this case, more ordinary people converted to religion, and Buddhism and Taoism flourished at this time.
(2) Secondly, from the perspective of Confucianism itself.
(1) After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty paid exclusive attention to Confucian classics, there appeared two development trends: one was that he was tedious and pedantic because he was empty-handed. "Hanshu" said: "The classics of later generations are deviant, and scholars don't think much about the meaning of doubt, but break the meaning of things, so they say it skillfully and ruin the shape and say five words. As for twenty or thirty thousand words. If you fall behind, you will fall behind, so children will keep a skill and then speak. It is a great misfortune for such a scholar to be content with what he has learned, to disappear from what he has never seen, and finally to cover himself up. "Another development trend is to combine with the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, and cite some natural phenomena to prove the event, making it absurd. Zhang Hengchuan, the book of the later Han Dynasty, said: "At the beginning, I was brave and resourceful, and told my ancestors Xian Zong and Su Zongyin. Since ZTE, Confucians have been trying to learn maps and latitudes, with harsh words. "its long-term existence in the Han dynasty is not due to its own vitality, but depends on the needs of society. Rulers need it to stabilize the ruling order, and scholars need it as the cornerstone of being an official after China's entry into WTO. It is precisely because the survival of Confucian classics depends on society that when the society is in turmoil and changes, Confucian classics are impacted. After Emperor Shun in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were frequent natural disasters and political darkness. When successive disasters, deaths, political decadence and darkness appeared, it caused great anxiety and fear in society. People urgently need a new academic theory to give a satisfactory answer to this, and the study of Confucian classics in Han Dynasty is at the end of its tether.
(2) Confucianism lags behind Buddhism and Taoism.
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, as far as Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are concerned, Confucianism obviously lagged behind Buddhism and Taoism. Buddhism in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, its Buddhist philosophy is mainly Mahayana Prajna. At the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, after the introduction of the Indian dragon tree theory, it was integrated with metaphysical theory, showing a fairly high level of philosophical thought. Although Taoism has not been formed for a long time, it has absorbed many philosophical categories of Taoism, such as metaphysics, Taoism and Qi. Although it is not as good as Buddhist philosophy in philosophical thinking, it also has a high level of abstract thinking. Ge Hong and Tao Hongjing, the famous representatives of Taoism, both took Taoism or metaphysics as the body and qi as the use, and expounded the ontology of Taoist philosophy with the unity of form and spirit. Relatively speaking, the Confucian theory in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was lagging behind. There was not a Confucian master in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties for more than 300 years. Apart from atheism, philosophical ontology has not made much progress. Although Fan Zhen put forward the concept of "the nature of form is the nature of God, and God uses form", it has not been fully discussed. Compared with the philosophy of the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, there is not much progress. Compared with the ontology of Buddhism and Taoism, it lags behind a lot.
(3) The decline of the social foundation of Confucian classics.
First of all, Confucian classics, as an official knowledge, did not receive official support at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Since Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty lost its political authority and existed in name only. /kloc-The Yellow Scarf Uprising in 0/84 dealt a heavy blow to the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty, because the local strongmen who suppressed the Yellow Scarf Uprising became the foundation of the later warlord regime. The struggle between eunuchs and consorts in the imperial court was further intensified, and eventually both sides lost. Dong Zhuo, a local warlord, took control of the political affairs, which opened the situation of scuffle between powerful and powerful people in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. In such troubled times, people's survival has become a problem, and academic research is bound to collapse. Secondly, as a knowledge inheritance system, under the economic conditions of ancient society, besides the support of imperial power, Confucian classics must also have a solid economic foundation and a group of Confucian classics intellectuals. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, two hidden party disasters dealt a heavy blow to the intellectual group, and the great social turmoil hit the Confucian classics family on which Confucian classics depended.
(3) In addition, the road to the promotion of the literati was blocked.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were obstacles on the way for scholar-officials to become officials through inspection. On the one hand, in order to expand their power, consorts and eunuchs gradually turned zaju into a tool for cliques. On the other hand, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty started Hongdu School, publicly sold officials, and completely denied the checkpoint system, which dealt a particularly serious blow to the literati. Traditional values suffered a devastating blow, and Confucian scholars lost confidence in Confucianism itself.
Third, the influence of the decline of Confucianism in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties
(A) has a positive impact on the further development of Confucianism itself.
The biggest change of Confucianism in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was that it began to integrate some characteristics of Buddhism and Taoism, and formed an earlier theory of Neo-Confucianism, which had an important influence on Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties. After Buddhism became a powerful social trend of thought, Confucianism had to be influenced by it in all aspects. The absorption of Buddhism by Confucianism not only enriches and enriches its own ideological content, but also changes the way of thinking and practice of Confucianism to a considerable extent. As far as the way of thinking is concerned, China's Buddhism attaches importance to the noumenon of mind, which leads to the emergence of Confucianism in this period, which advocates the noumenon of mind and the unity of man and nature, and begins to pay attention to the survival value of individuals. In addition, in the way of thinking, later Confucianism paid great attention to the category of body and utility, and discussed the relationship between ontology and phenomenon. In terms of rest methods, the implementation of Confucian "respecting tranquility" method is also inseparable from the influence of Buddhism.
(2) It has played a positive role in emancipating the mind.
An important symbol of the development of feudal absolutism in Han Dynasty is the establishment of a set of feudal ethics and ruling order through Confucian classics. It is not only the principle of realistic politics, but also the ruling ideology and ethical norms, which greatly limits people's physical and mental freedom. However, with the development of social crisis and the confusion of various relations in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, people began to realize that this norm was not absolute and eternal as claimed by the rulers. Therefore, to doubt and criticize them became a common ideological tendency in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. At this point, the trend of social criticism in the late Eastern Han Dynasty also began. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it became a fashion to "abandon classics and respect Laozi and Zhuangzi, disregard etiquette and laws, and advocate openness". Scholars at that time didn't think highly of famous religions. For example, the biography of Mr. Adult written by Ruan Ji, the seven sages of bamboo forest, compares the well-behaved Confucian scholars to lice in their crotch. This contempt for etiquette has further developed into non-sacredness, and the appearance of Bao Jingyan's On No Gentleman pushed the critical trend of thought in Wei and Jin Dynasties to the extreme, which is of great significance to the opening of Sui and Tang Dynasties.
In short, although Confucianism declined during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Confucian tradition was not interrupted. Because of this, Confucianism in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and later Confucianism in Sui and Tang Dynasties experienced a tortuous development process, which became an important development stage of inheriting Confucian classics in Han Dynasty and enlightening Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties.
refer to
[1] Wang: History of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 2003.
[2] Ban Gu: "Han Yi Wen Zhi", Sanqin Publishing House, 2004.
[3] Ye Fan: The History of the Later Han Dynasty, Zhang Hengchuan, Zhonghua Book Company 1999 Edition.
[4][ Qing] Gu: "Records of the Day", the beginning, Zhonghua Book Company, 1999 edition.