The essence of traditional Chinese culture includes the "Eight Ends", "Eight Methods", "Three Virtues" and "Wuchang" respectively:
1. The Eight Ends refer to: Filial piety, brotherhood, loyalty, trustworthiness, propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame. This is the entire essence of the moral education of Confucius. "Filial piety, brotherhood, loyalty, trustworthiness, etiquette, righteousness, integrity, and shame" are the foundation of life. It is also the entire moral education of Confucius, our most sage teacher. Essence. It is also the eight virtues of life.
2. The Eight Methods may refer to the following aspects: medicine, martial arts, calligraphy, legal system, etc. Among them, traditional Chinese medicine is divided into eight methods of treatment and eight methods of acupuncture. A general term for the eight basic treatment methods of traditional Chinese medicine under the guidance of syndrome differentiation and treatment principles. It includes: sweating method, spitting method, lowering method, harmonizing method, warming method, clearing method, elimination method, and tonic method.
3. Three virtues: From "The Doctrine of the Mean", the three virtues refer to the three major qualities of "wisdom", "benevolence" and "courage".
4. The "Five Constants" are benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom, and trustworthiness. They are the code of conduct used to adjust and standardize the human relationships between kings and ministers, fathers and sons, brothers, couples, friends, etc. ?
1. Three cardinal principles and five constant principles
The terms three cardinal principles and five constant principles come from the book "Spring and Autumn Fanlu" written by Dong Zhongshu of the Western Han Dynasty. But as a moral principle and normative content, it originated from Confucius in the pre-Qin period. Confucius once put forward the ethical and moral concepts of monarch and minister, father and son, benevolence, justice, propriety and wisdom. Mencius further proposed the "Five Ethics" moral code of "father and son are related, monarch and minister are righteous, husband and wife are distinguished, elders and young are orderly, and friends are trustworthy".
According to his theory of "valuing Yang and devaluing Yin", Dong Zhongshu further developed the concept of five ethics and put forward the three cardinal principles and the five constant principles.
Dong Zhongshu believes that in human relations, the three relationships between monarch and minister, father and son, and seeking perfection and blame are the most important, and these three relationships have a God-determined and eternal master-slave relationship: the monarch is the master. , ministers are subordinates; fathers are masters, sons are subordinates; husbands are masters, wives are subordinates. This is the so-called three principles: "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."
The three cardinal principles are all derived from the Tao of Yin and Yang. Specifically, the king, father, and husband embody the "yang" side of heaven, while ministers, sons, and wives embody the "yin" side of heaven. Yang is always in a dominant and noble position, and yin is always in a subordinate and humble position.
In this way, Dong Zhongshu established the dominance of monarchy, fatherhood, and husbandship, and sanctified the feudal hierarchy and political order as the fundamental law of the universe. Dong Zhongshu also believed that the five constant principles of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith are the basic rules for dealing with the relationship between monarch and minister, father and son, husband and wife, superior and inferior, and those who govern the country should pay sufficient attention to it.
In his view, an important feature that distinguishes humans from other creatures is that humans are born with the five constant principles. By adhering to the five permanent principles, we can maintain social stability and harmonious interpersonal relationships. Starting from Zhu Xi in the Song Dynasty, the three cardinal principles and five constant principles were used in conjunction.
2. Source of the Eight Ends:
"Historical Records: Biography of Turtle Ce" records: "Those who can be named Turtle will have their wealth returned to them, and their families will be rich to tens of millions. One is called Beidou Turtle, the second is called Nanchen turtle, the third is called Five Star turtle, the fourth is called Eight Phoenix turtle, the fifth is called Twenty-eight turtles, the sixth is called Sun and Moon turtle, the seventh is called Jiuzhou turtle, and the eighth is called King turtle."
In. At that time, when the trend of derogating turtles became more and more intense, someone simply changed the order of the last famous turtle "Eight King Turtles" and became "Turtle Bastard" or "Tortoise Bastard Turtle". This may be the earliest origin of the term "Torrent".
The original intention of "bastard" (forgetting eight principles) is to teach people the principles of life. Later, people began to refer to the eight virtues of human beings: "filial piety, brotherhood, loyalty, trustworthiness, propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame". Together, they are collectively referred to as the "Eight Ends", which are the principles and fundamentals of being a human being.
If you "forget the eight virtues", it can be said to be "forgetting the eight virtues" (forgetting all these principles and norms of life), or it can simply refer to the lack of the last one of the eight virtues, which obviously refers to the lack of the last one. No more "shame". Since "Wang" and "Wang" have some homophones, some good people gradually evolved "Wang Ba" into "Wang Ba".
This statement and its origin are confirmed in the "New History of the Five Dynasties" compiled by Ouyang of the Northern Song Dynasty. The book says: "Wang Jian was a rogue when he was young. He slaughtered cattle, stole donkeys, and sold private goods. People there called him The bastard of thieves.
"Obviously, the "thieves" described by Ouyang Xiu here means "shameless people".
Reference materials:
People's Daily Online: Inheriting cultural genes? Demonstrating spiritual identity
Interactive Encyclopedia Eight Ends