Deng Zhongxiang finishing
Poetry is the crown of language, and prose is a very poetic writing. However, prose, as one of the four major literary genres, has a longer memory than poetry. They sit quietly in the aging time and exude a faint fragrance-refreshing. As the foundation of China culture, pre-Qin prose is more noble and superior. After half a year's study and research, apart from stepping into the corner of the green forest, I got more shock and admiration.
Walking into the ancient history and reading a beautiful passage from the ancients, I have already started a dialogue with the words, and only at this moment can I feel more relaxed and happy than ever. As if, in the desert of the soul, the rain suddenly drops, and everything instantly turns from yellow to dark green. I also found the color of life accurately.
Pre-Qin philosophers' prose is a genre of pre-Qin prose, and the other is occupied by the same brilliant and dazzling pre-Qin historical prose. Due to the writer's limited knowledge and ability, this paper only looks at the broad, holy, cordial and burning thoughts of our ancestors from the prose of pre-Qin philosophers.
first of all, let's know some basic knowledge of various schools of thought. "philosophers": the collapse of the Western Zhou Dynasty broke the belief in "Heaven" and made people in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period turn more to the discussion of the gains and losses of personnel management. The concept of "Shu Ren is not polite" has been broken, and the active atmosphere of "Chu Shi's cross-discussion" has arisen. In the discussion on how to unify the world and govern the people, schools with different opinions have gradually formed. The founders and representatives of these schools are called philosophers. "Hundred schools of thought": Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, France and other influential schools. Around some major social issues, hundred schools of thought expressed his opinions and lobbied for books everywhere to form a situation in which a hundred schools of thought contend, which became an unprecedented and prosperous era in China's cultural history. Hundred schools of thought's views are reflected in their works, which leads to different schools of learning and writing, mainly different schools of prose.
The understanding of the representative figures and works of various schools in hundred schools of thought has made us feel harmonious but different. What we often see now are the prose works of Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, Legalism and Yin and Yang. These masterpieces fundamentally reflect the enduring artistic charm of the prose of various schools of thought.
Confucianism: representative figures: Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi. Works: Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi. Confucianism is one of the important schools in the Warring States Period. It takes Confucius as the teacher in the Spring and Autumn Period, takes six arts as the method, advocates "rites and music" and "benevolence", advocates "loyalty and forgiveness" and the impartial "golden mean", advocates "rule by virtue" and "benevolent government", and attaches importance to moral and ethical education and people's self-cultivation. Confucianism emphasizes the function of education, and thinks that emphasizing education and neglecting punishment is the only way for the country to be stable and the people to be rich and happy. Advocating "no class for all", we should educate both the rulers and the ruled, so that the whole country can become virtuous people.
Politically, he also advocates ruling the country by courtesy and serving people by virtue, and calls for the restoration of "Zhou Li", which is considered as an ideal road to realize ideal politics. By the Warring States period, there were eight schools of Confucianism, among which Mencius and Xunzi were the most important.
Taoism: representatives: Laozi and Zhuangzi. Works: Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi. Taoism is one of the important schools in the Warring States period, also known as "moralists". This school is based on Laozi's theory of "Tao" in the late Spring and Autumn Period, and uses "Tao" to explain the essence, origin, composition and change of all things in the universe. It is believed that heaven does nothing, and all things are naturally transformed. It denies that God and ghosts dominate everything, advocates that Taoism is natural, let nature take its course, and advocates quietism, keeping women soft and being soft. The political ideal is "a small country with few people" and "governing by doing nothing". After Laozi, Taoism was divided into different factions. There are four famous schools: Zhuangzi School, Yang Zhu School, Song and Yin School and Huang and Lao School.
here, we mainly explain the characteristics of Zhuangzi's prose further, and the profound philosophical thoughts contained in Zhuangzi's prose are not expressed by direct judgment and reasoning, but by implicit and clear implication with its unique image. Taking Zhuangzi as an example, we can easily see that Zhuangzi's prose is almost all-encompassing. Up and down, ancient and modern, talking about the front, all are amazing. The wild horse of thought, galloping freely in the boundless space-time, seems absurd, but in fact there are traces to be found. To sum up, Zhuangzi's thought always revolves around the word "emptiness", so he used a series of images to play it from different sides, forming his romantic style that seems to be true and unreal.
Zhuangzi invented many animals and plants to serve his thoughts, and all of them have human temperament. Kun Peng, who migrates with the wind in Xiaoyao, the short-sighted Kun, the dove, and the scorpion, the numerous snipers in Qi Wu Lun, who are covered by the name, the Ze pheasant who pecks and drinks freely in Health Lord, and the mantis who overreaches himself in Human Life, are all known. These images became the media for Zhuangzi to clarify philosophy, and they gave off strange brilliance in Zhuangzi's prose, as if everything in nature had a soul. This is rare in other pre-Qin classics, and it cannot but be called Zhuangzi's creation.
People in myths and legends are often portrayed vividly, which also accounts for a large proportion in the image system of Zhuangzi's prose. Liezi "walks against the wind", which is extremely light and wonderful, but "has five days in ten days and then returns"; Xu You is not influenced by Yao's abdication, and is useless to the world. He is a metaphor for not wanting to step in, and he politely says Chen Zhi; In particular, the imaginary "god man" who shoots the mountain, "If the skin is ice and snow, if it is a virgin, it will not eat grains, suck the wind and drink dew, ride the clouds and ride the dragon, and swim across the four seas; Its spirit is condensed, so that things are not flawed and ripe. " Moreover, "if you immerse yourself in the sky, you will not drown, and the golden stone in the drought will flow over the earth and mountains, but it will not be hot." This kind of image and realm is pure fiction, but it places Zhuangzi's ideal of carefree travel; Although the words are mysterious, the meaning is far-reaching.
Mohist school: representative figure: Mozi. Works: Mozi. Mohism was one of the important schools in the Warring States Period, and its founder was Mo Zhai.
this school is based on the theory of "love each other and benefit each other": treat people as yourself; Universal love means loving others as yourself. "The world loves each other" can achieve the goal of "mutual benefit". Politically, he advocated respecting sages, Shang Tong and non-attack; Economically, it advocates strong cost saving; Put forward the idea of respecting heaven and ghosts. At the same time, it also puts forward the idea of "non-fate", emphasizing self-reliance.
Mohist school has a strict organization, and most of its members come from the lower classes. According to legend, all of them can go to the fire and jump the knife to inspire themselves. His disciples are engaged in debating, which is called "Mo Debate". Those who engage in martial arts are called "Mo Xia"; The leader called it a "giant". Its discipline is strict, and it is said that "the law of the Mohist, the murderer dies, and the injured person is punished" ("Lv Chunqiu").
after Mo Zhai's death, he split into three factions. By the late Warring States period, it merged into two branches: one focused on the study of epistemology, logic, mathematics, optics, mechanics and other disciplines, which was called "Mohist post-study" (also known as "late Mohist"), and the other was transformed into a ranger in Qin and Han dynasties.
Legalists, represented by Han Fei and Li Si. Works: Everything is done wrong. Legalism is one of the important schools in the Warring States Period. It is called Legalism because it advocates the rule of law, "don't be intimate, don't be extremely noble, and break away from the law". In the Spring and Autumn Period, Guan Zhong and Zi Chan were the pioneers of Legalism. In the early Warring States period, Li Kui, Shang Yang, Shen Buhai and Shen Dao started the Legalist School. By the end of the Warring States Period, Han Fei had integrated Shang Yang's "Fa", Shen Dao's "Shi" and Shen Buhai's "Shu" to combine the thoughts and theories of Legalists.
economically, this school advocates abandoning mining fields, emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce, and rewarding farming; Politically, it advocates abolishing enfeoffment, setting up counties, autocratic monarchy, taking advantage of the situation, and ruling with harsh laws; In terms of ideology and education, hundred schools of thought's theory should be forbidden, and the law should be taken as the teaching and the officials as the teacher. His theory provided a theoretical basis and action strategy for the establishment of a unified monarchy.
There are 217 legalists' works recorded in History of Han Dynasty, and nearly half of them exist today, of which the most important are The Book of Shang Jun and Han Feizi.
yin and yang family, representative: Zou Yan. Yin-Yang School is one of the important schools in the Warring States Period, which was named after advocating the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements and using it to explain social personnel. This school originated from the ruling class who was in charge of astronomical calendar in ancient times, and its representative was Zou Yan, a Qi person in the Warring States Period.
the theory of yin and yang holds that yin and yang are the opposing and transforming forces of things themselves, which can be used to explain the law of development and change of things. The theory of five elements holds that everything is composed of five elements: wood, fire, earth, gold and water, among which there are two laws of mutual growth and mutual victory, which can be used to explain the origin and change of everything in the universe. Zou Yan integrated the two, interpreted the attributes of the five elements as "five virtues" according to the theory that the five elements generated each other and won each other, and created the theory that "five virtues began at the end", which was regarded as the law of the rise and fall of successive dynasties, providing a theoretical basis for the establishment of a new unified dynasty.
In a word, the pre-Qin prose (including the essays of history and philosophers) had reached a quite mature stage by the end of the Warring States Period. There are many genres in it; Gradually accumulated various mature artistic expression methods such as narration, lyricism, description, demonstration, analysis, factual record, fiction, etc., and a number of writers and typical works with different styles emerged. These achievements have laid a solid foundation for the development of future generations' literature.