Seven images in Chinese history
By the Han Dynasty, Confucius had established a legitimate and orthodox image in the field of national political thought: his work "Spring and Autumn" was about governing the world Mirror, Confucius himself is the teacher of kings.
The first image is "sanctification".
It took about four to five hundred years for Confucius, a commoner, to be initially transformed into a saint.
Doctor Wu once asked Zigong, a disciple of Confucius: Is your teacher a saint? Why so versatile? Zigong replied: God has given him the qualifications to be a saint, so he is versatile.
Here Zigong praises Confucius as "the sage of heavenly generals", and for the first time positions the image of Confucius as a gifted "sage".
More than a hundred years later, Mencius spoke highly of Confucius and pointed out: "Since the beginning of mankind, there has never been a Confucius.
" This means that since the beginning of mankind, , there is no one greater than Confucius.
Mencius believed that "by committing an injustice and killing an innocent person, one can conquer the world", Confucius "did not do either of these" ("Mencius Gongsun Chou").
Ancient saints have many different aspects, and in Mencius’ view, Confucius embodies the advantages of saints in all aspects and is the “summary” of ancient saints.
The second image is "dwarfing".
The "dwarfing" of Confucius can be said to have started with Laozi.
Confucius traveled westward and asked Laozi for his courtesy.
Lao Tzu believes that the founder of Zhou Rites, Duke Zhou, has died long ago. To restore Zhou Rites, one must evaluate whether the trend of the times allows it.
Laozi warned: "Get rid of your arrogance and excessive desires, your appearance, and your lustful ambitions, all of which are of no benefit to your body.
" ("Historical Records: Biography of Laozi") This shows that Confucius had two major shortcomings: a arrogant demeanor (arrogance, lust), and too many desires and ideals (excessive desires and lustful ambitions).
The third image is "legitimization".
Since Dong Zhongshu in the Han Dynasty proposed the idea of ??deposing all schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone, the image of Confucius has gradually become orthodox.
Dong Zhongshu claimed: "The great unifier of the Spring and Autumn Annals is the constant scripture of heaven and earth, and the common understanding (meaning) of ancient and modern times.
... all the subjects that are not in the Six Arts are the art of Confucius. All those who want to do this must stop their own ways and do not let them advance together.
The theory of evil will be eliminated, and then the unified discipline will be unified, the laws will be clear, and the people will know what to follow.
" Originally, whether the image of Confucius was "sanctified" or "dwarfed" was a folk behavior.
Now Dong Zhongshu uses the power of the state machine to put Confucius' thought in a supreme position to forcibly unify the thoughts of people all over the world and make it a national ideology.
Dong Zhongshu highly praised the book "Spring and Autumn" written by Confucius and believed that "the way of "Spring and Autumn" is that those who gain greatly will be kings, and those who gain little will be hegemons."
The book "Spring and Autumn" has the view of "grand unification" and pursues "the unified style of the six states and the unification of the nine states", including the dual unification of the country's political territory and ideology.
Therefore, if the rulers master the ideological essence of the Spring and Autumn Annals, they can rule the world, or at least dominate the world.
The fourth image is "deification".
In the Han Dynasty, in addition to being revered and "orthodoxized" by official and imperial scholars Dong Zhongshu and others, Confucius was also highly "deified" by another group of Confucian scholars of the Gongyang School.
In books such as "Spring and Autumn Wei·Yan Kong Tu" and "Filial Piety and Supporting the Gods", a series of carefully crafted "deifications" were made about Confucius' birth, appearance and behavior: 1. Confucius was not a mere mortal; he was born from the union of humans and gods.
Confucius’ parents “praised at Niqiu Mountain and felt the essence of the black dragon to give birth to Zhongni.”
2. Confucius was born with different appearances: "Confucius was ten feet long, at the mouth of the sea, with the head of a nun, in one direction, with the moon in the corner and the sun in the right direction, with eyes in the river and dragons in his eyes, and lips that were cross-shaped." The knees, the earlobes are pearly, the eyebrows are twelve, the eyes are sixty-four, standing like a phoenix, sitting like a squatting dragon."
3. Confucius, as the "Su King" who was entrusted to heaven, compiled the "Spring and Autumn" and "The Classic of Filial Piety", formulated laws for governing the world for future generations, and led seventy-two disciples to worship the Big Dipper. At this time, the sky "The white mist covered the ground, and the red rainbow turned from top to bottom into yellow jade. It was three feet long, and there was an inscription on it. Confucius knelt down to read it, and said: The treasure inscription came out, and Liu Ji held it, holding a golden sword, in the north of Zhen. The word is Hezi, and the world is convinced.
"Confucius predicted here that Liu Bang would replace the Qin Dynasty and ascend to the throne.
The fifth image is "rigidity".
After more than a thousand years of circulation, the image of Confucius was gradually "rigid" by Neo-Confucianists in the Song Dynasty.
Judging from the development context of intellectual history, "rigidity" is the unavoidable logical result of "orthodoxy".
First of all, the emperor of the Song Dynasty further created a social atmosphere of respecting Confucius. Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin went to the Imperial College many times to preside over grand ceremonies to worship Confucius. Song Zhenzong Zhao Heng personally went to Qufu to worship Confucius and posthumously named Confucius the "Holy Saint" "King of Wenxuan".
With the strong political advocacy of the rulers, Neo-Confucianists worked hard to transform Confucius into a "rigid" image who only knew how to uphold heaven's principles and tried to curb human desires.
Zhu Xi said: "As for human beings, if the natural principles exist, humans will want to perish, and if humans want to win, the natural principles will be destroyed." Virtue, Dao Wenxue', the so-called "Ming Ming De" in "The Great Learning"... The thousands of words of the sage are just to teach people to preserve the principles of nature and destroy human desires.
"Confucius' thoughts in the Spring and Autumn Period were rich and colorful, so it was not "just". What about "teaching people to maintain the principles of nature and destroying people's desires"? Confucius once advocated "If you have spare capacity in action, you should study literature" and "a gentleman should not use tools", which means that people should have various talents. He encouraged people to engage in activities that are beneficial to the body and mind, such as playing chess and archery, and even praised such a life. Attitude: Late spring in March, wearing spring clothes, *** Several friends went to the countryside for leisure, swimming in the river, enjoying the wind on the high platform, and then returned singing poems all the way.
The sixth image is "restoration".
In the late Qing Dynasty, Kang Youwei carried out the "1898 Reform". He needed to explore ancient ideological resources as the theoretical support for the reform.
Kang Youwei portrayed Confucius as the founder of the reform movement in his book "An Examination of Confucius' Reform". He believed that the "Six Classics" were Confucius's attempt to "reform the system based on the ancients" and in accordance with his own political ideals, based on the ancients Yao and Yao. A work written by Shun himself.
So, why did Confucius want to "reform the system based on ancient times"? Kang Youwei believed that Confucius's "reformation of cloth clothes would be terrible, so it is better to do it with the previous kings. It is not shocking and can avoid disaster."
It means: As a common man, Confucius wanted to reform the country's political system, which was simply sensational. It was better to do it in the name of the ancient emperors Yao and Shun, which would not surprise others and avoid disaster himself.
These remarks are undoubtedly Kang Youwei's "Master's Self-Tao".
Kang Youwei wanted to reform and save the dying Qing Dynasty, but faced a large group of defenders of the Qing Dynasty's old system. He could only promote a transformed "reformed" image of Confucius. contend with it.
The seventh image is "uglification".
Since the late Qing Dynasty, the image of Confucius has been in decline, either severely distorted or ruthlessly criticized.
Hong Xiuquan of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom led a peasant uprising to overthrow the ruling class of the Qing Dynasty. Naturally, he had no favorable impression of Confucius himself and his thoughts, who were so-called "talisman of the despotism of emperors throughout the ages." Therefore, we always want to find out how many mistakes Confucius taught people.
"The book "Taiping Tianri" fabricated a new myth: God the Father judged Confucius and ordered angels to bind and flog him.
Confucius knelt before his heavenly brother, Christ, and begged. God ordered that the whipping be stopped and that he would never be allowed to descend to earth.
Wherever the Taiping troops went, they burned Confucius temples and destroyed statues of Confucius.
Declared the "Four Books" and "Five Classics" as "demon books", "Anyone who dares to recite, teach or learn any of these demon books will be beheaded.
"Taiping Army* ** There may be another reason for Confucius and his thoughts: Confucius "does not talk about monsters, power, chaos, or gods", "respects ghosts and gods and keeps them at a distance", and is skeptical of ghosts and gods.
Hong Xiuquan founded the Catholic Church, and naturally he wanted to overthrow and vilify Confucius who did not believe in ghosts and gods.
This is being vilified because of different political opinions and beliefs.
Three images in Western history
Over the past hundreds of years, due to different perspectives of observers, Confucius has formed several different images in Western history.
The first image is the "philosopher".
The second image is the "wise man".
The third image is the "perfect man".
Confucius’ thoughts were spread to the West mainly through Western missionaries starting in the 16th century.
Over hundreds of years, due to different perspectives of observers, Confucius has formed several different images in Western history.
The first image is the "philosopher".
Matteo Ricci, an Italian missionary in the late Ming Dynasty, said in "History of Chinese Missions": "The greatest philosopher in China is Confucius.
What he said and his attitude towards life, He is by no means inferior to our ancient philosophers; many Western philosophers cannot compare with him.
Therefore, what he said or wrote is not regarded by any Chinese as a golden rule; until now, all emperors. Everyone respects Confucius and is grateful for his legacy.
"Although it cannot be said that philosophers are kings in China, it can be said that kings are controlled by philosophers.
"
The second image is the "wise man".
Although German Hegel said that "Confucius's philosophy is the national philosophy and forms the basis of Chinese people's education, culture and practical activities", he believed that "Confucius is just a practical worldly wise man" and cannot be regarded as philosophy. Home.
Hegel’s reasons are as follows: 1. Confucius only focused on common sense morality, or “some kind, sophisticated, moral lessons.”
2. Confucius did not understand speculative philosophy.
Therefore, "In order to maintain Confucius' reputation, it would be better if his books had never been translated.
"
Third This image is the "perfect man".
In the 18th century, a group of French scholars highly praised Confucius and almost believed that Confucius was a perfect man.
Voltaire believed that Confucius said "Do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you" which Christ never said.
Christ only forbade people to do evil, while Confucius encouraged people to do good.
He especially praised Confucius’ motto of “repaying evil with straightness and repaying kindness with kindness”, believing that “Western nations, no matter how they preach or teach, cannot compare with this pure morality.
Confucius often said that if people practice this kind of morality, there will be no wars on earth.
"Voltaire hung a portrait of Confucius in his chapel and worshiped it day and night.