Confucius (551 BC to 479 BC) was named Qiu and given the courtesy name Zhongni. A great thinker and educator in the late Spring and Autumn Period, and the founder of Confucianism. A native of Lu. He was the founder of the Confucian school and put forward the idea of ??"benevolence". He was a famous thinker and educator in ancient China.
He is determined to learn and is knowledgeable and versatile. He created a trend of private lectures and recruited many disciples, regardless of wealth or poverty. It is said that he had 3,000 disciples, 72 of whom were outstanding. He became a messenger of cultural dissemination. He traveled around the world, and in his later years he concentrated on the compilation and dissemination of ancient documents. He devoted himself to education, collated ancient classics such as "Poems" and "Books", and deleted and revised "Spring and Autumn". His students recorded his thoughts, words and deeds in The Analects of Confucius.
Through Confucius’ lifelong advocacy and the development of Confucianism in the past dynasties, Chinese Confucianism has become the mainstream of Chinese culture and has been the guiding ideology of the Chinese people for more than 2,000 years. The core of Confucius' ideological system is the rule of virtue. He persistently advocated a moralized society and a moralized life. The highest standard of a moralized society is "propriety", and the highest value of a moralized life is "benevolence". Confucius taught people to actively pursue the 'principle of loyalty and forgiveness' of "to establish oneself, establish others; to achieve oneself, to achieve others" and "don't do to others what you don't want others to do", in order to establish a correct outlook on life and correctly handle the relationship between people. Confucius advocated the teaching of "the unity of nature and man" to deal with the relationship between man and nature. He also expounded and promoted the principle that people should not only "benevolent to the people", but also "love things". The country must implement the virtuous policy of "teaching the rich" so that society and culture can develop. Confucius believed that the highest achievement of civilization is to cultivate ideal personality to create an ideal society, and to achieve "the world is a common people" by practicing "the way of the inner saint and the outer king". ", "Great Harmony World": the realm of Confucius. Because of Confucius' outstanding contributions and far-reaching ideological influence, he was respected by the Chinese as the most holy teacher and a role model for all generations.
Confucius has been away for more than two thousand years , the doctrine he founded occupied a dominant position in ancient China, became the mainstream of Chinese culture, and had a profound impact. In modern times, China has been impacted by Western culture, and his doctrine has been strongly criticized by intellectual elites and was almost destroyed. Sexual attack. In the twentieth century, when people were deeply thinking and introspecting about human problems, his thoughts and theories attracted the attention of experts and scholars from various countries.
Confucius is the founder of the Confucian ideological system. Rather than being a complete acceptor of Zhou culture, the reason for "following Zhou" is related to his pursuit of the highest ideal of ordering. Much of the Zhou culture we understand is the result of Confucius and his later studies. "Zi Buyu" is correct. It is a way of Confucius' thought transformation based on the premise of "from Zhou". In Confucius's sociological functional system, there is no core concept of the gentleman's personality system, the benevolence system as a cultural value, and social structure and rules. The three ritual systems stipulate and condition each other. They are all temporal and historical subsystems in the process of constant transformation, and together they constitute a broader balanced and orderly civilization structure. < /p>
一
The history of Chinese philosophical thought begins with Confucius. For more than two thousand years since the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius' thoughts have been studied, interpreted, and even criticized and refuted by scholars. Classic text. It can be said that there are as many Confucius with different faces as there are people who have thought about Confucius’ thoughts. Scholars in different eras have different intellectual backgrounds, talents, talents and temperaments. They are influenced by the academic ideological trends of the times. Different motivations, different logical starting points and angles to interpret Confucius, preconceptions and even prejudices are inevitable in the interpretation of traditional texts, the interpreter and the interpreter, individual details and the text as a whole. There are constant exchanges and dialogues between structures, and both sides of the interaction contain creativity and initiative. Just as Confucius's foresighted interpretation of the ritual and music culture of the Zhou Dynasty constructed his own ideological system, and stimulated and brand-new the internal vitality of Zhou culture. The interpretation of Confucius' thoughts as a classic text from a new logical starting point is an inevitable requirement of the new era. It will further clarify Confucius' thoughts and stimulate the creativity of thinkers. It is also an idea that allows the national spirit to continue and be reborn. power.
There are usually two major schools of research methods on Confucius’ thoughts: one is diachronic research, that is, from the time when Confucius lived and his life, the ideological, cultural and social origins of his thoughts, and to later scholars In various aspects, it strives to restore the historical truth of Confucius' thoughts; the second is the current research, that is, the philosophical method, which is more concerned with the essential significance of Confucius' thoughts on the development and evolution of human society rather than the "original meaning". Explore the thinking system from which his words and deeds originate and the possibility of logical evolution. Hirsch distinguishes between "meaning" and "significance". Meaning is the only unchanging thing held by the author himself, but the meaning of a work can vary, depending on how people read it. The understanding of classics by post-scholars is historical and uncertain, in terms of meaning. I am here to explore the significance of Confucius’ thoughts.
Whether Confucius’ thoughts advocate for the salvation of slave society or support the construction of feudal society is not what I want to discuss or care about. There is no doubt that among the existing information about Confucius' thoughts, there are Confucius when he was young and Confucius when he was old; A completely misunderstood idea. To clarify the clues one by one is an impossible task. For thinkers like Confucius, inspiration for their ideas usually comes suddenly, but there must be relevant theoretical background. What I focus on is how Confucius constructed his ideological system, or in other words, the theoretical background under which he expressed his concepts, attitudes and behaviors.
II
In Hegel's eyes, Confucius was only a practical worldly wise man, not a philosopher. "In him, there was no speculative philosophy at all--- ---There are only some kind, sophisticated, and moral lessons, and we can't get anything special from them." He even thinks, "In order to maintain Confucius' reputation, it would be better if his books have never been translated.
"Hegel's "nothing special can be gained from it"" Confucius' thought is of great significance to Chinese culture and even the entire East Asian culture. Hegel's understanding of Confucius was not only based on a few imprecise translations, but also only scattered moral lessons, without touching the overall structure of Confucius' thoughts, and could not deepen his grasp of some details from an overall perspective. Because Hegel used the development path of Western civilization as a model to construct the only philosophical development history of "world spirit". The late Professor Fu Weixun, who studied Buddhism intensively, did not admit that Confucius was a philosopher, "But Mencius is a philosopher. Confucius only tells you the conclusion, but does not tell you the process of how the conclusion came to be...". But despite this, the conclusion must have its philosophical basis and method of deduction. Fu Weixun's premise is: Those who do not explain the source of their thoughts in clear words cannot be regarded as philosophers. Based on this inference, the later eminent Zen monks and the Taizhou School of Ming Dynasty who "didn't write words" but focused on the way of doing things could not be regarded as philosophers. Sakyamuni did not write a word when he was still alive, so he probably cannot be regarded as philosophy. Home.
Of course, more people regard Confucius as one of the founders of Eastern philosophy. They all first try to find the core of speculation and logic in his scattered quotations in an attempt to reconstruct it. A system of philosophical theories. "Benevolence" is often regarded as the core concept of Confucius' ideological system. Du Weiming believes that the original form of Confucianism developed around Confucius's philosophy of benevolence, and borrowed terms from European and American circles to define benevolence as a "philosophical anthropology." Kuang Yaming's "Critical Biography of Confucius" and Guo Moruo's "Ten Criticisms" also regard the thought of benevolence as the core of Confucius' thought. Therefore, Mr. Yang Guorong said: "Confucius' thought is centered on benevolence. This is a generally accepted view." In fact, "recognized" is just overconfident wishful thinking. There are still many people with different views. Cai Shangsi admitted that he had gone through Confucius' The core of the ideological system is the transformation from "benevolence" to the core of "ritual". He believes that the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period centered around Confucian etiquette. As for the criticism of Confucius from the May Fourth Movement to the climax during the Cultural Revolution, they were mostly criticized from the perspective of "rituals".
In fact, in the pre-Qin era, Confucian disciples had already had ambiguities in their understanding of Confucius’ thoughts. After the death of Confucius, his disciples traveled around the vassal states, gathered disciples to give lectures or engage in economic and political activities, and promoted and practiced Confucius' teachings.
Since each disciple's intellectual background and personal temperament were different, they also had different preferences for Confucius's teachings, and their interests were diverse. As a result, there were different sects, and Confucianism was divided within itself. Zengzi emphasized filial piety, Mencius advocated benevolence, and Xunzi promoted etiquette. In the history of philosophy, the philosophy of later great philosophers is often that "learning is based on what is close to its own nature, and the source is far away and the end is beneficial." Today's debate is just a continuation of Mencius and Xun's differentiation. The so-called core is often the starting concept of narrative, and different choices of core are the prerequisites for ideological innovation.
Since modern times, different attitudes towards discussing Confucius’ thoughts from the perspective of academic thought mostly imply a premise: a thinker must also have a basis of speculative philosophy, and a genius ideological giant should be able to build a It has a theoretical framework with a rigorous logical thinking system. In fact, it is assumed that there is a static closed body with some kind of structure or center. This center has been given different names by different philosophers, such as entity, idea, God, and "benevolence" in Confucian philosophy. Although many scholars maintain that the spirit and approach of Eastern and Western philosophy are different, they are still trying to find the philosophical foundation and core of the system behind Confucius's quotations. Due to the loss and chaos of ancient classics, we have no direct and definite evidence to explain whether Confucius really wrote the "Yi Zhuan" and founded his philosophical system. But on the other hand, there is also sufficient evidence to prove that Confucius did know, read, and even study the "Book of Changes" seriously. It is unknown whether he may have gained some speculative results in his later years because of this. Hegel obviously did not know the relationship between Confucius and the "Yi". He also admitted that "the Chinese have also paid attention to abstract ideas and pure categories, and the ancient Yi Jing is the basis of this kind of thinking." The Analects rarely contains speculative and pure categories, and some important theoretical terms often still point to the concrete empirical world. It can be seen that Confucius did not regard the thoughts of Zhouyi as the inevitable philosophical basis for establishing his ideological system. This may be related to Confucius's repulsive attitude due to his misunderstanding of the Book of Changes when he was young, but more importantly, it depends on Confucius's life ambitions and cultural choices. The greatness of intellectual giants is the same, but they are always given their own unique cultural choices.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Confucius, as a successor of Zhou culture, took it as his own duty to rule the world peacefully. Therefore, it was not important to build a speculative philosophical system, but to focus on the current situation at that time. Think about the integration and order of society, the coordinated development of individuals and society, and the ways for people to live and work in peace and contentment. This is a continuation of the humanitarian tendency in thought since the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and it is also an important issue that has been concerned by many tribes in a vast region like China for generations. Therefore, Confucius's ideological system does not necessarily have to have a unique logical starting point and ideological core. What is important is not the logic and speculativeness of theoretical deduction, but its worldliness and practical reliability, which can accommodate individuals and society, bear tradition and change, and combine ideals, beliefs and life in this world. Therefore, what Confucius established is a sociological functional system. In this system, Confucius focused on elaborating on the specific behavioral orientation and social significance of concepts such as gentleman, benevolence, and etiquette, thus forming three levels of interrelated subsystems, namely the personal personality system, the cultural value system of benevolence, righteousness, wisdom, and trust, and etiquette. system of social control.
Three
If we look for a more important concept to start the narrative, then "adult" is the key concept throughout the entire ideological system. Because people are actors, the ones responsible for realizing value and guiding society. "The Analects of Confucius Xian Wen" Zai Zi Lu asked about adults, and Zi said: "If Zang Wuzhong knows it well and does not want public praise, Bian Zhuangzi has the courage, Ran Qiu has the art, and writes about rituals and music, he can also become an adult." Said: "Why should we be adults today? If we think of benefits when we see benefits, if we see dangers and give orders, if we don't forget what we have said in our lives, we can still be adults." Liu Xiang's "Shuo Yuan" also recorded: Yan Yuan asked Zhongni: "As an adult What is the behavior like? "The Master said: "The behavior of an adult is to understand the principles of nature, understand the changes of things, understand the reason of darkness, and see the source of wandering energy. If this is the case, it can be said that one knows the way of heaven and practices it. Benevolence, righteousness, etiquette and music are the conduct of an adult. The virtue of poverty is the manifestation of virtue..." (Volume 18 of "Shuo Yuan") The behavior of "adults" should be consistent with the value of benevolence and righteousness. , Etiquette norms. To become an adult is to fulfill one's humanity, to complete one's personality, and to be benevolent and know propriety.
Confucius also proposed the word "gentleman" as a model of life. Gentleman originally referred to the aristocratic class under the feudal system. The meaning of gentleman has been transformed by Confucius. It is often used to refer to a person of noble character, a person who is moral and can fulfill his humanity.
The basis of this transformation is that a gentleman is a respected person with a higher social status and assumes the leading responsibility of society. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the gradual disintegration of aristocratic society and changes in social structure caused the connotation of a gentleman to change. There are many sayings about the gentleman in The Analects, which are relatively general and without clear classification. This may just show the transformation process of the concept of gentleman. For example: "There are gentlemen who are not benevolent, but there are no villains who are benevolent." ("Xian Wen") means that the difference between a gentleman (noble class) and a villain is that a gentleman is capable of benevolence, while a villain has no "benevolence" at all. "Qualification. But it also began to associate the gentleman with benevolence. Another example: "The gentleman is harmonious but different, the villain is the same but not harmonious" ("Zi Lu"); "The gentleman is peaceful but not arrogant, the villain is arrogant but not peaceful" ("Zi Lu"), talking about the difference in character between the gentleman and the villain. . The more important stipulations are as follows: Confucius said: "The gentleman's way is threefold, I am incompetent; the benevolent do not worry, the wise do not be confused, and the brave do not fear." Zigong said: "The master has his own way." ("Xian Wen") Zi Lu asked the gentleman . The Master said: "Cultivate yourself to be respectful." He said: "Is that all?" He said: "Cultivate yourself to calm others." He said: "Is that all?" He said: "Cultivate yourself to calm the people. Cultivate yourself to calm the people." To bring peace to the people, Yao and Shun were still ill. "("Xian Wen") The so-called gentleman is the same as the definition of "scholar" used at that time in "The Analects of Confucius". Gentlemen and scholars are the "people" of "adults", who are the embodiment of benevolence and the observers of etiquette. Confucius's mixed use of these concepts with different connotations reflects the process of constructing his personality system. A gentleman should have three precepts, three fears, and nine thoughts. ("Ji Shi") These qualities must be acquired through learning rituals and music, the words and deeds of saints, and self-cultivation and self-denial. In the ideological system of Confucius, the gentleman, as a moral subject, has never existed as an individual. He is not the center of the world and the fundamental purpose of action, but a part of the social whole, a point in the "relationship", and does not reflect the individual. Centrism is not collectivism, but the key to communication and interaction between the social and cultural value system formed by the long-term development of history and the control mechanism for social stability and balance.
On the one hand, Confucius attached great importance to the issue of self-realization. "Scholars in ancient times did it for themselves, but today's scholars do it for others." ("Xianwen") "Doing it for yourself" means self-improvement and self-realization in terms of morality. Confucius always believed that "the past is not the present", "ancient" is the ideal form in Confucius' mind, and "being a person" and relying on "self" means turning the standard of evaluation to oneself. The proposal of self-centered learning is a major feature of Confucian Confucianism. "People can spread the Tao, but the Tao cannot spread others." ("Wei Linggong") confirms human freedom and initiative in the sense of cultural creation. The Chinese cultural spirit that emerged from this is optimism and self-confidence in self-efforts, and a sense of self-responsibility and mission despite knowing that one cannot do anything. In Confucius' view, the self plays a leading role in both moral practice and moral cultivation. Whether the subject follows the principles of benevolence to shape himself or not depends on his own choice and his own efforts, rather than on external factors. strength. Confucius said: "Benevolence is so far away.
I want to be benevolent, and this is the end of benevolence." ("Shu Er") "Being benevolent depends on oneself, but not on others?" ("Yan Yuan") He also said: "Is it possible to use your strength for benevolence in one day? I have never seen anyone who has insufficient strength. It is already there, but I have not seen it." ("Liren")
On the other hand, , self-realization is not a closed concept that excludes others and society. The independent choice and realization of self-worth itself includes the coordination and balance of personal and social relationships, and through the idea of ??"loyalty and forgiveness", the moral subject communicates with the society as a whole. "The Analects of Confucius Li Ren" contains: Confucius said: "See, my way is consistent." Zengzi said: "Wei." When the Master came out, a disciple asked: "What is it?" Zengzi said: "Master's way is only loyalty and forgiveness." "Hu Shi believes that the "loyalty and forgiveness" of "consistency" is not only the philosophy of life of "doing the best for oneself, but also for others", and fundamentally speaking, it is the main methodology of Confucianism. It should be said to be extremely insightful. The self constitutes the starting point of the entire behavior, but it cannot stop at establishing oneself and achieving oneself. It is not to cultivate a unique personality, but to extend oneself to others to establish and achieve others. It can be said that establishing and achieving others is the content and purpose of establishing and achieving oneself. It is in the process of achieving others that one's own virtue is further completed. At the same time, it also means that individual self-realization transcends the realm of oneself and points to the group, which reaches the realm of benevolence. As Confucius said: "A benevolent person already wants to establish others and establish others, already wants to reach people and reaches them, and he can draw examples from nearby, which can be said to be the way of benevolence."
"("Yong Ye") From a methodology point of view alone, the way of loyalty and forgiveness is an "externalization", close to the later self-education of Mahayana Buddhism, although the connotations of becoming an adult and becoming a Buddha are completely different.
The so-called "self-cultivation" refers to moral self-cultivation, which includes two aspects. One is to restrain and regulate one's own behavior, coordinate with the overall rules and systems of the social group and promote its development; the other is to cultivate oneself The inner character of a person is the identification and initiative creation of the values, beliefs, language and other symbols that constitute the cultural model. It is the "internalization" of the good morals contained in the society's cultural value system into self-character, and through personal The concept of hard work and "loyalty and forgiveness" has spread to others, socialized, concrete, and institutionalized the cultural value system, and provided integrated strength for the maintenance and development of the society as a whole. The cultivation of inner character and its "externalization" are. Pursuing benevolence, the restraint and standardization of external behavior and its "internalization" are rituals. The internal and external interaction also shows that Confucius' thought is neither the self-enclosure of later generations of corrupt Confucianism nor the expansion of self-contained culture. The value system and the social norm system with "rituals" as the overall symbol are connected here, influence and promote each other, and the regulations for "gentlemen", "gentlemen" and "benevolent people" as actors also constitute a self-contained system. The personality system has become the internal driving force for the simultaneous development of culture and society. If we must seek the core of Confucius' thoughts, it is better to say that this unnamed ideal personality in Confucius' mind is the core spirit of Confucius's humanistic thoughts.
The most important concept in the content of a gentleman's self-cultivation is "benevolence". "Benevolence" undoubtedly occupies a very important position in Confucius' thought, but Confucius did not have an exact definition, but used different specific definitions. Define and discuss conversations in situations and comments on characters and events, so that abstract concepts can point to specific things and real life. Therefore, every discussion of "benevolence" cannot be regarded as Confucius's entire understanding and definition of benevolence. , "The Analects of Confucius Yang Huo" records that Zi Zhang asked Confucius about benevolence: Confucius said: "He who can do the five things in the world is called benevolence." "Please ask, he said: "Gong, generosity, trust, sensitivity, and benefit." If you are respectful, you will not be insulted, if you are tolerant, you will win people, if you are trustworthy, you will be accepted by others, if you are sensitive, you will be successful, and if you are kind, you will be able to win over others. "In other words, if gentlemen and scholars possess certain qualities through study and cultivation, they will be able to "difficult things first and then gain them", ("Yong Ye") "his words are also eloquent", ("Yan Yuan") "live respectfully" , be respectful and loyal to others", ("Zi Lu") or "resolute and dull", ("Zi Lu") "If you want to establish, you will establish others, if you want to reach others, you will reach others", ("Yong Ye") can "control oneself" "Restore rites". Even "the people receive their gifts" ("Xianwen") and "slay their lives to become benevolent" for justice. ("Wei Linggong") Cai Yuanpei's "History of Chinese Ethics" said that the "benevolence" mentioned by Confucius is It is "the name that governs all virtues and completes personality." The original meaning of "benevolence" is beauty and perfection. Confucius elevated it to a universal concept that represents all beautiful moral qualities, cultural values, and traditional beliefs. Rather than a simple and specific moral concept, Cheng Hao understands "benevolence" like this: "Scholars must first understand benevolence. A benevolent person is completely of the same substance as things, and all justice, reason, knowledge, and belief are benevolent. Knowing this principle, we just keep it with sincerity and respect..." (Volume 2 of "The Posthumous Letters of the Cheng Family in Henan Province") More recently. Feng Youlan also believed that "benevolent people" refer to "people with perfect virtues", which was interpreted as "Perfect Virtue" . According to Confucius, "benevolence" is a universal cultural value orientation that can be internalized into the inner character of actors (benevolent people) in the process of following rituals, guiding and adjusting individuals' actions in society, so that How to achieve or approach an expected social role? On the one hand, Confucius put forward some of the most basic principles, such as "giving to the people and benefiting others" ("Yong Ye") "loving others". , ("Yan Yuan") "A filial brother is the foundation of benevolence!" "("Xueer") and so on, these principles gradually became the symbol of Confucianism. On the other hand, Confucius had specific behavioral directions for the questions asked by different disciples in different situations at that time. These answers were related to the social situation and knowledge at that time. It is related to the foundation of culture and belief, and does not have universal significance. Confucius did not intend to regard these as eternal mottos. Later generations of scholars may be superstitious, or confused by the complexity of the exposition, or they may not be as profound as others. Confused with concepts such as virtue and etiquette, one does not know its origin.
"Etiquette" is another extremely important concept in Confucius' thought. Litany is originally a custom and taboo that is naturally formed within a nation. It is an external norm, but it has a certain social and political integration function since its formation.
Zhou Rites also evolved from the customs of the Zhou clan. In the expansion of the political field, they combined the etiquette and customs of various tribes, including the Xia and Shang tribes, and became politicized, ethical, and gradually complicated. It is not the result of personal subjective shaping, but the result of historical and cultural evolution. The five rites called by Confucianism, namely good luck, bad luck, guest, military, and good fortune, are all specific etiquette and are not determined by politicians or thinkers. This artificial creation is an order maintained by substitute power formed at the same time as the formation and expansion of the clan. "The Duke of Zhou made rituals and music" on the one hand shows the Duke of Zhou's outstanding contribution in the formation of ritual and music culture, and is also a product of the Confucian saint-making movement. The main role of the Duke of Zhou is probably to use martial arts to help Zhou Li reach the four realms, that is, to use Zhou Li to unify China and form a new order in a vast area. According to the archaeological data of the Western Zhou Dynasty, it can be found that it was not until about the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty that the Zhou rituals were basically formed and stabilized. It can be seen that the development of etiquette is the formation of order.
Feng Youlan believes that rituals "are just the feelings of those who sacrifice their ancestors out of filial piety to their ancestors, so the meaning of rituals is poetic, not religious." But we can imagine that people who have no feelings for their ancestors will also salute. At this time, saluting is a way of value recognition and integration into society. In the eyes of Confucius, the Zhou rites are a kind of social civilization and order, which can establish virtues and righteousness, teach right customs, resolve doubts and settle disputes, bring order to the upper and lower levels, and have the social function of controlling emotions, desires, and keeping oneself in peace. Therefore, Confucius attaches great importance to the level of etiquette, enhances the cultural value connotation of etiquette and music culture, and advocates learning and knowing etiquette. "If you don't learn etiquette, you can't stand up." ("Ji Shi") "Don't see if it's not etiquette, don't hear if it's not etiquette." Don’t say anything inappropriate and don’t move anything inappropriate.” ("Yan Yuan") In his later years, Confucius compiled ancient documents and wrote "Spring and Autumn". "Spring and Autumn" is also the main book of etiquette and justice. ("Historical Records Taishi Gong's Preface" quotes Dong Zhongshu)
In the long-term historical process of formation and development of etiquette and etiquette, they always embody certain principles of benevolence. Generally speaking, it is appropriate for benevolence to be reflected in the form of etiquette. It is said that "moral benevolence and righteousness cannot be achieved without etiquette"; "Book of Rites: Part 1 of Quli" "Being courteous without etiquette will lead to fatigue; being prudent and without etiquette will lead to humiliation; courageous and Being rude will lead to chaos, and being straight and rude will lead to strangulation. "("Tai Bo") The cultural values ??and beliefs of society can be externalized into etiquette due to people's actions. A pure etiquette system is meaningless. "People are not benevolent. What about etiquette? How can people be happy if they are not benevolent? "("Eight Yi") Only when etiquette reaches the realm of benevolence and has the inner nature of benevolence can it truly regulate people's behavior in practice. "Determine the country and order the people. , to benefit heirs." ("Zuo Zhuan: The Eleventh Year of Yin Gong") While people follow the traditional ritual system and its development, they also inherit the cultural spirit contained in the ritual system. Confucius said: "A gentleman takes righteousness as a pledge, practices it with etiquette, develops it with his disciples, and fulfills it with faith. What a gentleman!" ("Wei Linggong") Benevolence and righteousness are both intrinsically important in Confucius' ideal values. quality. Righteousness means appropriateness, which means of course and what should be. At the time of Mencius, benevolence and righteousness were often discussed. "Benevolence is what makes a person's house peaceful. Righteousness is what makes a person right." ("Mencius·Li Lou Xia") The two are fundamentally the same. Etiquette is relative to the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, and respect. It is external and must be consistent with the content of benevolence to be meaningful. However, it is not that benevolence comes first and etiquette comes later, but benevolence must be followed by etiquette. Those who know etiquette and "restore etiquette" can also obtain benevolence. The bridge between the two is the "self-cultivation" of "adults" or "gentlemen". In Confucian thought, gentleman, benevolence and propriety are mutually stipulated. The interaction between the three levels is the development of human beings, the balanced trend of social order and the evolution of cultural spirit.
IV
Confucius’ Confucianism is a study of benevolence and etiquette, and more importantly, a study of human nature. Benevolence, propriety, and human beings (i.e., gentleman, scholar or adult) are the three levels and the three poles of the three systems in Confucius' ideological system, which influence each other and serve as conditions for each other. From ancient times to the present, Chinese philosophy favors the emphasis on separate functions and Taoist tools. If this is not the case and cannot be understood, then if benevolence is the way, then etiquette is the tool that carries the way; if etiquette is the way, then people are the tool that carries the way; if people are the way, then benevolence is the tool that carries the way. The three systems are each other's Taoist tools and serve each other's body.
But we must be clear that the state of mutual influence and promotion between the three systems is only an ideal equilibrium state of Pre-Qin Confucianism. Confucius also understood the gap between social reality and ideals in the Spring and Autumn Period. Rituals and rituals do not always reflect the values ??of "benevolence". Therefore, improvements and "profits and losses" are not impossible, and the spirit of benevolence does not always exist. Expressed in the form of "combined etiquette", there are also inconsistencies between the two. The Analects of Confucius records Confucius's evaluation of Guan Zhong: "The king's tree blocks the door, and Guan's family also blocks the door."
The king of the country is the best of the two kings, and there are rebels, and the Guan family also has rebels. Guan's family knows etiquette, but who doesn't know etiquette? "("Eight Yi") Confucius said: "Huan Gong and the nine princes did not use military chariots, but Guan Zhong had the power. Such benevolence! Such benevolence! "("Xian Wen") Confucius said: "Guan Zhong and Duke Huan dominated the princes and brought order to the world, and the people still receive his blessings today. Wei Guanzhong, I was sent to the left. How can it be that every man and woman is forgiven, but he passes through the ditch without knowing it. "("Xianwen") In the eyes of Confucius, Guan Zhong was ungrateful, but "as benevolent". Although he could not abide by small etiquette, his "actions" achieved the effect of maintaining the unity and immortality of Chinese civilization and values. Guiding society towards order is actually the achievement of etiquette, and it should also reach the state that a benevolent person can achieve. This is an explanation, and the contradiction still exists. In a certain sense, Confucius' thought does not constitute a strict and complete logical system. To be honest, the contradictions and ambiguities in it show the openness of Confucius' ideological system to later scholars.
Confucius himself may have been conservative or moderate in the specific social changes at that time. Although not radical, his ideological system was open. Confucius also recognized the changes and development of society and the transformation of etiquette. He said: "The gains and losses of Yin due to Xia's rituals can be known. The gains and losses of Zhou due to Yin rites can be known. It can be known that those who succeeded the Zhou Dynasty will live for hundreds of generations. "("Wei Zheng") The social structure system, cultural value belief system and personality system in Confucius' ideological system are all temporal and historical subsystems that are in the process of constant transformation. They can form a broader system with each other. Civilization structure. The pursuit of ideal personality, ideal harmonious society and perfect values ??is the internal driving force for society to become orderly and balanced. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, the reconstruction of Chinese society and the reconstruction of cultural beliefs all relied on Confucianism. This kind of stability and order has become one of the main components of Chinese culture.
The "conservatism" of Confucius' thought is related to his pursuit of order, because order means stability. It will inevitably bring about a certain degree of conservatism, but more importantly, it is a hermeneutic issue. We cannot let Confucius bear the responsibility for the entire history of thought and even the history of China. Judging from the records in The Analects, it seems that Confucius wanted to restore the Zhou rites. He was stubbornly conservative, and some people even found out that he wanted to restore the slavery system. In fact, Confucius pursued an ideal orderly society in a disorderly era. The ideal society of the Western Zhou Dynasty in his mind was very different from the real Western Zhou Dynasty in history. For example, Confucius did not touch on many issues, and we have no way of knowing his true attitude. However, some issues are not unknown or have not been thought about, but are deliberately "silent" or "rarely discussed". In order to show the direction of his thinking change, there may be other deep meanings. There are many records in "The Analects": Zi did not talk about strange things, power, chaos, and gods ("The Analects of Confucius"). Zi Lu asked about ghosts and gods, and Zi Lu said: " If you can't serve people, how can you serve ghosts? " Said: "Dare to ask about death. Said: "If you don't know life, how can you know death?" "("The Analects of Confucius") Zihan talked about profit, destiny and benevolence. ("Zihan") Zigong said: "Master's articles can be obtained and heard, but Master's words about nature and the way of heaven cannot be obtained and heard. . "("Gong Ye Chang") Confucius "said nothing" or "said little" to many issues that occupied an extremely important position in the social and cultural trends of the time. His attitude reflected his inner grasp of Zhou culture and his understanding of certain popular trends at the time. Taking an indifferent and evasive attitude towards these ideas and beliefs is a way to open up new topics and change the topic. Kang Youwei's theory of Confucius' "reformation based on ancient times" is not completely groundless, but it actually has a lot of meaning.