Tell the ancient people's views on rights.

In the ancient culture of China, there were some simple rights thoughts. For example, in Zhou Li, litigation is "telling the public". This is a simple embodiment of litigation right in China's ancient thought. In 536 BC, in order to make people understand the rules of punishment, Zi Chan of Zheng resolutely cast the criminal law on a bronze tripod so that people in the past could see it. The combination of sub-properties is that it will not be easily changed after it is clearly stipulated by law. This makes people have laws outside life as rules that * * * will abide by. In China's traditional schools of thought, there are many remarks similar to modern rights thought that are worth discussing. In the following article, I will make a concrete analysis of several important ideological trends.

1) Legalists' "Equality" Thought

Legalists who appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period advocated that all monarchs should rule by law. The monarch's judgment, rule and decision-making should be "broken by law" In the eyes of legalists, law is an objective criterion and a tool of the world, so the application of law must be strict, and anyone's behavior should be measured by the objective standards of law, which cannot vary from person to person. Its central idea is to abolish all the legal privileges enjoyed by the old aristocrats, demanding that "sons and doctors, who disobey the king's orders, violate the ban and create chaos, shall all be put to death." Han Fei, a representative of the legalist school, further summarized this principle as "the law is not expensive" and "the rope cannot be scratched." What Han Fei emphasizes here is that no matter what other people's status, status and contribution are, as long as there are illegal acts, they must be convicted according to law and unforgivable. What is reflected here is also the simple equal rights thought in our traditional culture. However, it should be noted that "equality" here is also limited equality, because the laws people abide by are a kind of "royal decree", that is, the laws are not binding on the supreme ruler. Therefore, we should also know that the main function of the law at that time was to maintain the hierarchical system at that time. Han Fei summed up only the general principle of law application, which may be broken by the supreme ruler at any time. Legalists believe that the basic principle of social life should be "loyalty and filial piety". There are two things in life that can't be "indifferent" and "in a trance", namely "being a monarch" and "raising relatives". Because Han Fei thinks that "teaching is boring and useless"; I can't say anything. "It means that the theory of pure inaction is useless preaching to the country, and abstruse remarks are fallacies that despise the legal system. Han Fei asked people to "serve the monarch" and "foster relatives" and obey unconditionally. Han Fei said, "If you are not close, you will know that you are unfilial; Not its monarch, the world is virtuous, so it is chaotic. "That is to say, for those who accuse their parents, people will definitely say that he is unfilial; But for those who point out that the monarch is not, everyone in the world will think that their virtue is good, which is the reason for the chaos in the country. Legalists' thought is embodied here that ministers, sons and wives must absolutely obey the monarch, father and husband. Therefore, even if Han Fei advocates that "the rope will not bend", but because he also preaches "being a monarch" and "raising relatives", the rights of justice and equality shown here are only limited equality.

(B) Confucian "political" rights

In Confucianism, "respect" is the expression of the core idea of Confucianism, so there are also sayings of "Jun Jun, minister, father and son". In legalism, as ministers, sons and wives, they must obey the monarch, father and husband. The "monarch, minister and son" mentioned by Confucianism is the moral character that requires people to achieve their position. A monarch should be like a monarch, a minister like a minister, a father like a father, and a son like a son. As for when you are not like you, should I be "loyal and filial" unconditionally? Confucius did not come to a clear conclusion about this, but only said that the father is not like the father, and the son should still be filial. Mencius, on the other hand, suggested that the minister could choose to leave, even resist and exile the tyrant, if he was not like you. In Mencius. Mencius said in Hui Liang and Wang Xia, "A thief with benevolence is a thief, a thief with righteousness is disabled, and a thief with disability is a husband. Killing a gentleman is unheard of. " In his view, killing a widowed tyrant is to kill the people, to "save the people from fire and water" and to be completely moral. Mencius' speech embodies the simple people-oriented thought. In fact, the deeper meaning of his speech is that the basic civil rights of ordinary people should be guaranteed. If the basic civil rights are not guaranteed, then ordinary people have the right to resist the rule of a single tyrant. For example, the people's various resistance movements in the history of our country and their comments on current politics have all been mentioned earlier, all of which are aimed at exercising their "right to vote" and participating in and discussing state affairs in their own unique way.

(C) Mohist thought of basic rights

Mozi once said: "Heaven wants righteousness and hates injustice ... but how do you know that Heaven wants righteousness and hates injustice?" ? Yue: If there is righteousness, there will be life, but if there is no righteousness, there will be death. Righteousness leads to wealth, while meaninglessness leads to poverty; If there is righteousness, it will rule, and if there is no righteousness, it will be chaotic. However, heaven wants its life and hates its death, and hates its chaos for its wealth. This is why I know that heaven should be righteous, evil and unjust. "(Mozi. Here, "righteousness" has become a value standard, and people can use it to judge right and wrong, good and evil. Mozi added: "If a big country attacks a small country, the world will be in chaos. It is also a great harm to this world that the strong rob the weak, the public are violent and few, the fraud seeks stupidity, and the arrogance is expensive. "Mozi believes that the fundamental reason for all this lies in the' no love' and' self-love' between people." Today's rulers only love their own country, not their own. It is a country that dares to raise its own country and attack others. Today's master only loves his family, not his family, so he is not afraid to support his family and usurp other people's homes. Nowadays, people only know how to cherish their bodies, but not their bodies, so they are not afraid to treat their bodies as thieves. "(Mozi. Fall in love ")

"All the world disasters usurp resentment, born without love, people-oriented. Since it's wrong, how can it be easy? ..... the method of loving each other and benefiting each other is easy. " (Mozi. Since the root of all evil in the world is that people don't love each other and benefit each other, the only way to eliminate all evil is to "love each other and benefit each other". "Love at the same time" requires loving all people equally, whether they are close or distant, rich or poor. The so-called "rule the people's country with amblyopia"; Treat others' homes as their own; Treat others as one. "That is to treat other people's countries, homes and bodies as their own countries, homes and bodies, and give them equal respect and care. Mozi's "universal love" is different from Confucius and Mencius' "benevolence". The latter advocates the difference between love and equality based on the principles of "kissing" and "respecting", while the former advocates "giving everything around" based on the principle of fraternity, regardless of intimacy. Confucian love emphasizes "don't" and Mozi's love emphasizes "concurrently"; And "concurrently" means equality and mutual respect, which involves the issue of human equality. It should be said that Mozi's "universal love" theory contains a vague sense of equal rights, which is the most valuable part of Mozi's thought. (Ma: A Review of Mozi's Legal View, Law Review, No.2, 2002, p. 140)

Here, Mozi's "universal love" is equal, not different because of "age" and "grade" Moreover, "fraternity" based on equality in turn promotes and emphasizes this idea of equality. However, this simple idea of equal rights only stayed at the spiritual level and was not adopted and practiced by the rulers at that time. Moreover, under the circumstances at that time, it was impossible for the letters to adopt Mozi's moral proposition that it was difficult to put into practice.

(D) the Buddhist ideal of "equality"

The reason why Buddhist equality is an "ideal" is that Buddhist thoughts play more roles in the field of religious belief. However, it is undeniable that although Buddhism originated in India, it has been introduced to China for more than two thousand years. Therefore, some Buddhist ideas about human rights are also an important aspect of our traditional rights resources.

Huineng, a famous Buddhist, pointed out when talking about the Buddha nature of human beings: "People have north and south, and Buddha nature has no north and south. Ge Liao and he are not the same. What is the difference between Buddha's nature? " Since there is no difference between human nature and Buddha nature, everyone is equal in Buddha. Because everyone can become a Buddha, and there is no difference in Buddha nature, there is no difference between people. (the third section of the altar sutra) This is what Huineng said first. He not only put forward the concept of Buddha nature, but also emphasized that everyone has Buddha nature. On this basis, everyone is equal, and there is no distinction between high and low. (Quoted from: Dong Qun's Huineng and China Culture. Guizhou People's Publishing House, page 48. Note: Huineng is an important thinker and academic master in the cultural history of China and the most important figure of Buddhism in China. )

Buddhism regards universal life as its fundamental purpose and cares for all things with compassion. It is required to break all differences and advocate the equality of all beings. It is considered that the existence and differences of everything in the universe (including all beings) are illusory, all things and phenomena are formed by karma and combination, and everything belongs to illusion and delusion, and the idea that delusion leads to differences is even more wrong. In the true sense, all laws and all phases (that is, all things) are equal, thus forming equal values. Shown in the values, it is equality of sex and intelligence, equality of all beings, equality of grievances and pro-equality. (Zhang Huaicheng: "No Self and Nirvana", Hunan University Press. September 2003 edition, page 172. Note: Equality here is a free translation of Sanskrit sama, as opposed to difference, it refers to equality and equality, and there is no distinction between good and bad. It means that there is no difference between * * * and emptiness, only knowledge and truth, or that everything (that is, everything) has the same essence and value. Note 2: The so-called sexual intelligence has two meanings, one is the essential equality of all things (that is, the equality of all things-the author's note), and the other is the wisdom equality of all beings. The equality of all sentient beings refers to the equality of all sentient beings (especially lovers-author's note), mainly refers to the equality between people. Hating pro-peace means treating all people indiscriminately, not being near, not being selfish, not loving, not suffering or complaining, and saving all mankind with great compassion. Here, Buddhist thought points out that people see the differences between people because they only see the unreal appearances between people. When the appearances are removed, the differences between people will disappear.

In addition to the right consciousness shown by the above four ideological trends-in a specific traditional culture, it is mainly manifested as an equal thought and a simple civil rights consciousness-in addition, Zhuangzi of Taoism also shows an idea of equality of all things. "Zhuangzi" said that "Liezi thought he had never studied and would not go out for three years. As his wife, he eats like a cannibal, and he has nothing to do with his relatives. He is unpretentious, but he is alone. The dispute has been sealed, and one end. " Liezi helped his wife when he knew that he had little knowledge. Besides, feeding pigs is like feeding people. He didn't show strong passion for anything, just had a simple mood and independent thinking. Among them, the spirit of propaganda is that a person does things outside, does not talk about intimacy, does not distinguish between right and wrong, does not distinguish between each other, and treats them equally. Since pigs can be treated like people, people should treat others equally. However, this kind of thinking is more inclined to a philosophy of communication with people than what we now call equal rights. Relatively speaking, the thoughts of Mohism, Taoism and Buddhism did not form the mainstream in traditional China. Moreover, Buddhism and Taoism are usually born ideas rather than WTO ideas. Therefore, at that time, although these ideas were progressive, they could not be adopted by the rulers at that time.