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Last time, I told you that Confucius realized China's "civilization breakthrough", endowed the external order with inner conscious kindness, and at the same time started the tradition of folk learning. After talking for a long time, these are the personal contributions of Confucius. The influence of Confucianism on ancient China is not only due to the personal greatness of Confucius, but also due to the cultural inheritance of Confucian scholar-officials.

You know, "Confucianism" has only been a profession of managing etiquette since the pre-Qin period. Why did it become a special or even sacred duty after Confucius, and then evolved into a privileged class in ancient China?

This is actually another contribution of Confucius to Chinese civilization.

From Confucian scholars to Confucianism

You may not think that although Confucius was the founder of Confucianism, he actually despised the Confucian scholars of his time.

Confucian scholars were originally a profession in sacrifice, responsible for teaching people how to salute. By the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty, many Confucian scholars made a living by teaching etiquette. Confucius despised these people. In his view, these people only know external rules and have no internal consciousness, which belittles Zhou Li.

Confucius believes that a true Confucian scholar should have the consciousness of benevolence. He called those Confucian scholars who had no benevolence and lived only by teaching the rites of the Book of Rites "little Confucian scholars". The students he wants to train are another kind of Confucianism, called "gentleman Confucianism".

What's the difference between these two Confucianists? Confucius said two words to explain this problem: "A gentleman seeks Tao without seeking food" and "A gentleman worries about Tao without being poor". "Little people" care about interests and only seek food and clothing; However, what a gentleman pursues can't just make a living by courtesy. It doesn't matter that he lives in poverty. What is important is that he has a higher moral ideal pursuit in his heart. Zhou Li's complicated manners are not unnecessary embellishment or pretense of elegance. There is a value of benevolence behind the ceremony. As Confucian scholars, we should realize the ideal of benevolence by studying and practicing etiquette.

Through this distinction, Confucius' Confucianism was separated from the career of Confucian scholars and gradually formed a school.

The Tradition of China Intellectuals

Don't underestimate the difference between these two Confucianists. This change has created a very important tradition in the spiritual history of China people, namely China's knowledge tradition. Confucian scholars and Confucian scholars are equivalent to ancient intellectuals. They are not only literate people, but also represent another power besides the monarchy, the power of culture.

As I said last class, an important contribution of Confucius is to run private schools outside official schools. Why is this so important? Because he created a cultural system outside the official. After Confucius, Confucian scholars had their own independent ideals about social and political order and moral and spiritual order. Only in this way can we become an independent social force, independent of the monarchy.

China's scholar-officials have a unique historical tradition, that is, the sense of hardship. The sense of hardship does not mean worrying about one's diet and daily life, but worrying about one's home country and the world. No matter whether he has a position in the power system or not, he has to do so, because the intellectual's insistence on morality has nothing to do with his political stance.

You must have heard Fan Zhongyan's famous saying: "Worry about the world first, and then enjoy the world." People who live in the temple and will care about you are far away in the rivers and lakes and will care about your husband. " Maybe you would think that the monarch is in charge of the monarch's affairs. What are Confucian scholars worried about? But this is the character of Confucian scholar-officials, who should stand outside the secular power and criticize equally.

This is the difference between "small Confucianism" and "gentleman Confucianism". A "Confucian" should jump out of his professional and social role and care about those major events with universal significance. Therefore, Confucius said, "A scholar takes Tao as his ambition." It means that the ambition of Confucian scholars is Tao. So I call Confucian scholar-officials "people entrusted by culture".

This "Tao" is nothing more than what I said before. Confucian scholars after Confucius took over the mission of wizards and became interpreters of fate. In other words, the moral ideal that Confucian scholars want to realize is nothing more than what God gave him. Benevolence, righteousness, propriety and righteousness are the manifestations of destiny on earth. Confucian scholars should practice etiquette and realize benevolence.

Scholars should be determined to pursue the truth.

However, compared with Shang Dynasty and Western Zhou Dynasty, the meaning of destiny came to Confucius, and subtle changes took place.

In the past, people mainly talked about "the day of nature" and "the day of fate". What does this mean? Natural heaven refers to the universe or nature in the physical sense, which is independent of human will. It's easy to understand God's will, which is what China people often say: "Life and death have a life, wealth is in the sky". There seems to be a willingness to communicate with people on this day. By the way, this sentence was said by Xia Zi in The Analects of Confucius. In the past, wizards learned about fate through divination, and also learned about heaven in the sense of "the day of destiny".

However, Confucius awakened people's inner consciousness. Therefore, in Confucius' view, the meaning of destiny has undergone subtle changes. Heaven not only has will, but also has a stronger sense of morality. We can call it "the paradise of virtue".

The order of fate is not a material order, but a moral order. You must have heard the phrase "Heaven and man are one". Think about it, how did Confucianism achieve the unity of heaven and man? Since heaven has virtue and humanity has virtue, as long as people follow the morality advocated by heaven, won't heaven and man be integrated? On the other hand, why do people practice morality? Because this is the mission entrusted to people by fate.

Confucianism is a kind of humanistic thought, which emphasizes people-oriented. However, the Confucian understanding of "people-oriented" is different from the humanism in the Western Renaissance. Confucian man is not a lonely man, but fate is supporting him. The Renaissance emphasized that "man" had a strong subjectivity.

You see, after the transformation of Confucius, fate is no longer a mysterious thing that can only be guessed by divination, but something that one can know, because it is morally connected with people. That's what Confucius meant when he said, "You know your destiny at fifty.".

Of course, Confucius himself didn't make it clear. The Analects of Confucius said: "The nature of Confucius is unknown to Heaven. "That is to say, Confucius doesn't often speak. This is also a problem to be solved by later Confucianism.

This concept of fate may sound mysterious to you, but it is very important. This is the highest principle guiding the actions of China literati after Confucius. You see, when the monarch disobeyed the destiny, Confucian scholars had to contend with the powerful, which was very dangerous in ancient China. At this time, their greatest backing and spiritual motivation is this moral fate.

Confucius encountered many dangers when he traveled around the world. Once, Confucius led a group of students to practice under a big tree in Song State. Huan Xuan, a fu master in Song Dynasty, hated Confucius very much and sent someone to cut down a big tree to harm Confucius. Confucius left the state of Song overnight, and the students were sweating for the teacher. Unexpectedly, Confucius said confidently: God has given me the mission of realizing benevolence. What can Huan Xuan do to me?

Buy it today

Confucius distinguished Confucian scholars from Confucian professions in sacrifice, and defined a new identity, that is, later Confucian scholar-officials. They always have a feeling of worrying about the country and the people, and they are the bearers of fate. In my words, Confucian scholar-officials are "people entrusted by China culture".

The core idea of Confucius is benevolence and propriety, benevolence is related to moral and spiritual order, and propriety is related to social and political order. So, which of these two orders is more important to Confucianism? Confucius was later divided into Mencius and Xunzi, which deepened Confucius' thoughts of benevolence and propriety respectively.

Think today

Confucius put forward that "a scholar should take Tao as his ambition", which left a spiritual tradition of "taking the world as his duty" for China intellectuals. Does this tradition still make sense today? Why?

focus

1. Confucian scholar-officials should not only stand outside secular power, but also criticize secular power equally.

2. As long as people follow the morality advocated by Heaven, heaven and man can be consistent and integrated into one, which is "the unity of heaven and man".