The significance of Confucius Temple

In the cultural integration of China for more than 2,000 years, the role of Confucius Temple has gone far beyond the significance of the memorial building itself and has become a symbol of multi-ethnic culture in China. The existence of Confucius Temple embodies the mainstream position of Confucianism in the traditional culture of China.

Confucius Temple complex has a long history, integrating history, architecture, sculpture, painting, calligraphy and other achievements. This is an ancient museum. It is not only the historical witness of the rulers' activities of respecting Confucianism and worshipping Confucius, but also the carrier of fully embodying China's traditional ideology and culture, and it is also the crystallization of the wisdom of the working people. Since its establishment, the Confucius Temple has had a great and far-reaching impact on the development of China society.

1. Cultural inheritance and enlightenment function. From the development history of Confucius Temple, we can see the track of China's cultural inheritance. At the beginning of Confucius Temple, the spread of Confucianism was still in the primary stage. Although the cultural policy of "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone" was established in the early Han Dynasty, it was difficult for Confucian academics to achieve the status of "respecting alone" because of the war between the local religious Taoist culture and the foreign Buddhist culture and the ideological confusion caused by the social division and turmoil that lasted for hundreds of years in the Three Kingdoms, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. However, during this period, Confucianism absorbed elements from other schools to meet the needs of society. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the world was unified, and the spirit and academic thoughts expounded by Confucius and the Confucian school he founded stood the test of time, and the value of Confucian culture was widely recognized by the society, thus making it possible to build Confucius temples on a large scale and spread Confucian culture for a long time. During the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the cultural policy of "respecting Confucianism alone" was followed, Confucius was constantly given a respected posthumous title, and the specifications of the Confucius Temple were improved many times, all of which showed the affirmation of the cultural value of Confucianism.

In addition to the Confucius Temple in Qufu, since the Northern Dynasties, relevant counties and counties all over the country have set up the Confucius Temple Learning Palace, which has since had the function of a "school". This important function has played a connecting role in the imperial examination system since Sui and Tang Dynasties. Especially from the Tang Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were three rules for the study of temples, namely, the study before temples, the study of left temples and the study of right temples, and the study of left temples and the study of middle temples. The system of the integration of temple and learning made Confucian scholars in the past dynasties accept the influence of Confucianism here, and respecting and reading classics became an important part of school education, which trained scholars at different levels for each period.

Since Sui and Tang Dynasties, Confucianism has made great progress and gradually developed into the backbone of China traditional culture, and Confucius Temple is an important carrier of this culture. The worship of Confucius Temple is manipulated by the state, and its purpose is compulsory education, that is, "the temple worships the sages and learns the ethics of the Ming Dynasty" [8]. The worship of Confucius shows that the fundamental connotation of strict national education is the way of Confucius, and it pursues the idealized ritual order of "Jun Jun, ministers, father and son". "Benevolence, righteousness, propriety and happiness" is the way of Confucianism, and politics draws lessons from Confucianism in order to establish an orderly society and realize autocratic rule. "Confucius used Taoism, and the world worshiped it, not his own, but also taught Taoism" [9]. Therefore, offering sacrifices to Confucius is to praise the ideological system and theory he founded.

2. Promote the integration and unification of the Chinese nation. The establishment of Confucius temples in various places has made great contributions to promoting the integration and unity of the Chinese nation. At the request of feudal state laws and regulations, Confucius temples have been established in the central plains and frontier areas. "Since the Tang Dynasty, there have been no schools in all counties, so there are temples for saints in all schools" [10]. In the Liao Dynasty, there were imperial academy in Shangjing (now Zuoqinan, Bahrain, Inner Mongolia), Zhongjing (now West Daming City, Ningcheng, Inner Mongolia) and Xijing (now Datong, Shanxi), and a Confucius Temple was built next to it, offering sacrifices to sages and teachers on time [1 1]. Its states and counties also have Confucius temples. The Jin Dynasty followed the previous dynasty, and there were temples in all counties except the Confucius Temple in imperial academy. In the fourth year of Taihe in Zhang Zong (1204), "imperial edicts were sent to the secretariat, and there were no scholar-preached temples in all counties" [12]. After the Yuan Dynasty established Yunnan Province, Confucius Temple was built in Kunming in the 15th year from Yuan Shizu to Yuan Dynasty (1278). Since then, Confucius temples have been established and institutionalized in Dali, Jianshui, Tonghai and Shiping. By the end of the Qing dynasty, except for a few remote places in Yunnan province, almost all counties had Confucius temples. Known as the "First Temple in Hainan", Wenchang Confucius Temple was founded in the Northern Song Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, and moved to Wencheng Town in the eighth year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1375). Confucius Temple in Taiwan Province Province was first built in today's Tainan City, and was built in the fifth year of Qing Emperor Kangxi (1666). Confucius Temple was built earlier in Taiwan Province Province, including Changhua County School (Yongzheng period), Fengshan County School (now Kaohsiung City) (Kangxi period) and Taipei Fu Xue School (Guangxu period). The establishment of Confucius Temple in remote areas has greatly improved the backwardness of local education.

Confucian culture is the spiritual wealth of the Chinese nation, not just monopolized by the Han nationality. This is easy to see from the race of the builders of the Confucius Temple: Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, a Xianbei nationality in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, pursued the policy of sinicization, and was the first emperor in history to build a "Xiansheng Temple" in a town outside Qufu to worship Confucius; After Jurchen entered the Central Plains and established the Jin Dynasty, emperors of all dynasties respected Confucius and built Confucius temples, such as the Confucian Temple in Pingyao, Shanxi, which still retains the pattern of Jin Dynasty architecture. The Yuan Dynasty, established by Mongols, not only built Confucius Temple in Dadu (now Beijing) for the first time, but also established the specifications of Confucius Temple in Beijing, and named Confucius "Dacheng Saint King", which was the highest posthumous title awarded to Confucius by emperors in previous dynasties. However, before the establishment of the Qing Dynasty and the entry into the Central Plains, Manchu pursued the ceremony of offering sacrifices to Confucius and established the Confucius Temple in the northeast.

Fifty-six ethnic groups in China regard Confucius as the "teacher of saints", which has eased ethnic contradictions and promoted the continuous reunification of all ethnic groups in the long history of more than 2,000 years. Confucian culture has standardized the moral norms and codes of conduct of all classes of the Chinese nation, become an idea, and is a spiritual bond to promote the unity and hand in hand of all ethnic groups in China.

3. Artistic value. Confucius Temple is a concrete embodiment of oriental architectural style, which fully shows the high wisdom and creativity of the ancient working people in China, and occupies an important position in the history of ancient architecture in China. Qufu Confucius Temple is one of the three existing ancient buildings in China. The building of Confucius Temple follows the principle of symmetry of the central axis of traditional buildings in China, and its layout is rigorous. As a sacrificial building, the particularity of Confucius Temple lies in its landmark building: its main building, Dacheng Hall, mostly uses hanging beams and arches; Chi Pan has a long history, which is the unique feature of Confucius Temple. In addition to some high-standard sacrificial buildings, Lingxingmen is mainly used for the construction of Confucius Temple. The number of archways in front of Confucius Temple is unmatched by other types of buildings.

The carving of Confucius Temple is the top stone carving art in China, especially the stone pillar carving dragon in Dacheng Hall, which is a masterpiece of stone carving art ... For example, Dacheng Hall, the existing Ming Dynasty Confucian Temple in Juye County, Shandong Province, is surrounded by 24 large stone pillars. The eight stone pillars under the front eaves and the end columns under the back eaves are high-relief two dragon play beads decorated with clouds and waves, with vivid and exquisite shapes; Other stone pillars are flowers with shallow relief and flourishing leaves, with complex composition and exquisite skills [13].

With the passage of time and the replacement of dynasties, many inscriptions and plaques have been left in the process of the establishment, repair and sacrifice of Confucius temples in various places, which have high artistic value. According to statistics, there are more than 65,438+0,000 stone tablets in the Confucius Temple in Qufu, including those for offering sacrifices to Confucius, building Confucius Temple and making meritorious deeds. These stone tablets are engraved not only with Chinese, but also with some minority languages, such as Manchu and Mongolian. No matter in time span or quantity, it is a valuable treasure house for studying the ancient history and culture of China. Judging from the calligraphy art of inscriptions and plaques, all kinds of fonts have different styles and characteristics, and they are also rare treasures. There are also many excellent inscriptions on the local Confucius Temple, such as the Confucius Temple tablet written in print by Yu Shinan, a famous calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty. There are two kinds of existing engravings: one is the forest of steles in Xi 'an, which is called "Yamamoto" or "West Temple Monument"; First, Chengwu, Shandong Province, which was called "Chengwu Ben" or "Dongsi Monument" in ancient times, is now collected by the county cultural relics room and has always been loved by calligraphers.

In the historical process of offering sacrifices to Confucius, a unique art of music and dance was formed. The content of music and dance offering sacrifices to Confucius is mainly to praise Confucius' achievements before his death, and it is a comprehensive art of music, song and dance. Pleasure originates from "less" advocated by Confucius; Dance is due to "summer"; Poetry originated from the creation of Niu Hong and Cai Hui in Sui Dynasty. The music is complete in eight tones, simple and pure, elegant and melodious, with golden sound and jade embellishment. Dancers use shuttlecock as their dancing tools, and their dancing posture is vigorous and stretching, which has the beauty of sculpture. Musical instruments played include guzheng, sheng, flute, Xiao, chime, chime and so on. The ceremony of offering sacrifices to Confucius was grand, simple and quiet, and the solemn atmosphere of offering sacrifices to Confucius and the grand Dacheng Hall formed a perfect artistic unity. With its peaceful tune, moderate rhythm, elegant lyrics and simple dance steps, Music and Dance in Sacrifice to Confucius shows the profound ideological implication, solemn and magnificent moving momentum and harmonious but different artistic style of China ancient elegant music, and embodies the humanistic values of "benevolence", "harmony" and "ceremony" advocated by Confucius and Confucianism.

In addition, the Confucius Temple has a high historical value. Confucius Temple witnessed the development of feudal society in China for more than two thousand years. In the history of the development of Confucius temples in various places, rich relics and materials have been left behind. Through the study of the history of Confucius Temple, we can understand the rise and fall of Confucius Temple buildings and the activities of offering sacrifices to Confucius, see through the political and economic development of feudal China, and deeply discuss the evolution of Confucianism and even ancient China ideology and culture.