Where did the idea of "serving heaven" come from? A brief explanation of the "view of destiny" in the Western Zhou Dynasty

The fact that the people of Zhou Dynasty were able to replace the Shang Dynasty as the new * * * master of hundreds of Fang States at that time with far fewer people and less strength than the merchants was closely related to the "heavenly luck" of the people of Zhou Dynasty, except that the Shang Dynasty's army was vulnerable, which was also closely related to their acting philosophy in the process from the beginning of the Shang Dynasty to the process of stabilizing the political power and sealing the vassals. This concept of Zhou people is simply the concept of impermanence of destiny, respect for morality and protection of the people, which is full of anxiety consciousness, and is collectively called Zhou people's "destiny" concept. The starting point of Zhou people's world outlook: destiny is impermanent. In Historical Records, Sima Qian recorded the same story in different places, telling that Wu Yi, the great-grandfather of Di Xin, Zhou Wang, was arrogantly trying to fight against heaven, so he found someone to play "Tian". After that person lost (of course, he didn't dare to win), Wu Yi killed that person, indicating that he killed "Tian". Not only that, Wu Yi hung a skin full of blood high on a branch, and then shot it with a bow and arrow, that is, "shooting into the sky". As a result, while hunting on the Weihe Plain, Wuyi was hacked to death by a thunder in a sunny day (historians speculated that it was probably killed by Zhou people). "Emperor Wu Yi has no way. He is a puppet and is called a god. With it, it makes people do it. It's a shame that the gods are invincible. In order to hide the skin, fill the blood, shoot it proudly, and it is called' shooting the sky'. "Wu Yi was hunting in the river and Wei River, and he was thundered, and Wu Yi was shocked to death." -"Historical Records of Yin Benji" From this story, we can at least see that the contradiction between Zhou people and businessmen is not simply because Shang Zhouwang once imprisoned Zhou Wenwang, but at least in Shang Zhouwang's great-grandfather generation, that is, Wuyi, the contradiction between the two sides has been "not * * * wearing the sky" in the belief level. People in the Zhou Dynasty who shot at Japan by Wuyi formed a set of their own unique beliefs about "destiny" long before the Shang Dynasty. The God believed by Zhou people and the God believed by merchants were the highest and only gods among many superstitious objects at that time, but the merchant's "God" was a "personality god" who was beyond the world, but was keen to intervene in personnel, while Zhou people's "Heaven" was a "natural sky" that people could see when they looked up, and it maintained a distance from heaven to earth and dominated heaven and earth. In the view of Zhou people, the replacement of dynasties is determined by destiny, that is, the will of heaven, and the will of heaven is impermanent. It can not only care for the former Xia people, but also transfer this care from Xia people to businessmen. Now, Zhou people have learned many times through divination that the destiny will be transferred from businessmen to Zhou people. Hou Yu Zhou, destiny often ... Appropriate in view of Yin, your life is not easy! Life is hard-won, and there is no restraint. XuanZhaoYi asked, Yu Yin since the day. God's load is silent and odorless. I am the king of punishment, and all nations are the fu. -The Book of Songs The Book of Songs, the portrait of King Wen, clearly expresses the view that "destiny is impermanent", and the obedience of the descendants of merchants to the Zhou people is the embodiment of "destiny is impermanent". From this, Zhou people warned their own people to learn from Yin people and follow the destiny like King Wen. Always remember that destiny is not immutable. "alas! Your boy is sealed, but his life is not constant. You read it! No one to enjoy. "Ming is obedient, Gao is obedient, and Kang is good for the people." -"Shangshu Kang Patent" As can be seen from the above warnings from the Duke of Zhou to Kang Shu, Zhou people not only declared that "destiny is impermanent", but also earnestly warned their own people that "destiny not only helps our family name" and asked Kang Shu to keep it in mind at all times. It is also for this reason that many emperors in future generations should start with "Fengtian Transportation" when issuing decrees to show that they are destiny. The "standard" of the transformation of destiny: the view that virtue is "impermanent destiny" is obviously a double-edged sword, which not only shows the rationality of Zhou people replacing businessmen, but also shows that destiny can't always protect Zhou people, and will definitely leave Zhou people like leaving businessmen in the future. In the literature, we can see that the reason why Zhou people thought that the destiny left the merchants and came to them was the same as the reason why the destiny left the Xia people and came to the merchants. It was because the kings of these two dynasties gradually lost their virtue in the process of keeping the destiny, so that the sky could not stand it, so they abandoned them. "I smell but yue, in yesterday Yin Xianzhe Wang Di fear day show wang, by virtue. As for Di Yi, the self-made soup is salty, and the king is afraid of the imperial affairs, but he is respectful and does not dare to enjoy himself. How dare he drink it? The more he takes foreign clothes, the more he takes them internally. Yin Weiya, a hundred servants, only takes the Zonggong to live among the people, and dares not indulge in wine. Not only dare not, but also overwhelmed ... I smell only yue, in the future, heir to the king, drunk, lost his life, useless to the people, it is not easy to protect the more resentment. It's not Yi's sex ... It's only wine, not self-interest, but escape. It's a terrible heart disease, so you can't be afraid of death ... Therefore, heaven is mourning for Yin, and you don't love Yin, but escape. Heaven is not abusive, but the people are quick to recover. "-"Shangshu Jiugao "The main idea above is that the sages of the Yin and Shang Dynasties were all afraid of the destiny and the people and practiced the policy of virtue. From Chengtang to Di Yi, I was able to keep my destiny well, and I didn't dare or have time to indulge in wine. Until Shang Zhouwang, I thought that my destiny was always there, so I was addicted to wine and wine without listening to advice, and even more ignored the lives of the people. Therefore, "Heaven lost me in Yin" was not cruel, but the sin and punishment incurred by the Yin people themselves. Zhou Wang was addicted to debauchery. In other early documents, Duke Zhou repeatedly mentioned the problem of "matching heaven with virtue", such as: "I left many scholars in Yin, and I lost my life in Yin. I have Zhou You's life, and I will be punished by the king, and I will be punished by the king, and I will finally be emperor ... unless my small country dares to swim in Yin's life. Only if the sky does not allow me to be chaotic, how dare I seek a position? Only the emperor is not jealous, only I am obedient to the people, but I am afraid of the morning. "-"Shangshu Toz "to the effect that Shang Zhouwang had no respect for heaven, which led to disaster on Yin's head. If it was not for God's assistance to Zhou people, how dare Zhou people seek the throne without authorization? Because there is a great fate from heaven, we should fear it. "Similar warnings have also appeared in the titles of The Book of History, such as Duofang, Kang Gao and Zhao Gao, all of which warn the rulers and their ruling groups that only by respecting and cultivating morality can destiny protect Zhou's ruling for a long time." Heaven has no relatives, but virtue is auxiliary "is not only the basis for destiny to choose and abandon Xia and Shang dynasties, but also the basis for destiny to choose or abandon Zhou people in the future." Therefore, how can we pass on good virtue to heaven, so that it can be known and recognized by heaven? Under the background of this appeal, the Zhou people once again demonstrated their great wisdom as "allies" and threw out the saying that "the destiny lies in the people's hearts". They thought that the match of virtue with heaven was to respect morality and protect the people in the final analysis. Similarly, for example, Cheng Tang replaced Xia Jie and King Wu replaced Shang Zhou. They succeeded because they first respected morality and protected the people and won the hearts of the people, so they were also blessed by destiny. " God bless the people, be the king, and be the teacher, only he can respect God and spoil all sides ... Heaven favors the people, and the people will do what they want ... Heaven regards itself as the people and listens to them. "-"Shangshu Thai Oath "In the chapter" Shangshu Thai Oath ",which records the swearing-in of princes from all walks of life who came to the alliance, there are many sentences that reflect the view that" the destiny is the people's heart ". For example, the main idea of the above quotation is that God protects the people and establishes monarchs and teachers for them. When he (the monarch) can help God (by protecting his people), he can love and settle the world. The monarch only "acts for heaven", which is arranged by God to protect Li Min and the world on behalf of heaven ... God loves people, and whatever people want, God will certainly obey ... What God sees comes from what my people see; What God hears comes from what my people hear. It is not difficult to imagine that on such a grand occasion, Zhou Wuwang said these words, which is equivalent to showing his future "policy agenda", which has played a huge positive role in promoting the submission of more vassals and the arrangement of the old place of Yin Shang after the second gram of Shang (of course, this was unexpected by King Wu). Xia Jie's loss of virtue led to Shang Tang's fate in the summer, and the destiny was transferred from the summer to the Shang Dynasty; Zhou Wang lost his virtue, which led to the fate of Zhou Wuge, and the destiny was transferred from business to Zhou. The wisdom of Zhou people lies in that they realized the truth that "destiny is impermanent" from the above facts, so they should find ways to keep it; It is also recognized that the way to keep the destiny is to match heaven with virtue, and the concrete performance of matching heaven with virtue is to always pay attention to respecting morality and protecting the people, and destiny is public opinion. In the process of systematizing this theory, Zhou people not only fully and reasonably explained their reasons for replacing Yin Shang as the new ruler, but also solemnly warned their descendants how to conform to the destiny and public opinion with the conclusion that "although they don't know what the future holds, as long as they can respect morality and protect the people." Portrait of the Duke of Zhou, and in this whole set of operations from theory to practice, we can always feel the strong sense of hardship that Zhou people always have. In order not to be abandoned by destiny, we must be cautious and "don't forget the hardships of our predecessors", otherwise, Zhou people themselves will probably face the same ending as Xia Jie and Shang Zhou. Historical facts seem to have repeatedly proved the correctness of Zhou people's theory of "destiny", presenting us with an immortal truth that the prosperity of the people makes the country prosperous and the decline of the people makes the country dangerous. In the first five articles of the special series "Re-understanding the Western Zhou Dynasty", we introduced the origin of Zhou people and their ancestor Hou Ji, who was abandoned at birth, but had an extraordinary temperament and was proficient in farming. Later, he became the ancestor of the Zhou Dynasty and the god of society introduced the master designer of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Zhou Gong, and the sage in the eyes of Confucius and Mencius. How did he become the first "historical figure" in China? , introduced the evolution of hundreds of vassal states divided by the Duke of Zhou from "many but small" to "few but strong" and gradually moved towards a unified empire. Where did the tradition of "unification" come from in China? This paper also introduces the disappearance of the class of "Chinese people" who once held real power in this process, and the historical trend of "Chinese people" in the Western Zhou Dynasty from the perspective of "Chinese riots" and "Tian's usurpation of Qi". It also introduces the evolution of the title system from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Qin and Han Dynasties, and the identity of the pre-Qin characters "contempt chain": how did the title change from five to twenty? And the marriage system of the Western Zhou Dynasty which served the feudal system and patriarchal clan system. Do you think that the ancients "never married with the same surname" were stupid children who were afraid of life? In fact, it was the marriage system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and these are the history that we can see or restore through historical materials today. But after all, history is only a phenomenon. Only by understanding the philosophical concepts behind these phenomena, as the actual operators of systems or regulations, can we understand those phenomena and the present that is still affected by them more deeply. In the next article, we will see how the decline of the Western Zhou Dynasty "perfectly" verified the conclusion thrown by their founders. Reference reading: Du Yong's On Zhou People's Thought of Destiny; Huang Aimei's History of Western Zhou Dynasty