What did Dong Zhongshu inherit and carry forward Confucianism? What are the characteristics and influences of his thoughts?

(original 179 ~ original 104)

Thinkers and politicians in Han Dynasty. Jingdi was a doctor at that time, teaching "Ram Spring and Autumn". In the first year of Yuanguang (BC 134), Dong Zhongshu put forward the basic points of his philosophical system in his famous "Countermeasures for Giving Virtue", and proposed that "a hundred schools of thought should be ousted and Confucianism should be respected alone", which was adopted by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Later, in 10, he served as the national phase of Jiangdu Wang Liufei; In the fourth year of Yuan Shuo (before 125), he served as the minister of Liu Duan, the king of Jiaoxi, and resigned and went home four years later. Since then, writing a book at home, every time the court discussed it, the messenger and Tingwei asked about their family, which is still respected by Emperor Wu. Based on Yang Gong Chunqiu, Dong Zhongshu combined the religious view of heaven with the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements since the Zhou Dynasty, absorbed the thoughts of Legalists, Taoists and Yin-Yang School, established a new ideological system, became the official ruling philosophy of the Han Dynasty, and systematically answered a series of philosophical, political, social and historical questions raised by the society at that time.

In Dong Zhongshu's philosophical system, "heaven" is the highest philosophical concept, mainly referring to the heaven of the gods, and is a personality god with will and perception, which can dominate the fate of the world. Dong Zhongshu endowed heaven with moral attributes and made it mysterious and ethical. At the same time, Dong Zhongshu absorbed the thought of Yin-Yang and Five Elements and established a cosmic schema based on Yin-Yang and Five Elements. It is believed that the four seasons and five elements of Yin and Yang are all produced by the differentiation of Qi, and the changes of thunder, electricity, wind, rain, dew, frost and snow in the sky are all the results of the interaction of Yin and Yang. Dong Zhongshu also described the movement of celestial bodies as the expression of moral consciousness and purpose. I think that the weather is good and the sun is bad, and the morality is not good. The change of the four seasons reflects the kindness of nature, that is, having children. Dong Zhongshu added moral attributes to celestial bodies, and natural phenomena became God's conscious and purposeful activities. Even the sun, moon, stars, rain, dew, wind and frost have become the embodiment of heaven's emotion and consciousness.

Theory of induction between man and nature

Dong Zhongshu's theory of heaven-man induction has two main points:

Theological catastrophe theory. It is believed that "the country will lose its way, and the day will be the first disaster to warn it, not knowing self-examination, but being weird to prevent it, not knowing how to change it, and even harming it" ("Countermeasures"). Think that god loves the monarch.

"harmony between man and nature" and "harmony between man and nature". It is believed that "heaven has yin and yang, man has yin and yang, the yin of heaven and earth rises, and the yin of man should rise." People's Yin Qi rises, so should the Yin Qi of heaven and earth, and its way is also the same ("Spring and Autumn Stories and Class Calls"). The above two points often appear alternately or together. The theory of the connection between man and nature is far-fetched and mysterious, which hinders people's correct understanding of nature and society. He preached this theory, which also included the purpose of limiting monarchical power and safeguarding the long-term interests of the feudal landlord class.

Theory of human nature

On the basis of the induction between man and nature, Dong Zhongshu put forward his theory of human nature. He believes that man is a microcosm of the universe and a replica of the sky. It is believed that man is the center of the universe, that heaven creates man according to his own will, and that man's temperament is endowed by heaven. He said: "heaven and earth are endowed with yin and yang, and the body is endowed with greed." He also pointed out that people are different from animals and have innate goodness, but this goodness is potential and can only be transformed into humanistic goodness through education. Dong Zhongshu divides sex into "three natures" and thinks that "the nature of saints" is good and "the nature of fighting" is stupid, so neither can be named. Only "people's nature" can be named. He believes that the majority of the ruled belong to "the nature of China people", which requires the rulers to strengthen moral education.

Ethical theory

Dong Zhongshu made a theoretical summary and theological transformation of Confucian ethics in the pre-Qin period, and formed a systematic theoretical ethics system with "three cardinal guides and five permanents" as the core and the theory of the induction between man and nature and the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements as the theoretical basis. He believes that morality is the expression of "providence" and "providence". He said that "Yang is expensive and Yin is cheap, and heaven is under control". "The righteousness of husband and wife, the righteousness of father and son, all adopt the way of Yin and Yang. The monarch is Yang, the minister is Yin, the father is Yang, the son is Yin, the husband is Yang and the wife is Yin. " Starting from the theological teleology of the relationship between man and nature, Dong Zhongshu regards human nature as the qualification of "obeying heaven" and clearly points out that human nature includes two aspects: sex and emotion. He believes that the external expression of sex is benevolence, which can produce goodness; "Love" shows greed in the outside world and can produce evil. Therefore, it is necessary to control "emotion" with "sex" and "harm one's desire to stop one's emotion in order to cope with the sky". Although human nature embodies heaven and can produce good quality, it is only as far as its possibility is concerned that only by receiving moral education from "saints" can one be good. Therefore, we must use the dam of moral education to prevent the combination of evil and evil.

Dong Zhongshu inherited Confucius and Mencius' view of justice and benefit in the pre-Qin period, and put forward the idea that "the right path is not for its benefit, and it is not urgent to repair its reason", emphasizing that justice is more important than benefit. On the relationship between ambition and merit, he emphasized ambition and advocated that "ambition should be based on one's own affairs, and evil people should not wait for success". He thinks that bad motives (ambitions) can be punished without waiting for the facts.

Historical view and social and political thought

Dong Zhongshu believes that history is constantly circulating according to the three systems of red, black and white. A new king is ordered to correct his mistakes according to the three systems of red, black and white, which is easily impressed. This is called the reform of the new king, but the fundamental principle of feudal society cannot be changed, that is, "the principles of human relations, truth, politics, education, customs and significance remain unchanged." "The king has the name of restructuring, and there is no diversion." This metaphysical thought of "the sky remains unchanged and the Tao remains unchanged" will become a rigid dogma in feudal society and hinder social development in the future. In the era when Dong Zhongshu lived, land annexation became increasingly serious and class contradictions became increasingly fierce. Bureaucrats, nobles and princes plundered land on a large scale by virtue of feudal privileges, and various violations of laws and regulations were very serious. In view of these situations, Dong Zhongshu put forward measures such as "restricting people's land" and abolishing salt and iron official camp, and advocated reducing the exploitation and oppression of farmers, preserving people's power, ensuring the farming season, and making the land and labor force have a relatively stable combination, so as to ease class contradictions, promote the development of social production, and consolidate a unified feudal country. These suggestions and propositions were of progressive significance at that time. Dong Zhongshu deified Confucianism, which provided the main theoretical basis for the feudal system at that time. Therefore, he was honored as the leader of Confucianism and became an important theorist in the Han Dynasty and even in the whole feudal society of China. Dong Zhongshu has many works. According to Dong Zhongshu's biography in Han Dynasty, there are "123 articles", plus dozens of articles such as Spring and Autumn Annals and Jade Cup. There are now two collections of articles, Fan Lu in the Spring and Autumn Period and All China People by Yan Kejun.