How is the "people-oriented" thought of Zuo Zhuan reflected?

The idea of "people-oriented" in Zuo Zhuan is mainly reflected in the following aspects.

First, the people are the basis of the power of the ruler. For example, in Zuo Zhuan (《Zuo Zhuan》), it is written in the year of mourning that the Wu division invaded Chen because Chen was not willing to stand on the side of Wu when King Helu of Wu invaded Chu twelve years ago. "When Wu's division was in Chen, all Chu's great officials were afraid, and said: 'King Helu was only able to use his people to defeat me at Paju. Now I heard that his heir (referring to King Fu-chai of Wu) and even more, what will happen?' Zi Xi said: 'If the two or three sons don't get along with each other, there will be no trouble for Wu. In the past, Helu's food did not have two flavors, did not have a heavy seat, did not have an altar, did not have a tool, did not have a palace, did not have a boat, did not have a car, did not take the cost of clothes and property. In the country, when there is a calamity, he will visit the orphans and widows and **** their needs. In the army, the cooked food was divided and then dared to eat it, and the pawns shared what they tasted with them. The people were not afraid to work hard, and they knew that they would not be absent when they died. My predecessor, Daifu Zi, was always easy on them, and that's why they defeated me. Now I heard that Fu Chia, the second has a table and pavilions and ponds, and there are concubines and ladies; a day's journey, the desire will be accomplished, and the fun will be followed; treasures are the gathering, and the view of the music is the service; the people are treated like enemies, and the use of the day to the new. If you have already defeated yourself, how can you defeat me?'"

Twelve years ago, Wu attacked Chu, into the capital city of Ying, Chu almost died. At this time, King Fu-chai of Wu's army looks stronger than at the time of King Helu, so the Chu state's great doctors were shocked at the sight of Wu's troops. This was not without reason. But Zi Xi was the only one who saw the depth of the problem. He pointed out that Helu's strength was based on his love for the people and their cooperation, while Fu-chai's "strength" was based on his abuse of the people's power, which in fact prepared the way for his own failure and could not be a real threat to Chu. ZiXi saw that the power of a ruler ultimately depended on the will of the people, showing that the real basis of the power of a ruler was the people.

Secondly, the purpose of establishing a ruler is to protect the people. For example, in the thirteenth year of the reign of Duke Wen in Zuo Zhuan (《Zuo Zhuan》), it is written: "Duke Zhuwen made a plan to relocate his residence in Yie. Shi said: 'Benefit the people but not the ruler.' The Duke said: 'If you are favorable to the people, you are also favorable to me. It is in my interest to benefit the people and the ruler of the country. Now that the people are benefited, I will work with them.'' The left and right said: 'life can be long, why do not you do? Zhu Zi said: 'life in the support of the people. The death of the short and long, the time is also. If the people are lucky enough to move, there is no better way.' So he moved to Yie. In May, Duke Zhuwen died. The gentleman said: 'Know your destiny.'"

This quotation contains both the thoughts of Duke Zhuwen and those of the author of the Zuo Zhuan (左传), who commented on the thoughts of Duke Zhuwen. When the divination indicated that the relocation of the capital was good for the people and not good for the ruler, Duke Wen recognized that it was good for the people and good for the ruler, because he believed that the purpose of the heavenly ruler was to feed the people, and if he did not think of benefiting the people, he would not be worthy of being a ruler; and that only if it could benefit the people could it be considered good for the ruler, and only if it could be good for the ruler could it be considered good for the ruler. Therefore, he did not oppose the benefit of the people to the benefit of the ruler, but recognized that the benefit of the people was the benefit of the ruler. However, his right and left sides thought that moving the capital would jeopardize the king's life, and that not moving the capital would be beneficial to the king. They considered the king's life as an individual rather than his mission as a ruler. Therefore, Duke Zhuwen explained the meaning of fate to them. He said, "The life of the ruler is to feed the people", and this "life" is the mission of the ruler, while the life of an individual is just a matter of time, which is of no great significance. Therefore, he was determined to move to the other side of the country. The author of Zuo Zhuan commented on Duke Zhuwen in two words: "He knew his destiny." This means that this king knew his mission as a king. This shows that the idea of establishing a king for the people was originally a kind of ideology that was spreading at that time.

One of the important features of this idea is that it is not possible to be without a people, nor without a ruler. It is important to establish a ruler for the people, as the people are the goal, but without a ruler, the goal of the people cannot be achieved, so the ruler is also important. Here there is also a tension between the ruler and the people, and the author of Zuo Zhuan maintains his people-oriented ideological tendency in this relationship.

Thirdly, if the ruler is incompetent, the people can criticize and even revolt. For example, Zuo Zhuan (左传), in the thirty-first year of Duke Xiang's reign, records: "The people of Zheng traveled to the township school to discuss the ruling government. Ran Ming said to Zi Chan, 'What about destroying the village school? Zi Chan said: 'Why? Mrs. Zi said: 'What for?' 'I'm just going to go back to the school every day and night to discuss the good or bad of the government. What is good, I will do; what is evil, I will change. I am my teacher, how can I destroy him? I've heard of loyalty and good deeds being used to minimize grievances, but I've never heard of authority being used to prevent grievances. Will it not be stopped abruptly? But it's like preventing a river. If we make a big decision, we'll hurt more people than we can save. It is not as good as a small decision to make the road, or as good as what I have heard and medicated. Ran Ming said: 'Scorn also now and then know that my son's faith can also be things. I am really not talented, if this is done, Zheng will depend on it, not only two or three ministers?' Zhongni heard this language, said: 'In view of this, people say Zi Chan is not benevolent, I do not believe it.'"

This passage illustrates both Zi Chan's idea of letting the people criticize the rulers and Confucius' approval of Zi Chan's idea. According to Zi Chan, only when the ruler hears the people's criticisms can he correct his mistakes in time and benefit the people; and only by benefiting the people can he avoid the accumulation of the people's antipathy, and thus avoid a great political turmoil. This can be said to benefit both the people and the ruler. In this tension between the ruler and the people, Zi Chan and the author of Zuo Zhuan, who borrowed the words of Confucius to express his thoughts, insisted on the ideological tendency of putting the people first.

Another example is that in the winter of the 18th year of Zhuang Duke, Zuo Zhuan recorded that the Ba people attacked Chu, and in the spring of the following year, it was recorded that: "Chu Zi (referring to the King of Wen) attacked Chu, and was greatly defeated at Jin; he returned to the city, and sold his fists in a way that he did not want to be defeated. He then attacked Huang and defeated Huang's division at Shimling. When he returned to Chu, he was sick; he died in June, Geng Shen. In the sixth month, he died. He committed suicide and was buried in a dormitory. At the beginning of the war, Chu Zi was strongly remonstrated by Strain Fist, but Chu Zi refused to comply; he was afraid to comply when he was confronted by his soldiers. He said, 'I am afraid that the king will use military force, but I am guilty of no greater crime. So he amputated himself. The people of Chu thought that he was a great doorkeeper, and called him "Dabo". Make his back in charge of the. The gentleman said: 'sell fist can be said to love the king carry on; admonition to the self to the penalty, the penalty still do not forget to accept the king in the good.'"

Steined fist for their own king, on the one hand, dared to implement military advice, even in the defeat of the king refused to return to the country; on the other hand, after doing these things, but also very frightened, to the point of self-punishment, suicide. This is obviously a very contradictory phenomenon, what is the reason for this? When he remonstrated and refused the king, he thought that the king had not done his duty, and thus he had to use all means to urge or force the king to do his duty; when he committed violence against the king, he thought that he had committed the crime of insulting the king, and thus he did not dare to love himself and committed suicide. It is because he consciously realized the latter point that he did the former point not out of wantonness to harm the ruler, but out of love for the country and the ruler. This is the reason why the author of Zuo Zhuan said that he loved the king by selling his fists under the pretext of "gentleman". Not only the author of Zuo Zhuan realized this, but also the Chu people, otherwise, they would not have let the descendants of Zaiquan to inherit his official position to repay him. From this incident, we can see the tension between the ruler and the people, and the author of Zuo Zhuan still puts the people first in this relationship.

Another example is the thirty-second year of Zhaogong in Zuozhuan (左传), in which Duke Zhaogong of Lu died in Qianhou after many years of exile, and Zhao Jianzi, a minister of the state of Jin, asked Shimo, "What is the reason why the people of Jishi obeyed the ruler of Jishi, and the vassals were with him; and why was the ruler guilty of no crime when he died outside the state?" Shi Mo answered a large set of words, the most important of which is, "Lu Jun Shi from its loss, Ji Shi repair its diligence, the people forget the king; even if the death of the outside, who is reserved? The gods of the earth and grain have no constant service, the ruler and ministers have no constant position, since ancient times. Therefore, "Poetry" said: 'high bank for the valley, deep valley for the mausoleum.' Three queen's name, in the present for the common people, the Lord knows also."

Zhao Jianzi (鞅) saw that the ruler of Lu was exiled by Ji and died outside, and thought it was abnormal, but the people of Lu had no objection. He then asked Shi Mo what the reason was. Shi Mo's answer was very clear: firstly, logically speaking, if a ruler does not work hard for the people, he has not fulfilled his duty as a ruler; if he is a ruler and has not fulfilled his duty as a ruler, he will naturally be forgotten by the people; and if a forgotten ruler dies in exile, naturally, there will not be any protests from the people. Historically speaking, the change of dynasties and the change of the position of the ruler and the ministers have been happening since ancient times, so why is there such a change? The ultimate reason lies in the ability of the ruler to fulfill his duties as a king. If the king does not forget the people, if he is diligent in civil affairs, and if the people do not forget the king, then the throne can be maintained; otherwise, the throne cannot be maintained. The tension between the ruler and the people is still reproduced here, and the words of Shi Mo quoted in Zuo Zhuan still emphasize the people as the basis.

What better illustrates the people-oriented thinking of the author of Zuo Zhuan is the example of regicide in the fourth year of the reign of Duke Xuan: "Whenever a regicide is committed, the regent is called a ruler, but the ruler is not righteous; and when the regent is called an official, the official is guilty of the crime of the official." The so-called "call the king" means to write only the name of the killed king, not the name of the specific person who killed the king, but a certain country or a certain country's people to kill his king. Ancient people to call his name for disrespect, said the name of the king means that the king is not respect, has shown that it is not the way; not write the name of the specific killers of the king and said that a country or a country, it shows that the killing of the king is not the action of a person, but the country has been intolerable to the king, all have the heart to kill. The most noteworthy thing here is that, when a ruler is killed who is said to be killable by all the people of the country, it is not that the killer has committed a crime, but that the killed ruler should be killed because he has no sense of justice. Why? Because the king who was killed had violated his duty as a king, that is, the duty of a king to protect his people. The king and the people are also in a tense relationship, and the example of regicide in the Zuo Zhuan clearly puts the people first in this relationship.

At the time of his death, Liu An had not yet been crowned king of Huainan, so the pseudo-ancient text of the Song of the Five Sons, "the people are the basis of the state", was not originally from the Huainanzi, but from the three books mentioned above.