The Debate of Righteousness and Profit in the Chinese Tradition of the Debate of Righteousness and Profit

"The Defense of Righteousness and Profit", a question of moral evaluation standards in ethics, was first unveiled in China by Confucius. He put forward in "The Analects of Confucius - Liren": "The gentleman is a metaphor for righteousness, and the villain is a metaphor for profit.

The "gentlemen" in Confucius' proposition did not refer to what he later called "people of high moral character," but rather to the "laborers," members of the ruling class of the time, including those who came to him to learn the art of ruling. Instead, it refers to the "laborers", i.e., members of the ruling class at that time, including the "scholars" who came to him to learn the art of ruling; and the "villain", which does not refer to the "despicable and shameless people" as it did later, but to the "laborers The "little man" also did not refer to "mean and shameless people" as it did later, but to "laborers", i.e., the working people who were ruled to produce and create material wealth, including commoners and slaves. Why is it so identified? We can find evidence from the Analects: Zi said, "A gentleman carries virtue, while a villain carries earth. The gentleman carries the punishment, the villain carries the favor" ("Analects of Confucius - Liren"), Confucius said: "The gentleman never forgets morality, the villain never forgets the countryside. (A gentleman cares about the rule of law, a villain misses favors). "If a gentleman learns the way, he will love others; if a small man learns the way, he will be easy to make" (Lun Yu - Yang Shou, Confucius said: if a gentleman learns the way, he will love others; if a small man learns the way, he will be easy to submit to rule). "A gentleman with courage but no justice is a chaos, a villain with courage but no justice is a thief" ("Analects - Yangguo", Confucius said: a gentleman with courage but no sense of justice will create turmoil, a villain with courage but no sense of justice will rebel and be a robber). "Gentlemen and not benevolent people have carry on Fu, there is no small people and benevolent people also" ("Analects - Xianqian", Confucius said: gentlemen among the people who are not benevolent, there is no small people and do benevolent it). From the above remarks of Confucius, it should be clear that the "Analects" in the so-called "gentleman" is not equal to the moral nobility of the people, "small man" is not a despicable and shameless people. Confucius's student Fan Chi "please learn crops", "please learn for the garden", to the teacher asked to learn to plant vegetables and crops, Confucius criticized him "small man, Fan Shu also"; this is not to scold Fan Chi This is not to scold Fan Chi "despicable and shameless" (Fan Chi is listed as one of the seventy-two sages of the disciples of Confucius), but to accuse him of his own "scholar gentleman", "laborer" identity but want to be mixed up with the "laborer". The "laborer" (the common people). Confucius demanded that "a gentleman seeks the way, not the food" ("Analects of Confucius - Wei Ling Gong"); if a gentleman wants to "learn to grow crops" and "work in the garden" and rob the common people of their work, then. "If you want to do the work of the people, then you will be discouraged from plowing, and you will be deprived of food for all of us.

Confucius put forward the ethical and moral standards above, "righteousness" belongs to the "gentleman", requiring them to follow; and "profit" attributed to the "little man", the "little man", the "little man", the "little man", the "little man", the "little man", the "little man", the "little man", the "little man". The "small man" is the one who can survive and develop as a laborer.

Confucius demanded: "The gentleman's righteousness is the top" (Lunyu - Yangguo), using "righteousness" as a guide for action; "The gentleman's righteousness is the quality" (Lunyu - Wei Linggong), using "righteousness" as a guide for action. ), to turn righteousness into his flesh and blood, and to change the nature of his thoughts; a "gentleman" should become a perfect man, and a perfect man should "think of righteousness when he sees profit" (Lunyi Xianqian"). Confucius practiced these requirements on himself and set an example by stating: "To be rich and noble without being righteous is like floating clouds to me". What is the meaning of this "righteousness" proposed by Confucius? The Meanings explains, "Righteousness is also appropriateness", and everything that is appropriate is called "righteousness". What is appropriate? Confucius proposed that "a ruler is a ruler, a minister is a minister, a father is a father, and a son is a son" ("The Analects of Confucius - Yan Yuan"), and the "Records of Rites - Rites of Passage" expanded the explanation by saying: "a father is kind, a son is filial, a brother is kind, a brother is brotherly, a sister is brotherly, a husband is righteous, a woman is obedient, an elder is favorable, a younger is obedient, a ruler is kind, a minister is loyal; the ten are called righteousness of a person". In short, "righteousness" is the ethical and moral code of being a human being that is recognized in the human heart. From today's point of view, this "righteousness" proposed by Confucius belongs to the category of spiritual civilization construction. By attributing "righteousness" to "gentlemen", Confucius was asking members of the ruling class and officials at all levels to first strengthen their moral cultivation, to "speak politically and righteously", and to do a good job of building their own spiritual civilization; only in this way can they achieve the goal of building spiritual civilization. spiritual civilization; so that they can "conduct themselves respectfully", "support the people with benefits", "make the people righteous", and "if they are upright, they will not be ordered to do so.

Confucius is the first to say that he is not a "good man".

Confucius' goal of training talents is to be a "gentleman", and if a gentleman "puts himself at the mercy of his interests, he will incur a lot of resentment" ("Analects of Confucius" - "Liren", Confucius said: "Letting one's own personal interests guide one's actions will incur a lot of resentment"). Therefore, a gentleman cannot seek personal gain. And since "small men are apt to be interested in profit," Confucius asked the "gentleman" to give benefits and favors to the common people. He suggested that one of the virtues of a "gentleman" is "to give benefits without spending money", that is, "to give benefits to the people because of what they want to give" (Lunyi - Yao yao yao). He pointed out that the "great section" of the administration of a "gentleman" should be "to perform righteousness by rites, to generate benefits by righteousness, and to benefit the people by benefits" (Zuo Zhuan - Cheng Gong Er Nian, Confucius said: "Rites and laws are used to promote morality and righteousness, morality and righteousness are used to generate benefits, and benefits are used to benefit the people. (In Zuo Zhuan - Cheng Gong Er Nian, Confucius said: "Rites and laws are used to promote morality and righteousness, morality and righteousness are used to generate benefits, and benefits are used to stabilize the people.) It is true that Confucius scorned the working people, for example, he said, "There is no such thing as a small man who is benevolent," and so on; this was naturally his mistake. However, he attributed "benefit" to the "little man" and demanded that the ruler protect and give benefits to the working people, so that the working people would become rich and the population of the educated people would grow ("the common people will continue to live"). "), Confucius proposed to "rich, teach" "Analects - Zilu", which should be the greatest civilian in the doctrine of Confucius. In contrast, those rulers and corrupt officials who compete with the people for profits and take advantage of the people should not be ashamed of themselves. Mencius inherited Confucius' ideas and particularly emphasized "righteousness". He believed that "righteousness" is "the right way for people" ("Mengzi - Tengwengong"); for the sake of "righteousness", he even expressed his willingness to give up his life: "Life, also what I want; righteousness, also what I want. For the sake of "righteousness", he even expressed his willingness to give up his life: "Life is what I desire; righteousness is what I desire; if I cannot have both, I will give up my life for righteousness" (Mengzi zi zuizi Shang).

Mengzi's view of "righteousness and profit" was criticized and disputed by later generations when he visited King Hui of Liang and said, "Why should the king say profit? There is also benevolence and righteousness only carry on ...... why say profit?" This famous "public case" is worth analyzing again.

Wang Hui Liang is King Hui of Wei. According to the "Historical Records - Wei Shijia", Wei Hui Wang "two years, Wei defeated Han in Maling, defeated Zhao in Huai"; Hui Wang three years, and Qi war, defeated; five years, for the Qin defeat; "six years to take the Song Yitai; nine years, the defeat of Han in the Hwoe; with the Qin war Shaoliang"; "In the tenth year, he took Pijuan of Zhao"; "in the sixteenth year, he invaded Huangchi of Song"; "in the seventeenth year, he fought with Qin", and lost Shaoliang; he also attacked Zhao, and "in the eighteenth year. In 17 years, he fought with Qin and lost Shaoliang; he also attacked Zhao, "in 18 years, he pulled out Handan", and was defeated by the Qi army that saved Zhao in Guiling; "in 30 years, Wei invaded Zhao, Zhao warned Qi, and King Xuan of Qi used Sun Zi's plan to save Zhao from attacking Wei; Wei then raised his army", "he fought with the Qi people and lost in Maling". From the above historical records, we can see that this King Hui of Wei ruled for more than 30 years, frequently attacking and militarizing; however, he was defeated by Qi in the east, lost land to Qin in the west, and was forced to move his capital to Daliang, which was called "King Hui of Liang".

It was only because of this difficult situation that King Hui of Liang "invited the wise with humble gifts and generous coins" to help him by paying high salaries to the wise and capable. When Mencius visited him, how did King Hui of Liang ask his question? He said: "I'm not a sycophant, the soldiers three folded in the outside, the Prince captive, on the death of the country to empty, to shame the ancestors of the temple and the gods of the earth and grain, I'm very ugly. The old man is not far away from thousands of miles, insulting to the court of the ill-equipped, what will benefit my country?" Such words, see King Hui of Liang still did not recognize his own militaristic mistakes, did not recognize the king's responsibility lies in the first "respect for heaven and protect the people", rich people teach the people. His so-called "benefit my country" does not mean that it is conducive to the wealth of the country and the people; rather, it means that he hopes that the country will be rich and strong, and that he will continue to fight to open up new territories, so as to wash away the shame and humiliation of his "ancestor's ancestral temple," and to make a better future for his "ancestor's ancestral temple," as well as for the king. "It is not a request to "benefit our country", but rather to "make our country rich and our people happy". This is not a request to "benefit my country", but purely a selfish desire to benefit him. Meng Zi bravely and ahead of his time, advocating "the people are the most important thing, the gods of earth and grain are second, the king is the least important thing", for the king of Liang Hui this kind of disregard for the people, only want to their own argument naturally disgusted, so immediately reprimanded, said: "the king why say profit!

Mengzi's discourse begins with such a high regard for benevolence and righteousness, is it not at all necessary to "profit"? No, not at all. We should first analyze "profit". The world's "profit", can be roughly divided into three kinds, namely: one, self-interest, which is one of the nature of living things, and in the individual more for the dominant aspect; self-interest is to promote the individual to forge ahead with the most important of the original force, but also because of self-interest, only to produce aggression, aggressiveness, possessiveness, big expansion; two, **** benefit, mutual benefit, which is also one of the biological nature, in the group, society, the community, and the community. One of the biological nature, in the group, society, good use of this, can survive better, more prosperous development; human society can be very good to carry forward this "benefit", such as Mozi advocated "love each other, cross benefits", it has actually penetrated into the "righteousness". Third, altruism, such as "Gouli country, life and death to the" "benefit", although called "benefit", is really purely "benefit". "Although it is called "profit", it is really pure "righteousness", which is equivalent to the "complete and thorough service to the people" advocated by the new China. Meng Fu Zi, who emphasized on "heaven and earth" and even more on "people and harmony", was against the kind of "benefit" that the rulers only wanted to benefit themselves, which was the "benefit" of the "up and down levies". Meng opposed the kind of "profit" that rulers seek only for their own benefit. Mencius called for the implementation of "benevolence and righteousness" and asked the ruler, King Hui of Liang, to: firstly, "not to violate the agricultural season"; secondly, "not to enter the stagnant water pool by counting the birds"; thirdly, "not to enter the mountain forest by axe and catty at the right time". The axe and catty should enter the mountains and forests at the right time". These three articles, the first is required to follow and make use of the laws of nature to develop production, not to conscript soldiers to fight in the busy farming season, and not to engage in the chief's will to disrupt production; the second and third against fishing and logging indiscriminately, is the requirement of the rational use of resources, to protect the ecological environment, is to take the road to promote the people's abundance of wealth and the country's "sustainable development". This is to follow a path of "sustainable development" that promotes the prosperity of the people and the country. What Mencius hoped to achieve in this way was that "the people would not be hungry or cold", "the people would not be shaken by life and death", "the seventy would be clothed in silk and eat meat", and "the people would be taught by the Ziangwei school and would be taught by the Ziwei school, and would be taught by the Zangwei school. The people will not be hungry or cold", "the people will be able to feed themselves and die without fear", "the seventy will be clothed with silk and eat meat", "the people will be careful with the teachings of the ziang, and they will be taught the righteousness of filial piety and fraternal duty, and those who are awarded white will not be burdened with the road" (Mengzi - King Hui of Liang); that is to say, they will be stabilized, enriched and educated. These propositions propagated by Mencius to King Hui of Liang were beneficial to the people; when the people were stabilized, the country could be consolidated, and thus beneficial to the state. It is clear that Mencius' ideas are mutually beneficial to the people, the state and the monarch, **** beneficial, "win-win", both win. These advocacies of Mencius, which emphasized the people over the ruler and opposed attack and invasion, were not conducive to the ruler's militaristic dominance and enjoyment of prestige, and thus were regarded as pedantic and pedantic, and were not welcomed by short-sighted and bad rulers. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of Ming Dynasty, even made a decision to expel Mencius from the Temple of Literature and disallowed to accompany Confucius with Mencius, so it is obvious that Mencius was y disliked. From the perspective of today's people, these ideas of Mencius are indeed worthy of our inheritance and development! Dong Zhongshu inherited the ideas of Confucius and Mencius and became a great Confucian scholar of the Western Han Dynasty; he suggested that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "depose all schools of thought and revere only the Confucians", which earned Confucianism an orthodox status in China's feudal society for more than 2,000 years. Dong Zhongshu's view of "righteousness and profit" was originally more comprehensive; he said in the Spring and Autumn Dew - The Nurturing of the Body is Not More Important than Righteousness: "The birth of a human being in heaven is also a means of giving birth to righteousness and profit. The man born in heaven is made to live in righteousness and profit. Profit is used to nourish his body, and righteousness is used to nourish his heart. The heart cannot be happy without righteousness, and the body cannot be at peace without profit. However, his sentence, "To be righteous and not to seek profit, to be clear and not to count one's achievements," has been questioned, criticized and attacked by many people since then. I would like to argue here that Dong Zhongshu was not wrong at that time and should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.

According to the "Book of Han - Dong Zhongshu Biography", Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was on the throne, and raised the scholarly and literary scholar; Dong Zhongshu presented the famous "Three Strategies of the Heavenly Beings" one after another, which was appreciated by the Emperor, and he was appointed as the phase of Jiangdu to serve the King of Yi. King Yi was the brother of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, who was "proud and courageous", and relied on Dong Zhongshu to "correct his behavior with the help of righteousness". According to "The Book of Han - Dong Zhongshu's Biography", on that occasion, King Yi said to Dong Zhongshu: "King Goujian of Yue, together with his great physicians, Dajiaoyong, Seed and Li, plotted to invade Wu, and then destroyed it. Confucius said that Yin had three benevolences, and I also thought that Yue had three benevolences. While Duke Huan was skeptical of Guan Zhong, I was skeptical of the king." To Dong Zhongshu to attack the matter of inquiry, to assist the hegemony of the task entrusted, it can be said that at this time in the heart of the King of Yi is the first signs of a rebellion against the idea of rebellion. When Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty, Wu, Chu and other seven vassals rebelled, causing disaster and suffering to the country and the people. Dong Zhongshu's words of prevention and cure were directed at King Yi's delusion and mistake. He quoted the Spring and Autumn sage Liu Xiahui said, "I heard that the invasion of the country does not ask the benevolence of the people, why this statement to me," words, cautioned King Yi said: "in vain to see the question ear, and still shy, let alone set up a fraud to invade the Wu? From this point of view, the Yue originally did not have a benevolent. A benevolent man is one who is correct in his friendship and does not seek his own profit, and who is clear about his own way and does not count his own achievements. This is why the five-foot boy from Zhongni's family was ashamed to be called "Wu Bo" (Ba), because he swindled power before benevolence and friendship." From this, we can see that Dong Zhongshu's so-called "benevolent people, the right friendship not to seek their own profit, the clear way not to count their achievements" is not a generalized statement, but has its own specific target. The benevolent gentleman is only concerned with morality and righteousness (friendship), and does not seek merits and benefits; Dong Zhongshu's words, in view of the fact that "a gentleman who has courage but no righteousness is a chaotic one", praises the character of the "benevolent man" in the hope of eliminating the seedling of the idea of courage and rebellion in the heart of King Yi, and ensuring the stability and unity of the country. This is why he praises the character of the "benevolent man" in the hope of eliminating the idea of rebellion in King Yi's heart and ensuring the stability and unity of the country. Even if this sentence is expanded, it can only be directed at the rulers and officials at all levels, warning them not to be greedy for fame and fortune, and not to use their selfish and evil thoughts to stir up trouble and harm the country and the people; instead, they should base themselves on righteousness and take the stability and happiness of the country and the people as the ultimate goal. Therefore, these words of Dong Zhongshu are not "broad-minded" and "pedantic", but also very educational and meaningful. As for the fact that some people later on applied these words of Dong Zhongshu to laborers and people in general, thus leading to fallacies, we can only blame them for taking the words of Dong Zhongshu out of context and "reading a book to death", and then spreading falsehoods and falsehoods to others; that is the fault of those who came after them, and we cannot blame Dong Zhongshu for this fault. With Han Fei's idea of "the rule of law" as his guide, Emperor Qin Shi Huang "fought for the remaining strength of the Six Dynasties, wielded a long strategy and harnessed the world, swallowed the two Zhous and destroyed the vassals" (Jia Yi, "A Discourse on Excessive Qin"), accomplished the great cause of unifying China, and set up a united feudal monarchical dynasty. For a while, Han Fei's doctrine of "rule of law" became the ruling ideology of the Qin dynasty. However, as a result of the substitution of law for virtue and the accumulation of popular discontent, the Qin dynasty, after a brief reign of only fifteen years, was overthrown in a storm of peasant uprisings, and was succeeded by the Western Han dynasty. The Qin dynasty succeeded in unifying China and seizing power by applying Legalism, but failed in ruling the people and consolidating power. This had a profound impact on the Han rulers to learn a lesson from it, to re-conceptualize the relationship between virtue and law, and then to affirm the important role of moral education. In terms of ethical thinking, this process was the transformation of the Han rulers from agreeing with Confucian ethical values to establishing Confucian ethics as the orthodoxy.

(1) in the failure of the rule of the lessons identified with Confucianism Liu Bang built the early years of the Han Dynasty, under the inspiration of Lu Jia, y felt the need to summarize the historical lessons of the "Qin Dynasty and the death of the two", Lu Jia pointed out that: "the Qin Dynasty is not do not want to rule, but the loss of all initiatives to tyrannize the masses and the use of punishment is too extreme, so also. " ("New Words Without Being") Lu Jia believed that the strategies for seizing power and consolidating power were different, and that Qin did not know the difference between me and the fall. Accordingly, Lu Jia put forward his "long-lasting technique" of "utilizing both the military and the civilization" (Shiji Sheng Lu Jia Liezhuan). That is to say, the rule of the country could not rely solely on the violence of punishment, i.e., the "martial" hand, but must also rely on the "benevolence and righteousness" (moral education), i.e., the "literary" hand. And compared to the two, when "benevolence and righteousness as a nest", enlightenment as a service. Lu Jia said: "Benevolence is to rule relatives, and righteousness is to benefit the honorable. The world will not be in chaos, but will be ruled by benevolence and righteousness." （That is to say, only by practicing the rule of benevolence and righteousness can the world be brought to peace.

(2) The Origin of "Exclusive Respect for Confucianism" in Feudal Society

The reason why Confucianism was eventually honored by the feudal rulers as the orthodoxy and set to be the first to be honored, of course, had the specific historical reasons mentioned above, according to the more direct political morality of Confucianism to adapt to their own methods of production and in the chain of feudal society in China is unique, or rather, it is not. social structure was unique or, in other words, met the needs of the feudal rulers to perpetuate their rule.

Through the social changes of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period and the feudal system established during the Qin and Han Dynasties, the small peasant economy of the one-family household was the economic basis for its survival. At the same time, the farmers and the economic situation, according to the central system county part, the establishment of the family name, the formation of a natural geographic patriarchal organization of the new system that is called the family patriarchal system. This system uses the network of blood relations, according to the "five services", "nine clans" system and the principle of kinship, respect and respect for the internal members of the family and the family cohesion into a well-organized patriarchal **** the same body. The characteristics and tenacity of this community, which can be built up in any region by the natural proliferation of the population, are the basic form of social organization, and at the same time are the direct bearers of social production. Thus, sustaining this social structure also ensures smallholder production, thus consolidating the natural economy that combines agriculture and handicrafts. Because of this, the family stabilizes the feudal patriarchal relations and is a powerful lever for social order and rules. The basic function of Confucian ethical thinking centered on benevolence, righteousness and morality lies in "listing the rites of the ruler, the father and the son, the order of husband and wife, the difference between the eldest and the youngest," and maintaining the patriarchal hierarchy. It was in this light that the rulers of the Han Dynasty adopted Dong Zhongshu's proposal to "abolish the hundred schools of thought and revere only the Confucians".