Liu Junning: Why have they all "respected Confucius" in all dynasties?
Author: Liu Junning
Mr. Liu Junning
It is undeniable that Confucius was very yearning for the position of the emperor and the role that the emperor could play, so he traveled around the world. Why did the emperors and tyrants of all dynasties value Confucius so much and named him the master of all ages? What did Confucius advocate that won the favor of the emperors so much? I think that what the kings valued most was Confucius and later Confucianism's doctrine of kings and ministers.
The essence of the imperial division is how to teach the emperor to turn the people of the world into subjects of the king, no matter how good his intentions are, in terms of effect, it is to consolidate the pattern of the relationship between the monarch and the minister, and expand the order of the relationship between the monarch and the minister. Interestingly, Confucius's discourse on partnership and the relationship between kings and ministers is all concentrated in the chapter of his Analects of Yan Yuan. "Do not do unto others as you would have them do unto you", "Within the four seas, all brothers are also", "Monarchs, ministers, fathers, sons" are all from this chapter, is it a coincidence? Yan Yuan is perhaps the most important chapter in the Analects.
In the Confucian moral and political order, the relationship between the monarch and the subject is the highest and most important relationship. In response to a question from the monarch of Qi about how to govern the country, Confucius said: "The monarch and the minister, the father and the son. Qi Jinggong comprehended, was overjoyed, and immediately continued: "Good! Faith is like a king is not a king, a minister is not a minister, a father is not a father, a son is not a son, although there is corn, I have to eat everything? ”
The two sides reached a high degree of consensus: the monarch should be like the monarch, and the minister should be the minister; The father must be like a father, and the son should be like a son. Only when all members of society abide by the political order of "the supremacy of the king" can the country be stable. The relationship between the monarch and the minister in China later evolved into "the monarch wants the minister to die, the minister has to die, the father wants the son to die, and the son has to die", and Confucius's proposition that "the monarch and the minister and the minister father and son have to die" is obviously a clear source. Meng Ke followed Confucius's train of thought and scolded people without kings and fathers as beasts. Wen Tianxiang of the Song Dynasty understood the righteousness to include the content of "the three outlines are really life, and morality is the root". Zeng Guofan is regarded as the first Confucian minister in modern times, and perhaps this sentence in his family letter is the true biography of Confucius: "There must be no words that violate the way of the Three Guidelines." The monarch is the minister, the father is the son, and the husband is the wife, which is the place where the earth and the pillar of heaven depend. ......Although the king is unkind, the minister must not be disloyal; Although the Father is unkind, the Son must not be unfilial; Although the husband is not virtuous, the wife must not be disobedient. (Zeng Wenzheng's Complete Works, Family Motto Volume II).
Indeed, Confucius also said: "The king makes the ministers courteous, and the ministers serve the king with loyalty." Meng Ke also declared: "The king regards the minister as a sibling, and the minister regards the king as a heart; The monarch regards the minister as a dog and a horse, and the minister regards the monarch as a countryman; The king regards his ministers as mustard, and the ministers regard him as an enemy" ("Leaving Louxia"). But, oneOnce the position of the monarch is unshakable, any people-oriented thinking that the people are the foundation of the state will be useless in the face of a strong monarchy. Meng Ke said that "the people are precious" and "the king is light", and advocated that tyrants can be punished and killed. However, even after the killing, it is still necessary to return to the pattern of monarchs and ministers dominated by kings. When there is a tyrant, history repeats itself. This is indeed how China's history has come and gone.
Confucius and Mencius's people-oriented thinking is still from the position of the king. Even if the king prioritizes the interests of the people, he ultimately implements it to protect his own country. Behind such a people-oriented is still the king-oriented. Confucius and later Confucians also advocated benign and benign interaction between kings and ministers, and some Confucian scholars made unremitting efforts to defend the dignity of their subjects before the king. Meng Ke even said, "Do one injustice, kill one innocent, and win the world, you can't do it." (Gongsun Choushang).According to the political logic built into this sentence, the world is private and can be obtained by violence. If it is a person who is killed for a heinous crime, who deserves it, and who is extremely angry with the people, it is also appropriate to kill as many such people as he wants to take over the world.
One of my important differences with some Confucians is that I believe that it is not enough to criticize and resist tyrants, and that even virtuous monarchs should not be obeyed, and that the political order based on the relationship between monarchs and subjects must be fundamentally rejected. A political order based on the relationship between kings and subjects, whether the king is virtuous or tyrannical, has no moral or political legitimacy. Acknowledging the supremacy of the king's power and insisting on the pattern of kings and ministers is tantamount to advocating the private ownership of the world and the legitimacy of rule based on violence. As long as the power of the king is absolute and the order of the king and the order of the king and the subjects is unchanging, it is impossible to have an effective restraint on the king. Advocating disobedience to the virtuous monarch does not mean that the king cannot do good deeds, but that the pattern of the monarch and the minister itself is evil and unjust, and will not change because of the king's wisdom.
Confucius, and later Confucianism, first placed the king at an unshakable pinnacle of power, and then distinguished between good and bad. At this point, even if it is good or bad, it is already too late. Regardless of whether it is a virtuous monarch or a tyrant, the relationship between the monarch and the minister is essentially the best. The pattern of monarchs and ministers itself is a ** pattern, how can it be possible to change the moral attributes of the pattern of monarchs and ministers by looking forward to the monarch? Once the absolute domination of the tiger and wolf over the sheep is established, with the tiger and wolf as the king and the sheep as the minister, and then to defend the dignity of the sheep and ask the tiger and wolf to be self-disciplined, it is not only futile but also hypocritical. When the pattern of kings and ministers and absolute loyalty to the king are established, any small scolding becomes a greater help. As long as it does not touch the pattern of monarchs and ministers, even if it is as fierce as Meng Ke who advocates killing tyrants, it will be useless, it is easy to sacrifice his life, and it is impossible to take righteousness.
Therefore, advocating the relationship between kings and ministers between people is advocating **. Those who advocate the pattern of monarchs and ministers are the best knowledge bodyguards; Those who advocate partnership are the intellectual bodyguards of freedom. Specific to Confucius, he is not only the best intellectual bodyguard, but also the intellectual bodyguard of freedom. If all emperors are pseudo-prophets, then Confucius is half a true prophet and half a pseudo-prophet! It turns out that there is such an internal conflict of opposition in Confucius's thought, and it is no wonder that Confucius and Confucianism's supporters and opponents have always been at loggerheads.