The society of the late Ming Dynasty with its surging ideological trends, changing wind and clouds, and beautiful scenes, constituted a unique landscape of the last dynasties of the past dynasties. At that time, scholars who had suffered great changes in society had to rise up and think about a good way to save the world, and the late Ming scholar Lu Kun was quite representative.
Lü Kun (1536-1618), the word Shu Jian, the word Xinwu or Xinwu, called himself a solitary man, a person who was "just Jieqiao Zhi", an official to the criminal department, and "upright and upright" in the court, and was once praised for his character and personality of "good and evil in me, and reputation is ruined by people" ("Pseudo-Zhai Anthology, Self-written Epitaph").
In many works represented by "Moaning Words", Lu Kun expressed his eagerness to re-establish the moral standards of the late Ming Dynasty by expounding his experience and insights on governing the country and self-cultivation and dealing with the world: "He deduces the physics of human feelings, studies the internal and external public and private, and is painful, which makes people think sharply at the moment, ridicules the magic needle of the skull, and is the good medicine for the bitter mouth." (Preface to the Collection of Lü Language).
In the Jiajing and Wanli eras where Lu Kun lived, materialism was rampant, "shame" had been gradually forgotten, and the social moral system was on the verge of collapse. The whole situation is as Lu Kun described: "The people's hearts are like the truth, and the fire is a little flame in the sky;."State affairs are like a rout, and the hands touch the liquid all over the ground. In the face of this situation, Lu Kun painfully felt the importance of rebuilding social morality, and he painfully pointed out that "five punishments are not as good as one shame" ("Moaning and Moaning, Governing the Dao"), that is, no matter how cruel the punishment is, it is better for people to understand the word "shame", and it is more important to educate people to understand that honesty and shame are more important than heavy punishments. When people's moral standards are raised, they know what shame is, what should be done and what should not be done, and they will be able to distinguish between right and wrong. People have a "heart of shame", shame is the beginning of goodness, and shamelessness is the beginning of evil. An important reason why people turn right and wrong upside down, regard ugliness as beauty, take shame as pride, and do all kinds of immoral things is that they are not ashamed. In a series of writings such as "Moaning Words", Lü Kun hopes to reawaken the shame in people's hearts and rebuild the Confucian moral system of cultivating Qi and governing peace.
Lü Kun's efforts to reconstruct the Confucian moral system of Qi Zhiping were first embodied in the moral norms for the monarch and officials at all levels. Lu Kun believes that the responsibility for the corruption of the late Ming Dynasty lies first with the noble and sage, because "the noble and the sage are the great beetles of educating customs" ("Moaning and Governing the Dao"), and it was these upper-class figures with power and knowledge who brought the customs of the late Ming society to ruin. Lü Kun deeply reflected on the social reality of the mediocrity of the monarch and the corruption of the officials since Jiawan, and clearly pointed out that the monarch should follow the moral norms through an in-depth analysis of the relationship between the monarch and the people. He pointed out, "The people of heaven are not kings;The ruler of heaven thinks that the people are also. The purpose of the "heaven" and the "king" is to make it serve the "people", and the monarch should be diligent and love the people to reflect the will of heaven. Lu Kun warned the monarch not to forget the role of the people: "Who is the one who eats this basket of rice and gets the bottom?."Who wears this silk to weave and dye the bottom?How should I live in the high hall of the building?How should I ride the car?He believed that the monarch should ask himself questions of the question, and should never forget that "he has a warm rest, and thinks of the work of the author."Enjoy the joy of honor, and think of the suffering of the donor" ("Moaning Words: Responding to Affairs"). Lü Kun hated the corruption in the officialdom at that time, which "did not think about the people's livelihood and ran for the world", and advocated that officials should "take Yiyin's ambition as their own responsibility and take the welfare of the society as their own responsibility" ("To the Pseudo-Zhai Anthology: He Shi Yuhou Bitang"), devote himself to civil affairs, care about the people's welfare, and be honest and honest. "Being an official is hard work, and being an official is a hard worker", so that the people are at peace with each other for political leaders. He also concluded: "There are five important points for a resident official, Hugh asks one thing wrongly, Hugh beats a person, Hugh wastes a penny of wealth, Hugh works lightly, and Hugh takes a penny." Lu Kun himself is also actively practicing the various ideas of promoting the good and eliminating the disadvantages, and strict self-discipline, and it is based on this spirit that he dares to risk his life to fiercely criticize the mediocrity and greed of the Wanli Emperor.
Lu Kun has a detailed analysis of the greed that spread in the materialistic society of the late Ming Dynasty, and he pointed out: "Only one greedy love, the first is cheap and shameful." Sheep and horses are to aquatic plants, flies and ants are to fishy flesh, and dung beetles are to dung accumulation, all of which are this idea. It is a gentleman who controls desire. He wanted people to control their desires and behaviors in accordance with Confucian moral requirements and principles. In "Anxiety and Sparseness", Lu Kun directly rebuked the greed of Emperor Wanli: "The wealth of the world is limited to this number, if the king wants to be rich, the world will be poor, and if the world is poor, how can the king be rich?"Therefore, it is said: Those who want to be with the people will enjoy the people together;Those who want to dictate the people, the people will take them together. He also talked about the need for moderation and moderation in life, "Guarding against desire is like turning the tide against the water, and then you will be downstream;Strength is like a tree without branches, and it falls before it stops. It is a gentleman's heart and always without fear. This means that preventing the expansion of desire is like pulling a boat against the current, and if you don't use any force, the boat will flow downDoing good deeds is like climbing a tree that has no branches, and then you will slide down when you stop your feet. Therefore, a gentleman should always be in awe and remind and warn himself from time to time.
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