In 1688, that is, in the twenty-seventh year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the seventy-eight-year-old Huang Zongxi began to consider the aftermath, and at this time he was already a famous Confucian in the world, and Gu Yanwu and Wang Fuzhi were collectively known as the three major thinkers of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
At this time, Huang Zongxi, as a generation of Confucians, made a shocking decision, he wrote to his son Huang Baijia, who was far away in Beijing, asking him to be buried naked after death, and a stone stirred up thousands of waves, and the entire Huang family, including the social elites, knew about this matter, and they were all confused and completely unable to accept this request.
The so-called naked burial is not buried without clothes, and the naked burial mentioned by Huang Zongxi here is a concept corresponding to the oldest traditional thick burial in Confucianism.
Confucianism advocated thick burial from Confucius, and even some people in later generations said that Confucius was the grandfather of the funeral industry, and even later, confucians monopolized the funeral industry, and that little life was very good.
The ancients said that thick burial, is a manifestation of filial piety, the most direct performance is the number of layers of the coffin, the ancients are earth burial, we usually say that the coffin is a general term, in fact, the inside is called the coffin, the outside is called the rafter, the highest level of funeral outside can be wrapped in seven layers, this is the rule of the Son of Heaven.
The princes and doctors are decreasing in turn, the funeral can be said to be the most valued etiquette system in Confucianism, there is no one, much more solemn than marriage, what clothes to wear at the funeral, can not be wrong at all, if it is wrong, there may be a disaster of killing.
According to Huang Zongxi's level, not to mention many layers, at least a coffin and a rafter are to be had, and with his identity and the child's own identity strength, his child was an official in the Qing Dynasty, and Huang Zongxi's coffin itself will not be too shabby.
In ancient times, Chinese, after middle age, were proud to have a good coffin, which was the same as the emperor building a mausoleum for himself as soon as he succeeded to the throne, and there was nothing unlucky.
Thick burial can be said to have always been a Chinese tradition, and it is also a must for everyone who pursues Confucian ethics, although as early as the time of Confucius, Mozi had raised objections to thick burial, believing that this had caused a great waste of social resources.
However, the reason why this system has been retained shows that the positive value it contains is huge, and it is very important for rallying people's hearts and maintaining social stability.
However, a letter from Huang Zongxi to his son, like the sky was pierced through a layer of holes, Huang Zongxi made it clear that he would be buried the next day after his death, which was against "long mourning", and Qin Keqing in "Dream of the Red Chamber" stopped the spirit for 7749 days to show solemnity.
"Funeral dress", when buried, only want to dress the same as daily - this is to refuse to buy special birthday clothes, against "more clothes", these are advocating frugality, it seems that there is nothing, the most shocking thing is to say, "place a stone bed, no coffin".
This is a complete abandonment of the Confucian etiquette, this matter not only Huang Zongxi needs great courage, the key pressure is his children, to know that his funeral must be his son, if it is really in accordance with Huang Zongxi's will, this does not know how many people to talk about.
Huang Zongxi is this old fool, of course not, when he wrote this letter, there were still seven years before his death, during which time his son mobilized all his strength to persuade his father, but in the end Huang Zongxi was not moved, insisting on his idea, that is, to bury naked, as a generation of Great Confucian Huang Zongxi, in the end this is to deviate from Confucianism, why would there be such a strange idea before death?
Huang Zongxi was born in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, the good family tradition laid the foundation for Huang Zongxi to become a learned Hongru in the future, and Huang Zongxi in his youth was quite chivalrous.
His father Huang Zunsu was persecuted to death by Wei Zhongxian's castration party, and after Chongzhen came to power, he vigorously eliminated the castration party and the rest of the evil, and at that time, an important member of the castration party, Xu Xianchun, Cui Yingyuan, was tried in the Punishment Department.
Huang Zongxi appeared in court to testify, but unexpectedly suddenly took out an awl from his sleeve and stabbed at Xu Xianchun, and publicly beat Cui Yingyuan, pulling out many of his beards and returning them to his father's spirit, which was simply the style of an assassin.
Huang Zongxi's behavior was called "Yaojiang Huang Xiaozi", and even the Chongzhen Emperor lamented that he was called "the orphan son of a loyal subject", and just as everyone entered the Chongzhen Dynasty with joy, they found that the imperial court without the castration party was still a mess.
With Chongzhen hanging on coal mountain, Li Zicheng was finally defeated, and the Daming River collapsed at an incredible speed, until the city of Nanjing fell, and many people did not return to God for a while, everything came too quickly.
Also because of the rapid fall of Nanjing, Ruan Dacheng was originally going to arrest Huang Zongxi, but after the Hongguang regime of Nanming was finished, Huang Zongxi returned to his hometown, organized a rebel army, and rebelled against the Qing.
From the age of thirty to fifty, Huang Zongxi contributed to the cause of resistance to the Qing Dynasty throughout his prime, but to tell the truth, since the fall of the Hongguang regime, the nationwide regime representing the Ming Dynasty has disappeared, and it is difficult for the anti-Qing movements everywhere to essentially shake the rule of the Qing Dynasty.
In the later period, many of the original clan kings played the banner of anti-Qing, and Huang Zongxi followed the King of Lu, but in the end he was outnumbered, and Huang Zongxi, who fought guerrillas, has always insisted on his anti-Qing cause.
After a period of Ping drifting, King Lu settled in the Jianjiao, south of Ninghai and east of Taizhou, which was the military defense unit of the Ming Dynasty at that time, and seemed to finally have a foothold, in fact, this place was close to the sea.
When the Qing army came, King Lu fled into the sea by boat, and Huang Zongxi's text clearly recorded the predicament at that time:
The sea berth is the most bitter water, invading the morning to wash the bath, but a lamp. The cabin is large around the body, the hole is down, and the two people lie on their sides, still covering the hole under the cover, which is tantamount to being in the coffin. The royal boat is slightly larger, the name of the river boat, the top of which is the chaofang (golden ruan hall), and the ministers are deliberating.
Bitter with stubbornness, self-deprecation with indomitable, and Huang Zongxi in such a difficult environment, actually had a very peculiar task, that is, to go to Japan to ask for help, I don't know if this Lu Wang is not a sick and chaotic medical treatment, but Huang Zongxi still went to Japan with a mission.
Although it is arduous, but it can still talk about some eyebrows, or mourn its misfortune and anger, at that time left in Japan to be responsible for the military affairs of a person named Huang Xiaoqing, he in Nagasaki, Japan can be regarded as a complete loss of Chinese face, you are here to beg, did not expect this guy to live a leisurely life in Nagasaki.
At that time, Japan was in an era of extravagance, especially in Nagasaki, and there were countless official brothels, and this Huang Xiaoqing was a night song, lingering, completely forgetting what he had come to do.
This incident made Japan at that time completely despise this person, and the matter of sending troops was delayed, and Huang Zongxi went to Japan three times before and after, but in the end he failed to succeed for various reasons.
After Huang Zongxi returned to China, he returned to his hometown and did not continue to stay with King Lu, and his anti-Qing cause also began to go underground and became a freedom fighter.
He passed on information to the anti-Qing righteous divisions, rescued the anti-Qing soldiers, raised funds for the anti-Qing armed forces, and plotted against the Qing generals... Working with him, mainly Qian Qianyi, the two worked together to do many things.
Marked by Zheng's successful attack on Nanjing and a failure in 1659, Huang Zongxi finally felt hopeless, gradually gave up his efforts, and felt that everything was hopeless.
But remember one thing, Huang Zongxi did not serve as an official in the Qing Dynasty all his life, and later many people attacked Huang Zongxi and said that there was a problem with the character of others, and just by virtue of this article, it was enough to prove Huang Zongxi's great festival, and history has repeatedly proved that those who hang on to the great righteousness all day long and shout the fiercest are often the most powerful and thorough surrenders, and in this regard, the Donglin Party and the Fushe are living examples.
Huang Zongxi's evaluation of his life is:
At first, he was a party member, then he was referred to as a ranger, and finally he was a rurin. It is also a person, covering three changes to this day.
This is his summary of his life, and in the end Huang Zongxi put all his experience into writing books and sayings, using his own personal experience as the source of thinking, and wrote a series of works that shocked the ancient and modern, and the depth of his thoughts far exceeded that of all Confucian intellectuals in the same era or even before modern times.
Huang Zongxi experienced six emperors in his lifetime, four in the Ming Dynasty, Wanli, Tianqi, Chongzhen, and Hongguang; two in the Qing Dynasty, Shunzhi and Kangxi, whose life span is large and the ups and downs of his experience are epic.
Huang Zongxi finally chose to bury naked, not against Confucianism, after in-depth and long-term thinking, Huang Zongxi hoped to obtain liberation and freedom, returning to human authenticity.
The Ming Yi to Be Visited is Huang Zongxi's most famous work, where he abandons the Huayi debate and moves on to a more direct populist approach, discussing what it means to be the people of the country.
His good friend Lü Liuliang eventually turned against him, because Lü Liuliang had always insisted on opposing the Qing and considered Huang Zongxi a traitor, because Huang Zongxi had said that Kangxi was a good emperor.
There is no intention here to discuss the rights and wrongs of the two people, but Zhang Taiyan in the Republic of China period once severely criticized Huang Zongxi, which is a typical intellectual style, and has never experienced despair and extravagant resistance.
Huang Zongxi spent all his good years on the cause of resisting the Qing, and personally stayed with King Lu, turning over the history of the Southern Ming Dynasty, you will find that if you were an anti-Qing righteous soldier at that time, you would also feel desperate and even angry, these "emperors" and "princes" of the Southern Ming Dynasty were all infighting insiders and outsiders, and spent a lot of energy on unnecessary infighting, Huang Zongxi personally experienced these.
But he did not do like Qian Qianyi, Huang Zongxi did not serve as an official of the Qing Dynasty all his life, which already shows everything, and at the big festival, Huang Zongxi was a hundred times stronger than Qian Qianyi.
When the seventy-eight-year-old Huang Zongxi decided to be buried, his heart had crossed many ravines, ordinary people could not stand at that height, Huang Zongxi walked out of more than two thousand years of suffocation, naked burial is his best footnote and explanation of life.