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In our daily lives, whenever we say that someone is extremely bad, we often grit our teeth and use "unforgivable evil" to describe the person's evil deeds to express our anger. "Ten" in the context means the most, the most complete, the fullest, the most evil, that is, the evil is full.
The ancients often listed the enemy with ten major crimes in order to become famous, and in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, after the further revision of the Sui Dynasty's "Kai Huang Law" and the Tang Dynasty's "Tang Law Neglect", the "Ten Evils Are Not Forgiven" was officially formed.
The first crime is treason, this article is best understood, in any generation, trying to overthrow the emperor sitting on the dragon chair is the greatest crime, and there is no room for negotiation to exterminate the family, which has always been regarded as the first of the ten evils.
The second is the great rebellion, the word great rebellion, from the perspective of modern people, seems to be a synonym with rebellion. But in fact, the two are completely different, they are one grade lower than the rebellion, although they did not plot to usurp the throne, but the destruction of the royal temples, mausoleums and palaces, for the ancient supreme imperial power, this kind of behavior is equivalent to flouting the imperial power, the same is a capital crime.
The third is conspiracy to commit treason, which refers to the crime of treason. This is markedly different from rebellion, which is a defection to another hostile country. Of course, in ancient China, unless it was the period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties that had been divided for many years, or the chaotic world of warlords and warlords, the crime of conspiracy to rebel was generally rare.
The fourth is evil rebellion, ancient China, influenced by Confucian culture, so ancient rulers often pay attention to filial piety to rule the world. It is about filial piety to parents and goodwill to brothers. Refers to the beating and murder of grandparents and parents, the killing of uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters, maternal grandparents, husbands, husbands' grandparents and parents. And if the crime of rebellion is confirmed, it can be directly beaten to death by a stick in the official palace.
The fifth is the inhumane tragedy. For example, some modern homicidal maniacs, after committing crimes, were called undocuments in ancient times. In addition, the use of extremely cruel means to kill people, such as dismemberment and the like, this crime is also called immorality. Simply put, it is brutal killing.
The sixth is great disrespect, which is somewhat similar to the great rebellion of ancient times, and is an affront to the majesty of the imperial power. Stealing the emperor's sacrificial utensils and the emperor's daily necessities endangered the safety and reputation of the king, and even the quality of making things for the emperor was not good.
The seventh is filial piety, a crime that is a bit similar to the previous rebellion, but much lighter than the real rebellion, referring to cursing, accusing, and not supporting one's grandparents and parents. After the death of the ancestors and fathers, they do not mourn, and they marry and marry for pleasure during the mourning period. In addition, in ancient times, separating from parents was also one of the manifestations of filial piety. If you look at it according to this standard, the vast majority of modern people today are estimated to be filial piety.
The eighth is disharmony, and different dynasties may interpret the crime differently. In ancient times, some dynasties referred to a purely literal interpretation, referring to discord between fathers or relatives. Sometimes it refers to the murder of certain relatives, or the beating of a husband by a woman. To put it simply, the crime of discord can be compared to evil rebellion. Successful crimes are called evil rebellion, and attempted crimes are called disharmony.
The ninth is injustice, which refers to beating and killing officials and teachers, not mourning after the death of the husband, and remarrying. In ancient China, the word yi was often called alongside the word filial piety. The word filial piety is a core of Confucian culture. The word filial piety is mainly for relatives and elders, so the word for righteousness is a variety of social relations other than relatives. Therefore, unrighteousness is also a great sin.
The tenth is civil unrest, the last of the ten evils. The so-called civil unrest generally refers to forced relations, adultery with grandfathers and fathers' concubines, etc., and most of these crimes are punishable by hanging. After the Sui and Tang dynasties, incest was included in the scope. The punishment for this crime also varied slightly from dynasty to dynasty. The most famous example is the pig cage, in some places where relatives below the county level rule, women commit adultery, and they can be legally killed by the elders of the relatives. If this crime could be carried out all the time, Then Li Zhi of the Tang Dynasty, after marrying Wu Zetian, would soon be hanged.
These ten crimes, though different. But from the perspective of the ancient rulers, these ten crimes are actually crimes that threaten their own rule or make the country easily unstable, and are unforgivable. For example, filial piety or civil unrest seems to have nothing to do with the emperor himself. But if more happens, it can easily lead to social chaos and threaten the rule of the imperial power. Moreover, for the imperial power of the ancient country ruled by etiquette, these things that greatly violated the etiquette system were also completely unacceptable morally. Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, the "ten evils" have been listed as unforgivable felonies, and "ten evils are not forgiven" has become a mantra of people, speaking to this day.