The "Commentary on the Interpretation of Words" explains the word "loyalty" in this way: "Respect also." From the heart, in the middle. Zhi Gong Cut" and there is such an explanation in the Commentary on the Interpretation of The Words of the Sayings: "In the words of loyalty, the meaning of reverence is also stored in the inner." Whoever treats people and things with reverence and does not neglect them is called loyalty. It can be seen from this that loyalty refers to a certain extent to the heart of "reverence and not neglect", and the most applicable to this article, the first thing that the individual thinks of is bigan.
Most people know Bigan, I believe that it is in the "Fengshen Yanyi", and in fact, in history, Bigan does have his own person, and he is indeed dissected because of his death advice, such an ending is undoubtedly sad. However, although the tragic story of Bigan is sentimental, after his death, he was deified by the future generations and became an almighty god that people admire in their hearts, so what historical changes did his image undergo to become what we see now? Why did it come to this? This article will be analyzed in detail.
To explore Bigan, the first thing to say must be his lineage, and his lineage, to some extent, is one of the reasons why he was able to be so loyal to the Shang royal family. Bigan, a native of Moyi, is now the city of Weihui in Henan Province, and he is the son of King Taiding of the Shang Dynasty, the uncle of the King of Shang, and a complete nobleman of the Shang Dynasty. Bi Gan was talented and intelligent, and at the age of twenty, he began to assist his own brother Emperor Yi as an aether master, and later accepted his brother's request to assist the King of Shang. In the 40 years of his political career, he has always advocated reducing taxes and servitude and encouraging the development of production, and his wish is actually very simple, that is, he hopes that the country will be rich and strong, and the people will be healthy.
All his life, in fact, he has been implementing the program of "loyalty to the king and patriotism", on the one hand, because of his loyalty to the country, on the other hand, because the royal family of the Shang Dynasty belongs to the "family business", and he has a certain sense of responsibility for this "family business". But even so, Bigan is still one of the best examples of loyalty and patriotism in Chinese history.
First, the real history of bigan
In the last years of the Shang Dynasty, the country was in chaos, the King of Shang was thinking of the wine pond meat forest, hedonism first, if the King of Shang Was not a king, but just an ordinary nobleman, his approach like this had no impact at all, but he was a king, he managed a country, he was wrong to do so.
At that time, many loyal generals of the Shang Dynasty wanted to persuade this Shang king who was indulging in pleasures to let him see the people's livelihood and suffering, but they did not end up in the end, and later on, the counselor, the King of Shang, even mutilated him for a time, causing the entire dynasty politics to fall into chaos. Therefore, because of seeing the blood left by the predecessors, many people who wanted to continue to advise later stopped thinking about advising.
However, Bigan was not afraid, and after witnessing the tragedy of "the micro-son went away, and the miko was enslaved", he still died until he was "cut through the twelve holes of his heart and looked at it" by the King of Shang. However, at this moment, the King of Shang, who was observing with Bigan's heart, probably did not expect that his dissection not only represented The death of Bigan, but also heralded the imminent collapse of his Shang Dynasty. Bi Gan's death left a good name in Chinese history, while the death of King Huan was only left with an ancient name.
In fact, in ancient times, a large part of the consideration of the courtier was whether he was loyal to the king, and if the courtier was loyal to the king, it was already rare, and if they were loyal at the same time, they were also capable of contributing to the construction of the country, then this was even more rare. Death advice is the most extreme but more effective method that these loyalists can employ when the king is faint and incompetent.
In many historical books such as the "Records of History", "Zhou Benji", "Song Weizi Family", etc., there are descriptions of Bigan being dissected, which on the one hand show the absurdity of king Huan, and on the other hand, more show Bigan's bold loyalty as a loyal general.
Can't Bikan go? He could actually, he could run away like a micron or a miko or pretend to be crazy and sell stupid to protect himself, but he did not do this, but chose to give advice with his fate, just like what was said in the "Treatise on the Middle", this move of Bi Gan is completely reflective of the word "benevolence" of later Generations of Confucianism, and such a "killing to become a benevolent" is actually very rare.
Did he ever regret the matter of giving advice with his life? There should be none, and how could a man who could make such a contribution in that era not consider all possibilities before making a statement? But he did it anyway. This fearless spirit is actually an important reason why he can stay in history.
Second, the future generations are mythologically bigan
Myths, whether in China or in the West, are an indispensable part of human history, an externalized response of our ancestors to something unexplainable in real life, and a product of the interaction between the mind and the external world.
Mythology is a fantasy narrative of human beings using word of mouth to explain life based on the most primitive thinking, in a society without words, and is the earliest exploration of the world by human beings. Similarly, in ancient China, if a person could make a great contribution, then his identity would be "deified" and he would become a member of the gods, and Bigan was no exception.
First of all, Bigan has the justice, loyalty and benevolence of a superior to the common people, which is the image of a courtier needed by the feudal dynasty, so in the evolution of the dynasty, many of his characteristics have been typicalized and become the necessary characteristics of the loyal subjects, and his image has gradually changed, becoming the image of the official god. This was especially true after king Wu destroyed the Shang. The King of Wu "ordered Hong Yu to seal the tomb of Bigan, and the Emperor of Fengzong to wish the shrine and the army, but to strike the army and return to the west."
It is worth saying that in the early years of the Zhou Dynasty, the purpose of this kind of reward for Bi Gan was to win people's hearts, telling the old people of the Shang Dynasty that if you are willing to submit to the Zhou Dynasty, then we will give you good treatment, even if you are not willing, we will not do anything to you, so invisibly, a group of followers have been added, and similarly, here it actually shows a selection criterion for officials by the ruler, that is, you must be loyal.
It was because of this loyalty that Bigan was desired by the kings of his descendants to build a temple for him, mainly to warn his courtiers that they must be loyal to themselves.
Then, with the sealing and deification of Bigan by the kings of various eras, Bigan's identity has changed, coupled with the propaganda of many loyal generals and benevolent people, Bigan has gradually become a major representative of the "official god", from the original "benevolent" "person" to the "god" of the "official god", completing a major transformation from man to god.
At the end of the day
In ancient times, it was important to pay attention to "sealing the king and worshiping the face", especially in the Tang Dynasty and later, the imperial examination system developed, as long as through the imperial examination, everyone can become an official, so the "official god" of Bigan has a new transformation later, that is, advancing with the times and gradually becoming a derivative "Wenqu Xingjun". The ancients were very much in awe of the sun, moon and stars, believing that the sun, moon and stars in the sky were controlled by star officials, such as the red luan star was controlled by marriage, etc., and the Wenqu Xingjun was to bless the students' high school, in ancient folk, people who passed the examination, especially those who won the middle level, would be shouted as "Wenqu Star Under the Mortal" is precisely this reason. In ancient China, where Confucianism was highly developed, the literati most wanted to "enter the world", and Bigan, known as the "official god", naturally became the god they worshipped.
In addition to the derivation of Wenqu Star, Bi Gan also has another unique identity, that is, "God of Literature and Wealth", some people may ask, Bigan became Wenqu Star because he is an official god, which is understandable, so what can he have with the God of Wealth?
Bigan was very political before his death, never calculated, not impartial, and in ancient times, people most hoped to get a fair trade result when trading, so Bigan also became the best "protection god" in their hearts, especially in the Song Dynasty, the commodity economy was extremely prosperous, people were more for the pursuit of wealth, hoping that there were gods and immortals to bless, so in the folk, bigan's image gradually became the "god of literature and wealth", people worshiped him, hoping that he could bless himself to obtain fair and just trade results.