The most striking thing is that the author of the Book of Shang links politics with the Mandate of Heaven, above which we said that the excuse for all politics is the Mandate of Heaven and the people, but in fact it is only an excuse. It is said that the most insignificant thing in the political struggle is the Mandate of Heaven, and the most insignificant is the people. The people are generally driven away, but at critical moments the "will of the people" seems to be important, but this is also the logic of the thinker, and it has nothing to do with the political struggle. Confucius and Meng emphasized the will of the people in the spring and autumn of the Warring States, but those monarchs did not care, and no one sweated for the people's hearts, so the Mandate of Heaven and the people should be regarded as a political excuse in the Book of Shang, and they were joined by later generations. After the Zhou Dynasty put an end to civil unrest, the political logic that some people who engaged in political theory were concerned about and the logic of the strength of politicians were two different things.
The "Chronicle of History" records that Zhou Gong "pretended to be a great edict, the second was the fate of a micro-son, the second was Returned to He, the second Jiahe, the second Kang, the wine, and the Zi Cai", and the Duke of Zhou also became a king, and "made a summoner and a Luo", and "took the king's order" as "Duoshi and Wuyou", and "cut Huaiyi to be cruel and moved to Bogu... Do many things". Guihe and Jiahe have been lost.
The central idea of the Great Commandment is: a Mandate of Heaven Zhou Ge Yin Ming; b Certified by the Great Treasure Turtle; c Bu Zhengyan Eastern Expedition Ji.
The central idea of the Kang Shu is: a those who do not filial piety are punished.
The central idea of the Wine Curse is: a Fer indulge in the wine of the sacrifice; b The first sin is taught, and the latter is killed.
The central idea of "Zi Cai" is: a Destiny Week; bExpansive land; c Long live the Zhou Dynasty.
The "Records of History" believes that it is some of the contents of Zhou Gong's posthumous works. In this way, Zhou Dynasty Yin is the Mandate of Heaven by Bu Zheng, the Mandate of Heaven Zhou expands the land, do not indulge in wine. Promote filial piety with punishment.
But in the Han Dynasty, things changed, "Emperor Wuding sacrificed into soup." Tomorrow there will be a pheasant trumpet and a sniff, and Wu Ding will be afraid. Zu Yiyue, Wang Don't Worry, first cultivate the story. "But Zu Yi took the pheasant as his luck." Pheasant chirping was originally considered a sign of auspiciousness for phenomena in nature. "History of Yin Benji".
The author of the "Zuo Zhuan" also associated the anomalies of animals with natural disasters, "Birds singing in the Bo Society, such as Yue Xixi." A noon, the Great Disaster of song". "Thirty-Seven Years of The Left Transmission and the Duke of Sorrow".
In the "Spring and Autumn of the Lü Dynasty", it is said that "the emperor will be xingye, and the heavens will first see the people." At the time of the Yellow Emperor, the heavens first saw the big cockroaches, and the Yellow Emperor said: The earth is full of energy, so its color is still yellow, and its affairs are soldiers. At the time of Yu, the heavens saw the grass and trees first, and did not kill in autumn and winter. Yu Yue, Mu Qisheng..." "Lü Shi Chunqiu Application Chapter".
We believe that the Zhou Benji written by Tai Shi Gong was influenced by the Confucians represented by Dong Zhongshu. Tai Shi Gong described King Wu writing before cutting the undeveloped silk: "King Wu crossed the middle of the river, the white fish jumped into the king's boat, and king Wu bowed down to sacrifice. As for the house of kings, it flows as a bird, and its color is red, and its sound is cloudy. "History of Zhou Benji". This kind of myth is certainly not compiled by Taishi Gong, but should be the head of Dong Zhongshu's generation, "The emperor will be Xingye, and its beauty is also prescient; Its death is also imminent, and the demons are also prescient" ("Spring and Autumn Flourishing, Moving like The Same Kind"), the historical story of the orthodox Zhou Dynasty that was popular in the early Han Dynasty and even has a written basis.
The ancestors of the emperors in the "Records of History", similar myths can be seen in the "Yin Benji" of the high ancestor Yin Qi of Chengtang: the mother is Jian Di, there is the daughter of the Lou clan as the emperor's concubine, three people bathing, seeing the bird, falling its eggs, Jian Di swallowing, giving birth to the deed. "History of Yin Benji". There is also: Zhou Houji, named Abandoned, whose mother is tai's daughter, known as Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan was the concubine of the Emperor Zhao Yuan, Jiang Yuan went out of the wilderness, saw the traces of giants, and his heart was happy, so he practiced it, practiced it like a pregnant person, and gave birth to a child from Jusi... "History of Zhou Benji". Then there was a bunch of myths. Also: Qin Zhixian, Emperor Huan's Miao descendants Sun Yue Female Ying, Female Weaving, Xuan Bird Dead Eggs, Female Swallowing Zhi, Giving Birth to a Son... All the way to gaozu honji: Gaozu, Peifengyi Zhongyangli people... The mother is Liu Mi, whose first Liu Mi tasted the pity of Daze, dreams and gods met, it was time when thunder and lightning were obscure, and Taigong looked at it, and saw that the dragon was on it, and had a body, so it gave birth to a high ancestor. History of Takazu Honki. Confucius was recognized by Wang Chong as the "Su Wang" (論衡・超奇). It was for him to write "Spring and Autumn", which was the king of Taoism; Tai Shi Gong also wrote that Shu Liang Qi "gave birth to Confucius with the Yan female wilderness" but "prayed to Nichu to get Confucius". "History of Confucius's Family".
We may see it this way: Tai Shi Gong was under political pressure at that time and had to write the birth of some emperors as myths, because myths are the marks of the Mandate of Heaven. We recognize that the contents of the Book of Shang, especially the writing of the Mandate of Heaven (which has not yet been added to mythology), are also the result of political pressure, and even those who have joined it by later generations will not deviate from their political patterns; Since later generations were in the same political environment, their language was also extremely naturally attached to the spirit of the Book of Shang.
The Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties all began with mythology:
Princess Ren was born in Chang'an and had three breasts. New Book of Tang Gaozu (Old Book of Tang) does not speak of three breasts). Taizu, Xuanzu Zhongzi also... Born in Luoyang Jiama Camp, red light around the room, the fragrance of the house is not scattered. The body has gold and remains unchanged for three days. "Song Shi Taizu Benji". The Emperor secreted Zhu Yuanzhang... father...... He had four sons, Taizu Qijiye. Mother Chen's Fang Ni, the dream god gave a pill, there was light in the palm of the hand, swallowed the bed, the aroma of the mouth, and the birth, the red light filled the room, since the night counted there was light, from the beginning, the neighbors saw the fire, ran to the rescue, to nothing. Ming Shi Taizu Benji.
The rigor and depth of China's feudal culture must have been very impressive to last for thirty centuries, and if it were not for the rise of Europe and the United States, I am afraid that it would have been repeated and repeated, and the "Mandate of Heaven" in its logic is an important and enlightening factor. Although it has become a cliché, it has a deep meaning, even if Confucius's "fifty and know the destiny of heaven" is enough to Chinese think for a lifetime, think about it or go back to the old routine and can't get out. In the entire Confucian system, the "Mandate of Heaven" is a problem that cannot be ignored. The ancients had many ways of eliminating the problem of the Mandate of Heaven: either like Confucius, or seeking to understand the I Ching, or following the Buddha's path and going against the grain. Confucius's understanding of the Mandate of Heaven should be devoid of the Buddha's Tao, nor the I Ching, nor the Five Elements of Yin and Yang; His "Mandate of Heaven" is primarily a synthesis of humane history and fait accompli. Many scholars have commented on the Mandate of Heaven, so we will not repeat it, and we will not spend more effort on literal and historical interpretation, but only look at the meaning of the "Mandate of Heaven" for Confucius on the confusion of Confucius's existence.
Confucius believed that the history of the Zhou Dynasty and the history of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors were in the same vein. Although the descendants accepted the closed interpretation of Han Confucianism, they were inseparable from their ancestors in the sense of existence (feudalism). Throughout Chinese history, the Mandate of Heaven as understood by Mencius and the Warring States period was an exception in closed feudalism. It can be seen that the king's way and even the hegemonic ideology of the Warring States period, that is, the further dissolution of feudal totalitarianism, occurred as a result of the ideological emancipation, while Confucius's Spring and Autumn Period only had a considerable, not yet complete collapse of rituals and happiness, but it was already like a raging wave, and it was out of control; Repeating Zhou Chaoli's liturgy is anachronistic and impossible.
In fact, this storm also has its seemingly eternal side. It and the various beings within its scope are evolving, but extremely slowly, almost as if they were not evolving, at least those who live in it can rarely feel it. Man cannot even change himself, and even he is as eternal as cast iron and copper. If we can't choose when, where, and where we were born, everything we do, including our physical skin, is determined, let alone society and human beings. Confucius was born of poverty, not of wealth, although wealth was what he wanted; Confucius was also not born into the magnates, although power was also what he wanted. Wealth and power can do many things, so there is no need to run between Qi and Wei and deal with some boring kings faithfully. Confucius is just Confucius, and there are no conditions for him to perform his skills. When he traveled around talking, he was not with me at all times, and as a result, he could only retreat to writing books and teaching disciples. "Retreating" without "advancing" is influenced by fait accompli and cannot be changed by human efforts, wills, or ways. If there is a way in heaven, if there is a way in heaven, if the heavens are in my heart, why is it so! But Providence is unpredictable, is this not destiny?
People who believe in fate are always overshadowed by a layer of superstition, and many times it is considered that their intentions are not firm enough, they are not hard enough, or they go with the flow, but from the limited prescribed life path of ordinary people, from the point of view of Confucius's inability to meet, we can not believe in fate, but the "Mandate of Heaven" must not be disbelieved! Only a very small number of people can stand out and get rid of the "Mandate of Heaven" and create a certain situation of the times, but if there is no certain conditions such as the favorable conditions of heaven, place, and people, it is not necessarily possible to escape the "Mandate of Heaven," and the "Mandate of Heaven" has very similarities with fate here.
Surviving under the "Mandate of Heaven" and surviving under the "fait accompli" is tantamount to "man under the roof and having to bow his head", which is not something that people can freely choose.
On the other hand, people still have certain choices. For example, a person can choose not to flatter the powerful, not to accept bribes, not to betray friends, and so on; Its scope is relatively small, but it will bring certain existential consequences, and this will mostly not be "successful" in life. Although the psychological space of oneself expands, the space for survival shrinks, and in possible dramatic cases, not only the space for survival shrinks, but even the psychological space shrinks, and then is forced to schizophrenia. In any case, people's survival and psychological space in society are predetermined, and they cannot go out of their range, so it should be possible to understand Confucius's "Mandate of Heaven" in this way.
The established facts are certainly not set in stone. The Tangwang Revolution and the Wuwang Revolution are both historical facts. But for Confucius for a thousand years, this drastic change was only twice, and it was impossible to train. Those two revolutions were also destiny! A fait accompli cannot be changed so arbitrarily, especially since those two changes are the mandate of heaven, the fact that there is a great contribution to the history of humanity. The first thing that requires the two revolutions is force, the corrupt anti-Mandate of Heaven of the enemy, and the coming of a certain time of Destiny. The "Chronicle of History" records that when king Wu would meet eight hundred princes, everyone said that he could be cut down, but king Wu objected that "women do not know the destiny of heaven": that is, it is not yet time, I have not yet made sufficient preparations, the enemy has not completely decayed, and the enemy's army is still unconquerable. Once the Yin Dynasty was conquered, the Duke of Zhou still spent three years to quell the internal and external rebellions, and later carried out great feudalism and established lile, which stabilized the Mandate of Heaven, which could not and should not be changed. Can one imagine the cost of a regime like the Zhou Dynasty's establishment of a great killing and great migration? What about their "text" and what to replace? There is no new "text" that can replace it. Therefore, the only way is to restore the Zhou Wen, that is, what Confucius called "self-denial and retribution", which is also the Mandate of Heaven.
A fait accompli is not only a fait accompli, it brings the text. Although in Confucius's own experience, the Spring and Autumn Era has gone far away - Confucius can only retreat to the second place, to suppress his political ideals, he is not to restore the Western Zhou of the Zhou Gong era and the Chengkang era, at least to return to the Eastern Zhou style of liturgical music, "if I am a few years, it is the Eastern Zhou Hu." Confucius lived in the afterglow of the Western Zhou Dynasty, experienced its "wen", and felt that it was necessary to protect and improve the "wen" that was at least as inferior as the Eastern Zhou, which was the mandate of heaven! He was not alone in this mood. In Chinese history, Confucianism in particular has had this fait accompli and acceptance of the Mandate of Heaven when there is no alternative. Wang Yangming, Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, and others all thought and lived in this way, and although they certainly had a private "junchen father-son" brainwashing education, in the final analysis, they chose to be loyal to the jun, work hard for the imperial court, and suppress rebellion because of the "wen" of the Mandate of Heaven. Zeng Guofan could have overthrown the Qing Dynasty even after seizing military power and defeating the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but he did not do so, and perhaps one of his considerations was that it would deepen China's disaster even more, that he and his subordinates could not replace the Qing Dynasty, and that the people would suffer even more: troops rose up everywhere, disobeyed the dispatch, and many Western countries were looking at the tiger and taking the opportunity to destroy China. In addition to being selfish, the Western Empress dowager was still a shrewd heroine in many respects, while the emperors from the Qing Dynasty to the Western Empress Dowager were still ming jun, the Qing Dynasty's qi number had not yet been exhausted, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was neither desirable nor anything else, so the Mandate of Heaven had not changed, and a trace of "Wen" still existed. Zuo Zongtang even saw the undesirable nature of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and reflexively pledged allegiance to the Qing Dynasty, and preserved the Great Northwest so that Russia and even later Britain did not dare to covet it. The two Zeng Zuo are the heroes or criminals of the Chinese "Wen" to be studied by future generations, but the two of them are in the same line as Confucius in the "Wen".
In fact, Confucius's "fait accompli" and "literary" problems are also the problems of all people, including today's Western countries. More than a month after the outbreak of the student movement in Western countries such as France in May 1968, de Gaulle had the idea of resigning, when leftist students could never propose his "text" as a substitute, nor could any leftist party replace it; The new elections put an end to the student movement in a gaulle victory. The student movement of the Vietnam War era in the United States received anti-war effects, and that was all. The final test of the Revolution in Russia, the Chinese Revolution, and many other countries depends on whether the new Mandate of Heaven has been raised or not, otherwise it will be abandoned by the Chinese people.
Confucius did not want to read or think about what other texts there would be besides the Zhou "Wen", and judging from the demeanor and policies of the monarchs of the Various Countries in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Confucius may have been justified, that is, the society and politics at that time could not put forward the ideal of unity. Confucius believed that zhou "wen" was the ultimate point, inheriting the three emperors and five emperors, and opening up the "wen" of China's future, and China could not run away from "wen". Looking at the disappearance of ancient cultures such as Egypt and Greece, it cannot be said that even when the "Wen" of Si was swept away, Confucius's "Wen" still had a certain appeal. Chinese also constantly need to discuss Confucius and put forward the Zhou "Wen" he preached, then the Zhou "Wen" is not only the ideal of the Spring and Autumn Period! Zhou "Wen" and Kong "Wen" have not been completely traced in the modern twenty-first century, and the only conclusion is that there is still value in "Wen". Confucius was discerning and extremely wrong, because the fait accompli should evolve with it, making it a "text" rather than retreating from disappointment with it for his own selfish gain, or denying it altogether. We would also like to point out an extremely important point: The Zhou Wen pursued by Confucius was only an innovation after the epoch-making revolution of the Zhou Dynasty, and the central innovation force was the inheritance of the Chinese ancestors in two thousand years or even longer. Zhou Gong did not invent "Wen"; Like Confucius, he was a integrator, an integrator according to his feudal system. The fact that the Chinese text is synthesized does not mean that it is all there; It can also be synthesized in democratic, socialist politics. The "text" of Heavenly Destiny is one of the main contents.