introduction:
When we mention the five elements of "metal, wood, water, fire, and earth", we always take the initiative to think of the wonderful yin and yang five elements world of Taoism. In fact, the Five Elements are also closely related to ancient politics, and the application of the Five Elements Theory to politics has produced the Five Virtues and the Beginning Theory. Let's take a look at it with rotten Ke Renjun!
First, the five elements and the five virtues are always said
After hundreds of years of annexation wars in the Spring and Autumn Period, it entered the Warring States Period, and only a few major powers remained to compete for dominance. At this time, the hundred families of the sons introduced their own doctrines and sold them to the kings of various countries. By the end of the Warring States period, due to the advancement of the war for hegemony, countries believed that the original title of "king" could no longer represent their status, and each country successively led itself to claim to be emperor. In such an era of imperial movements, there is an urgent need for an idea that serves it. The Five Virtues of Qi Ren Zou Yan were always said to have come into being. The core of the Five Virtues Theory of "Five Virtues And The Beginning" originates from the concept of "Five Elements" in the early days of China's history.
(Zou Yan)
The specific time when the concept of the Five Elements arose is no longer known, but it is closely related to the daily production and life of the Chinese ancestors, transportation and travel, and totem worship. Due to the lack of materials, scholars have debated the most original reference to the "five elements". However, the Book of Yizhou records that the Duke of Zhou preached when answering king Wu of Zhou's question
"Five elements: one black, bit water; two red, bit fire; three cang, bit wood; four white, bit gold; five yellow, bit earth." ”
Therefore, during the Western Zhou Dynasty, there should be no doubt that "gold, wood, water, fire, and earth" were regarded as the five elements. The five elements are recognized as the five basic substances that make up the world, and they can both restrain each other and derive from each other.
Zou Yan used the doctrine of the Five Elements to combine the traditional concept of "yin and yang" with the theory of heavenly induction to construct a set of ideas that legally explained the change of power. He first applied the Five Elements Doctrine to dynastic changes. He pointed out: The Yellow Emperor is Tude; the Yellow Emperor of the Xia Dynasty is lineage, so Xia is Mude; Shang Kexia, Shang is Jinde; Zhou Keshang, Zhou is Huode. In the future, what will replace the Zhou Dynasty will be the water virtue of kehuo. So why is there a switch between Germans and fortunes? He said it was because of the immorality of the monarch. If the monarch behaves immorally, auspicious creatures such as dragons, birds, and unicorns will not appear. At the same time, there will be many auspicious omens where the new king was born, and this phenomenon is called "Fu Ying". After the establishment of the new regime, it is necessary to formulate corresponding policies according to the german movement to which it belongs.
II. From "Five Virtues" to "Five Virtues"
Qin Shi Huang was the first monarch to adopt the five virtues of the end. The Zhou Dynasty died but did not stiffen, although it had long lost its authority, but it survived the Spring and Autumn Warring States before it was destroyed by Qin. After Qin unified the world, in order to create the legitimacy of the Zhou Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang conveniently used the Five Virtues to say the end. He inherited Zou Yan's saying that since Zhou was Huode and Qin Dynasty Zhou, Qin was Water Virtue. The color corresponding to the water is black, so the Great Qin Empire is still black, and the palace clothes are mainly black. In addition, he fabricated that before the fall of Western Zhou and the eastward movement of the royal family, Qin Wengong had encountered a black dragon while hunting, which was a sign that the heavens instructed Qin Dynasty Zhou. However, Qin Shi Huang abandoned the moral part of Zou Yan's doctrine and instead used the coldness of the water nature as an excuse for him to implement the harsh punishment method.
(Qin Shi Huang film and television drama image)
Qin was tyrannical and died. After Gaozu Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, he believed that the 15 years of Qin unification were still the afterglow of the Warring States, and he really ended the chaotic world. Therefore, Liu Bang also designated Han as a water virtue, still black, and attacked the Qin's service seal system. By the time of Emperor Wu of Han, the situation had changed. Emperor Wu of Han was an ambitious emperor, who maintained a high degree of consistency with Qin Shi Huang, and was a great warrior and a good hero, except for conquest everywhere and the sealing of Zen and immortality, he was bound to be not far behind in the matter of Dingde reform. With the assistance of Dong Zhongshu's theoretical construction, he acknowledged the existence of Qin Shuide, Qin of the Han Dynasty, as Tude, and Tude. However, Dong Zhongshu was a descendant of Confucianism, and on the basis of Zou Yan, he strengthened the moral constraints in the Five Virtues and Final Beginning Theory, emphasizing the phenomenon of heaven and man induction. Thus using heaven to warn and restrain the monarch and promote his practice of benevolent government.
(Statue of Emperor Wu of Han)
After the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, due to the serious depletion of the national strength of Emperor Wu and the accumulation of social contradictions, a serious crisis of rule emerged. Due to the simultaneous occurrence of many earthquake disasters. These situations make many people think that Han has arrived. Confucian Emperor Yinghong believed that the Han Emperor should be in the position of a sage, he pointed out
"After Han Weiyao, there was a fortune that emperor Yi of Han sent the world, asked for sages, Zen gave up the throne, and retreated from a hundred miles, such as Queen Yin Tuesday, in order to accept the mandate of heaven."
He used dong Zhongshu's thought on the doctrine of the five elements of symbiosis to rearrange the order of virtue, that is, Yao is huode; huosheng tu, Shun is tude; tusheng jin, Xia is jinde; jin sheng shui, shang is shui de; aquatic wood, Zhou is mude. Therefore, Han inherits from Zhou, and Han is Huode. After the Han family became Yao, Yao had the virtue of Zen concession, so he should take the initiative to give way.
In the last years of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang usurped the throne and carried out restructuring, which Han Jiayao said provided a solid theoretical foundation for him. He asked Liu Xin to enrich and develop this theory. Liu Xin incorporated Qin into the system, but put it in the leap position, believing that Qin was not a virtue in the normal dynastic transmission. When Liu Xiu, the Guangwu Emperor of the Zhongxing Han Dynasty, raised an army, he used the saying in the Chifu Fu of The Confucian Wei: "
Liu Xiufa's soldiers could not catch the road, and the four Yi gathered in the dragon fighting field, and the fire was the main fire on the fourth and seventh days
。 "Compare yourself to the heir of fire." Therefore, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu formally affirmed the doctrine that Han is the life of fire and the five virtues. The Han family's weiyao theory is also considered to be the most reasonable. Therefore, we often hear the saying "three hundred years of Yan han".
The third and fifth virtues have finally come to an end
Since the establishment of the Five Virtues Theory of Theory of The symbiosis in the Eastern Han Dynasty, from the Wei and Jin Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, whether it is the Northern Dynastic regimes such as the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Sixteen Kingdoms established by the Hu people, or the Southern Dynasties such as the Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen dynasties after the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and even the great unified Sui and Tang Empires, and even the Five Dynasties of Zhao and Song, they have all taken the Five Virtues Xiangsheng Theory as the basis for the legitimacy of their regimes. At the same time, whether it is the usurpation of power by the vassals or the seizure of power by force, when the power is transferred, a farce of Zen concessions must be performed to falsely show that their power originated from the initiative of the former emperor. The five elements of symbiosis and the Zen system, in conjunction with the system of zen concessions, created one naked lie after another in medieval history.
(Portrait of Ouyang Xiu)
But by the Song Dynasty, this political idea was challenged. Song Ru arose a great discussion on the issue of "orthodoxy." Among the many views, the most influential one was from Ouyang Xiu. Ouyang Xiu pointed out in his "Orthodoxy" that "
All who are orthodox are willing to inherit each other. If it is broken and does not belong, it will be continued by a dummy, and it will not be understood by its arguments. The husband lives in the right place in the world, and the world is in one, and the orthodoxy is orthodox.
The Five Virtues were eventually buried in the grave along with the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty. Although There are Confucians who have been writing to the Mongol rulers to deduce the virtues, they have not been taken seriously by the Mongol rulers. The Mongol rulers did not accept the Five Virtues Doctrine, although there was a reason for the low understanding of the Han culture of ethnic minorities. However, from the perspective of its large acceptance of the Han system, the main reason for its denial of virtue is that after the large-scale discussion of the five virtues in the Song Dynasty, people's belief in the five virtues has never been so religious.
(Portrait of Zhu Yuanzhang)
After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he did not care at all about the inheritance of moral fortunes, but instead emphasized the legitimacy of his way to gain power. He pointed out
"Thieves swarm, flocks of men, stealing states and counties. As a last resort, the army wanted to complete itself, and the strength of the army was growing, so it was the eastern expedition to the west, cutting down the canal and opening up the territory. When it is, the world is no longer the Yuan clan... The world is taken by the hands of the heroes, not in the hands of the Yuan.
The Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty also pointed out
"I will take revenge on the ming and seek revenge, fix the Central Plains, unite the haiyu, and win the most righteous world since ancient times."
It can be seen that in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the focus of the emperor has shifted from the legitimacy of inheriting the imperial power of the previous generation to the legitimacy of his own political power.
Wen Shijun said:
The "Five Elements" arose in the production and life of our ancestors, and at the time of the Warring States period, Zou Yan used it to derive the theory of the victory of the five virtues to serve the Warring States war of hegemony. Qin Shi Huang used it for the first time to emphasize the legitimacy of his regime. The Han Chengqin system continued the system of scheduling moral fortunes. However, dong zhongshu, Liu Xiang, Liu Xin and his sons of the Western Han Dynasty repeatedly deduced this system and creatively put forward the theory of the five virtues. After experiencing the reform of Wang Mang and the repeated dynastic changes of Guangwu Zhongxing, the Five Elements Xiangsheng Theory replaced the position of the Xiangsheng Theory. From the Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, due to the superficial existence of this system by Zen, the Five Elements Theory became its best partner. But Song Ru questioned this system, emphasizing "orthodoxy." By the Time of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, the change of dynasties had become a direct seizure of power by force, and this theory could not be consistent with practice, and with the influence of Song Confucian theory, the Five Virtues finally withdrew from the stage of history.
bibliography:
Gu Jiegang: "The Politics and History of the Five Virtues and the Beginning", from the book "Ancient History Discernment from The Preface", Hebei Education Publishing House, 2002.
Liu Pujiang, "The End of the Theory of "Five Virtues And the Beginning": On the Transmutation of Traditional Political Culture from the Song Dynasty onwards", Journal of Chinese Social Sciences, No. 2, 2006.
Huxon, "From the Rise and Fall of Moral Political Thought to the Flow of the "Five Virtues and the Beginning"", Journal of Historical Research, No. 2, 2015.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Rotten Keren)
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