Dong Zhongshu, a person, can be said to be a highly learned Confucian, and can also be said to be a speculator who has thrown himself into his favor. He unswervingly practiced the beliefs of learning to become a literary martial art, a commodity and an imperial family, and combined various ideas into his so-called Confucianism, which made Emperor Wu of Han obey him.
The imperial system he built was not much different from the feudal system of the Zhou Dynasty. But there is a little progress, that is, he emphasizes the importance of great unification, which is rare.
01 "Spring and Autumn" The great unifier, the constant scripture of heaven and earth, the friendship of ancient and modern times.
Dong Zhongshu was a scholar who sold knowledge, and he sold whatever the emperor needed. Is there something inappropriate about Confucianism? It's okay, cut it off. What's so good about other academia? Never mind, add in.
This is the Confucian thought promoted by Dong Zhongshu, which is actually a new idea that is fused together and mixed together by a hundred schools of thought. The dethronement of the Hundred Schools of Confucianism is actually inaccurate, because the ideas of the Hundred Schools have been integrated into Dong Zhongshu's Confucianism, so how can it be said that they have been deposed?
This is like the mathematics studied in the university, in the past mathematics was divided into basic mathematics, calculus, geometry, algebra and other different directions of development, but the university advanced mathematics book, they are all covered.
Emperor Wudi of Han was naturally very happy to see this kind of thinking, and he thought that Dong Zhongshu was really too talented, so he entrusted him with the matter of reforming the ideology.
In fact, here we can see that what Dong Zhongshu wants to build is the unity of thought. In the past, Qin Shi Huang completed the unification of the Six Kingdoms, so he was able to go down in history.
However, the Qin Dynasty, which unified the six kingdoms, only lasted for 15 years, and it was unreliable at all. Why? Because people's thinking cannot be unified, it is useless to unify them in form.
Spring and Autumn", the great unification, the constant scripture of heaven and earth, and the friendship between ancient and modern times. The present teacher is different, the people are different, the hundred families are different, the meaning is different, and the above is to maintain unity. The number of legal systems has changed, and the next one does not know what to keep. The subjects are foolish enough to think that all those who are not in the art of Confucius in the Six Arts are all desperate, and they should not go hand in hand. The doctrine of evil is extinguished, and then the discipline can be unified and the law can be understood, and the people know what to do. --- Book of Han
To this end, Dong Zhongshu put forward a demand for ideological unification to Emperor Wu of Han, that is, the idea of deposing the Hundred Schools of Confucianism. This is not to say that the Hundred Schools of Thought are gone, but that their essence has been absorbed by Dong Zhongshu, Confucianism has not been completely and completely passed down, and those ideas that are not conducive to rule have been abandoned.
For this reason, the great unity of thought was finally constructed during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Why did Emperor Wu of Han become a figure on a par with Qin Shi Huang? But it wasn't just that he liked to fight the Huns.
02 All the causes of calamities are born of the loss of the country.
The idea of heavenly induction is very bold, somewhat similar to Mencius's: the people are precious, the society is secondary, and the king is light. However, the era proposed by Mencius was still the era of hegemony between countries, so it is understandable that he had the courage to mention it.
However, Dong Zhongshu proposed the era of heaven and man induction, but the era of the great unification of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, at this time Dong Zhongshu dared to put forward such ideas to the emperor, which required a lot of courage.
All calamities are born of the loss of the state, and the loss of the state is the beginning of the germination, and the calamity of the heavens is told; the slander is told, but the strange is frightened; the frightened, not yet afraid, and its calamity is even to be blamed. In this way, we see the benevolence of Providence, and do not want to trap others. --- "Spring and Autumn Dew"
The so-called heavenly induction, in fact, there are many kinds of understanding. One of the more important understandings completely subverted our understanding of feudal society.
The heaven he emphasizes here is not the emperor, but the people of Li. The people here are referring to the emperor. The core idea of tianren induction is to hope that the emperor can feel the suffering of the people.
Dong Zhongshu believes that the people are the foundation of a country, and if the people are in the depths of the water, it must be that the imperial court has done something wrong, and there is no reason to explain.
Why were there so many peasant rebels in the last years of the Qin Dynasty? If the emperor could manage the country well and let the people live and work in peace and contentment, who would be willing to run out and risk killing their heads to rebel?
There is a saying in Zhou Xingchi's movie that how many beggars there are in the world is not decided by the leader of the beggar gang, but by the emperor. If the emperor is wise enough and the people live and work in peace, the ghosts are willing to come out and be beggars.
The reason is actually the same, Dong Zhongshu put forward this idea, the purpose is to hope that the monarchs who inherit the past and open up the future can have a reverence for the people of the world.
For the people can make your throne, and the people can overthrow your throne. It is true that the saying that water can carry a boat or overturn a boat is a truth.
03 Three Principles and Five Constants, laying the supreme authority of the emperor.
One of the biggest characteristics of feudal society is that there are emperors. All the ministers and the people circled around the emperor. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in fact, the concept of emperor was not deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Even if confucius had already put forward the idea of kings and subjects, it was a chaotic world, and everyone had their own relationship between kings and subjects, so the idea of monarchs was not profound enough.
The poem "is pleasant to the people, and it is convenient for the people to be subject to the people" for the government and the people, and it should be subject to the heavens. The five constant ways of benevolence, friendship, etiquette, knowledge, and faith, the king should cultivate it. The five cultivate, so they are subject to the chaos of heaven, and enjoy the spirit of the ghosts and gods, and the virtue is given to the outside, extending to the group of beings. --- Book of Han
To this end, under the guidance of the thoughts of the monarchs and subjects, Dong Zhongshu boldly put forward the three principles and five constants that were criticized by posterity. Of the three principles and five constants, the most important point is that the jun is a subject.
Just as the father is the son and the husband is the wife, Dong Zhongshu believes that the king is the subject, that is also a kind of heavenly reason, it is an eternal truth, the emperor should be supported by all the courtiers, and the emperor's orders should be carried out by all the courtiers.
It's like eating and sleeping every day, you can be hungry or stay up late, but if you keep doing this, sooner or later you have to hang up, because this is the law of nature, and if you don't abide by the laws of nature, of course, you will be eliminated by nature.
Dong Zhongshu's words made Emperor Wu of Han's blood boil, and he suddenly felt that he was the true son of the gods. After this idea was popularized, the status of the emperor was higher, and the courtiers were naturally more loyal to the emperor.
Summary: The imperial system of the later feudal dynasty was actually established by Dong Zhongshu.
Before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the world was in a state of half-divided and half-counties, and each sub-feudal prince was eligible to establish his own small kingdom. These small kingdoms did not have to be dispatched by the emperors of the Han Dynasty, because they had their own taxes, armies, and the ability to mint coins privately.
This seriously threatened the rule of the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, and for this reason the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms during the Reign of emperor Jingdi of the Han Dynasty broke out. Although the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms was put down, this situation still exists.
Then Emperor Wu of Han used two methods to eliminate the existence of this situation, and of course we are more familiar with the main father's Tui En Order, which is a formal complete solution to the possibility of the princes becoming bigger.
Another way to change people's perception of the emperor from the ideological level is the imperial system proposed by Dong Zhongshu. This thing further elevated the status of the emperor and established the relationship between monarchs and subjects as a natural law.
In this way, if the courtiers want to rebel, they must weigh and weigh whether they really want to act perversely and violate the laws of nature. Therefore, the great unified dynasty of the future generations can also be continued for a long time, otherwise once the new emperor takes the throne, there will be a rebellion of courtiers, why? Because one dynasty is a heavenly son and a courtier.
Resources:
"Spring and Autumn Dew"
Book of Han