I myself am a relatively radical "anti-Kong elite", but Confucianism has grown and developed in China for more than two thousand years, and naturally it has its own merits, but compared with the sins it has done, it is "too much to do". Of course, each doctrine has its own limitations and defects, there is no perfect doctrine, just like the Taoist doctrine I personally believe in, I do not think it is perfect, but the Taoist doctrine is more inclusive and more vital than the Confucian doctrine.
Some people may say: Since Taoist doctrine is more inclusive and more vital than Confucianism, why is it not as popular as Confucianism everywhere? Questions must be asked on the point, and if that's what you really think right now, then congratulations, a good question.
We rural people often say: County officials are not as good as the current management. In the folk, the incense of the god of Vesta and the god of the land is far more than that of the Jade Emperor, which is because the low-level gods such as the god of Vesta and the god of the land are very close to the masses of the people, while the Jade Emperor is on the top, but not so close to the people, so the people are more willing to sacrifice gods such as the god of Vesta. At the beginning of the birth of Confucianism, it was actually a very failure, Confucius traveled around the world, preaching Confucianism everywhere, but no king was willing to accept it, but later Emperor Wu of han was convenient to rule the world before he put forward the notification strategic idea of "deposing a hundred families and respecting Confucianism alone", so that the Confucian doctrine that was on the verge of death suddenly came to life, and after generations of Confucian management, it finally became "close to the people". Taoist doctrine, on the other hand, takes the opposite path, so it seems less pro-people.
In addition to the above well-known reasons, from an academic point of view, there is actually another reason, that is probably the reason why Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty is interested, that is, Mr. Li Zongwu said: The more extreme the scholarship, the more popular it is. Confucianism is a very extreme doctrine, especially after the Song Dynasty, it is no longer a simple doctrine, it has become a knife that kills people without blood.
Why Confucianism is becoming more and more demonized, we will have the opportunity to talk about it later, and today we will talk about its extremism alone.
Whether or not we have studied the Three Character Sutra, we all know the opening sentence of it: At the beginning of man, nature is good. This sentence was first put forward by our Mr. Yasheng Mencius, who said that human nature is good, "children love their relatives, and young elders respect their brothers (Mencius)", so he advocates benevolence and righteousness in politics. The people of the countryside who had not read books in ancient times thought that what the saints said was right, and if they dared to question what the saints said, it would be a great rebellion. Shortly after Mencius's death, there was a "great rebel" who doubted Mencius's words, and this person was called Xunzi. Xun Zi considered himself a Confucian, but he was excluded from the Confucians from beginning to end, only because he questioned and opposed the first sage, and he was not qualified to be the first saint's little follower and mud leg.
So what did Mr. Xunzi do to "go against the grain" and offend the public? In fact, just a sentence thing, he said: At the beginning of man, nature is good? Mencius was wrong.
Xunzi believed that human nature is selfish and evil, and everything is self-centered. Just like a baby, if he is hungry, even if it is three more midnights, he will cry whether his mother is sleeping or not, whether he is tired or not. Isn't that exactly the same as the selfish face of our adults? Isn't this the beginning of man? Where does sexual goodness come from? Therefore, XunZi said: The wife is filial to her relatives, lustful and trustworthy to friends, and lords and loyal to the king.
From our current point of view, I believe that most people still cannot accept Xunzi's statement, because the status of the saints, even though the reform and opening up has been decades now, has never changed in the hearts of some people, and they still stubbornly believe that Mencius's theory of sexual goodness is right. In addition, I believe that there are also some extreme people who are very much in favor of Xunzi's sexual evil theory. In fact, whether it is Mencius's theory of sexual goodness or Xunzi's theory of sexual evil, they are only "each has a bias in human nature (Li Zongwu)". That is to say, whether it is Mencius or Xunzi, their doctrines are actually extreme, not objective, and incomplete.
If we talk about human nature in terms of Taoist doctrine, it is "yin and yang." That is to say, with regard to human nature, Mencius was half right, Xunzi was half right, but in the end it was summed up by the little-known admonition, he said: Sex is like turbulent water, and if it is decided to flow east, it will flow east, and if it is determined to be west, it will flow west. There is no distinction between human nature and good and unwholesomeness, and there is no distinction between things and things. The words of the confessor are undoubtedly the most correct, but how many people know?
The more academically extreme, the more popular it is. Mr. Li Zongwu sincerely did not deceive me.