Shusun Tong was more controversial in history, Sima Qian called him "Confucian Emperor of the Han Dynasty", his students called him "Sage", and since the Northern Song Dynasty, he was considered a villain who tended to be inflamed, and some people even said that Qin Guo II died because of his words.
In the seventh year of Gao Zu, after his uncle Sun Tong completed the formulation of etiquette, he was appointed by Liu Bang as Taichang and given five hundred catties of gold. Shusun Tong took the opportunity to recommend his students to Liu Bang, and these students were all appointed by Liu Bang as Lang officials, and Shusun Tong gave all five hundred catties of gold to all the students, so everyone was very happy, saying: "Uncle Sun Shengcheng is also a saint, and he knows the important affairs of the world." ”
However, most of the descendants were not interested in the "sage" Uncle Sun Tong, Sima Guang said that he was "small", resulting in "the fall of the first king's courtesy", Wang Anshi ridiculed the sentient beings for "greed for the king's gifts", Hong Liangji said that Qin II died, "actually died at the words of Uncle Sun Tong", and Cai Dongfan even ridiculed His Uncle Sun Tong for "mocking the future generations".
So, what kind of person is Shusun Tong? How can a person who has betrayed the Lord many times be called a "saint"? How should we view the evaluation of Shusun Tong by future generations?
Uncle Sun Tong, who had betrayed the Lord many times, was scolded by Qufu Rusheng as a horse ass spirit
During the reign of Emperor Qin II, Shusun Tong was conscripted as a doctor of the Emperor Zhao, and a few years later the Chen Sheng WuGuang Rebellion broke out. Under Zhao Gao's deception, it was not until the rebels broke through Chen County that Hu Hai learned the truth. At this time, the fainting Hu Hai turned into a deafening thief, and he was angry when he heard the ministers' suggestion to send troops to encircle and suppress them.
Uncle Sun saw the situation and said: "The matter is not so serious, now the world is stable, there are Ming Jun, there are decrees under it, where there is any rebellion, it is just some chicken and dog thieves, as long as the magistrate intervenes to arrest it, it is not worth the fuss." ”
Qin II was pleased, and he ordered that all officials who thought that there had been a rebellion should be imprisoned, and all officials who thought that they were just thieves and troublemakers should be rewarded, and Shusun Tong was rewarded with twenty silks and appointed as a doctor. As a result, after dispersing, Shusun Tong touched the back of his head, pulled his leg and escaped from Xianyang and threw Xiang Liang. This is the reason why some people say that Shusun Tong died in Qin.
After that, Xiang Liang was killed in battle, and Shusun Tong should join Xiang Liang's superior, King Chu Huai, who was "moved" by Xiang Yu, and ShuSun Tong served Xiang Yu again. Later, Liu Bang attacked Pengcheng, and Uncle Sun Tong defected to Liu Bang.
Many years later, Shusun Tong revised the etiquette and went to Qufu to recruit Confucians, but two Confucians refused to be called, and they ridiculed Shusun Tong and said:
"All who do the work of the commons and the ten lords are honored with their faces. Today, it is decided that the dead are not buried, the wounded are not up, and they want to rejoice. The liturgical music house began, accumulated virtue for a hundred years, and then could be revived. I can't bear to do it for the public. The public office is not in line with the ancients, I can't. Don't pollute me! ”
You made your fortune by flattery, the master changed one after another, and engaged in inappropriate etiquette with you, which is simply tarnishing my name, roll!
The revision of the ritual law was the highlight of Shusun Tong's life
Relying solely on horse flattery, it is certainly not possible to be admired by Sima Qian as "Confucianism", and Shusun Tong's greatest contribution is to revise the etiquette law for Liu Bang.
Ancient etiquette and today's concept of etiquette and law are completely different, ancient etiquette and law are inseparable, is to maintain the ancient ruling order of the fundamental law, its status is similar to today's constitution, so it is very important.
As we know, the ritual law originated in the Western Zhou Dynasty, but after the Qin Dynasty changed the law from the Shang Martingale, the ritual law as a tool for maintaining the patriarchal system has been eliminated. Therefore, after the unification of Qin, the ritual law declined and was lost.
Shusun Tong's contribution lies in the inheritance of ritual law, which is the core part of Confucianism, so Sima Qian called Shusun Tong "Han Confucian Sect".
"In the fifth year of the Han Dynasty, the world has been merged, and the princes have honored the King of Han as emperor Yu Dingtao, and his uncle and grandson have taken his honorific title. Emperor Gao went to Qin Jiaoyi for simplicity. ”
However, Shusun Tong's etiquette is not a simple retro, he believes that since the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, the etiquette has been different, Confucius has also revised the three generations of etiquette, so he advocated the principle of "simplicity", with reference to the ancient law, re-formulated a set of Han Dynasty rituals.
After two years of hard work, Shusun Tong's court ceremony was inaugurated at the inauguration ceremony of Changle Palace and achieved great success, Liu Bang said happily: "I am known as the emperor's noble today." ”
Uncle Sun Tong brought up the students after this incident.
After that, Shusun Tong was ordered to reformulate various ritual rituals such as worship and sacrifice.
"Sage" or "opportunist", Shusun Tong's theory of right and wrong
The students praised Shusun Tong as "Shusun Shengcheng Sage also knows the most important things of the world", and Wang Anshi composed a poem to sing the opposite tune: "Immediate success does not like the text, Uncle Sun Mianrui is good at economics." The beings were ridiculously greedy and greedy, so they promised to be saints at that time. ”
The reason for the students is that the uncle knows the current affairs, knows when to do things, has wisdom, so he is a saint.
The background of this is that when a group of students followed Shusun Tong, Shusun Tong did not recommend any of them, but recommended to Liu Bang the "big monkey" (specifically talking about the ancient group of thieves entering it), and the students were angry and scolded Shusun Tong. Shusun Tong explained this:
"The King of Han Fang Meng Yashi is fighting for the world, and the sentient beings are better able to fight?" Therefore, the prophet will cut off the flag bearer. All beings treat me, and I do not forget. ”
Now is the time to fight the world, the King of Han needs warriors, who of you can do? Stay honest, I will have a day to let you stand out in the future. Sure enough, after the reunification of the world, the etiquette was reformulated, and they all went to the front. This is why the students say that Shusun Tong "knows the important affairs of the world".
But is the most important thing to know be a saint? Obviously, their words were too exaggerated, and Wang Anshi simply said that these drummers were nothing more than singing praises everywhere because they had benefited from Uncle Sun Tong!
I want to say that this is the common disease of human nature, like a person to exaggerate like a flower, do not like a person to die. Shusun Tong was called a saint, which was obviously exaggerated! If he is wise at best, and wisdom is a saint, how many saints must there be in this world?
Saying that Shusun Tong started by flattery, constantly changing masters, and moral losses, this statement is also too pedantic, who said that we must be buried with the fallen forces, in order to be considered a moral gentleman?
Why did the Confucian clans of later generations belittle their uncles and grandsons? Confucianism has changed its flavor!
"Contemptuous Confucianism" and "Confucianism", Uncle Sun Tong, who stands on the fork in the road of Confucianism
In the face of Qufu Rusheng's accusations, Shusun Tong smiled and said, "If you really despise Confucianism, you don't know how the times change." ”
You are really "contemptuous" and don't know how to change! What is time change? It is that the environment changes, the environment changes, and people must keep pace with the times to adapt to the changes, rather than sticking to dogma, otherwise it is "contemptuous" and makes people look down on it!
Used on Shusun Tong, such as the Emperor of the Qin Dynasty, the chaos in the world, the Qin law is not in time, it should be destroyed, do not recognize this, vainly try to change the heavens with their own strength, and even stick to morality, and coexist with the violent Qin, that is", "contempt"!
When Liu Bang fought the world, etiquette was not important, he had to learn to lurk, not to compete and add chaos, and to recommend suitable talents to the emperor.
There is no unchanged layer of heaven and time, there is no layer of unchanged etiquette, the social structure of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors is too different from today's, can not be copied, Confucius also once modified the three generations of ritual law to adapt to society, Shusun Tong revised the Han Dynasty ritual law, is not it to understand the current affairs of the times to keep pace with the times? Therefore, Sima Guang's accusation that he had led to the fall of the ancient law was unreasonable!
In fact, the Confucianism of the Han Dynasty is very different from the Confucianism of Confucius, and the development of Confucianism has its progressive significance, but it also brings some drawbacks, such as academic pedantry and ideological rigidity.
The most direct example is that after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Confucianism suppressed people with the big hat of morality, and judged the words and deeds of others from a moral standpoint at every turn, completely disregarding changes in the environment. For example, loyalty gradually developed into a pedantic one-way allegiance, imprisoning the democratic ideas of later generations.
The Western Han Dynasty was a fork in the road of Confucianism, and the marriage of Confucianism and politics gradually lost its original inclusiveness and activity, and the examination of Shusun Tong was actually a different result observed from two different angles.
From our perspective today, when we look at the critics of Shusun Tong, they are "contemptuous"!
From our perspective today, those who call Shusun Tong a saint are actually "contemptuous"!