Since ancient times and to the present, the spirit of loyalty and righteousness has been an excellent virtue that the Chinese nation has highly respected, and the history books of successive dynasties have specially set up a "Biography of Loyalty and Righteousness" to commend the loyal and righteous people who have made outstanding contributions to the country and the people.
Loyalty is the virtue of integrity. To be centered, to be impartial, to be unbiased, to be unbiased, to be conscientious, to be unremitting, is to be loyal. The Shuowen Jiezi says: "Loyalty, respect, dedication and loyalty." Confucius regarded being faithful as the foundation of a gentleman's behavior. Once, Confucius's student Son Zhang asked Confucius, is there any way that is recognized everywhere and can work? Confucius replied, "Faithful in word and respectful in deeds, though barbaric in a state of righteousness." Unfaithful in words, disrespectful in deeds, though what is the state doing? "Meaning: Speak faithfully and faithfully, act respectfully and respectfully, even in barbaric areas, it works. Disloyal in speech, untrustworthy, disrespectful, respectful, even in the native state, cannot gain a foothold.
Righteousness is the right thing to do. Knowing right from wrong, knowing good and evil, respecting the virtuous and valuing virtue, cultivating oneself, and doing something or not doing something according to the requirements of justice or moral norms is righteousness. The Interpretation says, "Righteousness, righteousness." Cut things, make each fit. "Righteousness" is the foundation of all morality and the embodiment of man's most basic values. Confucius said: "A gentleman's righteousness is supreme", "righteousness is a hostage", "a gentleman is in the world, there is no fit, there is no Moye, righteousness and comparison", pointing out that all the behaviors of gentlemen must be measured in accordance with righteousness.
Guan Gong is the perfect embodiment, excellent representative and cultural symbol of the spirit of loyalty and righteousness that the Chinese nation has been respected and recognized by countless Sons and Daughters of China for more than 1,800 years. Guan Gong's spirit of loyalty and righteousness has inspired generation after generation of loyal and righteous soldiers to stand up, sacrifice themselves to serve the country, go generously to righteousness, and bravely kill the enemy, becoming the main outlet of patriotic education in successive dynasties and dynasties, and providing an endless stream of spiritual strength for the prosperity and development of the Chinese nation.
The Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty inscribed lianyun for the Temple of the Guandi Emperor in Di'anmen, Beijing: "Haoqi Danxin, Eternal Loyalty to the Sun and Moon; Blessing of the People, Thousand Autumns and Beans Yongshan River". He highly praised Emperor Guan's loyal character and the sun and moon, and Emperor Guan's merit in blessing the people and the country was the same as that of the mountains and rivers.
The Qianlong Emperor also personally wrote an inscription for the Guandi Temple in Di'anmen, saying: "(Emperor Guan) was born as a hero, died as a spirit, and his merits should not be lost in the world, and the world is also blessed with the corpse of The Beans." However, there is no table that does not push the integrity and wisdom of the ten thousand people, so the testicles are respected and the sect is considered sacred. Covering the holy and the divine, so the essence of the sacred path, the god and the sacred, so the righteousness of the Shinto is clear", "the exposition of the gods and the holy places from, so for humanity to support the program, to help the preaching of the wind religion, that is, the original Xu of the system of worship is nothing more than that." He praised Emperor Guan for "writing the essence of the Sacred Tao", "the righteousness of the Ming Shinto", and "supporting the Gangchang for humanity and helping to propagate the Wind Religion", and became the only supreme and most holy deity in the history of Chinese culture to realize the trinity of "Sacred Tao", "Shinto" and "Humanity".
In the minds of the Chinese people, the image of Emperor Guan has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, sowing the seeds of loyalty and righteousness in everyone's subconscious.
During the reign of Emperor Mingsizong Chongzhen, Li Changqian, the right capital of the Duchayuan Andi and Hubu Shangshu, was ordered to supervise the grain in Fujian, and the Qing army had already crossed the Xianxia Ridge, and marshal Zheng Zhilong secretly withdrew all the officers and men defending the city, and he beat his chest with his feet, planning to martyr the country and serve the imperial court.
He drank the poison, wrote a suicide note, saw Emperor Guan appear in front of him, and then left. He hurriedly knelt down, pointed to the wall and said to his family, "Guan Sheng is here, do you want to see it?" "His family said they didn't see it, because it was newly relocated here and it has not yet been enshrined to Emperor Guan." Li Changqian only understood that this was Emperor Guan's sense of his loyalty, so he appeared holy in order to fulfill his loyalty, so he looked up at the sky and roared, and ended with a smile.
In addition to Li Changqian, Li Xin and his descendants of the Xinghua Li family "martyred"; Li Changxiang, Li Lan, Li Sizhen and others sacrificed their lives and martyred the country; Li Sixun, Li Qing, Li Gan, Li Fa and other 18 people, who insisted on their loyalty to the Ming Dynasty by rejecting the new dynasty and not taking the imperial examination. At the time of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Xinghua Li family practiced the family motto of "serving the country loyally and living up to the grace of the king" with the spirit of loyalty and righteousness.
In the thirteenth year of Yongzheng, Qin Shiwang of Changhua Zhixian county said in the "Monument to the Temple of the Guandi Emperor": "Since the ancient loyal and righteous soldiers, born as righteous people, not as gods, are enough to lay beans and enjoy blood food: ran or long in a generation, or the temple was built on one side,...... Since the Han Dynasty, the sun and the moon have flourished, and only the emperor is alone. The commentators say: Its Debei Ni Mountain, The Sacred Division of Wen Wu, Loyalty to the Sun and The Moon, Qi Plugging Heaven and Earth".
The spirit of Guandi Zhongyi is the inexhaustible spiritual driving force of the Chinese nation and the spiritual backbone of the Chinese nation to always maintain its evergreenness, and the values and codes of conduct contained in it have long been integrated into the hearts of everyone in the Chinese nation and have become the center of the spiritual beliefs of the sons and daughters of China from generation to generation. The essence of Emperor Guan's spirit of loyalty and righteousness is the Chinese soul of the Sun and Moon and the magnificent atmosphere, and it is the spiritual totem of zhongzhao sun and moon and yibing Qiankun.
Carrying forward the culture of Guan Gong's loyalty and righteousness, inheriting the spirit of Guan Di's loyalty and righteousness, encouraging social righteousness and justice, and promoting the moral progress of the people will surely accumulate immeasurable spiritual strength for the rejuvenation of China.
--This article was published in the A4 edition of Hong Kong Commercial Daily