"Confucianism and Contemporary Society" is divided into four parts: Confucian Culture, Confucian Governance Thought, Confucian Outlook on Life, Confucianism and Contemporary China. See "The Core Values of Chinese Civilization, The Flow of Sinology and Traditional Values" (chen lai. Beijing: Life, Reading, xinzhi Sanlian Bookstore, 2015.pp. 157-190) This article is a transcript of the author's speech at the State Administration of Press and Publication on July 31, 2010. HUNTPAUL Bookworm Notes
The content ranges from the Four Books and Five Classics to the people-oriented, from the rule of virtue to the exemplary function of officials to cultivate themselves and correct themselves, from the universal Confucian values of what they do not want and do not do to others to the ultimate care of Confucianism in perpetual harmony, from the changes in contemporary China and the role of Confucianism to the two roots of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
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Confucian culture contains a classical core, with a set of classical systems, and this classical system also determines the main characteristics and personalities of this school.
The first part of the Confucian classical system is the Five Classics. Confucianism regards the inheritance of the Six Classics as the most important cultural responsibility and mission. The classic system inherited by Confucianism, with the "Five Classics" or "Six Classics" as the core, is not a classic of one school and one religion, but a classic of civilization, that is, the classic of Chinese civilization, which is of great significance.
The system of the "Five Classics" gradually expanded after the Han Dynasty, from the "Seven Classics" and "Nine Classics" to the "Thirteen Classics" ("Five Classics" and "Rites", "Spring and Autumn Three Traditions", "Erya", "Analects", "Filial Piety" and "Mencius")
Zhu Xi once said that the "Five Classics" seem to be coarse grain, the "Four Books" seem to be cooked rice, the "Five Classics" still need to be processed before they can be eaten, and the "Five Classics" carry a lot of things that are not the essence, and the "Four Books" are the essence of things.
Confucianism represents the core values of the Chinese, which are in line with the historical and cultural situation and living conditions of the Chinese, and it is integrated with the historical environment, historical conditions, production methods, and communication methods of Chinese survival, so it meets the needs of Chinese society at that time, so it has become the main part of Chinese culture.
Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, has become the spiritual symbol of Chinese civilization in the development of Chinese culture for thousands of years, especially in the reconstruction of Chinese civilization in modern times. Confucius is no longer a personal problem; he has been given the meaning of the spiritual symbol of the Chinese nation in history. Therefore, we must be very cautious in our treatment of Confucius today, and we cannot simply treat him as an ordinary historical figure.
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Confucian thought of governing the country: people-oriented, people-oriented, moral governance-oriented, self-cultivation-oriented, family-oriented.
The five characteristics of Confucian thought on governing the country, we should also echo the Taoist concept of governing the country "rule by doing nothing".
"Doing nothing" is not a concept of Confucian exclusion, but Confucianism has its own understanding, Confucius said: "The ruler of inaction is also related to Qishun. He thinks that Shun is "ruling by doing nothing." The Confucians regard Yao Shun as a model for the holy king, and Yao Shun has a benevolent heart, and this Shun is "rule by doing nothing"; the following is also said: "What is a husband?" "What did he do?" Just south of Gongji. It can be seen that the Confucian "rule by doing nothing" is not to do nothing, but to be respectful to oneself, and to be respectful is to respect morality, not to let you interfere with the people everywhere. Confucius wants you to change from being a righteous person to being righteous and play an exemplary and active role without disturbing the people. This is what Confucianism understands as inaction. In addition, Mencius also said, "Do nothing, do nothing, don't want what you don't want", which is obviously a response to Taoism. "Doing nothing" is not doing what you shouldn't be doing, not doing nothing. This is the Confucian understanding of inaction, on the one hand, to be respectful of oneself, to cultivate oneself and respect morality, and to be a moral example; on the other hand, the desires that should not be desired are removed, and the things that should not be done are not done, and so on. It's a contrast.
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Confucian outlook on life
In Chinese history, Confucianism has provided basic values for Chinese society and Chinese, and many of them are embodied in the attitude of life and the ideal of life. Let's give a few examples.
First, attitude towards life. We have a few words, called the way of being strong and promising, tolerant and harmonious, and moderate.
Second, moral ideals. We also have a few words, public and private righteousness, benevolence, and gentleman's ideals.
The first sentence, public and private interests. Confucianism believes that the most important thing in morality is how to deal with the relationship between public and private, righteousness and profit.
The second sentence, Zhishi Renren, this standard is relatively high, Confucius said, "Zhishi benevolent people, no survival to harm benevolence, there is killing to become benevolent." This benevolence represents a moral ideal. This is a universal rule and requirement in the field of morality, that is, we must be able to dare to dedicate our lives to fulfill moral ideals in the face of major moral choices. This is the spirit of Confucianism, the spirit of positivity. In terms of moral ideals, Confucianism attaches great importance to a free and independent personality, which is not like some of us have said, but only makes people and subjects obedient. Confucius said that when you are a courtier, you only take obedience to your superiors and your monarch as the fundamental principle, which is called the way of a concubine, not the way of a great husband. What is the Way of the Great Husband? It is Mencius who said, "Live in the world, establish the right position in the world, and walk the road under the world." To have the will is to be with the people; not to be ambitious, to go it alone. The rich cannot be adulterous, the poor cannot be moved, and the mighty cannot be bent, which is called a great husband." The way of the great husband is not the same as the way of the concubine, and the way of the concubine as the way of the concubine is opposed by Confucius and Mencius, and as a courtier, we must maintain the personality of the great husband.
The third sentence, the ideal of a gentleman, is about universal values. What are the most universal values? It is the value and ethics of benevolence.
Fourth, the Confucian practical orientation, that is, the unity of knowledge and action. It is most fully expressed in the field of thought of the Ming dynasty philosopher Wang Yangming, and we also quote a passage from him. He said that people now divide knowledge and action into two things, thinking that the prophet is right to act later, and I will seek knowledge first, and when the knowledge is good, I will do it again. He said that this is not possible, and the actual result is that it will not work for life, and it will not be known for life, because knowledge is never exhausted, so practice can never be realized. He was critical of Zhu Xi, who spoke of prophethood and knowledge of what to do before. In view of the situation in the Ming Dynasty, he said that Zhu Xi's thinking had bad results, so he wanted to put his deeds in the front and unite knowledge and action, and Wang Yangming said that I said today that the unity of knowledge and action is to prescribe the right medicine for the symptoms, and that there is such a disease in society, and it is not my invention. The unity of knowledge and action is a very important tradition in Chinese Confucian practice.
Fifth, the ultimate care of Confucianism. The first point is the unity of heaven and man. The harmony between nature and man, the common essence and common law of the universe, all things and human beings, are all the contents of the unity of heaven and man. Second, All-That-Is. By the time of the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, this concept became more and more intense. As the Northern Song Dynasty philosopher Cheng Hao said, this is not an expression of existentialism, not that the universe is so structured, and that heaven and man are isomorphic, but from a realm point of view, that is, everyone should regard all things as one with you. For example, when someone pinches your finger you feel pain, you know that the finger is part of your body, but the other person suffers, you don't feel his pain, it is numb. Only if you see his pain and can feel it, is called All-That-Is. This is no longer an existential, cosmological concept, but a very high state of life. The third point is called "Baohe Taihe". These are the words in the I Ching. Baohe Taihe is the broadest and most permanent harmony. There was a philosopher in the Song Dynasty, Zhang Zai, who said a sentence that is very dialectical, he said that "there must be opposites, and there is hatred against Si", that is, the contradiction that Mao Zedong said is the opposite, and the opposite is the opposite, but Zhang Zai has another sentence after that, representing the Confucian ideal, saying that "hatred must be harmonious and solved", and the opposing sides must eventually reconcile. This is the Confucian ideal of life of Baohe Taihe.
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Confucianism and Contemporary China
Instead of using this method of quoting scriptures, we use some modern observations to look at the characteristics of Confucian values from a modern perspective. I want to use contrasts and some modern expressions to strengthen our understanding of the relationship between the values of Confucianism and contemporary society.
First sentence: Morality is more important than law. We have just quoted some words that boil down to today's statement that morality is more important than law, not that morality is more important than law, not that morality is more important.
Second sentence: Community is more important than individuals. The individual is just an individual, the community is a smaller family, a family, a clan, a community, and the larger one is a state or a nation.
Third sentence: Spirit is more important than matter. Confucianism is not an eclectic, it has to highlight some important points. Material things are not unnecessary, especially ordinary people, we must benefit from the interests of the people, but the spirit is more important, especially for the scholars.
Fourth sentence: Responsibility is more important than rights. This responsibility can be responsibility to the family, responsibility to the group, responsibility to society and the nation. This right, in the field of Western political science today, refers more to the rights of individuals, and Confucianism does not talk about rights, but it highlights the importance of responsibility. Why we call the characteristics of values, the characteristics are priority, not to say that Confucianism does not want law, does not want materials, does not want rights, but to have priority, the characteristics of a value system is manifested in the arrangement of priority.
Fifth, people's livelihood is more important than democracy. Ordinary people must have a subsistence and other things to talk about. The development of democracy is based on stages, democracy cannot be regarded as absolute, and it is the primary value at any stage of social development, and the people's livelihood is the more basic value.
Sixth sentence: Order is more important than freedom. This different school of thought has different views. Zhuangzi may feel that freedom is more important than order, and the Dharma does not want to be free as long as order is. Confucianism should say that there is more emphasis on order, but not freedom.
Seventh sentence: This life is more valuable than the next. Confucianism is a positive realist who values this life, while Buddhism, in the final analysis, is getting rid of reincarnation and seeing the afterlife as more important than this life.
Eighth sentence: Harmony is more valuable than struggle. There must be hatred for each other, but "hatred must be solved in harmony", which is the direction of Confucianism.
Sentence 9: Civilization is more valuable than poverty. The comparison of these two words is not necessarily accurate, Taoism does not respect civilization, it respects the primitive state, Confucianism has always had a high degree of affirmation of civilization, the early ritual is a sign of civilization, Confucianism is the most conservative, develop and inherit this ritual. Its sense of civilization is very prominent.
Finally, family is more valuable than class. This is a Confucian idea, a Kind of Marxism as we used to understand it as believing that only class struggle is valuable, and today the times have changed. Confucianism offers us a new way of thinking, is the family a fundamental value? Throughout the ages, there have always been some ideas of eliminating the family, like Plato, and some communists who believe that there is no family in communist society, but today back to the real life we Chinese, the family is indeed a very valuable thing, and Confucianism has given a high degree of affirmation to this.
When we talk about China today, we use the above ten points to distinguish and contrast Confucianism with other ideas, such as the contrast with individualism, liberalism, and liberal democracy, all of which are targeted and related to modern society, so that we can understand the characteristics of Confucian values as a whole. Of course, this is still rough, each of which you can also call the basic, it can be said that Confucianism is moralism, community-orientedism, responsibility-basedism, people's livelihood-orientedism, and Confucianism is not only a ism, it is a whole composed of values embodied in so many doctrines.