Author: KONG Xiang'an (Research Fellow, Confucius Institute, Nishan World Confucian Center, Research Fellow, Xi Jinping Research Center for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Shandong Province)
In the face of the unprecedented changes in the world in a century, standing at the new coordinate point of historical development, only by enhancing historical consciousness and strengthening cultural self-confidence can we accurately judge the general trend, cope with various challenges, and scientifically answer the question of the times of "what should we do". General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "A country's governance system and governance capacity are closely related to the country's historical inheritance and cultural traditions. To solve China's problems, we can only explore our own path and methods on the Chinese land. And he clearly emphasized, "In ancient times, the mainland advocated that the people should be the only state, that the government should be governed by the people, that etiquette and law should be ruled together, that morality should be the main punishment, that the importance of government should not precede the people, that governing the country should be preceded by officials, that self-cultivation should be correct, that people should be prepared for danger in times of peace, and that reform should be changed, and so on. "Chinese traditional culture contains rich political ethics and political wisdom, and it is a historical mission entrusted by the times to excavate and summarize the ideological concepts, political wisdom and cultural essence of governing the country contained in Chinese traditional culture."
As we all know, the period from the end of the Spring and Autumn to the end of the Warring States period was the most brilliant era in the history of the development of ancient Chinese ideology and culture, which is generally called the "Zixue Era" in academic circles, which is also what Jasbeth called the "axis age" of Chinese thought and scholarship. In order to change the social status quo of "propriety, bad and happy collapse", thinkers cherished the long-cherished wish of "benefiting the world and the people", based on their own ideological and academic vision, and proposed different solutions to the problems of people's hearts, interpersonalities, society, and politics at that time. Among them, the most representative are Confucianism, Mo, Taoism and Law. With the evolution of history, except for Mojia, the other three have been used in political practice. The State of Qin was the first to adopt the Legalist ideology of "taking law as a teaching and officials as a teacher" to unify the six eastern countries, and as a result, the second dynasty died. The Western Han Dynasty that followed summed up the lessons of the Qin dynasty and adopted the Taoist idea of "ruling without doing anything", but within half a century, the "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms" appeared. This forced the Han dynasty to change course and find a new ideology of statecraft to guide its totalitarian political rule. In the end, Emperor Wudi of Han accepted and adopted Dong Zhongshu's suggestion of "deposing hundreds of schools and respecting Confucianism", and Confucianism began to be combined with Chinese politics, giving play to the unique advantages and role of Anbang Dingguo, and remained in the mainstream position in the process of China's social and historical development for more than two thousand years, becoming the backbone of ancient Chinese political thought and culture. It is not so much that history chose Confucianism, but that Confucianism is more suitable for the development needs of ancient Chinese society and politics. Looking at the Confucian political proposition of "virtue for government" and its theoretical system, it roughly contains political wisdom in three levels and nine aspects.
First, based on the philosophical foundation of "the unity of heaven and man", put forward the royal politics of cultivating Qi and governing peace, the endless enterprising spirit, and the social ideal of universal harmony
Confucianism attaches great importance to the relationship between heaven and man, and links "knowing the mandate of heaven" with "fulfilling personnel", the purpose is to realize the organic unity of "knowing the mandate of heaven" and "fulfilling personnel", and achieve a harmonious state of "unity of heaven and man". Unlike Taoism, which is "hidden from the heavens and does not know people" (Xunzi Xiezhi), Confucianism does not trap people within the mysterious power of heaven and arbitrarily obey the arrangement and manipulation of the mandate of heaven, but recognizes the existence of the heavenly path (heavenly destiny) and emphasizes the subjective initiative of people. Although Confucius said that "if you do not know your fate, you cannot be a gentleman" (Analects of Confucius), he paid more attention to emphasizing that "people can propagate the Tao, but not the Tao" (Analects of Wei Linggong). However, Confucius did not exaggerate the role of man, especially did not move towards the "anthropocentrism" of modern Western times, but advocated that people should learn to imitate the way of heaven, praising the holy king Yao Emperor as "only heaven is great, and only Yao is right" (Analects of Taibo). In fact, Confucians expect that the "gentleman" who works for government can reach the height of cultivation of "utmost sincerity" and the state of harmony that "can praise the cultivation of heaven and earth, and can participate in heaven and earth" ("The Mean").
The Confucian concept of "the unity of heaven and man" has found the ideological root of Confucianism, that is, benevolence and righteousness, morality in heaven, that is, the way of heaven, and laid the philosophical foundation of Confucianism's "virtue for government". Confucius reflected on and inherited the concept of heaven and man since the Western Zhou Dynasty, "respecting virtue and protecting the people", abandoned Yin Shang's concept of "divine right of kings" and "I have no life in heaven" (Shangshu Xi Bo Li), shifted the focus of the relationship between heaven and man from "heaven" to "man", and took "virtue" as the link connecting heaven and man. He said: "Born virtuous, what is Huan Wei? Confucius believed that a person's virtues are endowed by "heaven" and are not limited by anyone. Later Confucianism gave play to this idea and raised the question of life: "The predicate of the mandate of heaven, the predicate of the predicate of the rash nature, and the predicate of the predicate of cultivation." The way of life mentioned here is the relationship between heaven and man. Mencius further elaborated along the path of thinking of "the unity of heaven and man" from the perspective of life: "He who does his best knows his nature." If you know its nature, you know it. Keep their hearts and nurture their nature, so everything is also every day. Death is not good, self-cultivation is to survive, so life is also established. Mencius affirmed the unity of heaven and human nature, believing that human nature stems from nature, and that individuals can attain nature through self-cultivation. Zhang Zai explained: "Confucianism, on the other hand, is wise and sincere, so that heaven and man are one, and they can become holy by learning, and they have attained heaven without leaving people. He also put forward the life aspiration of "establishing a heart for heaven and earth, establishing a life for the people, continuing to study for the saints, and opening peace for all generations". Although the Confucian idea of "the unity of heaven and man" includes the concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, only because Confucianism focuses on humanity, the focus of its "unity of heaven and man" ideology is on the moral and political issues on the basis of human heart and human nature, and the focus is on the social and political construction of the entire cosmic system composed of "heaven" and "man", while Confucianism believes that the core and key of politics is the issue of human moral literacy. Based on this, Confucianism conceived and designed the future social politics, put forward the "inner saint and outer king", that is, the political proposition of Xiu Qi Zhiping, and advocated that politicians imitate and learn from the endless enterprising spirit of "heavenly way", so as to realize the pure realm of "stopping at the highest good" pursued by Confucianism, and finally rush to the ideal society of "universal harmony".
1. The royal politics of Xiu Qi Zhiping
"Inner saint and outer king" is the ideal politics that Confucianism diligently pursues, and it is also the highest goal of Confucianism to cultivate Qi and rule peace. Liang Qichao interpreted "inner saint and outer king" as "inner saint and outer enough to cultivate and external enough to endure the world", and also defined "inner saint" and "outer king": "To do self-cultivation and achieve the extreme, is inner saint; To be an Anren kung fu, to the extreme, is the foreign king. In other words, "inner saint" refers to the moral realm of "saint" through the improvement of individual mental cultivation; "Foreign king" refers to the political merit of promoting royal politics and realizing the political merit of "giving charity to the masses". Confucianism integrates inner moral cultivation with external political practice, forming a philosophy of moral-political unity, that is, the study of inner saints and outer kings. Confucius once put forward the political propositions of "cultivating oneself to respect", "cultivating oneself to comfort the people", and "cultivating oneself to reassure the people", of which "self-cultivation" is the kung fu of the inner saint, and "anren" and "anren" are the work of foreign kings. As the political concept and goal pursuit of Confucian state governance, the way of inner saints and outer kings is the central topic and academic purpose of Confucian discussions throughout the ages, and it is the political ideal that successive rulers and scholars have ardently pursued, that is, the politics of the royal way.
2. Endless enterprising spirit
"Continuous self-improvement and keeping pace with the times" is the inexhaustible driving force for the reproduction of the Chinese nation, and its core is the unceasing enterprising spirit. "Self-improvement" and "walking with the times" were first published in "Zhou Yi", "Qiangua Xiangchuan" Yun: "Tianxingjian, a gentleman with self-improvement." "Qiangua Wenyan" Yun: "Dry all day long, walk with the times." "Confucians advocate that politicians should imitate the unceasing spirit of the way of heaven, and be proactive and self-reliant. In today's words, leading cadres must keep pace with the times, carry out reform and innovation, dare to take on responsibilities, and actively act.
The enterprising spirit of Confucianism is not only related to the individual's moral development, but also to the spirit of change and innovation. For example, "Zhou Yi Zhixia" said: "Poverty is change, change is flexible, and general is long." "Confucians believe that change and innovation are not only the laws of nature, but also the laws of political life. Confucianism should act for politicians to adapt to the times, adapt to changes, walk with the times, and conform to the trend of the times. In Chinese history, a large number of politicians and reformers, such as Fan Zhongyan, Wang Anshi, Zhang Juzheng, and Kang Youwei, have emerged to save the people from fire and water and relieve the people from hanging upside down, and this spirit of reform and innovation has accumulated into the spiritual and cultural genes of the Chinese nation that has always stood tall in the forest of the world and risen up through hardships. Some people think that it is obviously unfair for Confucianism to focus on personal cultivation. Because in Confucianism, individual cultivation is not the ultimate goal. Confucianism advocates active accession to the WTO and emphasizes personal cultivation, with the aim of applying this self-improvement spirit and life character to political practice, so as to realize the realm of life of "killing oneself to become benevolent" and "sacrificing one's life for righteousness".
3. The social ideal of universal harmony
The ideal society of Confucianism is the "great harmony under heaven" in the chapter "Li Kei Li Yun". Compared with the "Datong" society where "the road is hidden, and the world is the public", "the road is hidden, and the world is home" is a "moderately prosperous" society. The biggest feature of Datong society is that "the world is for the public", and "public" mainly refers to fairness and justice in the sense of political science, emphasizing the fairness, impartiality and non-partiality of those in power. Although the Datong society conceived by Confucianism is still far away, the ideology of "Tianxia Datong", as a spiritual pursuit of the Chinese nation for a better future, has been deeply rooted in the deep soil of Chinese society, integrated into the bloodline of the Chinese nation, and has become a powerful spiritual driving force for the development and progress of Chinese society and history. In fact, much more than that, even for the entire human society, the concept of "universal harmony" still has eternal value. In the face of the unprecedented changes in today's century, General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly put forward the global governance concept of "building a community with a shared future for mankind", which is the best interpretation of the Confucian political concept of "universal harmony" in contemporary times.
Second, adhering to the value orientation of "people-oriented", put forward the governance model of morality and France, the economic orientation of wealth and morality, and the indoctrination concept of civility and music
While Confucianism put forward the overall design of politics, it also pointed out the fundamental and legal issue of politics for whom to govern, and formed the value concept of "the people only the state" and "government wins the hearts of the people". The pre-Qin Confucians inherited and developed the "people-oriented" thinking since the Western Zhou Dynasty, and formed a relatively systematic set of "people-oriented" political ideological propositions. Adhering to the concept of "serving the government in ancient times and protecting the people as the foundation", Confucius put "the people" in the primary position of government, and advocated "respecting things and believing, saving and loving others, so that the people can use the times" (Analects of Language, Learning and Learning). Mencius advocated "the people are noble and the prince is light", advocated "benevolence and love for the people" and "happiness with the people". Xunzi proposed "establishing a king for the people", and used "water carries the boat, and water overturns the boat" to metaphorically describe the relationship between the king and the people. In this way, Confucianism clarified the core issue of how to govern, and put forward the governance model of virtue and France, the economic orientation of wealth and morality, and the concept of indoctrination of Wen Zhi Li and Le, which were followed as the principles of the rulers.
1. The German-French governance model
Confucianism advocates "moral government" and "benevolent government", advocates indoctrination as the main means of managing the people, and believes that moral indoctrination has the priority of value choice over laws and decrees, but does not exclude or deny the value and role of decrees and punishments in political governance. Confucius said: "The rule of the saints will also be punished and the government will be involved." Taishang teaches the people with virtue, and respects them with courtesy; Secondly, the government should guide the people, and the punishment should be forbidden, and the punishment should not be punished. The Buddha of transformation changes, the Buddha of guidance, hurts righteousness and corrupts customs, so he uses punishment. (Confucius's Sayings and Criminal Administration) "If the government is lenient, the people are slow, and if it is slow, it will be corrected; The fierce is the people, and the disabled are lenient. Broad is strong, fierce is broad, and government is peaceful. Confucians believe that "torture" can only be used if moral indoctrination does not work. In a word, Confucianism advocates the simultaneous promotion of morality, punishment, propriety and law, and in terms of value selection, it puts virtue and propriety first, emphasizing that virtue is the main punishment and the law is first, thus forming a governance model in which virtue is the main punishment and the law are coordinated, and the rule of etiquette and law is the combination of Germany and France.
2. Rich and prosperous economic orientation
Confucianism regards the people as the foundation of the country, regards the issue of people's livelihood as the focus and key of political governance, and regards the enrichment of the people as the first priority of politics. Confucius believed that the handling of political affairs well requires "five virtues", the first of which is "benefit without cost", that is, "benefit for the benefit of the people" (Analects of Yao), taking the prosperity of the people as the prerequisite for the prosperity of the country. He said, "The people are full, but what is the king and the inadequate? The people are insufficient, and who is the king? Mencius advocated "the property of the people," so that the people "can rely on their parents and their wives, and live happily for life, and avoid death in a fierce year" (Mencius Liang Hui Wang Shang). Xunzi believed that "if you are poor, you will be poor, and if you are rich, you will be rich" (Xunzi Fuguo).
Confucianism does not exclude or negate the pursuit of material interests by politicians, advocates the use of moral methods to obtain material interests, and advocates "righteousness as the supreme", "seeing the righteousness", and "righteousness then taking". For example, the "University" said: "The country does not take profit for profit, but also for righteousness." "There is a great way to produce wealth: those who give birth are many, those who eat are few, those who are sick, and those who use it are comfortable, and wealth is sufficient." In a word, Confucianism advocates a rich and moral economic orientation, advocates that a gentleman loves money and has a way of taking it, opposes the pursuit of ill-gotten wealth, and advocates the way of making wealth "for the benefit of the people, enriching the people and strengthening the country".
3. The indoctrination concept of the ritual music of the text
Confucianism advocates the use of moral indoctrination to guide the people to consciously abide by the norms of etiquette and achieve the political goal of harmony and order in the world. The indoctrination advocated by Confucius is "Tao with virtue", which is a kind of moral (benevolent and righteous) education with "etiquette" as the core content, rather than general knowledge education. Confucianism believes that the indoctrination of etiquette and music is an important means of political governance and social moral cultivation, which can effectively control human feelings, enhance people's moral cultivation, cultivate people's polite gentleman's personality, and have the role of moral indoctrination, standardizing order, and transforming people into customs, effectively promoting social harmony. Han Confucian had a clearer understanding of moral indoctrination, as Jia Yi said: "The teacher is also the foundation of politics." "There is teaching, and then politics too." Dong Zhongshu also said: "Teaching, the foundation of politics; Prison, the end of politics. In fact, for more than two thousand years, ancient Chinese social governance has attached great importance to the positive guidance of moral education and the role of turning the people into customs, so the Chinese nation has formed a noble moral code, complete etiquette norms and excellent traditional virtues, which is called "an ancient civilization and a country of etiquette".
Third, centering on the dominant position of "serving the government and serving the people", put forward the moral cultivation of self-cultivation, the sense of danger in times of peace, and the moral conduct of self-denial
Based on the philosophical thinking of "the unity of heaven and man", Confucianism recognizes and affirms the value and subjective initiative of people in the objective world. Compared with politics, special attention is paid to emphasizing the dominant position and key role of politicians, and clearly stating that "if he exists, he will act in government; If one dies, his political proposition of "taking the government with the people, taking the people with the body, cultivating the self with the Tao, and cultivating the Tao with benevolence" ("The Mean") especially regards the moral literacy of the politician as the key and important factor in governing the country. For example, Confucius admonished the politicians: "The politicians, the righteousness." The son is righteous, who dares not be right? (Analects of Yan Yuan) "His body is upright, and he does not order it; His body is not right, although he does not obey the order" (Analects of Language). Mencius also said, "Goodness is not enough to govern, and law cannot be done on its own." (Mencius Leaves Lou Shang) These are all to emphasize the moral literacy of politicians and their exemplary role. It is precisely for this reason that Confucianism, centering on the dominant position of government in people, puts forward three aspects of political literacy, such as cultivating oneself and upright people's moral cultivation, thinking of danger in times of peace, and moral conduct of self-denial.
1. Cultivate one's own moral cultivation
Confucianism advocates meritocracy and advocates the selection of meritocracy and ability, believing that the moral literacy of politicians is the logical starting point of national governance and the general root cause of solving all political and social problems. For example, "University" said: "From the Son of Heaven to the common people, all are based on self-cultivation." Confucius attached great importance to the issue of the virtues of politicians, and believed that the key to political governance lies in the "righteousness" of the politicians, that is, the problem of "politicians, righteousness" (Analects of Yan Yuan). In other words, Confucius focused on the virtue of serving the government on regulating and restricting the virtues of the politicians, hoping that the politicians would influence the people through their own virtues and good deeds, improve the moral realm of the people, enhance the people's sense of political identity, and then promote social harmony and order. In a certain sense, the focus of Confucian political thought is not on "governing the people" but on "administering officials." Confucianism emphasizes that politicians must first "be upright", achieve "respect, generosity, faith, sensitivity, and favor" (Analects of Yang Goods), "respect the five beauties, screen the four evils" (Analects of Yao), etc., especially to do well themselves first of all, and not to do what the people do not do first.
2. Awareness of danger in times of peace
Confucians believe that politicians should have a sense of danger and not forget danger, should not be complacent, be modest and cautious, not be arrogant and arrogant, be in awe, always pay attention to potential crises and calamities, be prepared for danger in times of peace, take precautions, never forget death and chaos, and always maintain political and ideological sobriety. For example, Confucius said: "A gentleman is safe without forgetting danger, surviving without forgetting death, ruling without forgetting chaos, and the country can be protected by personal security." Mencius put forward the idea of "born of sorrow and dying of happiness."
The sense of distress is the rational thinking and foresight of the success or failure of the development of things, which is manifested as a sense of responsibility and responsibility. As early as Kong Meng and other early Confucianists, it developed into a rational ideological consciousness, a rational insight and grasp of career successes and failures, life gains and losses, especially political successes and failures, and an ideological concept that was in awe and prepared for danger in times of peace. The Confucian sense of distress has the distinctive characteristics of worrying about the Tao, the people, and the self, and it directly points to the stability of society and the long-term peace and stability of the country. Confucianism is not only talking about personal gains and losses, but also emphasizing how to cultivate oneself and apply it to the world, showing a strong sense of social responsibility, mission and crisis.
3. Self-denial, ethics
Confucianism should "work first" and "seek government in his place" for those who govern, and always maintain the moral conduct of self-denial. First, self-denial. Self-denial means restraining one's selfish desires, being honest and self-disciplined, and overcoming slack and laziness. Confucians believe that a qualified politician must not only be honest and self-disciplined, but also be diligent in serving the people without "disturbing the people", and the two complement each other and cannot be discarded. Second, serve the public. Pursue official affairs with a selfless attitude, achieve "living tirelessly" (Analects of Yan Yuan), "act with loyalty" (Analects of Yan Yuan), do things for the people with sincere feelings, and be faithful to their duties. There is an essential difference between the "loyalty" of early Confucianism and the "loyalty" of later generations emphasizing loyalty to the monarch. The "loyalty" of devotion to duty is a conscientious attitude of doing things, a spirit of selfless dedication, a conscientious duty, conscientious and dedicated to the work of politicians, a love, cherishing and respect for the government work engaged in by politicians, and a selfless attitude and professionalism of wholeheartedly and doing their best to devote themselves to government affairs.
To sum up, based on the philosophical foundation of "the unity of heaven and man", Confucianism shifted the focus of philosophical thinking of heaven and man from "heaven" to "man", from "heavenly way" to "humanity", and based on the political understanding of "humane politics is great", and then launched a series of in-depth thinking on the issue of social and national governance, soberly recognized the extreme importance of the "virtue" of the ruler headed by the monarch, gained insight into the huge role of morality in politics, put forward the political proposition of "virtue for government", and what kind of politics to construct. How to develop benignly society and the overall construction and design of an ideal society; Propose principles and follow the principles of who governs and how to govern from three aspects: governance model, economic development, and educating the people; For those who govern, that is, those who have virtue govern, put forward quality requirements from three aspects: moral cultivation, sense of distress, and moral conduct. In this way, from the aspects of the relationship between heaven and man, humanity and politics, monarch and people, means and goals, responsibility and literacy, etc., a series of core concepts and principle requirements of "serving government with virtue" are put forward; From the philosophical thinking direction of heaven-man-humane-politics-morality-monarch (emperor)-ruler-virtue-body and mind, it connects the "way of heaven" with "human heart", unifies "knowing the destiny of heaven" and "fulfilling personnel", and takes changing the hearts of the world, that is, advocating benevolence and righteousness morality, as the focus and key link in solving political problems, and finds a metaphysical basis for its "moral politics", that is, the mental nature of real individuals reaches the physical destiny of heaven, and the road of kings on earth reaches the metaphysical heavenly way, not only for Confucian "moral politics" The moral ontology of the idea of "benevolent government" has found a priori basis, and it also penetrates the internal logic of Confucian political thought of "serving politics with virtue".
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "In the long river of history, the collapse of those empires, the collapse of dynasties, and the downfall of the ruling party are all related to the lack of morality, cultivation, and morality of those in power, and all of them are related to the unhealthy style, widespread corruption, and loss of popular support of those in power." The political wisdom of "Confucianism" has played an unprecedented role in the continuation and development of ancient Chinese society and the formation of political culture and customs, and can still provide a good mirror for today's country's governance system and governance capacity building.
Guang Ming Daily (November 26, 2022, version 11)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily