Earlier, we talked about two specific manifestations of faint virtue, one refers to the tyrant, "there is a faint virtue, and the Ding moves to the business"; the other refers to tyranny, "his king is greedy and presumptuous to ward off evil spirits, obscene and desolate, and vulgar and tyrannical; his government is bloody and fragrant; and his punishment is exaggerated, and the people carry it."
This shows that the ancients in the pre-Qin period had an extremely deep historical memory of Dude, so they had a ruthless and direct condemnation of Dude.
(Photo/From the Internet)
Many articles such as "Toast", "Wuyi", "Jun Zheng" and "Duofang" in the "Book of Shang" tell the history of the change of regimes in Xia, Shang and Zhou in detail by the Duke of Zhou, and the conclusion is that if the ruler is disrespectful to heaven, indulges in behavior, covets comfort, abandons virtue and punishment, and mutilates the innocent, he will be abandoned and punished by God, and the mandate of heaven will be changed.
In the process of summing up historical experience, these ancient classics have a particularly profound understanding of the virtues of kings, especially the serious consequences of the various unethical behaviors of rulers.
"Shangshu Wuyi" is a warning to King Cheng before the Duke of Zhou returned to the throne of Chengwang, and he advised King Cheng to be diligent in state affairs and not to be greedy for pleasure. The so-called "Wuyi" means not to indulge in alcohol, sexual pleasure, field hunting, and swimming, which at that time were typical behaviors of immorality.
(Photo/From the Internet)
The chapter also talks about the ruler to be aware of the people's suffering, to benefit the people, to care for the widows and loneliness, to punish the people prudently, and to advocate the idea of being close to the people and loving the people, believing that only in this way can the people's grievances be prevented.
From the other side, he clearly opposed the faint virtue.
But unfortunately, that kind of clear, standardized, rational, and orderly era was very limited in ancient times. Compared to today, the ancients were unfortunate, and in the social life they experienced, faint virtue occupied most of the time.
(Photo/From the Internet)
In that era when the ruler had supreme authority and used divination to explain the mandate of heaven, autocracy formed a complete oppression of ordinary people, and the ancestors felt a boundless oppression, suffocating chaos, black clouds crushed the city and wanted to destroy it, they didn't know when the thunder would split those fragile individuals, let alone the moment when the dawn of the ten thousand rays of light opened.
It is precisely because of this that the ancients will especially call for the arrival of Mingde.
It can be seen that before Zeng Zi's "University", Mingde still belonged to the monarchy, and as opposed to Dude, it was a kind of political rationality and a kind of responsibility ethics.
In other words, when you take responsibility for governing one side, you have an obligation to lead the group to a better place. This requires leaders to restrain their selfish desires and the expansion of their bad intentions on the one hand, and to do things in accordance with basic rationality, and on the other hand, they must handle various affairs in accordance with the corresponding political norms and do things well.
(Photo/From the Internet)
Mingde belongs to the monarchy, which is a kind of political rationality and a kind of responsibility ethics. In other words, the ruler should restrain his selfish desires and act according to certain norms, so what is the concept of this principle in the discourse system of the pre-Qin ancients?
The story of "The Death of King Chu Ling" is recorded in detail in the "Zuo Biography". In 541 BC, King Ling of Chu killed his nephews and nephews and established himself as the monarch of Chu, becoming a famous king of poverty and luxury and tyranny in the Spring and Autumn Period. In the last period of his reign, King Chu Ling disregarded the laws and disciplines of the country and only knew how to play and enjoy, and the people of Chu were very disappointed in him, and the people's hearts were lost.
King Chu Ling also knew the situation he was facing, knew that his arrogant state was dangerous, and realized that this was wrong, and he also expressed his willingness to repent when talking to the minister. Zige advised: Form the strength of the people, but not the heart of drunkenness, do not eat all day long, quit greed, and protect the people, okay?
(Photo/From the Internet)
When King Chu Ling heard this, he said, "Enter, feed without food, sleep without sleep, for several days." ”
King Chu Ling made a gesture and went into the house, and for several days, he couldn't eat when the meal came, and he couldn't sleep when he lay down. However, "Zuo Biography" still records such a result: unable to overcome oneself, and difficult. In the end, he couldn't restrain himself, and finally suffered disaster.
At this point in the story, the concept of "restraining one's selfish desires and doing things according to certain norms" takes shape, which is:
Self-denial!
At the end of the story of the death of King Chu Ling, Confucius emphasized self-denial and revenge - Zhong Ni said: "The ancients also had aspirations: self-denial and revenge, benevolence also." If King Chu Ling can do so, how can he be humiliated by Qianxi?"
"Restrain yourself and return to etiquette, this is benevolence. "That's a good point! If King Chu Ling can do this, how can he be humiliated in Qianxi?
(Photo/From the Internet)
Here we can see that the inspiration left by "Zuo Chuan" for the story of the death of King Chu Ling is self-denial, and self-denial means returning to Mingde.
As mentioned earlier, the concept of virtue itself is not a distinction between praise and disapproval, when people use the concept of virtue in the Spring and Autumn Period, they often add modifiers to the concept of "virtue" from the different meanings of affirmation or negation to be expressed, and the virtue that is denied by people will be called fierce virtue, faint virtue, and filthy virtue;
Public opinion reflects the people's back, and the rulers of the early Zhou Dynasty paid special attention to this, believing that "the grievance is not big, nor is it small". Nothing that is required of the resentment of the subjects can be done, and the affairs of the state must be taken seriously, and when the people are heard, they should be more "respectful", so that the common people who are not obedient can become obedient.
Therefore, the Mingde called by the pre-Qin ancients refers to rational and universal political norms. Their yearning for Mingde comes from a reflection and expectation of the ancients on long-term political and social life, and they expect a standardized, top-down political norm to influence and control their lives.