Han Yu's "Original Dao" cloud: "Yao Yi is the Shun of the transmission, Shun is the Yu of the transmission, Yu is the soup of the transmission, Tang is the transmission of Wen, Wu, Zhou Gong, Wen, Wu, Zhou Gong of Confucius, Confucius of Meng Ke; Ke's death must not be passed on. Xun and Yang are also selective but not refined, and the language is vague and unknown. "The Confucian Taoist theory was formally proposed. Subsequently, Han Yu's discourse mode and Taoist genealogy soon began to be imitated and expanded, Lin Jianyan's "Shanghan Officials' Book" said: "Go to the master for more than a thousand years, Meng Ke and Yangxiong died, and now they have the will of the saint, and can tell the way of the saint, Your Excellency." Today, people look at the door of Your Excellency, and Meng Ke and Yangxiong are also the door. Zhao De's "Preface to the Records of Changli" Yiyun: "Changli Gong, the disciple of the saint...... The way of the performance, then Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, Wu, Zhou Gong, Kong, Meng, Yangxiong to be taught and obeyed. Han Yu was also added after Mencius and Yangxiong, and this genealogy was constantly retold by the participants of the Guwen Movement, and Wang Tong continued to be expanded into it. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Pi Rixiu went to "Invite Mencius as a Discipline Book" and "Please Han Wengong to Enjoy the Taixue Book", and wrote "Wenzhongzi Tablet" to praise Wang Tong, Sikong Tu's "Wenzhongzi Tablet" also believed: "Zhongni is not used in the Warring States, so that its Tao is passed on to Meng, Xun, and obtained in the Han Dynasty, and becomes four hundred Zuo." Wuhu followed the chaos, extremely in Zhou Qi, Tianqi or Shengwen Zhongzi to the use of saints, to get the sages and outline, in order to help me Tang, but also the life of the husband. Sun He may be the first scholar to pay equal attention to Mencius, Xunzi, Yangxiong, Wang Tong, and Han Yu...... Good Xunqing, Yangxiong, Meng's book, Mu Hanyu", the early Song Dynasty Shi Zhiyuan also called it praise "the way of Zhongyan, the words of "Zhongshuo".
After entering the Song Dynasty, the construction of the genealogy of Confucianism and Taoism in the ancient literary movement was still mainly based on Meng, Xun, Yang, Wang, and Han, and Liu Kai, Chongfang, Zhao Xiang, Wang Yuyan, Sun He, and so on. Liu Kai's exposition is the most representative, he said in his autobiography "The Biography of the Eastern Suburbs" that "Meng, Xun, Yang, Wang, Han, are also saints", and said that he "only talks about Confucius, Meng, Xun, Yang, Wang, and Han as deeds". Even Shi Zhiyuan has repeatedly talked about the genealogy of Confucianism and Taoism, Zeng Yun: "Zhongni has not, for thousands of years, the only people who can inherit the Tao of Zhongni are Meng Ke, Xun Qing, Yang Ziyun, Wang Zhongyan, Han Huizhi, and Liu Zihou." Around the time of Qingli, the genealogy of Meng, Xun, Yang, Wang, and Han was vigorously propagated by Sun Fu, Shi Jie, and others, and some scholars began to refer to this genealogy as "five sages". Kong Daofu set up the "Five Sages Hall" in the Confucian Temple in Qufu, and Sun Fu explained its meaning when he wrote to Kong Daofu: "Since the death of the master, the Confucianism has learned its way and entered the door rarely, but Meng Ke's, Xunqing's, Yangxiong's, Wang Tong's, and Hanyu's are only. The five sages, the heavens and the masters. Shi Jie's "Zun Han" also praised "Meng Ke's family, Xun Kuang's family, Yangxiong's family, Wang Tong's family, and Han Yu's five sages". In his opinion, "the five sages, the sub-sages of the sages, the teachers of the scholars", and "Confucius did not, the people who can preach his way, Meng, Xun, Yang, Wang, and Han Wuxian." His writings and words are in line with the Six Classics. During this period, some figures other than the five sages will also be included in the Taoist genealogy from time to time, such as Shi Zhiyuan attached Liu Zongyuan to the five sages, Sun Fu's "Dong Zhongshu Treatise" believes that Dong Zhongshu should not be ignored, Zu Wuxuan said that "Meng Ke, Xun Qing, Jia Yi, Dong Zhongshu, Yang Xiong, Wang Tong's disciples, different generations look at each other", Chen Chong's "so-called ancient and modern preachers" are "from Confucius and Meng, Xun, Yang, Wang, Han, Sun, Liu, Zhang, Jia", there are as many as ten people.
With the expansion of the influence of the genealogy of the Five Sages, the Five Sages also began to appear in the Confucian Temple Attached Sacrifice System from time to time. Han Yu's "Confucius Temple Tablet in Chuzhou" records that Li Fan added Mencius, Xunzi, Yangxiong and others to the Confucian Temple, and when Liu Kai rebuilt the Confucian Temple in Runzhou, he also "made the statues of Confucianism from Yanzi and Mencius to the next doorman, and deserved to enjoy the seat", Chen Xiang's "Confucius Temple in Tiantai County" also recorded that the newly built Confucian Temple in the first year of Huangyou was increased to Meng, Xun, Yang, and Han Cong, and the newly repaired Confucian Temple in Lianjiang County in the first year of Zhu Dingjiayou was also worshiped by "Meng, Xun, Han, Yang, and Wang Tong's disciples". Confucius Dao assisted the Five Sages Hall, and Han Qi painted the statues of the Five Sages in the Confucius Temple in Bingzhou, which is also the case. In the seventh year of Xining, he sentenced the national eunuch Chang Zhi and others to "beg Meng Ke and Yangxiong to be like Confucius in the temple court", but "after that, it did not work". In October of the sixth year of Yuanfeng, he finally enshrined Mencius Zou Guogong, and in May of the following year, he edicted to enjoy the Confucian Temple of Mencius, and at the same time sealed Xunzi, Yangxiong, and Han Yu Earl and allowed Confucius Temple to worship, only Wang Tong failed to enter the Confucian Temple together in this ceremony.
The reason why the "five sages" of Meng, Xun, Yang, Wang, and Han gradually combined into a single Taoist genealogy during this period is closely related to the ideological goals of the ancient literature movement to oppose the ornate literary style, reject the traditional scriptures of the annotation style, and eliminate heresy. However, the genealogy of the "five sages" itself actually implies some internal contradictions that cannot be unified, such as Mencius's main nature is good, Xunzi's main nature is evil, Yangxiong's main nature is a mixture of good and evil, Han Yu is more independent of the three qualities of nature, and Wang Tong does not talk much about human nature; Meng, Xun, Yang, and Han Li excluded heresy, while Wang Tong advocated the unity of the three religions; Meng, Xun, Yang, and Han all wrote very well, while Wang Tong's "Zhongshuo" was slang. After the Qingli calendar, as the influence of the genealogy of the five sages became more and more extensive, the ideological differences between the five sages and whether the five sages had the qualifications to inherit the Taoist system began to be more and more seriously examined, and sometimes even-for-tat debates about the five sages began to appear in large numbers.
Among these controversies here, Shi Qisong is one worth noting. In order to stop the anti-Buddha offensive of the ancient literature movement, Qi Song wrote thirty chapters of "Fei Han" to attack Han Yu, which caused Han Yu's status to begin to fall sharply, and almost destroyed the center of gravity of the genealogy of the Five Sages and Daoists. Not only that, Qi Song also repeatedly quoted Mencius to attack Han Yu, he attached great importance to Mencius, and wrote "Wen Zhongzi Tablet" and "Shuwen Zhongzi Biography Later" to praise Wang Tong, and Xunzi especially Yangxiong has many denials. The fragmentation and disintegration of the genealogy of the Five Sages forced scholars to confront the differences in thinking between the Five Sages, and they had to begin to re-evaluate the qualifications of the Five Sages to inherit the Dao system, and the number of texts devoted to praising or denying a particular figure of the Five Sages increased dramatically. Li Ji's "Changyu", Chen Cigong's "Shu Changyu", Fu Ye's "Shu Changyu", Liu Chang's "Ming Shun", Zhang Yu's "On Han Yu's Saying that Mencius's Gong is Not Under Yu", Feng Xiu's "Deleting Meng" is not Meng Meng, while Sun Luan has "Distinguishing Meng" to defend Mencius; Sun Kan's "After the Biography of Li Si" and Jia Tong's "Blame Xun" criticized Xunzi; Su Xun's "Taixuan Theory" is not Yangxiong, Sun Fu's "Distinguishing the Yangzi", Li Jing's "Hanging Yangzi", Liu Chang's "Reading Taixuan", and Zhang Wangzhi's "After the Biography of Shu Yangxiong" vigorously defended Yangxiong; Song Xian's "Passing the Text of the Neutron", Li Jing's "Reading the Text of the Neutron", and Zheng Zheng's "After the Essay of the Text" are quite doubtful about the authenticity of Wang Tong's person and his affairs.
The revaluation and controversy over the status of the Five Sages and Taoism lasted for a long time, and this was inevitably accompanied by a reconstruction of the Confucian Taoist lineage. With the gradual maturity of Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty, several major schools of thought were formed in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, such as Wang Anshi Xinxue, Sima Guangzhixue, Sushi Shu Xue, and Ercheng Lixue. Wang Anshi respected Mencius and regarded Yangxiong as the successor of Mencius, but Yu Xunzi and Han Yu criticized a lot, and he rarely mentioned Wang Tong. Sima Guang's views of Mencius were in direct opposition to Wang Anshi's, and he wrote "Doubtful Mencius" to criticize Mencius, but he was the same as Wang Anshi in honoring and promoting heroes. Su Shi and Su Zhe's views are the most complicated, Su Shi's "Mencius Treatise" is quite respectful of Mencius, but his "Analects and Sayings" is "the eighth distinguisher with Mencius", and Su Zhe's "Mencius Explanation" also criticizes Mencius on the theory of human nature. They also denied Xunzi, and Su Shi's "Xunqing Treatise" and Lu Tao's "Xunqing Treatise" both strongly criticized Xunzi. Su Xun's "Taixuan Theory" and Su Shi's "Yangxiong Theory" completely denied Yangxiong's ideological value. Su Shi's attitude towards Han Yu was the most contradictory, he not only admired Han Yu's "decline of the eight generations of literature", but also criticized Han Yu in "Han Yu Theory" for "knowing his name well, but failing to enjoy it". On the whole, Wang Anshi respected Meng Chongyang, Sima Guangfei Meng Zunyang, Ercheng respected Mencius alone, and Ersu was dissatisfied with everyone. In the reconstruction of the Taoist genealogy here, the most controversial focus figures are undoubtedly Mencius and Yangxiong, while Xunzi and Han Yu were rejected by all schools, but Han Yu was still able to win some affirmation, while Wang Tong received the least attention, only Sima Guang and Ercheng paid slightly more attention to it, and also had a certain degree of positive evaluation.
Entering the Southern Song Dynasty, the aftermath of the genealogy of the Five Sages and Daoists has not subsided, and Wang Shipeng, Lu Zuqian, Chen Fuliang and others have asked scholars about the genealogy of the Five Sages and Daoists. In addition, in the early and middle Southern Song Dynasty, there was a popular ideological atmosphere of generosity towards the five sages, such as Lin Zhiqi said: "After Confucius, if you want to write books like Mencius, there is nothing to talk about, and it is difficult to build a person." The disciples of Xun, Yang, and Han are also rare, and they can't be asked too deeply. Lu Zuqian also thought that Han Yu's "Yuan Dao" was too strict in his choice of honoring Mencius, and Tang Zhongyou was even impeached by Zhu Xi for "opening the four books of "Xun", "Yang", "Wenzhongzi" and "Hanwen" with official money. In this context, Zhu Xi, Lu Jiuyuan and others still had to spend a lot of effort to clean up the genealogy of the Five Sages Dao.
Cheng Zhu Lixue's concept of Taoism has the most far-reaching influence, but his construction of the Taoist genealogy is also reconstructed after deconstructing the genealogy of the Five Sages. In the "Henan Cheng's Testament" and "Cui Yan", many disciples asked Er Cheng about the records of Meng, Xun, Yang, Wang, and Han, and the volumes 18 and 19 of the "Testament" are particularly concentrated. Ercheng's attitude was very clear, they respected Mencius alone, praised and criticized Han Yu and Wang Tong, and completely denied Xunzi and Yangxiong. Because the genealogy of the Five Sages and Daos still had a lot of influence in the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi and Lu Jiuyuan also worked hard to clean up the genealogy of the Five Sages and Daoists. Lu Jiuyuan once said that after Mencius, "Xun, Yang, Wang, and Han wrote alone", but "if it is said that the way of Yao Shun is passed on and the unity of Confucius and Mencius is continued, it is not allowed to be pretended." Lu Jiuyuan's "Continuation of the Book of Why Begins with Han" also devoted itself to criticizing Wang Tong's continuation of the scriptures, and his disciple Yang Jian further criticized Wang Tong in "On the Sons of ·" and "On the Way of Governance". Zhu Xi cleaned up the genealogy of the Five Sages and Daoists more thoroughly, and the last volume of the "Recent Reflections", "The Sages", compiled 11 quotations from Ercheng commenting on Mencius and the following Confucians. Volume 137 of today's "Zhuzi Language" is entitled "The Princes of the Warring States Han and Tang Dynasties", which is mainly about Xun, Yang, Wang, and Han, and sometimes Jia Yi and Dong Zhongshu are mixed in. Zhu Xi's views are consistent with Ercheng, and he also respects Mencius alone, completely denies Xun and Yang, and partially affirms Wang Tong and Han Yu.
Lixue extracted Mencius from the genealogy of the Five Sages and Daoists, dismantling the genealogy of the Five Sages and Taoism on the one hand, and reconstructing the Taoist genealogy of Yanzi, Zengzi, Zisi, and Mencius on the other. Dismantling the genealogy of the Five Sages and Daoists to varying degrees is the common goal of Lixue and Wang Anshi Xinxue, Sima Guang, and Ersu, but the reconstruction of the genealogy of the Four Matching Dao is a unique feature of the Lixue School. When Cheng Hao wrote "Epitaph" for Shao Yong, he wrote: "In the past, the seventy sons learned from Zhongni, and their transmission can be seen, but Zengzi told Zi Si, and Zi Si taught Mencius the ear. Cheng Yi also believes, "Confucius did not, and the way of Zengzi is getting bigger and bigger." Confucius didn't, the one who preached the way of Confucius was just Zengzi. The son of Zeng Zi Si, the son of Zi Si of Mencius, Mencius died, and he could not pass it on, to Mencius and the way of the sage is respected. Subsequently, the genealogy of Yan, Zeng, Si, and Meng was adhered to by later learning, such as Hu Hong, who also believed, "And Yan's son died, the master did not, and Zeng's son was born." Zeng's son died, and Confucius's grandson succeeded him. In its no, Meng's real inheritance. Zhang Jiucheng even repeatedly used this Taoist genealogy in the "Biography of Mencius" to confirm Mencius's Taoist status. By the time of Zhu Xi, the genealogy of Yanzi-Zengzi-Zisi-Mencius had actually been widely accepted, and Liu Zihui's "Treatise on the Sacred Biography", Yang Wanli's "Treatise on the Saints", and Li Yuangang's "Orthodox Map of the Preaching" all listed Yanzi, Zengzi, Zisi, and Mencius after Confucius. Zhu Xi's "Preface to the Chapters and Sentences of the Mean" concluded: "When it is, those who see it know it, but the Yan family and the Zeng family can pass it on." and the retransmission of the Zeng family, and the grandson of the master, Si, who was restored, went to Shengyuan and started up...... In order to be able to deduce that it is a book to inherit the system of the ancestors, it is lost because it is not transmitted. "When worshipping Confucius in Cangzhou Jingshe, Zhu Xi was the first to juxtapose Zengzi and Zisi with Yanzi and Mencius as four matches. In the third year of Shaoding, Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty personally wrote the "Thirteen Praises of Taoism", and Confucius was followed by Yanzi, Zengzi, Zisi, and Mencius, and the reconstruction of the Confucian Taoist genealogy by the emperor was accepted by the emperor. In the third year of Song Duzong's Xianchun, he officially decreed that Yan, Zeng, Si, and Meng should enjoy the Confucian Temple, and finally institutionalized that Zengzi and Zisi enjoyed the same status as Yanzi and Mencius. Yuan Renzong extended your reign for three years, and edicted "to Yanzi, Zengzi, Zisi, Mencius to enjoy", the Yuan Dynasty began to inherit the system of the Southern Song Dynasty in the Confucian temple sacrifice system, Yan, Zeng, Si, Meng's four matching pattern from the corner of the Southern Song Dynasty to the whole country, since then also along the generations, has not changed.
On the whole, the genealogy of Confucianism and Taoism in the Tang and Song dynasties has undergone an evolutionary process of first addition, then subtraction, and then addition. In this process, we can see that the Confucian Taoist genealogy has a well-known exclusivity, but we can also see that the Confucian Taoist genealogy has a certain degree of openness. Factors such as the defense of the Tao, the enlightenment, the preaching, the literary tendencies, academic achievements, political discussions, personal conduct, and so on may affect the selection of a certain Taoist figure, but the importance of each of these factors and the trade-offs between various factors are difficult to determine a uniform and eternal standard. As a result, scholars' descriptions of the genealogies of the Dao system usually have a considerable degree of leniency and randomness depending on the actual context, which also makes it difficult for us to find two works with identical characters among the many works that are devoted to sorting out the genealogy of the Dao system.
Of course, the lack of a complete and uniquely authoritative Dao genealogy does not mean that the focus of the Dao genealogy is not clear. Whether it is Mencius and Han Yu in the genealogy of the Five Sages and Taoism, or Mencius in the genealogy of the Four Pairs, or Ercheng and Zhu Xi or Lu Jiuyuan in the genealogy of science, the central characters of various Taoist genealogies are quite clear, but in addition to these central figures, it is always difficult to form a certain fixed conclusion on how a complete Confucian Taoist genealogy should be arranged, as Mr. Luo Zhitian observed: "The traditional concept of China is that the center or main body is basically stable, but the periphery is expanding and fluctuating, changing more than fixed." Chinese culture is a system that is infinitely open to the periphery. Han Yu only listed the Taoist genealogy of Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, Wu, Zhou Gong, Confucius, and Mencius in "Yuan Dao", while Pi Rixiu's "Yuan Hua" said: "The transformation of the sage comes from the three emperors, becomes the five emperors, and is set in Zhou and Kong." That is, the Taoist genealogy before Confucius has been superimposed on the Three Emperors. Under Mencius, Xunzi, Yangxiong, Wang Tong, and Han Yu also gradually expanded the genealogy of the "Five Sages", and there were also people such as Jia Yi, Dong Zhongshu, and Liu Zongyuan who also came and went from time to time. After the collapse of the genealogy of the Five Sages, Mencius gained the exclusive status, but the genealogy of Confucius-Yanzi-Zengzi-Zisi-Mencius was established again. Most of the people of Erchengmen respected Ercheng, but Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, Shao Yong, and even Sima Guang were later regarded as the pioneers of science. The Confucian temple sacrificial system is the institutionalized embodiment of the Confucian Taoist genealogy, and by 1919, when Li Yan entered the Confucian Temple to worship, there were four matches, twelve philosophers, 79 sages, 77 Confucianism in the Confucian Temple, and there were 10 other people in the attached Chongsheng Temple, a total of 182 people. This shows that although the Confucian Taoist genealogy has a strong exclusivity from the beginning, it also has a certain degree of openness.
Although the Confucian Taoist genealogy has its relatively fixed center, this center is not closed, but open. Although the genealogy of Confucianism and Taoism has the characteristics of rupture from time to time due to its exclusivity, this rupture is not permanent, but temporary and sustainable. Whether it is in the selection of past Taoist figures, or in the future direction of Taoist transmission, the Confucian Taoist genealogy shows a certain degree of openness. Moreover, compared with the importance of regional factors in dynastic orthodoxy, they are almost insignificant in the construction of Confucian Taoist genealogy. On the other hand, some Confucians, who are far away from the main trunk of the Taoist lineage, may also influence the construction of the local Taoist genealogy as a village sage, and some marginal Confucians can sometimes wait for the opportunity to enter the main trunk of the Taoist genealogy, while some Confucians, who originally occupied a place in the national Confucian temple rituals, may also be enshrined in the township. It can be seen that in the dimension of space, the genealogy of Confucianism and Taoism also has a certain degree of openness, which is not only not limited by regional factors, but also can adapt to the spatial structure of the country and the local government with considerable flexibility. As for the level of the official and the disgrace of the official career, it is not the basis for selecting Taoist figures.
(This article is excerpted from "Research on the Genealogical Construction of Confucianism and Taoism in the Tang and Song Dynasties" by Guo Tian, Life · Reading· Xinzhi Sanlian Bookstore, July 2024.) The author has made some changes to the original article, and The Paper is authorized to publish it. ）
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