In traditional Chinese culture, a saint refers to a person who is perfect in knowledge and action, who is infinitely existing in a finite world. Generally speaking, talents and virtues are all said to be saints, and all religions and schools have their own identification of saints. According to this standard, the number of saints is not quite a few, such as Martial Saint Guan Yu, Wine Saint Du Kang, Shu Saint Wang Xizhi and so on. But from a recognized point of view, these people are not yet saints, because they have only achieved outstanding achievements in one field. According to the accepted point of view, there are very few saints, and only five and a half have appeared in a thousand years.
Who are these five and a half?
First of all, the first is the mo family's sage Dayu, who is the emperor's grandson, and his father Cang is sealed by Yao in Chong. During the Yao period, floods in the Central Plains caused floods and the people were miserable. Yao then asked The Carp to cure the water, and the Carp used the Water Barrier Method, which was initially quite effective. As a result, after a long time, the water became higher and higher across the river embankment, and the flood still could not be calmed, so he changed his life to Yu to treat the water. Yu did his best, crossed the house three times without entering, and finally successfully managed the flood.
Da Yu is the life that people add to be grateful to him, and Da Yu is also the great Yu, so Shun admires him very much. After reigning for thirty-three years, he officially ceded his position to Yu, and yu, the first tianzi of the Xia Dynasty, has always been highly respected. Even becoming a sage emperor who appeared side by side with the Fuxi and Yellow Emperors in the era of ancient legends, the name of the saint was gradually added, and successive emperors would pay tribute to him. Ji Zha in the Spring and Autumn Period commented: Diligence is not moral, and who can cultivate it without Yu Qi?
The second is the Yuan Sheng Zhou Gong, called Zhou Gong because Cai Yi is in Zhou, and his real name should be Ji Dan. He was the fourth son of Ji Chang the King of Zhou Wen and the younger brother of Ji Fa the King of Zhou Wu, and the Duke of Zhou was very filial when Ji Chang was still alive. Later, when Ji Fa ascended the throne, he often assisted his brother and handled many administrative affairs. After the death of King Wu of Zhou, King Cheng of Zhou was still young and relied on the regency of the Duke of Zhou. Reluctantly, some people disobeyed, and as a result, the nobles of Yin rebelled, and the Duke of Zhou personally went east to quell the rebellion.
In addition, he also had many merits, such as liturgical music, such as designating the Western Zhou canonical system. The "Shang Shu Biography" summarizes the merits of his life: one year to save the chaos, two years to overcome Yin, three years to practice the death, four years to build Hou Wei, five years to camp into Zhou, six years to make liturgical music, and seven years to become a king. As a relatively all-round man, he has been regarded as a saint by successive rulers and scholars since the Spring and Autumn Period, and even Confucius revered him.
The third is Confucius, the former Zhou Gong is the founder of Confucianism, and Confucius is the founder of the Confucian school. Because of Confucianism's status in China for thousands of years and the profound influence of its ideas on the world, Confucius's reputation is greater than that of several other sages. Confucius was not only revered as a saint after his death, but was enshrined as the Saint of Heaven and Heaven when he was alive, and was the most knowledgeable person in society at that time. Needless to say, the American thinker Emerson once said that Confucius was the center of Chinese culture and the glory of all the peoples of the world.
The fourth Taoist sage, Lao Tzu, was a figure of the same era as Confucius, and Confucius had both entered the Zhou Dynasty to greet him. Lao Tzu's thought has a profound influence on the development of Chinese philosophy, ranking among the world's cultural celebrities, and his heirloom "Tao Te Ching" is one of the largest published works in the world. Confucius once said after the ceremony: As for the dragon, I can't know, but it rides on the wind and clouds to the heavens. I see Lao Tzu today, and he is evil!
The fifth Wang Yangming, there are many people in Chinese history who can write and fight, but there are very few who are at the extreme in both aspects at the same time. Wang Yangming was exactly such a person, he was one of the three civil servants of the Ming Dynasty who were knighted by military merit, and he was also the master of his painstaking efforts. He opposed the blind obedience to feudal ethics and emphasized individual agency, which was of great significance to the methodology of the unity of conscience and knowledge and action. Yang Mingxin was even more influential, most notably on Japan and Korea, so Wang Yangming was also revered as a saint.
The first five are all saints, and there are not many points that can be criticized, and there are not many people who can be qualified to give criticism. The remaining one was slightly inferior to these five, and could only be said to be half a saint, and he was Zeng Guofan. Born in the late Qing Dynasty, he once tried to turn the tide, cultivate himself and discipline himself, seek officials with virtue, rule by etiquette, and seek government with loyalty. His rise had a profound impact on the politics, military, culture, and economy of the Qing Dynasty, and it can be said that he was a pioneer in China's modernization construction, so it also met the standards of holiness.
However, Zeng Guofan had some reprehensible behaviors in the early days, and the late Qing Dynasty itself was not a glorious history, so he could not be ranked as a saint.
References: "History", "History of Ming", "Draft History of Qing"