Editor's note: In order to promote scientific atheism, from September 10, we will serialize Li Shen's monograph "History of Atheism in China". Li Shen, born in April 1946, is a native of Mengjin County, Henan. He graduated from the Department of Atomic Physics of the Harbin Military Engineering College in 1969; in 1986, he graduated from the Department of World Religion Studies of the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences with a doctorate degree in philosophy; in 2000, he became a researcher, doctoral supervisor, and director of the Confucian Research Office of the Institute of World Religions of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In 2002, he became a professor at the Department of Philosophy of Shanghai Normal University. He is currently an advisor to the Chinese Atheist Society, an advisor to the International Confucian Federation, and a vice president of the China Anti-Cult Association.
Chapter Three: The Reconstruction of the Relationship between God and Man in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period
Eighth, the decline of the role of ghosts and gods in politics and military affairs
The role of divination in ancient politics is the role of the belief in ghosts and gods in politics. The decline in the role of divination in political life is also the decline in the role of the concept of ghosts and gods in political life. The decline in the role of the concept of ghosts and gods in political life is a denial of the function of some of the ghosts and gods, and it is also an integral part of the growth of atheistic ideas.
The role of ghosts and gods in political life is reduced, and an important manifestation is whether ghosts and gods should be obeyed when encountering major events.
In the séance of the state of Luzhuang in the thirty-second year of the Duke of Luzhuang, Shi Duo, as a historian, clearly pointed out: "The country will rise and listen to the people; it will die and listen to God." Shi Guo, the historian of the Zhou royal family, also held the same opinion, believing that Yu Jun was cruel and cruel, but he had to obey God's instructions and was a precursor to the destruction of the country. At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, there were incidents against listening to God in political life.
In the Zuo Zhuan Ding Dynasty (-509), under the auspices of the Jin Dynasty, the princes wanted to build a city for the Zhou royal family. When the planks had been planted and the city was ready to be built, Zhongji, the Grand Master of the Song Dynasty, said that he would not accept the labor assigned to the Song State. The reason is that teng, Xue, And Other States, which used to obey the Song State, should now also serve this labor for the Song State.
Dr. Xue Guo disagreed, saying that we had all participated in the covenant concluded by jin guo and concluded in Jiantu. Should we now obey the Covenant of The Land, or should we obey the Song Dynasty? Say it.
Dr. Song Zhongji said, practicing the land covenant, saying, everything according to the old rules, you should still obey our Song kingdom.
Dr. Xue Guo said, no. Our ancestors in the Xue Kingdom were officials who managed vehicles during the Xia Dynasty and served as prime ministers during the Shang Dynasty. If according to the old rules, we should obey the royal family, how can we obey a prince!
Zhong Ji said that the situation in the three generations of Xia Shang was different, where are you Xue Guo still have any old rules! It is your duty to serve the Song Dynasty.
At this time, the grand master of the Jin State, Mi Mu, interjected that the situation of the newly ruling doctor of the Jin State was not familiar, and whether you Song Guo had accepted labor first, and waited for me to go back and check the archives. Doctor Zhongji of the Song Kingdom was reluctant and said, even if you forget, can the mountain and river ghosts and gods also forget!
The ancients allied and must worship ghosts and gods. In the alliance of the land in that year, the princes also swore an oath to the ghost god alliance, so the Song Guo Doctor retorted in this way.
At this time, another grand master of the Jin Dynasty, Shi Bo, became angry, and he said to the ruling Han Jianzi:
Xue Zheng is in people, Song zheng is in ghosts, and Song is guilty of great crimes. And there is no word to suppress me, and god has slandered me. Qi pets and insults, and this is the name of the word, and will be killed by Zhongji. ("Zuo Chuan Ding A.D.")
As a result, the Jin state arrested the Song dynasty's doctor Zhongji.
In terms of state-to-state relations, the Song State was rude, and the Jin State was even more rude. The Jin state was the big hegemon at that time, and the Song state was a small local hegemon, and there was no such thing as justice or injustice. What makes us pay attention is that in the minds of these JinGuo doctors, it is not credible to use ghosts and gods to prove it. Credible is the record of their archives. It shows that the status and political role of ghosts and gods in their minds has been reduced.
A major event in the late Spring and Autumn Period was the so-called "Wuyue Struggle for Hegemony." According to Han Fei, the King of Yue, who had a great god turtle and divination, went to war with the State of Wu, and the result was defeat and capture. Not only did the state become a vassal state of the State of Wu, but it also became a slave of king Wu. After he returned to China, he abandoned the Divine Turtle and "knew the law and was close to the people", so he defeated the State of Wu. Han Fei thus concluded: "Therefore, those who bully ghosts and gods are slower than the law, and those who bully princes endanger their country." The result of "slower than the law" is failure, and it is also the failure of the "ghost god".
By the Warring States period, there were more and more cases of failure due to listening to ghosts and gods. Han Fei said that at that time, yan guo once believed in the results of Bu Zheng and said that if he attacked Zhao Guo, he would definitely win. The result is: "Yan has no merit and the society is in danger."
The story told here is that there is a man named Ju Xin, who was closely related to the general of the Zhao State, Xiao Nuan, when he was in the Zhao Kingdom. Later, he defected to the Yan Kingdom. The State of Yan saw that zhao guo had been defeated by the Qin army repeatedly, and replaced the famous general Lian Po and let Xiao Nuan lead the troops. He wanted to take advantage of the danger of the Zhao Kingdom to attack the Zhao Kingdom. Yan Jun asked Ju Xin, how about Xiao Nuan? On the one hand, Ju Xin thinks that It is easy to deal with, and on the other hand, he turns to the ghost god for help. Gui bu and Zhan Zheng were both auspicious, so they attacked the Zhao state. As a result, Zhao annihilated the Yan army of 20,000 people and killed Ju Xin. This is the so-called "Yan has no merit and the society is in danger." Taking advantage of the victory, Zhao Guo captured the city of Qi. Of course, divination was also carried out, and it was auspicious, so it attacked the Yan kingdom again and won the victory. Han Fei said that this is not because "Zhao Gui God and Yan Gui deceived", one victory and one defeat, in fact, it has nothing to do with the victory or defeat of divination.
Later, Zhao Guo and Gui Bu Zheng zhan, all on the auspicious. So he attacked the Yan state again to the north, and wanted to defend against the Qin state by annexing the Yan state. The State of Zhao captured Yuyang in the State of Yan, but unexpectedly qin soldiers captured Zhao's city of Yicheng from behind. In the Battle of Changping between the State of Qin and the State of Zhao, Qin captured Bai Qi and killed 400,000 Zhao pawns. In the years that followed, there were and wars. The two countries sent troops, and both of them had carried out a blessing, and the ghosts and gods also said that they were very auspicious. However, in the end, the Qin state was victorious and the Zhao state was destroyed. This is also not because of "Qin Gui God and Zhao Gui cheated".
At that time, the State of Wei sent troops to fight, not only turning to Gui Bu Zhengzhan, but also using a variety of means to detect divine intentions. Han Feizi commented:
In the early days, Wei attacked Dongxiang for several years and exhausted Tao Wei; for several years, Xixiang lost his country. This is not Fenglong, Wuxing, Taiyi, Wang Xiang, Setti, Liushen, Wukuo, Tianhe, Yin Robbery, and Nian Xing, not a few years in xiye; not a heavenly deficiency, arc reversal, punishment star, yingqi, Kuitai, not a few years in dongye. Therefore, it is known that the turtle is not enough to win; the left and right backs are not enough to fight. ("Han Feizi as Evil Chapter")
Among them, "Fenglong", the name of the cloud master, that is, the cloud god. Tai Yi (太乙), Setti (惠ti), etc., are the names of the so-called "Nine Noble Gods of the Nine Palaces". The six gods, that is, the gods of the six sects, namely the six gods of the sun, the moon, the stars, the cold and the heat, the water and drought, and the four seasons. Star, Heavenly Deficiency, Ying Confusion, etc., the name of the star, is also the name of the star god. These gods, some supervisors give people auspiciousness, and some supervisors give people misfortune. According to Han Fei, when the State of Wei sent troops in that year, it carried out extensive astrological activities, which also confirmed Sima Qian's statement that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, "the subjects and lords were in common trouble, and their cha xiang and Hou Xingqi were particularly anxious." "The result of inspection and waiting is naturally that the troops will be sent out on auspicious occasions. But the result? The State of Wei attacked to the east and achieved a certain victory; if it attacked to the west, it was defeated by the State of Qin and finally destroyed the country. Wei Guo won and lost, but the situation of these gods, the position of the star gods, did not change at all. Han Fei therefore concluded: "The turtle is a ghost god, and it is not enough to win." "筴, i.e. strategy, here refers to the yarrow stick." Turtle Basket, that is, Turtle Bu and Xiao Zhan. That is to say, divination and astrology and other recourse to ghosts and gods are not enough to determine the outcome of the war.
The example given by Han Fei can be said to be only the tip of the iceberg of such cases in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. In this centuries-long war and struggle, from the King of Zhou to the princes of various countries, the doctors, and the so-called escorts, etc., they sent troops and rebelled, you attacked and defended, openly and secretly fought, before the action, there was almost no one who did not turn to the ghost gods. As a result of the request, almost always the ghost god told Ji Li to start the action. As a result, there is always a win and a loss. This is not to say that the victorious side is wise, and the losing side is confused or deliberately deceived. In the end, it was the victory of the Qin family, nor was it because the ghosts and gods of the Qin state were wise, and the ghosts and gods of other countries were confused or deliberately deceived. The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were turbulent in the human world, and it was also a great exhibition of the utility of ghosts and gods. This kind of exhibition is a rich source of Han's non-atheistic thought.
IX. The decline in the role of ghosts and gods in medical treatment
The sciences of the ancient peoples, the priority development was almost always astronomy and medicine. Astronomy serves production activities on the one hand, and on the other hand, it serves as an important means of detecting divine intentions. Medicine, on the other hand, is mainly for the health of people, especially the health of the upper echelons. In the society where everyone believed in ghosts and gods at that time, all the more difficult diseases, or even less difficult diseases, would be considered to be the work of ghosts and gods. Therefore, the factors that can exclude ghosts and gods in the medical field, mainly, and even completely resort to medicine itself, are also an important wing of the development of atheist thought.
In the year of Zuo Chuan Zhao, the monarch of the Jin Dynasty, Duke Jinping of Jin, fell ill, and Zheng Guo sent the ruling grand master Zi Chan to visit. Uncle Jin Guo said to Zi Chan that divination was the work of the two gods, Shi Shen and Tai Xiao, and he didn't know what kind of gods these two were?
Zi Chan said that Shi Shen was the son of Gao Xin and the god in charge of the stars. His older brother, Fu Bo, was the god in charge of the Merchant Star, or the Great Mars. The monarchs of the Jin Dynasty were the descendants of Shi Shen. Tai Xiao was a descendant of the Jin Tianshi clan and became the water god of the Fenhe River. His descendants established four states, all of which were destroyed by the Jin Dynasty. However, these two gods have nothing to do with the monarch's illness.
Zi Chan went on to say that if there is a flood or drought disaster, it should be sacrificed to the gods of mountains and rivers like Tai Xiao; if the wind and rain in the sky are not timely, the gods of the sun, moon, and stars like Shi Shen should be sacrificed. Junshang's illness is caused by irregular diet and excessive pleasure, and what does it have to do with these gods of mountains and rivers and stars?!
Then, the child gave birth to the principle of maintaining health. The son said that the monarch's daily time should be divided into four periods. In the morning, he discussed political affairs with his courtiers, went out of the palace to investigate during the day, considered the legal system at night, and rested at night. During these four periods, Junshang only paid attention to one thing (sleeping with his wife and concubine at night), so his qi and blood were stagnant, his body was thin, and his mind was confused, so that he became ill. In addition, as far as I know, you can't marry a wife with the same surname, otherwise your children and grandchildren will not be numerous and you will not be healthy. I heard that the four favored concubines of Junshang are all surnamed Ji with Junshang, so did the disease arise from this?
The Duke of Jinping was aware of the discussions and suggestions of the son, believing that the child was a naturalist and rewarded the child with many possessions.
The Duke of Jinping again asked the State of Qin for help, and the State of Qin sent the best doctor to heal him. After the doctor and the diagnosis, he said that the disease could not be saved, which was caused by excessive closeness to the female color. It's like grain slugs. The worms hollowed out the grain, and the near female color hollowed out the body. This is not a ghost, nor is it due to diet, it is a disease that is confused by female sex. Ping Gong said, then the female color can not be close? The doctor said, no. Be close, but be moderate.
Then the doctor and the doctor talked about a set of principles that "the heavens have six qi, and the five tastes are born..." It is said that if the six qi are excessive, they will make people sick. The words of the doctor are the so-called "six qi caused disease" theory of later Chinese medicine.
On the matter of Jinping Gong's illness, whether it is an excellent politician like Zi Zhan or a good doctor like a doctor, they have come to the unanimous conclusion that Ping Gong's illness is caused by his own improper behavior and has nothing to do with ghosts and gods. They reject the clergy's conclusion that ghosts and gods play a role in etiology and medicine.
Jinping Gong's illness can be said to be a concrete case. Around the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Bian Que, a famous doctor who had long been engaged in medical practice, made a general conclusion of universal significance.
Bian Que, named Qin Yueren. Legend has it that he received the secret transmission of the high man and was able to see the five internal organs of the people. This diagnosis is very accurate. Once Zhao Jianzi was ill for five days and unconscious. Bian Que said, it doesn't matter, in a few days it will come back to life. A few days later, Zhao Jianzi was indeed awake. Hearing Bian Que's words, he rewarded Bian Que again. Once the Crown Prince of Yuguo died. Bian Que inquired about the condition, diagnosed it as a "corpse", and used a needle to revive the prince. So there were rumors that Bian Que could rise from the dead.
Bian Que's medical skills are comprehensive, and what patients need, he will be a doctor in that regard. He worked as a gynecologist, as a pentagonist, as a pediatrician. The Tai Doctor of the Qin State was jealous of Bian Que and sent someone to kill him. However, Bian Que's name and medical skills could not be eliminated, and he became a model for doctors, and his medical methods were passed down from generation to generation.
In the long-term medical process, Bian Que summed up the experience and believed that in six cases, the disease could not be treated. These six situations are: first, arrogant and unreasonable, unable to govern; second, those who want money and do not want to die, there is no rule of law; third, those who are unwilling to adjust diet and clothing, there is no rule of law; fourth, there is no rule of law for those who are cold and hot in the body and the unstable situation of the five internal organs; fifth, those who are weak and unable to take medicine, and there is no rule of law. Sixth, and the last one, those who believe in witchcraft do not believe in medical treatment, and there is no rule of law.
Believing in witchcraft and not believing in medical treatment, that is, believing in ghosts and gods, not believing in doctors, such a person, his illness is not ruled by law. This is to exclude the ghost god pathogenesis in a general sense.
In medical practice, there are many clear and easy-to-see examples, which also make Mozi, a thinker who vigorously argues for the existence of ghosts and gods and rewards good and punishes evil, reject the role of ghosts and gods on diseases to a certain extent in medical problems. "Mozi Gongmeng" contains:
Zi Mozi had a disease, and he dropped his nose and then asked, "Sir, he is aware of ghosts and gods, and he can be a blessing." Those who are good reward him will be punished for his unkindness. Mr. Jin, the saint also, why is there a disease? Is there anything bad about Mr. Yi's words? Ghosts and gods do not know? Zi Mozi said, "Although I am sick, I don't know!" Man's income is multiplied by the sick, and there are cold and heat, and there are hardships. Once a hundred doors are opened, there is no way to steal! ”
That is to say, in Mozi's view, some diseases are not caused by the reward and punishment of the ghost god, so the pathogenic effect of the ghost god is excluded within a certain range.
Rejecting ghosts and spirits in terms of the cause of illness also excludes witchcraft in medical means. This was a major advance in ancient Chinese medical thought and an important step in the development of atheistic thought.
X. Witchcraft Punishment incidents and the development of atheistic thought
The relationship between the ancient man and god is relatively close. God often plagues people, and man often clashes with God. People revere God, offer sacrifices to God, and hope and pray to God to bless them and keep them safe. If God cannot fulfill man's wishes, man will punish God in a certain way.
In ancient times, many of those who were considered gods, or who called themselves gods, were kings and wizards. Some religious scholars emphasize that witchcraft is different from religion. To say that religion is humble and respects God; that wizards are arrogant, not only disrespecting God, but even serving God, is actually because wizards themselves are gods, or are themselves considered gods. In the battle of many wizards, a few, or even one, won and became a great god, and the other wizards were no longer considered gods. So everyone respected the remaining god and did not dare to infringe on it again, just as in the struggle for kingship, the last few, or even one, won.
The ancients used various ways to please the gods, hoping that the gods would bless themselves and protect their safety. If the wish is fulfilled, he will express his gratitude, respect, and sacrifice to the gods. If a sacrifice is offered to God and God does not fulfill people's wishes, disappointed people will also throw their anger at the gods. Smash the statues of the gods, rob the treasures of the temples, and even destroy the temples of the gods. Such situations continue to appear in ancient Greek mythology, and in the history of ancient Rome, they also continue to play out. In ancient China, the ancient tradition of punishing the gods also had certain threads left. Such remnants are found in the book Mencius:
Mencius said: The people are noble, the society is secondary, and the king is light. Therefore, it is because of the people of Qiu and the Son of Heaven, the son of heaven as the princes, and the princes as the doctors.
The princes are in danger of social welfare, and they are changed.
Sacrifice is complete, prosperity is pure, sacrifice is timely. However, if the drought overflows, it will change to the social infrastructure.
In other words, people offered rich sacrifices to sheji in order to let the god of sheji bless the wind and rain. If it is still "dry and water overflowing", it is that the god of social welfare has not fulfilled his responsibilities. If the princes failed to fulfill their duties, they "endangered the society" and replaced the princes: "changed their positions." The community did not fulfill its duties, and similarly, "changed the community".
In order to maintain the dignity of the gods, later generations of commentators often downplayed the true meaning of the community. For example, Zhu Xi believed that "changing the sheji" was only "destroying its altar and putting it more on it" (Zhu Xi's "Notes on mencius's Collection of Hearts"). In fact, the original "change of social welfare" was the removal of the god of social welfare. According to historical records, the ancient Ji god was "the son of the Lieshan clan Yuezhu", which later became the ancestors of the Zhou people, which was a change of the ancients. Mencius tells that when it is an ancient tradition.
Beginning with Mencius, the god Sheji did not change it again, although Mencius said it could be changed. An act of the same significance as the change of sheji is the later "Dragon King". That is, when people ask the Dragon King for rain in vain, they lift the statue of the Dragon King and parade under the sun to let the Dragon King taste the heat. Not long ago, because of environmental problems, some people proposed that the head of the ministry of environmental protection swim in the river under his jurisdiction, in a sense, the same idea as punishing the Dragon King.
Religious ideas continued to evolve, and shamans merely became messengers of the gods, and they rarely had the opportunity to be gods. At this time, if the wizard does not complete the theosophical task, he will also be punished. The most serious punishment is "burning the witch", that is, burning the wizard to death. According to the research of oracle bone scholars, there are records of burning witches in the oracle bones. It shows that the Shang Dynasty had, or had, such a tradition. But in the Spring and Autumn Period, such a thing was denied by advanced thinkers. The Twenty-First Year of the Left Transmission and the Duke of The Left dynasty contains:
Summer, great drought. The public desires to burn the witches. Zang Wenzhong said: "Non-drought preparation." Repair the city, reduce the food and save the use, and persuade the division, this is also its business. What is Witch? If heaven desires to kill, do not give birth to it. If it can be drought, it will be burned even more. "Obey it. It is also the age, hunger and not harm.
Witch, wizard. In ancient China, male witches and female witches were collectively referred to as witches. Some people think that witches refer to witches. Some people also believe that 尪 is a deformed person who has a protruding chest at birth, commonly known as "chicken breast", and thus faces facing the sky. Some people believe that witches, especially witches, are ineffective in asking for rain, so they are responsible for the drought. Some people think that it is the heavens who are worried that the rain will make the rain flow into the nostrils of the squatters, so it is dry.
Ancient China was an agrarian society, and rain was a key factor in determining whether the harvest was good or bad. So whenever there is a drought, it requires rain. The basic way to pray for rain is the so-called "dancing goose", that is, let the witch sing and dance, and pray to the gods. The book "Analects" records that at that time, there was also a shrine dedicated to dancing for rain: "Fan Chi swam under the dancing goose", that is, he accompanied Confucius to tour under the altar of dancing goose. According to the Analects: "There are altar trees where the dancing goose is, so you can swim under it." "The altar is a high platform. It is a place of worship without a platform. In other words, the place to ask for rain, with altars and trees, is a good place to visit.
A special altar and related places were set up to pray for rain, which shows the importance attached to asking for rain at that time. To pray for rain is to pray to the gods. Pray for success in the rain, and naturally everyone rejoices. If they don't succeed, people will naturally throw their anger at the gods. If you can't find a god, you will scatter it to the messenger of the gods, and this is the witch. Witch burning is a continuation of the tradition of punishing gods, and it is also a backward and barbaric theistic concept.
But Zang Wenzhong believes that "non-drought preparedness is also". That said, this is not what to do in times of drought. Because in doing so, the loss of drought cannot be compensated. At the same time, it is also believed that Wu and Yu are not the cause of the drought. His reasoning was: "If heaven desires to kill, it is as if there is no birth", which should refer to the embarrassment with congenital physical defects; "If it can be drought, it will be burned even more." "That is to say, if the drought is caused by them, burning them will make the drought worse. In effect, it is to deny that they are related to drought.
Zang Wenzhong did not deny the existence of ghosts and gods here. But he denied the relationship between theosophical witches and drought, and to some extent denied the relationship between the gods and drought. And the measures he took: "repairing the city, degrading food and saving, and persuading the points" have nothing to do with the gods. In the face of disasters that are generally thought to be related to gods, it is an important atheistic concept to take fully realistic man-made measures without resorting to the gods.
As far as Zang Wenzhong was concerned, he once let the Lu people sacrifice seabirds, and he once built a gorgeous house for the turtle, so he was a confused person. However, in the matter of burning the witches, they were sober-minded and took correct measures. Situations like zang's have universal significance in ancient atheistic events.
After Zang Wenzhong, there was also an incident in the State of Qi to execute clerics.
According to the "Twenty Years of Zuo Chuan Zhao Gong", Qi Jinggong suffered from scabies and malaria, and it was not good after a year. Liang Qiu, who was able to curry favor with his courtiers, said that we worship ghosts and gods, and we are more attentive than before, but your illness is still not getting better, this is Zhu Shi's sin, please kill Zhu Gu and Shi Shi.
Zhu is an official in charge of sacrifices; Shi, Shi Guan, and is responsible for divination, sacrifices, and other matters. Gu, 嚚, is a personal name.
Jing Gong told Yan Bao about Liang and Yu's suggestion. Yan Bao told Jing Gong a story. It is said that when the princes gathered in the Song Kingdom, Qu Jian of the Chu State asked Zhao Wu: How will Fan of the Jin State be? Zhao Wu replied that his family was well governed and devoted himself to the country, so his family's Zhu Shi was truthfully stated to the gods. Because his family was harmonious, Zhu Shi did not pray anything to the gods.
Jing Gong said, what do you mean by talking to me about this? Yan Bao said that the virtuous monarch and his subjects did not complain. His blessing history reported truthfully to the gods, and he was not ashamed. If he is a monarch without virtue, if he reports truthfully, he will publicize the sins of the monarch; if he covers up his faults, he will tell lies to the gods, so he has to tell some empty words. Then the gods will not bless.
Jing Gong said, so what should be done? Yan Bao said that Zhu Shi should not be killed. You can only cultivate your own virtues. Therefore, Jing Gong pardoned Zhu Shi and opened up the ban to reduce taxes.
In fact, it is also believed that disease has nothing to do with the gods, especially with the clergy.
After the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the history books generally did not see the killing of clergy because the prayer for gods was ineffective. This is a progression in atheistic thought, as well as in general social consciousness.