The Book of Shang can be divided into the Book of Xia Yu, the Book of Shang and the Book of Zhou in chronological order, which records the deeds and ideas of The Sage monarchs such as Yao and Shun, and the thought of virtue contained in it has had a profound impact on Chinese political culture for thousands of years. Therefore, it is the responsibility of each generation of Chinese people to inherit and expound this precious traditional idea. In order to clarify the idea of rule by virtue in the Book of Shang, we need to understand its social ideological basis, start from the original meaning of virtue, and then expound it through the specific implementation of the rule of virtue in previous generations to profoundly grasp the meaning of rule by virtue in the Book of Shang.
☞ The ideological foundation of the rule of virtue is the concept of mandate of heaven
The concept of mandate of heaven is an important idea in the Book of Shang. Intuitively, we live in a world where nothing but earth is heaven. The sky has mysterious effects such as causing changes in cold and heat, and generating wind and thunder. The ancients believed that the earth was feminine, static, and tangible, while the heavens were masculine, dynamic, and intangible. Moreover, the ancients saw that "the Mandate of Heaven is constant", so they gave birth to trust and worship in heaven. The Yin people had a belief in "God", and in the Zhou Dynasty, they developed a belief with "heaven" as the core. Both heaven and God are supreme abstract suspensions of the divine personality. Heaven and emperor have their own will and can control the luck of the world. As the source of Chinese culture, these two have played an important role in the development of civilization. And virtue rule is one of the important derivative ideas.
Feng Youlan believes that the meaning of Heaven in China is defined as five types, namely the Heaven of Matter, the Heaven of Domination, the Heaven of Destiny, the Heaven of Nature, and the Heaven of Righteousness. In the Book of Shang, heaven is also polyemic. For example, in the YaoDian, Emperor Yao ordered Xi and "Qin Ruohaotian", that is, to guide the people how to live according to the laws of nature. The sky here refers to the day of nature. In "Xi Bo Ji Li", the king of Xi Bo Li, faced with the crisis of the country's imminent destruction, said, "Woohoo! Am I born with a destiny in heaven? He thought that Heaven had given him this throne, so he did not believe that he would lose the throne. The heavens here refer to the heavens of Domination.
The root cause of the idea of virtue rule is mainly the heaven of domination and the heaven of destiny. The kings of antiquity believed that Heaven had given him the mission to rule and educate the people, and would assist and punish him according to his governance. In turn, to govern according to the will of heaven requires the king to have the qualities of virtue and to demand and educate the people with the standards of virtue.
In the "Order of Cai Zhong", Zhou Gong said, "The emperor has no relatives, but virtue is an assistant." The monarchs of the Zhou Dynasty reflected on and pushed the reasons for the rise and fall of the two dynasties of Xia and Shang, and concluded: "But if you do not respect virtue, you will fall early." That is, because Xia Shang did not respectfully carry out moral government, he lost the great destiny he received from heaven early, that is, the order of the Son of Heaven. Therefore, in ideology, it is believed that their highest belief, "Heaven", gives the king the right to rule, and when the king does not perform the mission and duties entrusted by God well, the heavens will also take back their sovereign power. Because the people trust the monarch and the monarch fears the "heavenly power", it is natural to form a peaceful rule in which the king is diligent and loves the people, and the people live and work in peace and contentment.
☞ The meaning of virtue rule
The Book of Shang often mentions the virtues of ancestors. It is used to express the vision of the personality and career of the previous king.
The specific definitions of virtue in the Book of Shang include the "Nine Virtues" proposed in the Gao Tao Mo and the "Three Virtues" proposed in the Hong Fan. In "Gao Tao Mo", Gao Tao introduced to Yu that there are nine kinds of self-cultivation performances, including: "wide and chestnut, soft and standing, willing and common, governance and respect, disturbance and perseverance, straight and warm, simple and incorruptible, rigid and solid, strong and righteous". That is, to be tolerant and serious, to be soft and firm in one's stance, to be easy-going and solemn with others, to govern the country and to be cautious in handling things, to resist interference and to make decisions with determination, to be upright and gentle, to be able to handle things well and to be just and honest, to be strong in appearance and full of heart, and to adhere to one's own views and be moral.
According to the Book of Shang, those who can attain three of the Nine Virtues can be appointed as Qing Dafu, and those who can achieve six of them can be appointed as princes. If all monarchs and subjects have the cultivation of virtue and then govern the people according to the laws of nature, they can achieve all kinds of meritorious deeds in governing the country.
In addition, the "Hong Fan Chapter" proposes three virtues, namely "integrity, gangke, and soft ke". Hong Fan means "Dafa", so the three virtues proposed in this article are the program of cultivation and belong to the methodology. These three methods refer to the principle of upholding justice and being rigid and soft, and to properly cultivate oneself with virtue and rule the country with virtue.
When the king exercises moral government, the king is to do his best to benefit the people and to impart morality to the people, so that the people and the kings can be of one heart and one mind.
☞ The implementation method of virtue rule
Respect for the people
In the "Oath of Tai", King Wu said, "Heaven sees its own people, and heaven listens to its own people." The monarch believed that god had given him the "great destiny" to govern the country. The needs of the people reflect the requirements of heaven for governing the people, so the monarch must also obey the will of heaven and love the people and govern the country from the perspective of virtue. The kings of antiquity spared no effort to protect the people. For example, Yu passed through the door three times during the treatment of water and did not enter. Emperor Shun was even in the wilderness of Cangwu during his southern tour.
After Da Yu's son succeeded to the throne, he coveted pleasure, lacked the virtues of a king, which caused the people to resent and was attacked by the enemy and lost the capital, and then introspected himself, recounting the admonition of the previous king, saying "The people are only in the state, and the people are in the state." This reflects the people-oriented ideas of ancient kings. They all regard people's livelihood as the focus of political affairs. Implement its benevolence in the good care of the people.
Strive to cultivate and appoint sages to assist
The Shang Shu believes that the objective requirements for being a monarch are very high. In the face of the people, we must lead by example and set a good example for the people. For example, in the chapter "Wuyi", the Duke of Zhou admonished King Cheng, saying, "No Emperor's Day: Today's Pleasure." It is not the people's teaching..." It shows that in the throne, the people should not be busy and indulge in useless entertainment, but should seriously handle political affairs and set an example for the people with their diligence.
In addition to the "nine virtues" and "three virtues" explicitly stated in the Book of Shang, in specific aspects, the kings of various generations mainly learned their virtues from the previous kings. For example, in the Luo Xuan, King Cheng said to the Duke of Zhou, "Publicly known as Pi Xiande, to give the younger son Yang Wen Wulie, to answer the Mandate of Heaven, and the Heng Sifang people" is the Zhou Gong's education of the king to inherit the great virtues of his ancestors, to fulfill the Mandate of Heaven well, and to appease the people of the four directions.
Virtue and punishment are also applied
In the YaoDian , Yao obeyed Shun 's advice and exiled the four evil men to the four directions , so that people were convinced of Yao's rule. It can be seen that the use of criminal punishment is also an important means of governing the country.
Shang Shu believed that as a monarch, if he was immoral in life, he would incur punishment from heaven. Similarly, if the people make mistakes, the monarch punishes them in place of Heaven. Therefore, punishment is not a violation of the standard of moral rule, but the will of Heaven and the maintenance of moral rule. In the chapter of "Tushi", King Cheng said to the remnants of the Yin kingdom, "Your Yin king does not dare to disobey the will of heaven, and if you do not respect my politics, I will not only take back your land, but I will also punish you for heaven.
Ancient emperors attached great importance to people's attitudes when encountering things. The king in the KangChen says that he has heard such words, "Resentment is not big, nor is it small." Hui bu hui, mao bu mao" means that the people's grievances are not big or small, if the people are taken seriously, the big resentment is not terrible, if the people's problems are not taken seriously, small grievances will also cause danger. He thus introduced that in the method of imposing specific punishments, the sentence should be determined according to the attitude of the person admitting guilt, and should not be based solely on the size of the crime that the person has committed.
First of all, "respect is punishment", that is, to clearly observe the sins of the people, and then if a person makes a small mistake and does not admit it, but continues to make mistakes, then such a person needs to be killed. If a person makes a big mistake and takes his sins seriously and reflects deeply, then the person will not sin to death. This balance is more humanitarian than the pure rule of law, taking into account the person's knowledge of his or her crime and the degree of introspection and repentance.
Without the rule of virtue, the people will suffer miserably. Without the punishment of the rule of law, some people will wantonly exceed morality and morality and do things that are intolerable. Therefore, the combination of moral punishment and punishment is a key element in the implementation of moral governance.
♡ The editor has a word
Regarding virtue and virtue, most of the descriptions in the Book of Shang are related to kings. But virtue is not a quality unique to kings. It is believed that when the king rules with virtue, the people should also respond with the virtue of meekness. From a traditional point of view, the cultivation of virtue is an important aspect of a person's adulthood. If a clever and intelligent person lacks the qualities of virtue, he may do great things that harm nature and reason in the future, and he is not as good as an ordinary person who has no harm to the world. Therefore, the inheritance of the idea of virtue should run through a person's life from the beginning of his life.